PLATFORM FOR CONNECTING MEDICAL INFORMATION TO SERVICES FOR MEDICAL CARE

• US 20100145723A1
• Filed: 12/03/2009
• Published: 06/10/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Itriage LLC (Aetna Health Holdings LLC)
• Original Assignee: M1 Holdings LLC (Colorado) (CVS Health Corporation)
• Inventors: Hudson, Peter, Guerra, Wayne
• Granted Patent: US 8,700,424 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 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• 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 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 70/00 ICT specially adapted for the handling or processing of medical references

Abstract

A user device for connecting symptom, disease, procedure, and facility based information into actionable services for medical care and cost analysis is presented. The user device may include the functionality of linking medical information and providing user specific information. The user-specific information allows the user to make an informed decision about medical treatment. The user device may further be operative to tailor information in light of user characteristics such as location or healthcare network membership.

Claims

1. A method of providing medical information, the method comprising:

receiving, at a computer-based process system, information regarding a symptom from a user;

correlating, using said system, said information regarding said symptom to at least one condition that presents said symptom;

obtaining, at said system, healthcare network information regarding a healthcare network to which the user belongs;

identifying, using said system, a medical provider based on at least said condition and said healthcare network information; and

presenting, using said system, information regarding said medical provider to said user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising,

acquiring, at said system, information regarding a location of said user;

wherein said identifying is based on at least said condition, said healthcare network information, and said location of said user.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said information regarding said medical provider comprises location information regarding said medical provider in relation to said location of said user.

4. The method of providing medical information of claim 2, wherein said acquiring comprises receiving, at said system, information regarding a location of said user from said user.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein said acquiring comprises detecting, at said system, said location of said user.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said detecting comprises utilizing a GPS receiver to determine the location of said user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said identifying is based on at least said condition, said healthcare network information, and a medical specialty associated with the treatment of said condition.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said obtaining comprises obtaining, at said system, said healthcare network information from the user.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said obtaining comprises determining, using said system, said healthcare network information based on a network accessed by said user.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said obtaining comprises inferring, using said system, said healthcare network information based on user information provided by said user.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing to said user, using the system, a structured web search based on at least one of said symptom and said condition.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said structured web search is directed to a description of said condition, symptoms of said condition, work-up of said condition, treatment of said condition, disease course of said condition, prognosis of said condition, new research on said condition, images of said condition, and videos of said condition.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said information regarding said medical provider comprises a link to a website.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein said information regarding said medical provider comprises a cost estimate associated with a treatment of said condition.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein said information regarding said medical provider comprises information regarding a cost specialist to assist in determining proper costs regarding a treatment of said condition.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein said information regarding said medical provider comprises quality reports regarding said medical provider.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving from the user, at said system, feedback regarding a facility.

18. A computer-based processing system for providing medical information, the system comprising:

input structure for receiving information regarding a symptom from a user;

a processor, in operative communication with at least one database containing information regarding a condition, operative to obtain healthcare network information regarding a healthcare network to which said user belongs, and operative to access said at least one database and correlate said information regarding a symptom and said condition, said processor further being operative to identify a medical provider based on said condition and said healthcare network information; and

output structure for providing information regarding said medical provider to said user.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising:

a location determination module operative to interpret location information regarding a user and utilize said location information to provide a user location;

wherein said processor is further operative to identify a medical provider based on said condition, said healthcare network information, and said user location.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein said information regarding said medical provider comprises location information regarding said medical provider in relation to said location of said user.

21. The system claim 19, wherein said location determination module comprises a GPS receiver.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein said location determination module is in operative communication with said input structure and said location information is input by said user.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein said location determination module receives location information from a source remote from said platform.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein said location information is obtained using a network based technique.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein said network based technique comprises at least one of a handset-based cell location method, cell sector method, microcell method, angle of arrival method, time difference of arrival method, and signal strength method.

26. The system for providing medical information of claim 18, wherein said processor is operative to receive said healthcare network information from said user.

27. The system for providing medical information of claim 18, wherein said processor is operative to receive said healthcare network information based on a network accessed by said user.

28. The system of claim 18, wherein said processor is operative to infer said healthcare network information based on user information provided by said user.

29. The system of claim 18, wherein the at least one database comprises at least one of a procedure database, a disease database, a symptoms database, and a provider'"'"'s database.

30. The system of claim 18, wherein said processor is operative to identify a medical provider based on said condition, said healthcare network information, and a medical specialty associated with the treatment of said condition.

