CLASSIFYING MEDICAL INFORMATION IN DIFFERENT FORMATS FOR SEARCH AND DISPLAY IN SINGLE INTERFACE AND VIEW

• US 20100228721A1
• Filed: 03/06/2009
• Published: 09/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Peoplechart Corporation
• Original Assignee: Peoplechart Corporation
• Inventors: Holvey, R. David, Mok, Megan
• Granted Patent: US 8,250,026 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/711
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/25 Integrating or interfacing systems involving database management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/70 for mining of medical data, e.g. analysing previous cases of other patients

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method receives a plurality of documents. The documents may be received from different medical providers. Also, the documents may be medical record documents generated or captured in a first format and a second format. The first format may be an unstructured data format and the second format may be a structured data format. The first and second documents are then converted to a common format. For example, a common format may emerge as the most restrictive or constrained denominator of the first format and the second format. A schema is determined that provides an organizational structure with categories that can be used to index the content of the first and second documents while they are being converted to the common format. The schema and indexing enable the different formats of documents to be combined and organized simultaneously into a single view for a comprehensive review.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a plurality of medical documents, the plurality of medical documents including first medical documents in a paper-based format and second medical documents in a structured data-based format;

converting the first medical documents in the first format into an image-based unstructured data-based format;

converting the second medical documents in the second format into the image-based unstructured format;

determining a schema, the schema including a plurality of categories determined based on an expected structural content in the first medical documents or second medical documents;

indexing the first medical documents and the second medical documents in the image-based unstructured format by associating indices based on the schema with the first and second medical documents;

storing the first medical documents and the second medical documents in the image-based unstructured format with the indices to allow searching of both the first medical documents and the second medical documents; and

storing the second medical documents with an active link to view specific data in the structured data-based format provided by the second document for enabling access to the structured data.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a search query; and

determining search results for the search query using the indices associated with the first and second medical documents, wherein the search results include a subset of medical documents from the first and second medical documents that are determined to match the search query.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

displaying the search results in an interface, wherein the subset of medical documents is displayed in the common format.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the subset of documents from the first and second documents are displayed simultaneously in a directory, file, folder, single page or a grouped set of multiple pages.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of document are received from different medical providers.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

linking the second documents with the structured data; and

allowing a user to retrieve structured data from images of the second documents.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of document are received from different medical providers.

6. A method comprising:

receiving a plurality of documents, the plurality of documents including first set of documents in a first format and second set of documents in a second format;

converting the first documents in the first format and the second documents in the second format to a common format;

determining a schema, the schema including a plurality of categories determined based on an expected structural content in the first documents or second documents;

indexing the first documents and the second documents in the common classification or schema for organization by associating indices based on the schema with content determined from the first and second documents; and

storing the first documents and the second documents in the common format with the indices to allow searching of both the first documents and the second documents.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving a search query; and

determining search results for the search query using the indices associated with the first and second documents, wherein the search results include a subset of documents from the first and second documents that are determined to match the search query.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

displaying the search results in an interface, wherein the subset of documents is displayed in the common format.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the subset of documents from the first and second documents are displayed simultaneously in a directory, file, folder, single page or a grouped set of multiple pages.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the first documents comprise unstructured data, wherein the common format comprises images of the first documents.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein converting the first documents comprises converting a paper document including the unstructured data into images of the paper document.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the second documents comprise structured data, wherein the common format comprises images of the second documents.

15. A computer-readable medium comprising encoded for execution by one or more processors, the logic when executed operable to:

receive a plurality of medical documents, the plurality of medical documents including first medical documents in a paper-based format and second medical documents in a structured data-based format;

convert the first medical documents in the first format into an image-based unstructured data-based format;

convert the second medical documents in the second format into the image-based unstructured format;

determine a schema, the schema including a plurality of categories determined based on an expected structural content in the first medical documents or second medical documents;

index the first medical documents and the second medical documents in the image-based unstructured format by associating indices based on the schema with the first and second medical documents;

store the first medical documents and the second medical documents in the image-based unstructured format with the indices to allow searching of both the first medical documents and the second medical documents; and

store the second medical documents with an active link to view specific data in the structured data-based format provided by the second document for enabling access to the structured data.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the logic is further operable to:

receive a search query; and

determine search results for the search query using the indices associated with the first and second medical documents, wherein the search results include a subset of medical documents from the first and second medical documents that are determined to match the search query.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising:

displaying the search results in an interface, wherein the subset of medical documents is displayed in the common format.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the subset of documents from the first and second documents are displayed simultaneously in a directory, file, folder, single page or a grouped set of multiple pages.

19. A computer-readable medium comprising encoded for execution by one or more processors, the logic when executed operable to:

receive a plurality of documents, the plurality of documents including first set of documents in a first format and second set of documents in a second format;

convert the first documents in the first format and the second documents in the second format to a common format;

determine a schema, the schema including a plurality of categories determined based on an expected structural content in the first documents or second documents;

index the first documents and the second documents in the common classification or schema for organization by associating indices based on the schema with content determined from the first and second documents; and

store the first documents and the second documents in the common format with the indices to allow searching of both the first documents and the second documents.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the logic is further operable to:

receive a search query;

determine search results for the search query using the indices associated with the first and second documents, wherein the search results include a subset of documents from the first and second documents that are determined to match the search query; and

display the search results in an interface, wherein the subset of documents is displayed in the common format.