MEDICAL DEVICE

• US 20120157889A1
• Filed: 10/21/2011
• Published: 06/21/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Smith & Nephew Incorporated (Smith & Nephew PLC)
• Original Assignee: Smith & Nephew Incorporated (Smith & Nephew PLC)
• Inventors: Tanis, Kevin J., Zhang, Jin
• Application Number:
  US13/278,565
• Publication Number:
  US 20120157889A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 601/2
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/028 Arrangements to prevent overuse, e.g. by counting the number of uses
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0002 Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network A61B5/07 takes precedence; transmission systems for measured values G08C; transmission H04B; transmission of digital information H04L; wireless communication networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4833 Assessment of subject's compliance to treatment
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6828 Leg
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 2007/0013 Fracture healing
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 2007/0078 with multiple treatment transducers
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 7/00 Ultrasound therapy lithotripsy A61B17/22, A61B17/225; massage using supersonic vibration A61H23/00 ; using ultrasound for introducing media into the body A61M37/0092
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/30 relating to physical therapies or activities, e.g. physiotherapy, acupressure or exercising
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation

Abstract

A medical device includes a treatment module configured to apply a medical treatment and one or more storage devices storing a device identifier that identifies the medical device. The medical device also includes one or more processing devices configured to control the treatment module to apply a medical treatment, collect compliance information that reflects a patient'"'"'s compliance with a treatment regimen, access the device identifier from the one or more storage devices, and send the collected compliance information with the accessed device identifier to a server system. The server system is configured to receive the compliance information and the device identifier, determine a patient identifier based on the device identifier, store the compliance information in association with the determined patient identifier, and provide access to the compliance information in response to an inquiry.

Claims

1. A medical device comprising:

a treatment module configured to apply a medical treatment;

one or more storage devices storing a device identifier that identifies the medical device; and

one or more processing devices configured to;

control the treatment module to apply a medical treatment;

collect compliance information that reflects a patient'"'"'s compliance with a treatment regimen involving the treatment module;

access the device identifier from the one or more storage devices; and

send the collected compliance information with the accessed device identifier to a server system that is configured to receive the compliance information and the device identifier, determine a patient identifier based on the device identifier, store the compliance information in association with the determined patient identifier, and provide access to the compliance information to one or more users in response to the one or more users submitting an inquiry associated with the patient identifier to the server system.

2. The medical device of claim 1 wherein:

the treatment module comprises at least one ultrasound transducer and at least one driver circuit coupled to the ultrasound transducer; and

to control the treatment module to apply a medical treatment, the one or more processing devices are configured to control the driver circuit such that the driver circuit causes the at least one ultrasound transducer to produce ultrasound with therapeutic properties.

3. The medical device of claim 1 wherein the compliance information includes at least one of:

a number of treatments provided by the medical device;

a date or time that a treatment was provided by the medical device; and

a duration that a treatment was provided by the medical device.

4. The medical device of claim 1 wherein the one or more processing devices being configured to collect compliance information includes being configured to record information about use of the medical device on the one or more storage devices.

5. The medical device of claim 4 wherein the one or more processing devices being configured to collect compliance information comprises being configured to:

identify a treatment regimen that identifies a prescribed use of the medical device;

compare the information about the recorded use to the prescribed use of the medical device; and

generate information indicating a degree that the recorded use matches the prescribed use.

6. The medical device of claim 1 further comprising a cellular transceiver;

wherein, to send the collected compliance information, the one or more processing devices are configured to send the collected compliance information to the server system over a cellular network using the cellular transceiver.

7. The medical device of claim 1 wherein the one or more processing devices are configured to send the collected compliance information with the accessed device identifier after the patient has used the medical device a predefined number of times.

8. A server system comprising,

one or more processing devices;

and

one or more storage devices storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processing devices, cause the one or more processing devices to;

receive compliance information that reflects a patient'"'"'s compliance with a treatment regimen involving treatment with a medical device;

receive a device identifier that identifies the medical device;

determine a patient identifier based on the device identifier;

store the compliance information in association with the determined patient identifier; and

provide access to the compliance information to one or more users in response to the one or more users submitting an inquiry associated with the patient identifier to the server system.

