Method and Apparatus of Assessing Need for Health Care and Facilitating The Provision of Health Care

• US 20100121652A1
• Filed: 12/04/2009
• Published: 05/13/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. (Johnson & Johnson)
• Original Assignee: Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. (Johnson & Johnson)
• Inventors: Schiaparelli, Jill F., Voegele, James W., Murray, Michael A., Powell, Darrel M.
• Application Number:
  US12/630,972
• Publication Number:
  US 20100121652A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; 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: 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

Abstract

A health care assessment system and associated methods are provided for providing increased access to individuals for assessing whether a need exists for health care and then also facilitating an individual'"'"'s access to health care as needed. Embodiments of the system include a health care assessement system for receiving input from a patient and generating an output reflecting an indivdual'"'"'s risk of one or more disease states. The health care assessment system is further capable of providing resources for health care and visual tools for collecting patient history.

Claims

1. A method for assessing health risks of an individual comprising the steps of:

receiving health data for the individual into a programmable electronic controller;

storing the health data in a memory operatively associated with the electronic controller;

selecting at least one algorithm from a plurality of algorithms stored in a memory operatively associated with the electronic controller, wherein the step of selecting is based at least in part on the received health data; and

electronically generating a numerical risk assessment of at least one disease using the selected algorithm and the received health data; and

generating a report of the risk assessment.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising generating a visual tool adapted for tracking and assessing the individual'"'"'s progress with respect to risk assessment.

3. A method for assessing health risks of an individual comprising the steps of:

receiving health data for the individual into a machine;

performing a machine comparison of the received health data with health care provider data;

machine generating a numerical assessment of the individual'"'"'s risk of developing a disease.