System for Communication of Health Care Data

• US 20080103832A1
• Filed: 10/26/2007
• Published: 05/01/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/11/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Healthtrio LLC (Spok Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Malik Hasan
• Inventors: Peterson, John, Korpman, Ralph, Hasan, Malik, Wallen, J., Post, Cindy
• Granted Patent: US 7,685,003 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• 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 80/00 ICT specially adapted for facilitating communication between medical practitioners or patients, e.g. for collaborative diagnosis, therapy or health monitoring

Abstract

An apparatus for communicating health care data from a sender to a receiver is provided. The apparatus has a first computer system, a second computer system, and a rules engine. The first computer system has health care data stored therein. The second computer system is in operable communication with, and is configured to extract the health care data from, the first computer system. The rules engine normalizes the extracted health care data to a predefined format.

Claims

1. A system for communicating health care data from a sender to a receiver, the system comprising:

a first computer system having health care data stored therein;

a second computer system in operable communication with, and configured to receive extracted health care data from the first computer system; and

a rules engine to normalize the extracted health care data;

wherein said rules engine identifies a plurality of health care data fields in a predefined format;

wherein said rules engine matches health care data fields with corresponding fields of the extracted health care data and enters the extracted health care data into the matching health care data fields;

wherein said rules engine also determines meanings for the extracted health care data located in the matching health care data fields; and

wherein the rules engine normalizes the extracted health care data by comparing the determined meanings of the extracted health care data to the predefined format and then converting the extracted health care data to the predefined format.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the extracted health care data normalized by the rules engine and communicated between the sender and receiver, is selected from a group consisting of eligibility/benefit display, member roster, claim submission, provider lookup, formulary lookup, diagnosis code lookup, procedure code lookup, access health plan information online, communicate with a health plan on-line, communicate with patients on-line, patient-centric view of data across several health plans, order generation and tracking, results review and release, result printing, prescription writing, medication profile for each patient, access to patient'"'"'s personal health record based on patient approval, personalized medical and health care content integration, both context-specific and on demand, e-commerce integration:

office, medical and health-related product awareness and buying capabilities, email, practice management system subscription, support disease management, and physician credentialing subscription.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the extracted health care data normalized by the rules engine and communicated between the sender and receiver, is selected from a group consisting of group eligibility, group enrollment, enrollment changes, formulary lookup, e-commerce integration, access from health plan web site or direct access via URL, personalized content integration, both context-specific and on demand, e-commerce integration and health care-related product awareness and buying capabilities.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the extracted health care data normalized by the rules engine and communicated between the sender and receiver, is selected from a group consisting of identification card requests, address changes, provider directory inquiries, personalized health information based on an interest profile, diagnosis information, relevant articles and patient education materials, communications from health care providers an health care plans, lab and radiology results, scheduled appointments with a health care provider, prescription refills, personal health records, eligibility/benefit information, claim information, referral and authorization information and status, provider lookup, family history, medication profile and formulary lookup.

2. The system of claim 2, further comprising a third computer system, in operable communication with, and configured to receive the extracted health care data normalized to the predefined format.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the first computer is a plurality of computers each having the health care data stored thereon.