PATIENT IDENTIFICATION DISAMBIGUATION SYSTEMS AND METHODS

• US 20120117099A1
• Filed: 06/15/2010
• Published: 05/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Gross, Brian D.
• Granted Patent: US 9,715,577 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/758
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/215 Improving data quality; Data cleansing, e.g. de-duplication, removing invalid entries or correcting typographical errors
• 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

Abstract

A method for patient ID resolution in recordation of patient data acquired by a medical device (10) comprises: receiving patient data from the medical device comprising pre-gap patient data (50) followed in time by a time gap (52) followed in time by post-gap patient data (54); receiving one or more timestamped patient ID entries (56, 58) associated with the received patient data; associating first patient ID information with the pre-gap patient data; and associating second patient ID information with the post-gap patient data; wherein the associating operations are based on the one or more timestamped patient ID entries (56, 58) associated with the patient data.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a patient identification (ID) resolution module comprising a digital processor configured to disambiguate patient ID for patient data having a time gap and including pre-gap patient data preceding the time gap and post-gap patient data succeeding the time gap, the patient ID resolution module (i) associating first patient ID information with the pre-gap patient data and (ii) associating second patient ID information with the post-gap patient data, the associating (i), (ii) being based on one or more timestamped patient ID entries associated with the patient data.

2. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein:

the first patient ID information is selected from a group consisting of no patient ID and a first patient ID, and

the second patient ID information is selected from a group consisting of no patient ID, the first patient ID, and a second patient ID,

the first and second patient ID being determined from the one or more timestamped patient ID entries.

3. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the associating (i), (ii) employs a set of patient ID disambiguation rules operating on timestamps of the one or more timestamped patient ID entries and the time gap.

4. The apparatus as set forth in claim 3, wherein the set of patient ID disambiguation rules further operate on strength measures of the one or more timestamped patient ID entries.

5. The apparatus as set forth in claim 4, wherein the strength measure of each timestamped patient ID entry is selected from a group consisting of a weak patient ID entry and a strong patient ID entry.

6. The apparatus as set forth in claim 4, wherein the strength measures of each timestamped patient ID entry is selected based on a patient ID entry modality used to enter the timestamped patient ID entry.

7. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

a patient records database configured to store the pre-gap patient data associated with the first patient ID information and the post-gap patient data associated with the second patient ID information, wherein;

the first patient ID information is selected from a group consisting of no patient ID and a first patient ID, and

the second patient ID information is selected from a group consisting of no patient ID, the first patient ID, and a second patient ID,

the first and second patient ID being determined from the one or more timestamped patient ID entries, the patient records database discarding or marking for later user resolution any patient data associated with no patient ID.

8. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

a medical device configured to generate said patient data.

9. The apparatus as set forth in claim 8, wherein the medical device comprises:

one or more patient ID entry modalities, the timestamped patient ID entries associated with the patient data being generated by the one or more patient ID entry modalities.

10. The apparatus as set forth in claim 9, wherein:

the one or more patient ID entry modalities include at least a first patient ID entry modality and a second patient ID entry modality,

the timestamped patient ID entries associated with the patient data have strength measures based on the patient ID entry modality used to generate the timestamped patient ID entries, and

the associating (i), (ii) employs a set of patient ID disambiguation rules operating on the time gap and on timestamps and strength measures of the one or more timestamped patient ID entries.

11. The apparatus as set forth in claim 8, wherein the patient ID resolution module is further configured to perform the associating operations (i), (ii) further based on information on proximity of the medical device to a patient corresponding to one of a group consisting of the first patient ID information and the second patient ID information when said patient data was generated.

12. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

a patient records database configured to store the pre-gap patient data associated with the first patient ID information and the post-gap patient data associated with the second patient ID information;

wherein the patient ID resolution module is further configured to perform the associating operations (i), (ii) further based on information on whether the patient data having the time gap are duplicative of patient data already stored in the patient records database.

13. The apparatus as set forth in claim 12, wherein the patient ID resolution module is configured to perform the associating operations (i), (ii) based on information on whether the patient data having the time gap are duplicative of patient data already stored in the patient records database based on a continuity check comparing the patient data having the time gap with the duplicative patient data already stored in the patient records database.

14. A method comprising:

receiving patient data comprising pre-gap patient data followed in time by a time gap followed in time by post-gap patient data;

receiving one or more timestamped patient ID entries associated with the received patient data;

associating first patient ID information with the pre-gap patient data; and

associating second patient ID information with the post-gap patient data;

wherein the associating operations are based on the one or more timestamped patient ID entries associated with the patient data; and

wherein the associating operations are performed by a digital processor.

15. The method as set forth in claim 14, wherein:

the associating first patient ID information with the pre-gap patient data comprises associating the pre-gap patient data with one of (i) no patient ID and (ii) a first patient ID, and

the associating second patient ID information with the post-gap patient data comprises associating the post-gap patient data with one of (i) no patient ID, (ii) the first patient ID, and (iii) a second patient ID.

16. The method as set forth in claim 15, further comprising:

recording the pre-gap patient data conditional upon the pre-gap patient data not being associated with no patient ID; and

recording the post-gap patient data conditional upon the post-gap patient data not being associated with no patient ID.

17. The method as set forth in claim 14, wherein the associating operations are further based on strength measures of the one or more timestamped patient ID entries.

18. The method as set forth in claim 17, wherein the strength measure of each timestamped patient ID entry is selected from a group consisting of a weak patient ID entry and a strong patient ID entry.

19. The method as set forth in claim 17, further comprising:

generating each of the one or more timestamped patient ID entries using a selected one of a plurality of patient ID entry modalities;

wherein the strength measure of each timestamped patient ID entry is based on the generating patient ID entry modality.

20. A storage medium storing instructions executable by a digital processor to perform a method as set forth in claim 14.