Apparatus and methods for determining and processing medical outcomes

• US 20090204430A1
• Filed: 04/16/2009
• Published: 08/13/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/1998
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Richard E. Gliklich
• Original Assignee: Richard E. Gliklich
• Inventors: Gliklich, Richard E.
• Application Number:
  US12/424,888
• Publication Number:
  US 20090204430A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06375 Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change
• 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 20/10 relating to drugs or medications, e.g. for ensuring correct administration to patients
• 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: G16H 50/70 for mining of medical data, e.g. analysing previous cases of other patients
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

A data processing system is provided for determining clinical outcomes of medical data gathered by the system. The system can allow a person to define a medical study and can then administer the medical study and can collect and analyze data from potentially geographically diverse doctors, patients and other people associated with a study. Users enter sets of medical information. The system can analyze the medical data according to any number of clinical algorithms that may be custom defined and edited before and during the study. The system conditionally outputs the clinical outcome to the user. The clinical outcome can be used for treatment of patients participating in the study immediately after the data is input and analyzed. The medical outcomes can indicate such things as performance comparisons, composite outcomes, and risk stratification and assessments for such things as treatments, drugs, illnesses, doctors, patients and physician groups.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving medical data associated with a medical study into a memory of a computer system, the medical data including information in accordance with definitional information for a medical study;

processing the medical data using a clinical algorithm executed by at least a processor of the computer system to determine first clinical outcome data, the first clinical outcome data indicating an effectiveness of treating patients associated with the medical study;

outputting at least a portion of the first clinical outcome data to a user;

receiving input from the user during the course of the medical study;

generating a modified clinical algorithm based on the input; and

repeating the receiving and processing of the medical data using the modified clinical algorithm during the course of the medical study to determine second clinical outcome data.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein receiving the medical data, processing the medical data, and generating the modified clinical algorithm occur in substantially real-time during which the medical data is gathered in an ongoing manner during the medical study as the medical study evolves over time based on the input.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein receiving the medical data comprises:

receiving the medical data over a computer network from user equipment, at least one patient of the patients interacting with a user interface on a display on the user equipment to submit answers to questions in accordance with the medical study definitional information.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

outputting at least a portion of the second clinical outcome data to a user.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein outputting at least a portion of the first clinical outcome data comprises:

outputting at least a portion of the first clinical outcome data to a user according to a user characteristic of the user.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the user characteristic comprises at least one of an identity or a privilege level of the user.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first clinical outcome data comprises information relating to a comparison among treatments of an ailment.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first clinical outcome data provides an indication of a performance of at least one first doctor in comparison to at least one second doctor.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first clinical outcome data comprises at least one of individual doctor performance rankings, physician group performance rankings, patient wellness rankings, recommended treatments and procedures;

answer information;

clinical data provided by doctors, correlation results of data analysis by geographical location, drug performance results, treatment performance results, composite outcomes that comprise cross-correlations of all or selected study characteristics, ailment rankings, costs basis rankings, recovery and mortality rankings, risk stratification data, or trigger event data.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing at least one report indicating how the medical study evolved over time based at least in part on a comparison of the clinical algorithm with the modified clinical algorithm.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein receiving input from the user during the medical study comprises:

receiving the input from the user in response to a discovery made during a course of the medical study that a medical parameter should be taken into account in producing the second clinical outcome.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, and wherein outputting at least a portion of the first clinical outcome data to a user comprises:

outputting at least a portion of the first clinical outcome data to a user, the user comprising a doctor, the at least the portion of the first clinical outcome data being output to assist the doctor in providing treatment to the patients.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving one or more inquiries from one or more doctors during the medical study; and

outputting at least a portion of the second clinical outcome data to further indicate an effectiveness of treating the patients with different possible treatments.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the at least the portion of the clinical outcome data is configured to enable a doctor to compare a treatment of a patient by the doctor with treatments of one or more other patients by one or more other doctors during the medical study.

15. A computer program product having a computer readable medium comprising computer program logic encoded thereon, such that the computer program logic, when executed on at least one processing unit with a computing device, causes the at least one processing unit to perform the steps of:

receiving medical data associated with a medical study into a memory of a computer system, the medical data including information in accordance with definitional information for a medical study;

processing the medical data using a clinical algorithm executed by at least a processor of the computer system to determine first clinical outcome data, the first clinical outcome data indicating an effectiveness of treating patients associated with the medical study;

outputting at least a portion of the first clinical outcome data to a user;

receiving input from the user during the course of the medical study;

generating a modified clinical algorithm based on the input; and

repeating the receiving and processing of the medical data using the modified clinical algorithm during the course of the medical study to determine second clinical outcome data.

16. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein receiving the medical data, processing the medical data, and generating the modified clinical algorithm occur in substantially real-time during which the medical data is gathered in an ongoing manner during the medical study as the medical study evolves over time based on the input.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein receiving the medical data comprises:

receiving the medical data over a computer network from user equipment, at least one patient of the patients interacting with a user interface on a display on the user equipment to submit answers to questions in accordance with the medical study definitional information.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the computer program logic, when executed on the at least one processing unit with the computing device, causes the at least one processing unit to perform the step of:

outputting at least a portion of the second clinical outcome data to a user.

19. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein outputting at least a portion of the first clinical outcome data comprises:

outputting at least a portion of the first clinical outcome data to a user according to a user characteristic of the user.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the user characteristic comprises at least one of an identity or a privilege level of the user.

21. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the first clinical outcome data comprises information relating to a comparison among treatments of an ailment.

22. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the first clinical outcome data provides an indication of a performance of at least one first doctor in comparison to at least one second doctor.

23. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the first clinical outcome data comprises at least one of individual doctor performance rankings, physician group performance rankings, patient wellness rankings, recommended treatments and procedures;

answer information;

clinical data provided by doctors, correlation results of data analysis by geographical location, drug performance results, treatment performance results, composite outcomes that comprise cross-correlations of all or selected study characteristics, ailment rankings, costs basis rankings, recovery and mortality rankings, risk stratification data, or trigger event data.

24. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the computer program logic, when executed on the at least one processing unit with the computing device, causes the at least one processing unit to perform the step of:

providing at least one report indicating how the medical study evolved over time based at least in part on a comparison of the clinical algorithm with the modified clinical algorithm.

25. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein receiving input from the user during the medical study comprises:

receiving the input from the user in response to a discovery made during a course of the medical study that a medical parameter should be taken into account in producing the second clinical outcome.

26. The computer program product of claim 15, and wherein outputting at least a portion of the first clinical outcome data to a user comprises:

outputting at least a portion of the first clinical outcome data to a user, the user comprising a doctor, the at least the portion of the first clinical outcome data being output to assist the doctor in providing treatment to the patients.

27. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the computer program logic, when executed on the at least one processing unit with the computing device, causes the at least one processing unit to perform the steps of:

receiving one or more inquiries from one or more doctors during the medical study; and

outputting at least a portion of the second clinical outcome data to further indicate an effectiveness of treating the patients with different possible treatments.

28. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the at least the portion of the clinical outcome data is configured to enable a doctor to compare a treatment of a patient by the doctor with treatments of one or more other patients by one or more other doctors during the medical study.

29. A digital data processing system, comprising:

memory to store instructions for execution;

one or more processing devices configured to execute the instructions, the instructions for causing the one or more processing devices to;

receive medical data associated with a medical study into a memory of a computer system, the medical data including information in accordance with definitional information for a medical study;

process the medical data using a clinical algorithm executed by at least a processor of the computer system to determine first clinical outcome data, the first clinical outcome data indicating an effectiveness of treating patients associated with the medical study;

output at least a portion of the first clinical outcome data to a user;

receive input from the user during the course of the medical study;

generate a modified clinical algorithm based on the input; and

repeat the receiving and processing of the medical data using the modified clinical algorithm during the course of the medical study to determine second clinical outcome data.

30. The digital data processing system of claim 29, wherein receiving the medical data, processing the medical data, and generating the modified clinical algorithm occur in substantially real-time during which the medical data is gathered in an ongoing manner during the medical study as the medical study evolves over time based on the input.

31. The digital data processing system of claim 29, wherein receiving the medical data comprises:

receiving the medical data over a computer network from user equipment, at least one patient of the patients interacting with a user interface on a display on the user equipment to submit answers to questions in accordance with the medical study definitional information.

32. The digital data processing system of claim 29, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions for causing the one or more processing devices to:

output at least a portion of the second clinical outcome data to a user.

33. The digital data processing system of claim 29, wherein outputting at least a portion of the first clinical outcome data comprises:

outputting at least a portion of the first clinical outcome data to a user according to a user characteristic of the user.

34. The digital data processing system of claim 33, wherein the user characteristic comprises at least one of an identity or a privilege level of the user.

35. The digital data processing system of claim 29, wherein the first clinical outcome data comprises information relating to a comparison of doctors for treatment of an ailment.

36. The digital data processing system of claim 29, wherein the first clinical outcome data provides an indication of a performance of at least one first doctor in comparison to at least one second doctor.

37. The digital data processing system of claim 29, wherein the first clinical outcome data comprises at least one of individual doctor performance rankings, physician group performance rankings, patient wellness rankings, recommended treatments and procedures;

answer information;

clinical data provided by doctors, correlation results of data analysis by geographical location, drug performance results, treatment performance results, composite outcomes that comprise cross-correlations of all or selected study characteristics, ailment rankings, costs basis rankings, recovery and mortality rankings, risk stratification data, or trigger event data.

38. The digital data processing system of claim 29, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions for causing the one or more processing devices to:

provide at least one report indicating how the medical study evolved over time based at least in part on a comparison of the clinical algorithm with the modified clinical algorithm.

39. The digital data processing system of claim 29, wherein receiving input from the user during the medical study comprises:

receiving the input from the user in response to a discovery made during a course of the medical study that a medical parameter should be taken into account in producing the second clinical outcome.

40. The digital data processing system of claim 29, and wherein outputting at least a portion of the first clinical outcome data to a user comprises:

outputting at least a portion of the first clinical outcome data to a user, the user comprising a doctor, the at least the portion of the first clinical outcome data being output to assist the doctor in providing treatment to the patients.

41. The digital data processing system of claim 29, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions for causing the one or more processing devices to:

receive one or more inquiries from one or more doctors during the medical study; and

output at least a portion of the second clinical outcome data to further indicate an effectiveness of treating the patients with different possible treatments.

42. The digital data processing system of claim 29, wherein the at least the portion of the clinical outcome data is configured to enable a doctor to compare a treatment of a patient by the doctor with treatments of one or more other patients by one or more other doctors during the medical study.