Modular tracking and profiling system

• US 6,581,204 B2
• Filed: 12/12/2000
• Issued: 06/17/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: GE Medical Systems Information Technologies Incorporated (General Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: GE Medical Systems Information Technologies Incorporated (General Electric Company)
• Inventors: DeBusk, Brian C., Cofer, Michael C., Lukens, W. Francis, Shanks, Mark W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Morse, Gregory
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chavis, John Q.
• Application Number:
  US09/734,824
• Publication Number:
  US 20010016821A1
• Time in Patent Office: 917 Days
• Field of Search: 717/120, 705/2
• US Class Current: 717/120
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 15/00 ICT specially adapted for medical reports, e.g. generation or transmission thereof
• 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 70/20 relating to practices or guidelines

Abstract

An information management system for tracking and analyzing information relating to medical supply usage on a procedural level in a clinical setting includes a general purpose computer system with storage means, processing means, display means, and input means. Information management software installed on the general purpose computer includes node software objects providing a health care information management function. The node software object includes a clinical pathway node software object, a case management node software object, and a resource utilization tracking node software object. The clinical pathway node software object creates clinical pathway module software objects, including resource software objects and container software objects. The resource utilization tracking node software object performs an analysis to determine supply request and actual usage patterns on a procedural level over a given time period for a particular health care provider, by comparing the issued, consumed, returned, and scrapped amounts, and modifying the provider-specific procedural templates to more fully conform to the actual usage patterns based on the analysis.

Claims

1. An information management system for tracking and analyzing information relating to medical supply usage on a procedural level in a clinical setting, the system comprising:

a general purpose computer system, including;

storage means for storing data corresponding to the information;

processing means for processing instructions relating to tracking and analyzing the information;

display means for presenting the information in a human perceptible format; and

input means for receiving user input relating to tracking and analyzing the information;

information management software installed on the general purpose computer system, including;

node software objects, each of the node software objects providing a health-care information management function, including;

a clinical pathway node software object for selectively creating, managing, and maintaining user-defined, user-configurable clinical pathway module software objects adapted to function with the clinical pathway node software object and representing provider-specific procedural templates of the information relating to health care services procedures, the clinical pathway module software objects including;

resource software objects, corresponding to resources to be used in providing health care services, including;

a list of supplies predetermined to be preferred by a particular healthcare provider for use during a given medical procedure; and

a recordation form for the given procedure based upon at least one of the provider-specific procedural templates for the given procedure, the recordation form including at least a partial listing of the supplies predetermined to be preferred by a particular healthcare provider for use during the given procedure based upon the at least one provider-specific procedural template, the recordation form including a scheduled amount of each of the supplies included in the at least one provider-specific procedural template to be used during the given medical procedure; and

container software objects for containing software objects having at least one common characteristic;

a case management node software object for selectively creating, managing, and maintaining a user-defined, user-configurable case management module software object adapted to function with the case management node software object from the clinical pathway module software object, the case management module software object representing a selected clinical pathway module software object as modified to reflect a prospective patient-specific case, and containing patient-specific information, and adapted to receive additional patient-specific information; and

a resource utilization tracking node software object for selectively creating, managing, and maintaining at least one user-defined, user-configurable model module software object adapted to function with the resource utilization tracking node software object and the case management module software object, the model module software object representing the case management module software object as modified by at least the patient-specific information to reflect a historical patient-specific case by recording on the recordation form actual usage information reflecting actual usage of supplies during the given procedure, the recording including;

recording an issued amount of each of the supplies included in the at least one provider-specific procedural template, where the issued amount is an amount issued for use in the given procedure;

recording a consumed amount of each of the supplies included in the at least one provider-specific procedural template, where the consumed amount is an amount actually consumed during the given procedure;

recording a returned amount of each of the supplies included in the at least one provider-specific procedural template, where the returned amount is an amount returned to storage after the given procedure; and

recording a scrapped amount of each of the supplies included in the at least one provider-specific procedural template, where the scrapped amount is an amount disposed of but not consumed during the given procedure nor returned to storage;

the resource utilization tracking node software object further for selectively creating, managing, and maintaining a user-defined, user-configurable utilization study module software object from the at least one model module software object; and

the resource utilization tracking node software object further for analyzing the utilization study module software object to determine supply request and actual usage patterns on a procedural level over a given time period for the particular healthcare provider by comparing the issued, consumed, returned, and scrapped amounts, and modifying the provider-specific procedural template to more fully conform to the actual usage patterns based on the analyzing.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the container software objects comprise a plurality of container software object types, each type providing a specific container software object functionality.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the container software objects comprise:

a user-configurable care event container software object representing a specific health care services care event, the care event container software object functional to contain container software objects and resource software objects related to the specific health care services care event represented by the care event container software object; and

a user-configurable bundle container software object functional to contain resource software objects corresponding to specific related health care resources which would be provided in a group or bundle.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising data software objects selectively associated with a software object selected from the group consisting of the clinical pathway module software object, the case management module software object, and the container software object, the data software objects suitable for collecting and maintaining information related to the software object with which the data software object is selectively associated.

