Available inpatient psychiatric bed locator and community resource need tracker

• US 20050071198A1
• Filed: 09/29/2004
• Published: 03/31/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Michael P. Krupa
• Original Assignee: Michael P. Krupa
• Inventors: Krupa, Michael P.
• Application Number:
  US10/951,631
• Publication Number:
  US 20050071198A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass

Abstract

A network-based service whereby hospital Emergency Departments and other acute care, crisis service providers, and insurers may access an up-to-date database listing available inpatient mental health beds satisfying user-selected criteria.

Claims

1. A method for locating a patient bed at another facility, the method comprising the steps of:

storing a respective profile for a plurality of facilities, each profile including criteria related to an available bed at that facility;

receiving a search request to locate an available patient bed, the search request including a location of the patient;

searching the respective profiles based on the search request; and

displaying an identification of matching facilities, if any, from among the plurality of facilities, that are within a predetermined distance of the location of the patient.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the search request includes search criteria about the patient.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of:

identifying the matching facilities by comparing the criteria related to the available patient bed with the search criteria about the patient.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the criteria related to the available patient bed includes at least gender and age.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the criteria related to the available patient bed includes insurer information.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein insurer information includes at least one of insurer name, insurer restrictions based on age, and insurer restrictions based on distance.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the criteria related to the available patient bed includes diagnosis information for the patient.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the criteria related to the available bed includes treatment specialties available at the respective facility.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

ranking the matching facilities based on their respective proximity to the location of the patient.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the location of the patient includes a home residence of the patient.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

receiving an update from a particular facility regarding a change in patient bed availability; and

updating the respective profile for that particular facility based on the received update.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the update includes updated criteria related to available patient beds at that particular facility.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a subsequent search request to locate another available patient bed; and

using the updated criteria when performing the step of searching the respective profiles.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

determining that no matching facilities are identified; and

automatically repeating the search request until a matching facility having an available patient bed is identified.

15. A method for facilitating identification of available patient beds, comprising the steps of:

providing storage for a respective profile for each of a plurality of inpatient facilities, wherein each respective profile includes criteria related to an available patient bed at that inpatient facility;

permitting a healthcare organization to search the respective profiles to locate, for a patient, an available patient bed matching a specified set of criteria; and

returning to the healthcare organization an identification of matching facilities, if any, that are within a predetermined distance of the patient.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of:

generating revenue from each of the inpatient facilities by charging a fee based on respective patient capacity of each facility.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of:

generating revenue from the healthcare organization by charging a fee for searching the respective profiles.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the criteria related to the available patient bed includes at least gender and age.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the criteria related to the available patient bed includes insurer information.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the criteria related to the available patient bed includes diagnosis information.

21. The method of claim 15, further comprising the steps of:

presenting to a particular inpatient facility an interface to update their respective profile; and

receiving an update from that particular inpatient facility; and

performing subsequent searches of that particular inpatient facility based on the received update.

22. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of returning, further includes the step of:

ranking the matching facilities based on proximity to a home residence of the patient.

23. An apparatus comprising:

at least one microprocessor;

a memory in communication with the at least one microprocessor;

a program code stored in said memory and when executed by said microprocessor, configured to;

store a respective profile for a plurality of facilities, each profile including criteria related to an available patient bed at that facility;

receive a search request to locate an available patient bed, the search request including a location of a patient;

search the respective profiles based on the search request; and

display an identification of matching facilities, if any, from among the plurality of facilities, that are within a predetermined distance of the location of the patient.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the search request includes search criteria about the patient.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the program code when executed is further configured to:

identify the matching facilities by comparing the criteria related to the available patient bed with the search criteria about the patient.

26. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the criteria related to the available patient bed includes at least gender and age.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the criteria related to the available patient bed includes insurer information.

28. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the criteria related to the available patient bed includes diagnosis information for the patient.

29. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the criteria related to the available patient bed includes treatment specialties available at the respective facility.

30. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the program code when executed is further configured to:

rank the matching facilities based on their respective proximity to the location of the patient.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the location of the patient includes a home residence of the patient.

32. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the at least one microprocessor, memory, and program code are part of a web site available through an Internet.