DISEASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD INCLUDING THERAPEUTIC ALTERATIONS PERMISSION LEVEL

• US 20080052132A1
• Filed: 10/31/2007
• Published: 02/28/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/1997
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Healthways SC, LLC (Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Clinical Decision Support, LLC (Tivity Health, Inc.)
• Inventors: Iliff, Edwin
• Granted Patent: US 8,663,104 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/3
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/20 for electronic clinical trials or questionnaires
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 15/00 ICT specially adapted for medical reports, e.g. generation or transmission thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/10 relating to drugs or medications, e.g. for ensuring correct administration to patients
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/30 for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 70/20 relating to practices or guidelines
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 70/60 relating to pathologies
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 80/00 ICT specially adapted for facilitating communication between medical practitioners or patients, e.g. for collaborative diagnosis, therapy or health monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 90/10 Information and communication technologies [ICT] supporting adaptation to climate change, e.g. for weather forecasting or climate simulation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 128/92 Computer assisted medical diagnostics
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 128/925 Neural network

Abstract

A system and method for allowing a patient to access an automated process for managing a specified health problem called a disease. The system performs disease management in a fully automated manner, using periodic interactive dialogs with the patient to obtain health state measurements from the patient, to evaluate and assess the progress of the patient'"'"'s disease, to review and adjust therapy to optimal levels, and to give the patient medical advice for administering treatment and handling symptom flare-ups and acute episodes of the disease. The medical records are updated, the progression of the disease is stored and tracked, and the patient'"'"'s preferences for treatment are stored and then used to offer medical advice based on the current state of the disease. A prestored general disease trend curve is compared against a patient specific disease trend curve, and the system makes an automated response such as adjusting therapy.

Claims

1. A method of controlling changes to a patient'"'"'s therapy, the method comprising:

storing a plurality of therapy alteration permission levels on a computing device that represent various levels of authority for changing a therapy of a patient;

applying one of the plurality of therapy alteration permission levels to a data item of an electronic medical record of the patient; and

computing whether the patient'"'"'s therapy can be modified based on the therapy alteration permission level of the data item.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein therapy change comprises modifying a treatment dosage prescribed to the patient.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein therapy change comprises adding a new therapy to treat the patient.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of therapy alteration permission levels comprise a restrictive level that requires approval from a healthcare provider before the patient'"'"'s therapy can be modified.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of therapy alteration permission levels comprise a restrictive level that allows the computing device to automatically change the patient'"'"'s therapy without human intervention.

6. A disease management system, comprising:

a disease management module (DMM) for automated therapy modification and health assessment;

a therapy alteration permission level (TAPL) that indicates an amount of authority the DMM has to change therapy for a patient; and

a data item of an electronic medical record with a prescribed therapy for the patient, wherein the data item contains a corresponding TAPL.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the TAPL determines whether the DMM can prescribe an increased dosage.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the TAPL determines whether the DMM can prescribe a decreased dosage.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the TAPL determines whether the DMM can recommend that a patient stop taking the prescribed therapy.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the TAPL determines whether a patient can receive a new therapy.

11. A computerized medical advice system for controlling a disease that is managed by a schedule of treatment, the system comprising:

a disease management module (DMM) configured to automatically provide health assessment and therapy information for a patient having a disease;

a permission database comprising permission information indicative of a level of accessibility permitted to health assessment and therapy information; and

a therapy alteration permission level (TAPL) for controlling the degree of autonomy the DMM has to manage a schedule of treatment for the patient.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the TAPL corresponds to a therapy of the patient for the disease which is being managed.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the TAPL comprises a restriction level that requires approval from a healthcare provider before the patient'"'"'s therapy can be modified.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the TAPL comprises a restriction level that allows the DMM to automatically change the patient'"'"'s therapy without human approval.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising notifying a healthcare provider that the DMM automatically changed the patient'"'"'s therapy without human approval.

16. A computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for modifying a prescribed therapy for a disease, the computer readable code comprising instructions for:

receiving data from a patient to assess the health of the patient;

computing a determination whether the patient would benefit by modifying an existing prescribed therapy; and

checking a therapy alteration permission level (TAPL) of the existing prescribed therapy for the patient to determine whether a computing device has authority to modify the existing prescribed therapy.

17. The computer usable medium of claim 16, wherein the existing prescribed therapy comprises a schedule of treatment originally prescribed by the computing device.

18. The computer usable medium of claim 16, wherein the existing prescribed therapy comprises a schedule of treatment previously prescribed by the computing device or a healthcare provider.

19. A computerized therapy alterations method, comprising:

storing on a data storage a therapy alterations permission level (TAPL) corresponding to a particular disease of a patient;

automatically computing the therapy adjustment for the patient through an automated interaction with the patient; and

recommending a therapy adjustment to the patient as allowed by the TAPL.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the therapy adjustment comprises recommending starting a new therapy.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the therapy adjustment comprises recommending discontinuing an existing therapy.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the patient is a human being in need of wellness care.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein the TAPL comprises a restrictive level that requires approval from a healthcare provider before the patient'"'"'s therapy can be modified.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein the TAPL comprises a restrictive level that allows a computing device to automatically change the patient'"'"'s therapy without human approval.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the computing device notifies a human that the computing device automatically changed the patient'"'"'s therapy without human approval.