5. The system of claim 1 further comprising a library node software object for selectively creating, collecting, and organizing reusable, user-defined, user-configurable container software objects and resource software objects for use in the clinical pathway node software object and the case management node software object.

6. An information management system for tracking and analyzing information relating to medical supply usage on a procedural level in a clinical setting, the system comprising:

a general purpose computer system, including;

storage means for storing data corresponding to the information;

processing means for processing instructions relating to tracking and analyzing the information;

display means for presenting the information in a human perceptible format; and

input means for receiving user input relating to tracking and analyzing the information;

information management software installed on the general purpose computer system, including;

node software objects, each of the node software objects providing a health-care information management function, including;

a clinical pathway node software object for selectively creating, managing, and maintaining user-defined, user-configurable clinical pathway module software objects adapted to function with the clinical pathway node software object and representing provider-specific procedural templates of the information relating to health care services procedures, the clinical pathway module software objects including;

resource software objects, corresponding to resources to be used in providing health care services, including;

a list of supplies predetermined to be preferred by a particular healthcare provider for use during a given medical procedure; and

a recordation form for the given procedure based upon at least one of the provider-specific procedural templates for the given procedure, the recordation form including at least a partial listing of the supplies predetermined to be preferred by a particular healthcare provider for use during the given procedure based upon the at least one provider-specific procedural template, the recordation form including a scheduled amount of each of the supplies included in the at least one provider-specific procedural template to be used during the given medical procedure; and

container software objects for containing software objects having at least one common characteristic, wherein the container software objects comprise a plurality of container software object types, each type providing a specific container software object functionality, the container software objects including;

a user-configurable care event container software object representing a specific health care services care event, the care event container software object functional to contain container software objects and resource software objects related to the specific health care services care event represented by the care event container software object; and

a user-configurable bundle container software object functional to contain resource software objects corresponding to specific related health care resources which would be provided in a group or bundle;

a case management node software object for selectively creating, managing, and maintaining a user-defined, user-configurable case management module software object adapted to function with the case management node software object from the clinical pathway module software object, the case management module software object representing a selected clinical pathway module software object as modified to reflect a prospective patient-specific case, and containing patient-specific information, and adapted to receive additional patient-specific information;

data software objects selectively associated with a software object selected from the group consisting of the clinical pathway module software object, the case management module software object, and the container software object, the data software objects suitable for collecting and maintaining information related to the software object with which the data software object is selectively associated;

a resource utilization tracking node software object for selectively creating, managing, and maintaining at least one user-defined, user-configurable model module software object adapted to function with the resource utilization tracking node software object and the case management module software object, the model module software object representing the case management module software object as modified by at least the patient-specific information to reflect a historical patient-specific case by recording on the recordation form actual usage information reflecting actual usage of supplies during the given procedure, the recording including;

recording an issued amount of each of the supplies included in the at least one provider-specific procedural template, where the issued amount is an amount issued for use in the given procedure;

recording a consumed amount of each of the supplies included in the at least one provider-specific procedural template, where the consumed amount is an amount actually consumed during the given procedure;

recording a returned amount of each of the supplies included in the at least one provider-specific procedural template, where the returned amount is an amount returned to storage after the given procedure; and

recording a scrapped amount of each of the supplies included in the at least one provider-specific procedural template, where the scrapped amount is an amount disposed of but not consumed during the given procedure nor returned to storage;

the resource utilization tracking node software object further for selectively creating, managing, and maintaining a user-defined, user-configurable utilization study module software object from the at least one model module software object;

the resource utilization tracking node software object further for analyzing the utilization study module software object to determine supply request and actual usage patterns on a procedural level over a given time period for the particular healthcare provider by comparing the issued, consumed, returned, and scrapped amounts, and modifying the provider-specific procedural template to more fully conform to the actual usage patterns based on the analyzing; and

a library node software object for selectively creating, collecting, and organizing reusable, user-defined, user-configurable container software objects and resource software objects for use in the clinical pathway node software object and the case management node software object.