Medical information system, method and article of manufacture

• US 7,155,422 B2
• Filed: 08/17/2001
• Issued: 12/26/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hermedus, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Hermedus, Inc.
• Inventors: Mazzone, Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Vincent, David
• Assistant Examiner(s): Fernandez Rivas, Omar F.
• Application Number:
  US09/932,371
• Publication Number:
  US 20020023063A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,957 Days
• Field of Search: 706/50, 706/62, 706/924, 705/2, 707/9, 711/147, 711/163, 711/164, 726/2, 726/4, 726/5, 726/7, 726 27- 29
• US Class Current: 706/50
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/65 stored on portable record carriers, e.g. on smartcards, RFID tags or CD

Abstract

The invention includes a method, an article of manufacture and a system related to providing medical information and other information helpful in providing medical services.

Claims

1. A medical information system, comprising:

a database of health information descriptions, each description relating to a patient and an associated pair, the associated pair comprising an associated access code, which is associated with the patient, and an associated password, which is associated with a non-patient user of the system;

a computer readable memory on a portable card, the memory having stored therein a prospective access code, which is associated with a patient;

a first computer programmed to provide a prospective pair substantially simultaneously, the prospective pair comprising the prospective access code and a prospective password, the prospective password being associated with a user of the system;

a second computer, in communication with the database and with the first computer, the second computer being programmed to determine whether the prospective pair corresponds to the associated pair, and if the prospective pair is determined to correspond to the associated pair, then the second computer provides only the description that corresponds to the prospective pair; and

further

the first computer is programmed to provide a change to one of the descriptions; and

the second computer is programmed to receive the change to the one of the descriptions, and then modify the database to reflect the change and the second computer is programmed to record who made the change to the one of the descriptions.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a card having thereon a card code corresponding to the prospective access code.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the prospective password is a fingerprint.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the prospective password is a retinal scan.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein one of the associated pairs is issued to one of the patients, and the description corresponding to the one of the patients is related to the one of the associated pairs.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein one of the associated pairs is issued to a physician, and the one of the associated pairs is related to a plurality of descriptions.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein one of the associated pairs is issued to a health care provider, and the one of the associated pairs is related to a plurality of descriptions.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein one of the associated pairs is issued to a medical cost payer, and the one of the associated pairs is related to a plurality of descriptions.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the second computer is programmed to cause a message to be sent to a user of the system, the user being related to an associated pair.

10. A computer implemented method of providing medical information, comprising:

providing a computer database of health information descriptions, each description relating to a patient and an associated pair, each associated pair comprising an associated access code, which is associated with the patient, and an associated password, which is associated with a non-patient user of the system;

receiving a prospective pair, the prospective pair comprising a prospective access code, which is associated with a patient and provided substantially simultaneously by a computer readable memory on a portable card, and a prospective password, which is associated with a user of the system;

determining whether the prospective pair corresponds to one of the associated pairs;

if the prospective pair is determined to correspond to one of the associated pairs, then providing only the description that corresponds to the prospective pair;

receiving a change to the provided description, and modifying the database according to the change; and

recording who made the change to the provided description.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising reading a card having thereon a card code corresponding to the prospective access code.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising reading a fingerprint having thereon a pattern corresponding to the prospective password.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising reading a retina having thereon a pattern corresponding to the prospective password.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising issuing one of the associated pairs to one of the patients, and relating the one of the associated pairs with only the description relating to the one of the patients.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising issuing one of the associated pairs to a physician, and relating the one of the associated pairs to a plurality of the descriptions.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising issuing one of the associated pairs to a health care provider, and relating the one of the associated pairs to a plurality of the descriptions.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising issuing one of the associated pairs to a medical cost payer, and relating the one of the associated pairs to a plurality of the descriptions.

18. The method of claim 10, further comprising providing a message to a user related to an associated pair when the description is provided.

19. An article of manufacture comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code instructions embodied therein to cause a computer to provide access to medical information, the instructions having:

a computer readable program code module to determine whether a substantially simultaneously submitted prospective pair is among a group of associated pairs, each associated pair having (a) an access code which is associated with a patient corresponding to the medical information, and (b) a password associated with a non-patient user of the system;

a computer readable program code module to provide only medical information corresponding to the prospective pair, if the prospective pair is among the group of associated pairs; and

further comprising

a computer readable program code module to instruct a computer to change the provided medical information; and

a computer readable program code module to instruct a computer to record who made the change to the provided medical information.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 19, further comprising a computer readable program code module to instruct a computer to provide a message to a user related to an associated pair when the description is provided.

