Method and apparatus for requesting, retrieving, and obtaining de-identified medical informatiion
First Claim
1. A method of searching for medical information executed by one or more computers comprising the steps of:
- a) formulating a record request for patient medical information;
b) forwarding the record request to a facilitator, wherein the facilitator reviews the record request and determines which patient record sources to contact;
c) contacting at least one patient record source with a record query electronically requesting information regarding a patient;
d) initiating an electronic search of medical records within the patient record source;
e) de-identifying the medical records retrieved from the patient record source; and
f) returning a patient record report containing information held by the patient record source, wherein the patient record report and the information returned therein is void of any identifying information.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method for searching for medical information executed by one or more computers comprising the steps of formulating a request for medical information concerning an individual or group of individuals, transmitting a record request to a record facilitator, the record facilitator determining which patient record sources to investigate, a record query being sent from the facilitator to the patient record sources which are appropriate, receiving a patient record report back from the patient record sources, normalizing and augmenting the patient record report before forwarding it back to the requester, and de-identifying the patient record to remove any identifying information.
135 Citations
33 Claims
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1. A method of searching for medical information executed by one or more computers comprising the steps of:
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a) formulating a record request for patient medical information;
b) forwarding the record request to a facilitator, wherein the facilitator reviews the record request and determines which patient record sources to contact;
c) contacting at least one patient record source with a record query electronically requesting information regarding a patient;
d) initiating an electronic search of medical records within the patient record source;
e) de-identifying the medical records retrieved from the patient record source; and
f) returning a patient record report containing information held by the patient record source, wherein the patient record report and the information returned therein is void of any identifying information. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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13. A method of searching for medical information executed by one or more computers, the method comprising the steps of:
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a) formulating a record query requesting information regarding an individual;
b) forwarding the record query to a patient record source;
c) receiving a patient record report from the patient record source, said patient record report being de-identified to remove identifying information.
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17. A method for providing medical information executed by at least one computer, the method comprising the steps of:
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a) receiving a record query requesting information regarding an individual;
b) searching a registry of databases to locate the available records;
c) obtaining the records;
d) de-identifying the records; and
e) forwarding the records to the requester.
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19. A method for determining a location of a patient record created by a healthcare giver at a healthcare facility comprising the steps of:
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a) establishing computer network connectivity between a request facilitator central server and a plurality of healthcare facilities'"'"' databases, said plurality of databases being populated by information identifying the healthcare givers using the healthcare facility database and dates for which the healthcare giver was associated with the healthcare facilities'"'"' databases to the request facilitator;
b) transmitting the identifying information from the plurality of healthcare facilities'"'"' databases to the request facilitator'"'"'s central server including information indicating from which health care facility database the identifying information originates;
c) creating a searchable index of the identifying information;
d) submitting a request for the patient record to the request facilitator, the request including information identifying the healthcare giver and an approximate date of creation of the patient record;
e) querying the searchable index based on the request to determine the location of the patient record; and
f) identifying the location of the patient record.
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Specification