31. The computer-based processing system of claim 18, further comprising:

a connection to at least one of a data network and a telephone network,

wherein said user may operate said user interface to activate at least one of said data network and said telephone network based on said information regarding said medical provider.

32. A user device for obtaining medical information, the user device comprising:

input structure for receiving healthcare network information regarding a healthcare network to which a user belongs and symptom information regarding a symptom of said user;

a network interface for transmitting patient information based at least in part on said healthcare network information and said symptom information to a network platform and receiving responsive medical provider information from said platform; and

output structure for providing said medical provider information to said user.

33. The user device of claim 32, further comprising:

a location determination module operative to interpret location information regarding a user and utilize said location information to provide a user location;

wherein said network interface is further operative to transmit said location information to said network platform and said medical provider information is based on said symptom, said healthcare network information, and said user location.

34. The user device of claim 33, wherein said medical provider information comprises location information regarding said medical provider in relation to said location of said user.

35. The user device of claim 33, wherein said location determination module comprises a GPS receiver.

36. The user device of claim 33, wherein said location determination module is in operative communication with said input structure and said location information is input by said user.

37. The user device for of claim 33, wherein said location determination module receives location information from a source remote from said user device.

38. The user device of claim 37, wherein said location information is obtained using a network based technique.

39. The user device of claim 38, wherein said network based technique comprises at least one of a handset-based cell location method, cell sector method, microcell method, angle of arrival method, time difference of arrival method, and signal strength method.

40. The user device of claim 32, wherein said healthcare network information is received from said user.

41. The user device for obtaining medical information of claim 32, wherein said healthcare network information is based on a network accessed by said user.

42. The user device of claim 32, wherein said healthcare network information is based on user information provided by said user.

43. The user device of claim 32, wherein said network platform accesses at least one database comprising at least one of a procedure database, a disease database, a symptoms database, and a provider'"'"'s database.

44. The user device of claim 32, wherein said medical provider information is based on said condition, said healthcare network information, and a medical specialty associated with the treatment of said condition.

45. The user device of claim 32, further comprising:

a connection to at least one of a data network and a telephone network,

wherein said user may operate said input structure to activate at least one of said data network and said telephone network based on said medical provider information.

46. A method of providing medical information, the method comprising:

receiving, at a computer-based processing system, information regarding a symptom from a user;

correlating, using said system, said information regarding said symptom to at least one condition that presents said symptom;

acquiring, at said system, information regarding a location of said user;

identifying, using said system, a medical provider based on at least said condition and said location of said user; and

presenting, using said system, information regarding said medical provider to said user.

47. The method of claim 46, wherein said information regarding said medical provider comprises location information regarding said medical provider in relation to said location of said user.

48. The method of claim 46, further comprising,

obtaining, at said system, healthcare network information regarding a healthcare network to which the user belongs;

wherein said identifying, using said system, said medical provider is based on at least said condition, said healthcare network information, and said information regarding a healthcare network to which a user belongs.

49. The method of claim 48, wherein said identifying, using said system, said medical provider is based on at least said condition, said healthcare network information, and a medical specialty associated with the treatment of said condition.

50. The method of claim 48, wherein said obtaining comprises receiving, at said system, said healthcare network information from the user.

51. The method of claim 48, wherein said obtaining comprises determining, using said system, said healthcare network information based on a network accessed by said user.

52. The method of claim 48, wherein said obtaining comprises inferring, using said system, said healthcare network information based on user information provided by said user.

53. The method of claim 46, wherein said acquiring comprises receiving, at said system, information regarding a location of said user from said user.

54. The method of claim 48, wherein said acquiring comprises detecting, at said system, said location of said user.

55. The method of claim 54, wherein said detecting comprises utilizing a GPS receiver associated with the user.

56. The method of claim 48, further comprising:

providing, using said system, the user a structured web search based on at least one of said symptom and said condition.

57. The method of claim 46, wherein said structured web search is directed to a description of said condition, symptoms of said condition, work-up of said condition, treatment of said condition, disease course of said condition, prognosis of said condition, new research on said condition, images of said condition, and videos of said condition.

58. The method of claim 46, wherein said information regarding said medical provider comprises a link to a website.

59. The method of claim 46, wherein said information regarding said medical provider comprises cost estimates associated with a treatment of said condition.

60. The method of claim 46, wherein said information regarding said medical provider comprises information regarding a cost specialist to assist in determining proper costs regarding a treatment of said condition.

61. The method of claim 46, wherein said information regarding said medical provider comprises quality reports regarding said medical provider.

62. The method of claim 46, further comprising:

receiving from the user feedback regarding a facility.