21. A medical information system, comprising:

a database of health information descriptions, each description relating to a patient and an associated access code, and wherein the associated access code has at least two acceptable passwords associated with it, wherein at least one of the acceptable passwords corresponds to a non-patient user of the system and is associated with the prospective access code;

a portable card having thereon a first computer programmed to provide a prospective access code upon entry of at least one acceptable password;

a second computer, in communication with the data base and with the first computer, the second computer being programmed to determine whether the prospective access code corresponds to one of the associated access codes, and if the prospective access code is determined to correspond to one of the associated access codes, then the second computer provides only the description that corresponds to the prospective access code;

wherein the first computer is programmed to provide a change to one of the descriptions, the second computer is programmed to receive the change to the one of the descriptions, and then modify the database to reflect the change, and the second computer is programmed to record who made the change to the one of the descriptions.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the prospective password is a fingerprint.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the prospective password is a retinal scan.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein one of the associated access codes is issued to one of the patients, and the description corresponding to the one of the patients is related to the one of the associated access codes.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein one of the associated access codes is issued to a physician, and the one of the associated access codes is related to a plurality of descriptions.

26. The system of claim 21, wherein one of the associated access codes is issued to a health care provider, and the one of the associated access codes is related to a plurality of descriptions.

27. The system of claim 21, wherein one of the associated access codes is issued to a medical cost payer, and the one of the associated access codes is related to a plurality of descriptions.

28. The system of claim 21, wherein the second computer is programmed to cause a message to be sent to a user of the system, the user being related to the provided description.

29. A method of providing medical information, comprising:

providing a database of health information descriptions, each description relating to a patient and an associated access code, wherein the associated access code has at least two acceptable passwords associated with it, wherein at least one of the acceptable passwords corresponds to a non-patient user of the system and is associated with the prospective access code;

providing a portable card having thereon a computer readable memory capable of providing a prospective access code upon entry of at least one acceptable password;

providing a password;

determining whether the password is among a group of acceptable passwords that are associated with the prospective access code, at least one of the passwords being associated with an entity other than the patient;

providing the prospective access code;

determining whether the prospective access code corresponds to one of the associated access codes;

if the prospective access code is determined to correspond to one of the associated access codes, then providing only the description that corresponds to the prospective access code;

receiving a change to the provided description, and modifying the database according to the change;

recording who made the change to the provided description.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein providing a password includes providing a fingerprint having thereon a pattern corresponding to the password.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein providing a password includes providing a retina having thereon a pattern corresponding to the password.

32. The method of claim 29, further comprising issuing one of the associated access codes to one of the patients, and relating the one of the associated access codes with only the description relating to the one of the patients.

33. The method of claim 29, further comprising issuing one of the associated access codes to a physician, and relating the one of the associated access codes to a plurality of the descriptions.

34. The method of claim 29, further comprising issuing one of the associated access codes to a health care provider, and relating the one of the associated access codes to a plurality of the descriptions.

35. The method of claim 29, further comprising issuing one of the associated access codes to a medical cost payer, and relating the one of the associated access codes to a plurality of the descriptions.

36. The method of claim 29, further comprising providing a message to a user related to an associated access code when the description is provided.

37. An article of manufacture comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code instructions embodied therein to cause a computer to provide access to medical information of a patient, the information being accessible by substantially simultaneously providing an associated pair, the associated pair comprising an associated access code and an associated password, the instructions having:

a computer readable program code module to determine whether a prospective access code is among a group of associated access codes, and whether a prospective password is among a group of associated passwords, wherein at least one of the associated access codes corresponds to the patient, and wherein the associated password corresponds to an entity that is not the patient;

a computer readable program code module to provide only medical information corresponding to both the prospective access code and the prospective password, if the prospective access code is among the group of associated access codes and the prospective password is among the group of associated passwords; and

further comprising

a computer readable program code module to instruct a computer to change the provided medical information; and

a computer readable program code module to instruct a computer to record who made the change to the provided medical information.

38. The article of manufacture of claim 37, further comprising a computer readable program code module to instruct a computer to provide a message to a user related to an associated access code when the description is provided to someone other than the user.