SYSTEM AND METHOD TO MANAGE A WORKFLOW IN DELIVERING HEALTHCARE

• US 20090182576A1
• Filed: 01/11/2008
• Published: 07/16/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Solliday-McRoy, Jeffery, Warner, Adrian, Sievenpiper, Crispian
• Granted Patent: US 8,706,516 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06312 Adjustment or analysis of established resource schedule, e.g. resource or task levelling, or dynamic rescheduling
• 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

Abstract

A system and method to manage progression of patients through a workflow of events that employs at least one resource in delivering healthcare is provided. The system comprises a sensor operable to track at least one property of the plurality of patients, and at least one processor in communication with the sensor. The processor is operable to execute computer readable program instructions generally representative of the steps of calculating a bid of the more than one of the series of patients relative to one another directed to a slot in a schedule of utilization of the at least one resource dependent on tracked data of the at least one property of the more than one of the series of patients, and assigning one of the patients to the slot in the schedule of the at least one resource dependent on a comparison of the bids.

Claims

1. A method to manage progress of a plurality of patients through a workflow of events in delivering healthcare, the method comprising the steps of:

tracking at least one property of more than one of the plurality of patients to progress through workflow of events;

calculating a bid of the more than one of the plurality of patients relative to one another, the bid directed to a slot in the schedule of at least one resource utilized in the workflow of events in delivering healthcare, the bid dependent on a tracked data of the at least one property of the more than one of the plurality of patients; and

assigning one of the more than one of the plurality of patients to the slot in the schedule of the at least one resource dependent on a comparison of the bid of each of the more than one of the plurality of patients relative to one another.

2. The method as in claim 1, wherein the at least one resource includes a medical diagnostic system, and further comprising the steps of:

tracking at least one property of the imaging system, the at least one property including one of the group comprising a patient handling capacity, a current status of use, and a failure condition of the imaging system.

3. The method as in claim 1, wherein at least one property of the more than one of the plurality of patients that is tracked through the workflow includes a time prior to image acquisition relative to a time of receiving a contrast or nuclear agent operable to enhance image acquisition, and wherein the bid is dependent on the at least one tracked property relative to a threshold.

4. The method as in claim 1, wherein the bid of each of the more than one of the plurality of patients is updated dependent on a change in tracked value of at least one property of each of the more than one of the plurality of patients at any point in time of the workflow.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the bid of each of the more than one of the plurality of patients relative to one another as directed to the slot in the schedule of the at least one resource is illustrated in a display.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the at least one property includes a classification of the patient need as critical versus non-critical condition directed to utilization of the at least one resource.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the bid is generally representative of a risk to each of the more than one of the plurality of patients relative to one another in waiting for to utilize the at least one resource, and wherein the bid is dependent on a measured wait time to utilize the at least one resource.

8. The method as in claim 1, further including the steps of:

creating an agent to track the at least one property of each of the more than one of the plurality of patients while progressing through the workflow;

collaborating among the agents to identify the priority status of each of the more than one of the plurality of patients relative to one another.

9. The method as in claim 1, wherein the at least one property includes a time of progression through the workflow relative to another of the more than one of the plurality of patients.

10. The method as in claim 1, further including the step of:

creating a display illustrative of an identifier of the more than one of the plurality of patients in an arrangement according to a respective value of the bid of each of the more than of the plurality of patients directed to the slot in the schedule of the at least one resource.

11. A system to manage progression of a plurality of patients through a workflow of events that employs at least one resource in delivering healthcare, comprising:

at least one sensor operable to track at least one property of more than one of the plurality of patients;

at least one processor in communication with the sensor, the at least one processor operable to execute a plurality computer readable program instructions generally representative of the steps of;

calculating a bid of the more than one of the plurality of patients relative to one another directed to a slot in a schedule of utilization of the at least one resource dependent on tracked data of the at least one property of the more than one of the plurality of patients, and

assigning one of the more than one of the plurality of patients to the slot in the schedule of the at least one resource dependent on a comparison of the bid of each of the more than one of the plurality of patients relative to one another.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one resource includes a medical imaging system.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one tracked property of the more than one patient includes a wait time to utilize the at least one resource.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the value of the bid is further dependent on one of the group comprising a patient handling capacity of the at least one resource, a status of utilization of the at least one resource, and a failure condition of the at least one resource.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein a first bid is generally representative of a priority status of a first patient to be assigned to the slot in the schedule of the at least one resource relative to a second bid generally representative of the priority of a second patient to the slot in the schedule of the at least one resource, wherein each of the first and second bids is dependent on a measured wait time of each of the first and second patients to utilize the at least one resource, a valuation of a critical condition of each of the first and second patients critical versus non-critical, and a degree of progression of each of the first and second patients through the workflow.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the plurality computer readable program instructions are generally representative of the additional steps of:

creating an agent to track each the at least one property of the more than one of the plurality of patients; and

collaborating amongst the agents with one another to identify the priority status of the more than one of the plurality of patients relative to another at any particular time of the workflow,

wherein the bid of the more than one of the plurality of patients is dependent on the priority status of the more than one of the plurality of patients relative to one another.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one tracked property includes a classification of the patient need as critical versus non-critical condition directed to utilization of the at least one resource.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the at least one tracked property includes a time prior to image acquisition relative to a time of receiving a contrast or nuclear agent operable to enhance image acquisition, and wherein the bid is dependent on the at least one tracked property of the more than one of the plurality of the patients relative to a threshold.

19. A dashboard to manage progression of a plurality of patients through a workflow of events that employs at least one resource in delivering healthcare, comprising:

a display illustrative of an identifier of the at least one resource, and further illustrative of an identifier of the more than one of the plurality of patients in an arrangement according to order of a respective value of the bid of each of the more than of the plurality of patients directed to the slot in the schedule of the at least one resource.

20. The dashboard of claim 19, the display further illustrative of a value of the bid of the more than one of the plurality of patients directed to the slot in the schedule of the at least one resource.