HEALTH-MONITORING SYSTEM WITH MULTIPLE HEALTH MONITORING DEVICES, INTERACTIVE VOICE RECOGNITION, AND MOBILE INTERFACES FOR DATA COLLECTION AND TRANSMISSION

• US 20130267795A1
• Filed: 04/04/2013
• Published: 10/10/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/04/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MEDTRONIC CARE MANAGEMENT SERVICES, LLC (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Cardiocom LLC (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Cosentino, Daniel L., Golden, Brian A., Parrott, Kristin N., Abrahamson, Christopher T.
• Granted Patent: US 10,064,551 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/301
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2505/07 Home care
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0295 adapted for recording user messages or annotations
• 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 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7405 using sound
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/742 using visual displays A61B5/339 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/746 Alarms related to a physiological condition, e.g. details of setting alarm thresholds or avoiding false alarms alarms per se G08B
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7465 Arrangements for interactive communication between patient and care services, e.g. by using a telephone network telemetry of measured physiological signal A61B5/0002
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation

Abstract

This disclosure describes a remote patient monitoring system configured to monitor one or more patient parameters via one or more monitoring apparatuses for transmitting patient data to a remote, central data-processing facility via a network. The system further includes an interactive voice recognition (“IVR”) system and mobile interfaces for health data collection and transmission via direction communication with the patient. According to embodiments, with the information received from the patient monitoring system, one or more scored indicative of a patient'"'"'s health status is calculated. The scores are compared to threshold values and, based on the comparisons, further action is taken. For example, a medical caregiver can evaluate the patient'"'"'s condition, including the effectiveness of the drug therapy, patient compliance, whether the patient'"'"'s condition is improving, whether the patient requires hospitalization or an office consultation to prevent the condition from getting worse, etc. Enabling medical caregivers to remotely monitor and manage a patient'"'"'s condition may reduce hospitalizations by early identification of health issues.

Claims

1. A patient monitoring system, comprising:

a first monitoring device arranged and configured to collect data related to a first health parameter of a patient;

a second monitoring device arranged and configured to collect data related to a second health parameter of a patient;

a remote processing system coupled to the first and second monitoring devices via a network, the remote processing system arranged and configured to;

receive the data related to the first health parameter and a first data collection time from the first monitoring device;

independently receive the data related to the second health parameter and a second data collection time from the second monitoring device;

calculate a score based on at least one of the first and second health parameters, and at least one of the first data collection time and the second data collection time;

compare the score to a threshold value;

based on the comparison, determine a reminder time; and

when the reminder time has elapsed, trigger at least one of the first and second monitoring devices to remind the patient to interact with the system via a reminder message.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first monitoring device is a computer that is configured to collect data related to the first health parameter of the patient via a web-browser, wherein the collected data answers in response to questions presented to the patient via the web-browser.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the reminder message includes at least one of:

audible noises, spoken messages, and a displayed text.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the reminder message is a call from the remote processing system via an interactive voice response system.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

at least one third monitoring device collecting health parameter data patient, the at least one third monitoring device coupled to the remote processing system via the network.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the remote processing system is further arranged and configured to:

calculate a first individual score related to the first health parameter;

calculate a second individual score related to the second health parameter;

compare the first individual score to a first threshold value;

compare the second individual score to a second threshold value;

based on comparing the first individual score to the first threshold value, determine a first time period during which further information must be collected related to the first health parameter; and

based on comparing the second individual score to the second threshold value, determine a second time period during which further information must be collected related to the second health parameter.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the first threshold value and the second threshold value are previous patient measurements.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein at least one of the first and second threshold values are answers to health-related questions.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the threshold value is a maximum score value.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a patient communication device arranged and configured to connect to the remote processing system via the network;

wherein the remote processing system includes an interactive voice recognition system which collects health information from the patient through a series of queries and responses; and

wherein the remote processing system is further arranged and configured to;

automatically initiate a communication session with the patient through the interactive voice recognition system;

receive the responses from the patient;

update the first score based on the responses from the patient;

and update the reminder time based on the updated first score.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a patient computing device pre-programmed with software, wherein executing the software causes the patient computing device to;

access a third-party application stored on the patient computing device;

automatically initiate communication between the third-party application and the remote processing system;

receive a webpage including a plurality of questions from the remote processing system;

present the webpage including the plurality of health-related questions to the patient,

wherein the webpage is customized with an appearance of webpages generated by the third-party application; and

send patient responses to the health-related questions to the remote processing system.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the software is executed upon patient selection of an icon on a display of the patient computing device.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the score is updated based on the responses.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the remote processing system is further arranged and configured to notify a health care professional about the patient'"'"'s health status if the patient does not respond to the reminder message within a predetermined amount of time.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the reminder processing system is further arranged and configured to determine, based on the comparison, an importance level of further information from the patient.

16. A method of remotely monitoring a patient, the method comprising:

receiving data related to a first health parameter from a first monitoring device;

receiving data related to a second health parameter from a second monitoring device;

calculating a health score related to at least one of the first and second health parameters;

comparing the health score to a threshold value;

based on the comparison, determine a reminder time;

when the reminder time has elapsed, triggering at least one of the first and second monitoring devices to remind the patient to interact with the system via a reminder message; and

initiating an interactive voice response session with the patient if the patient does not respond to the reminder message within a predetermined amount of time.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving patient health data from a patient communication device, wherein the patient health data are answers in response to questions presented to the patient via the patient communication device; and

updating the health score based on the answers.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising updating the health score each time new data is received.

19. A patient monitoring system, comprising:

a remote processing system having a web server, the remote processing system connected to a network;

a patient computing device pre-programmed with software, the patient computing device connected to the network, wherein executing the software causes the patient computing device to;

access a web browser stored on the patient computing device;

automatically initiate communication between the web browser and the web server;

receive a webpage including a plurality of health-related questions from the web server;

present the webpage to the patient, wherein the webpage is customized with an appearance of webpages generated by the web browser; and

send patient responses to the health-related questions to the remote processing system.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein executing the software further causes the patient computing device to calculate a score based on the patient responses.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the patient computing device is an electronic tablet.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the remote processing system is arranged and configured to:

receive the patient responses;

calculate an overall health score based on the patient responses;

compare the overall health score to a threshold value stored in the remote processing system;

based on the comparison, determine a reminder time; and

when the reminder time has elapsed, remind the patient to initiate a communication session through the patient computing device.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the remote processing system is further arranged and configured to set a second reminder time if the patient does not initiate communication with the patient computing device within a predetermined amount of time.

24. The system of claim 19, wherein when the comparison indicates a negative patient health assessment, the reminder time is between a range of one minute to one day.

25. The system of claim 19, wherein when the comparison indicates a positive patient health assessment, the reminder time is between a range of one minute to one week.