METHODS AND APPARATUS TO AUTOMATICALLY GENERATE SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR HEALTHCARE EVENT TRACKING AND ALERTING SYSTEMS

• US 20100191546A1
• Filed: 01/29/2009
• Published: 07/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Nagaraja, Guruprasad Kambaloor, Kanamarlapudi, Anuradha
• Application Number:
  US12/362,238
• Publication Number:
  US 20100191546A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• 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 40/60 for the operation of medical equipment or devices

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to automatically generate subscriptions for healthcare event tracking and alerting systems are disclosed herein. An example method of generating a subscription for a healthcare event tracking and alerting system includes automatically analyzing healthcare information of a medical data sharing system to determine an interest of a physician in a patient; obtaining a patient identifier corresponding to the patient from the healthcare information; obtaining a physician identifier corresponding to the physician; and associating the patient identifier with the physician identifier to generate a subscription to the healthcare event tracking and alerting system, wherein the subscription enables the physician to automatically receive notifications of data related to the patient.

Claims

1. A method of generating a subscription for a healthcare event tracking and alerting system, comprising:

automatically analyzing healthcare information of a medical data sharing system to determine an interest of a physician in a patient;

obtaining a patient identifier corresponding to the patient from the healthcare information;

obtaining a physician identifier corresponding to the physician; and

associating the patient identifier with the physician identifier to generate a subscription to the healthcare event tracking and alerting system, wherein the subscription enables the physician to automatically receive notifications of data related to the patient.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the interest of the physician in the patient is to be assumed in response to a detection of a search initiated by the physician for information related to the patient.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein analyzing the clinical information comprises detecting an initiation of a search of the medical data sharing system by the physician.

4. A method as defined in claim 3, wherein obtaining the patient identifier comprises extracting identifying information from data entered into a search field.

5. A method as defined in claim 3, wherein obtaining the physician identifier comprises detecting the physician identifier from system log on information.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein analyzing the healthcare information comprises detecting an entrance of a healthcare document into the medical data sharing system.

7. A method as defined in claim 6, wherein the interest of the physician in the patient is to be assumed in response to a detection that the patient and the physician are listed in the healthcare document.

8. A method as defined in claim 6, wherein obtaining the physician identifier and obtaining the patient identifier comprise extracted identifying information from the healthcare document.

9. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein analyzing the healthcare information comprises accessing an external healthcare information resource and searching the external healthcare information resource using the physician identifier to identify a healthcare document listing the physician.

10. A method as defined in claim 9, wherein the interest of the physician in the patient is to be assumed in response to a detection that the patient and the physician are listed in the healthcare document.

11. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising associating another patient identifier with the physician to generate another subscription in response to determining that the patient is associated with another patient by referencing an index including a plurality of relationships held between a plurality of persons.

12. An apparatus to generate a subscription for a healthcare event tracking and alerting system, comprising:

at least one detector to analyze healthcare information of a medical data sharing system to determine an interest of a physician in a patient;

a data extractor to obtain a patient identifier corresponding to the patient from the healthcare information, where the data extractor is to obtain a physician identifier corresponding to the physician; and

an association creator to associate the patient identifier with the physician identifier to generate a subscription to the healthcare event tracking and alerting system, wherein the subscription enables the physician to automatically receive notifications of data related to the patient.

13. An apparatus as defined in claim 12, wherein the interest of the physician in the patient is to be assumed in response to the detector detecting a search initiated by the physician for information related to the patient.

14. An apparatus as defined in claim 13, wherein the data extractor is to obtain the patient identifier by extracting identifying information from data entered into a search field.

15. An apparatus as defined in claim 13, wherein the data extractor is to obtain the physician identifier by detecting the physician identifier from system log on information.

16. An apparatus as defined in claim 12, wherein the detector is to analyze the healthcare information by detecting an entrance of a healthcare document into the medical data sharing system.

17. An apparatus as defined in claim 16, wherein the interest of the physician in the patient is to be assumed in response to the detector detecting that the patient and the physician are listed in the healthcare document.

18. An apparatus as defined in claim 12, further comprising an index including a plurality of relationships held between a plurality of persons, wherein the index is to be referenced to determine whether another patient identifier is to be associated with the physician to generate another subscription based on at least one of the relationships of the patient listed in the index.

19. An apparatus as defined in claim 12, wherein the detector is to analyze the healthcare information by accessing an external healthcare information resource and search the external healthcare information resource using the physician identifier to identify a healthcare document listing the physician.

20. A medical data sharing system configured to provide feedback to a healthcare practitioner, comprising:

a plurality of medical information systems to receive healthcare information implemented at a plurality of healthcare enterprises, wherein the enterprises are members of an agreement to share the healthcare information;

a tracking and alerting system to automatically provide feedback to a healthcare practitioner by storing a subscription to healthcare information associated with a patient of interest to the practitioner;

a subscription generator to generate the subscriptions by automatically detecting the interest in the patient by analyzing at least one of a search initiated by the physician and a healthcare document entered into the medical information systems in which the physician and the patient are listed.