Electronic charting system

• US 20040205042A1
• Filed: 09/13/2001
• Published: 10/14/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/13/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Speech Products Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Speech Products Incorporated
• Inventors: Previs, John Robert, Gatewood, Joseph Howard, Ginsburg, Michael Jed, Ritter, John David, Freymark, Peter Julius, Indianer, Evan, Umbel, Christopher M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,849,400 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/117 Tagging; Marking up details of markup languages G06F40/143; Designating a block; Setting of attributes style sheets, e.g. eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation [XSLT], G06F40/154

Abstract

In a document such as a patient chart that contains several types of information, a tag is applied to each type of collected information to identify the content or type of data. The information is also associated with at least one particular individual, event or other association member. The information is stored in a manner such that each type of information collected is associated with one of the assigned tags and an association member. Each user has an access code associated with at least some of the defined tags. When a user seeks to retrieve collected information, access is permitted to only that information having tags associated with the access code assigned to that user. The tags are preferably created by storing the information in XML format. A standard may be applied to information collected to determine whether the collected information corresponds to the standard.

Claims

1. A method for recording and retrieving information in electronic form comprising:

defining a plurality of types of information to be recorded;

defining a tag for each type of information that tells what kind of meaning to attach to the information;

defining association members;

collecting the information in a manner such that each type of information is assigned an associated tag selected from among the defined tags and also assigned at least one association member;

storing the information in a manner such that each type of information collected is associated with the assigned tags and is assigned at least one association member;

issuing access codes to a plurality of users, each access code associated with at least some of the defined tags; and

providing access for a particular user to only that information having tags associated with the access code assigned to that user.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one association member is that person who enters the information being collected.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one association member is selected from the group consisting of patients, medical doctors and nurses.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the users are selected from the group consisting of medical doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, coders, billers and bill payers.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the tags are in XML format.

6. The method of claim 5 also comprising transmitting information to which a user is provided access to that user over at least one network selected from the group of networks consisting of intranets and global communication networks.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the information collected is medical information and each type of collected information is assigned to a patient.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein access codes assigned to selected users enable those users to collect and store information.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein at least some of the information is collected through the use of speech recognition software.

10. The method of claim 1 also comprising storing sets of data, each set being associated with particular information, wherein each set contains an associated set identifier and user identifier and wherein at least some of the information is collected by a user associating at least one member of the set associated with that user with a defined tag and one of the association members.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the sets of data are patient chart elements each chart element identified by a type of patient complaint, the user is a caregiver identified by the user identifier, the association members are patients and the user associates at least one member of the set with one of the patients.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein at least some of the patient complaints are associated with an age group and sex.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing at least one qualification standard, each standard comprising a list of tagged information required to be associated with a single association member;

applying the at least one standard to information collected and associated with a single association member to determine whether the collected information corresponds to the list of tagged information required by the standard; and

advising one collecting the information whether or not the standard has been met.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising advising what on the list of tagged information has not been collected.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising advising a user to collect that information which has not been collected.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein the at least one qualification standard contains a content standard for at least one of the types of information collected and further comprising applying the content standard to at least some of the information collected.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the at least one standard corresponds to at least one requirement established by a third party.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein patient information is collected and the third party is at least one of a payer for medical services and a government agency.

19. The method of claim 18 also comprising advising one collecting the information whether or not the qualification standard has been met.

20. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing a user interface containing fields in which at least some of the types of information being collected are displayed and presenting those fields in a sequential manner to a user collecting information.

21. The method of claim 20 further comprising providing a means enabling a user to select and display information in at least one of the fields.

22. The method of claim 1 also comprising requiring one collecting information associated with an association member to store as a single version information collected for that association member.

23. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

requiring a user to enter a user identifier whenever that user seeks to collect and store information; and

associating that user identifier with information collected and stored by that user.

24. The method of claim 1 further comprising requiring each user to confirm information collected and stored by that user for one of the association members.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein information is confirmed by applying a digital signature.

26. An apparatus for recording and retrieving information in electronic form comprising at least one computer containing:

a first set of tables having information relating to a plurality of members of an association such that there are several types of information recorded for each member of the association and each type of information is tagged in a manner that each tag tells what kind of meaning is attached to information associated with that tag;

a second set of tables containing a list of users each user having an associated access privilege, each access privilege associated with at least one of the tags; and

a program that enables each user access to only those types of information having tags that are associated with the access privilege of that user.

27. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein the at least one computer is a plurality of computers, the first set of tables is contained on one of the computers and all other computers are connected to that one computer.

28. The apparatus of claim 27 wherein at least one of the other computers is connected to the computer containing the first set of tables via a global communications network.

29. The apparatus of claim 27 wherein at least one of the users obtains access to the first set of tables through one of the computers connected to the computer containing the first set of tables and that only information contained in the first set of tables and having tags that are associated with the access privilege of that user is transmitted from the computer containing the first set of tables to the computer being used by the user.

30. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein the tags are in XML format.

31. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein the access privilege of at least one user enables that user to collect and store information in at least one of the first set of tables and the second set of tables.

32. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein the at least one computer contains speech recognition software that enables at least one user to enter information into at least one of the first set of tables and the second set of tables.

33. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein the first set of tables contains patient information and the members of the association are patients.

34. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein the users are selected from the group consisting of medical doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, coders, billers and bill payers.

35. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein the at least one computer contains at least one standard applicable to at least some of the types of information in the first set of tables that ensures certain elements are entered into a table by a user.

36. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein at least some of the information in the first set of tables is associated with one user.

37. The apparatus of claim 26 also comprising a third set of tables in the at least one computer, the third set of tables containing sets of data, each set being associated with particular information, wherein each set contains an associated set identifier and user identifier.

38. The apparatus of claim 37 wherein the sets of information are patient chart elements each identified by a type of patient complaint, the user is a caregiver identified by the user identifier and the association members are patients.

39. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein at least one computer contains a program that allows a user who has entered information relating to one member of the association into at least one of the first set of tables and the second set of tables to verify that information with regard to completeness.

40. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein the at least one computer contains a program that associates a user who has entered information relating to one member of the association into in at least one of the first set of tables and the second set of tables with the information entered by that user.

41. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein the at least one computer contains a program that enables a first user who has entered information relating to one member of the association to permit another user to enter information relating to the same association member without requiring the first user to verify the information entered by that first user.

42. An improved electronic patient chart system of the type having at least one computer containing a first set of tables containing patient information and a second set of tables containing a list of users, each user having an associated user identification, wherein the improvement comprises a third database and associated program that enables a user to create custom patient information entries and store those entries in the database, the program associating a user identification with each custom patient entry and enabling a user to access those entries associated with the user, modify those entries and associate those entries and modifications of those entries with at least one patient in the first set of tables.

43. The improved electronic patient system of claim 42 wherein the created custom patient information entries comprise entries that correspond to a particular chief complaint or patient condition.

44. An improved method of storing patient information in an electronic patient chart in which text data entered by a user is entered into an electronic patient chart wherein the improvement comprises:

storing a set of custom patient information entries in a database;

associating each custom patient information entry with at least one user; and

permitting each user associated with a custom patient information entry to select that entry and associate that entry with a patient.

45. The improved method of claim 44 also comprising permitting each user associated with a custom patient information entry to modify that entry.

46. The improved method of claim 44 wherein the created custom patient information entries comprise entries that correspond to a particular chief complaint or patient condition