9. The server system of claim 8, wherein to receive compliance information, the server system is configured to receive compliance information that reflects a patient'"'"'s compliance with a treatment regimen involving ultrasound with therapeutic properties produced by the medical device.

10. The server system of claim 8 wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processing devices to:

receive compliance information for each of a plurality of patients, each of the plurality of patients being associated at least one of a plurality of medical devices; and

store the compliance information for each of the plurality of patients.

11. The server system of claim 8 wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processing devices to provide access to the stored compliance information for the plurality of patients to each of a plurality of users.

12. The server system of claim 8 wherein the compliance information includes at least one of:

a number of treatments provided by the medical device;

a date or time that a treatment was provided by the medical device; and

a duration that a treatment was provided by the medical device.

13. The server system of claim 8 wherein the one or more users include one or more of a representative of an insurance provider of the patient, a physician of the patient, and a caregiver for the patient.

14. The server system of claim 8 wherein access to the compliance information is limited based on a relationship of the user to the patient.

15. The server system of claim 8 wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processing devices to:

receive information identifying one or more errors of the medical device; and

transmit service information to address the detected errors of the medical device.

16. The server system of claim 8 wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processing devices to transmit one or more messages for the patient to the medical device.

17. A system comprising:

a medical device comprising one or more processing devices configured to;

control a treatment module of the medical device to apply a medical treatment;

collect compliance information that reflects a patient'"'"'s compliance with a treatment regimen involving the medical treatment applied by the treatment module; and

send the collected compliance information with a device identifier; and

a server system comprising one or more processing devices configured to;

receive the compliance information from the medical device; and

provide access to the compliance information to one or more users in response to the one or more users submitting an inquiry associated with the patient identifier to the server system.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein:

to control the treatment module of the medical device, the one or more processing devices of the medical device are configured to control a driver circuit coupled to an ultrasound transducer to produce ultrasound with therapeutic properties; and

to collect compliance information, the one or more processing devices of the medical device are configured to collect compliance information that reflects the patient'"'"'s compliance with a treatment regimen involving the produced ultrasound.

19. The system of claim 17 wherein the one or more processing devices of the server system are configured to:

receive compliance information for each of a plurality of patients, each of the plurality of patients being associated at least one of a plurality of medical devices; and

store the compliance information for each of the plurality of patients.

20. The system of claim 17 wherein the one or more processing devices of the server system are configured to provide access to the stored compliance information for the plurality of patients to each of a plurality of users.

21. The system of claim 17 wherein the compliance information includes at least one of:

a number of treatments provided by the medical device;

a date or time that a treatment was provided by the medical device; and

a duration that a treatment was provided by the medical device.

22. The system of claim 17 wherein the one or more users include one or more of a representative of an insurance provider of the patient, a physician of the patient, and a caregiver for the patient.

23. The system of claim 17 wherein access to the compliance information is limited based on a relationship of the user to the patient.

24. The system of claim 17 wherein the one or more processing devices of the medical device are further configured to:

detect one or more errors of the medical device; and

send information about the detected errors with the accessed device identifier to the server system.

25. The system of claim 24 wherein the one or more processing devices of the server system are further configured to transmit service information to address the detected errors to the medical device.

26. The system of claim 17 wherein the one or more processing devices of the medical device are configured to send the collected compliance information with the accessed device identifier after the patient has used the medical device a predefined number of times.

27. A method comprising:

receiving, by a server system, compliance information that reflects a patient'"'"'s compliance with a treatment regimen involving treatment with a medical device;

receiving a device identifier that identifies the medical device;

determining a patient identifier based on the device identifier;

storing the compliance information in association with the determined patient identifier; and

providing access to the compliance information to one or more users in response to the one or more users submitting an inquiry associated with the patient identifier to the server system.