Enterprise healthcare management system and method of using same

• US 7,509,280 B1
• Filed: 07/21/1999
• Issued: 03/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: CliniComp International, Inc.
• Original Assignee: CliniComp International, Inc.
• Inventors: Haudenschild, Chris A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Poinvil; Frantzy
• Assistant Examiner(s): Graham; Clement
• Application Number:
  US09/358,355
• Time in Patent Office: 3,534 Days
• Field of Search: 705 1- 4, 705 35- 38, 705/17, 707/10, 707100-104
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 80/00 ICT specially adapted for facilitating communication between medical practitioners or patients, e.g. for collaborative diagnosis, therapy or health monitoring

Abstract

The enterprise healthcare management system and method includes a novel healthcare management system. The healthcare management system includes a server system connected to a plurality of enterprise facilities. A master index and a shared document repository on the server facilitate positively identifying patients and confidently associating that patient with proper medical records. The method of using the system also facilitates finding where in the enterprise a patient is located, and identifying available patient records. Healthcare practitioners also use the healthcare management system to access a patient treatment plan system, irrespective of which enterprise facility presently has the patient or which enterprise treatment plan system operates the patient treatment plan.

Claims

1. A method of accurately associating medical information with a given person in a healthcare enterprise, the enterprise having a plurality of healthcare facilities, comprising:

networking a centralized server system with at least one computer at each of the plurality of healthcare facilities, the centralized server system operating a suite of health care software applications;

generating a master index of enterprise patient names and their associated patient identifiers;

storing the master index on the centralized server system;

permitting access to the master index directly by practitioners at each of the plurality of healthcare facilities;

establishing in the centralized server system a shared document repository;

storing enterprise patient medical records in the shared document repository;

permitting access to the shared document repository to practitioners at each of the plurality of healthcare facilities;

receiving patient specific data regarding a certain person to be treated at one of the healthcare facilities;

comparing the patient specific data to the stored patient identifiers;

determining whether the comparing the patient specific data to the stored patient identifiers results in positively identifying the certain person;

determining a set of two or more tentative patients whose patient identifiers most closely correlate to the patient specific data, if the comparing the patient specific data to the stored patient identifiers results in identifying multiple patients;

displaying the set of tentative patients and their associated patient identifiers to facilitate a positive identification of the certain person;

enabling the practitioner to attempt to positively identify the certain person from the displayed patient identifiers in the displayed set of tentative patients;

receiving additional patient specific data regarding the certain person in response to an inability to positively identify the certain person from the displayed set of tentative patients;

comparing the patient specific data and the additional patient specific data to the stored patient identifiers;

determining whether the comparing the patient specific data and the additional patient specific data to the stored patient identifiers results in positively identifying the certain person;

determining another set of two or more tentative patients whose patient identifiers most closely correlate to the patient specific data and the additional patient specific data, if the comparing the patient specific data and the additional patient specific data to the stored patient identifiers results in identifying multiple patients;

displaying the another set of tentative patients and their associated patient identifiers to facilitate a positive identification of the certain person;

enabling the practitioner to attempt to positively identify the certain person from the displayed patient identifiers in the displayed another set of tentative patients;

permitting access, in response to the certain person being positively identified, directly to the shared document repository on the centralized server system storing the medical record for the certain person being positively identified; and

adding the certain person to the master index as a new patient, in response to the certain person not being positively identified.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising arranging said shared document repository as a partitioned data base, partitioning the data base among the plurality of facilities for the patient records associated with corresponding facilities.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting which of the plurality of facilities to operate a unified treatment plan system.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising installing a treatment plan system on the centralized server system for a facility not selected to operate the unified treatment plan system.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising installing a local treatment plan system at a facility not selected to operate the unified treatment plan system.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising installing a unified treatment plan system on the centralized server system for each of the plurality of facilities.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein patient identifiers include fingerprint information.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein patent identifiers include demographic information.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising verifying the identity of the practitioner.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising verifying the identity of the practitioner using fingerprint information.

11. A system of accurately associating medical information with a given person in a healthcare enterprise, the enterprise having a plurality of healthcare facilities, comprising:

a centralized server system coupled by a network to at least one computer at each of the plurality of healthcare facilities, the centralized server system operating a suite of health care software applications;

means for generating a master index of enterprise patient names and their associated patient identifiers;

means for storing the master index on the centralized server system;

means for permitting access to the master index directly by practitioners at each of the plurality of healthcare facilities;

means for establishing in the centralized server system a shared document repository;

means for storing enterprise patient medical records in the shared document repository;

means for permitting access to the shared document repository to practitioners at each of the plurality of healthcare facilities;

means for receiving patient specific data regarding a certain person to be treated at one of the healthcare facilities;

means for comparing the patient specific data to the stored patient identifiers;

means for determining whether the means for comparing the patient specific data to the stored patient identifiers positively identifies the certain person;

means of determining a set of two or more tentative patients whose patient identifiers most closely correlate to the patient specific data, if the means for comparing the patient specific data to the stored patient identifiers results in identifying multiple patients;

means for displaying the set of tentative patients and their associated patient identifiers to facilitate a positive identification of the certain person;

means for enabling the practitioner to attempt to positively identify the certain person from the displayed patient identifiers in the displayed set of tentative patients;

means for receiving additional patient specific, data regarding the certain person in response to an inability to positively identify the certain person from the set of tentative patients;

means for comparing the patient specific data and the additional patient specific data to the stored patient identifiers;

means for determining whether the means for comparing the patient specific, data and the additional patient specific data to the stored patient identifiers positively identifies the certain person;

means for determining another set of two or more tentative patients whose patient identifiers most closely correlate to the patient specific data and the additional patient specific data, if the means for comparing the patient specific data and the additional patient specific data to the stored patient identifiers results in identifying multiple patients;

means for displaying the another set of tentative patients and their associated patient identifiers to facilitate a positive identification of the certain person;

means for enabling the practitioner to attempt to positively identify the certain person from the displayed patient identifiers in the displayed another set of tentative patients;

means for permitting access, in response to the certain person being positively identified, directly to the shared document repository on the centralized server system storing the medical record for the certain person being positively identified; and

means for adding the certain person to the master index as a new patient, in response to the certain person not being positively identified.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising means for arranging said shared document repository as a partitioned data base;

means for partitioning the data base among the plurality of facilities for the patient records associated with corresponding facilities.

13. The system of claim 11, further comprising means for selecting which of the plurality of facilities to operate a unified treatment plan system.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising means for installing a treatment plan system on the server for a facility not selected to operate the unified treatment plan system.

15. The system of claim 13, further comprising means for installing a local treatment plan system at a facility not selected to operate the unified treatment plan system.

16. The system of claim 11, further comprising means for installing a unified treatment plan system on the server for each of the plurality of facilities.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein patient identifiers include fingerprint information.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein patent identifiers include demographic information.

19. The system of claim 11, further comprising means for verifying the identity of the practitioner.

20. The system of claim 11, further comprising means for verifying the identity of the practitioner using fingerprint information.

21. A system of accurately associating medical information with a given person in a healthcare enterprise, the enterprise having a plurality of healthcare facilities, comprising:

a centralized server system coupled by a network to at least one computer at each of the plurality of healthcare facilities, the centralized server system operating a suite of health care software applications;

a first module for generating a master index of enterprise patient names and their associated patient identifiers;

a second module for storing the master index on the centralized server system;

a third module for permitting access to the master index directly by practitioners at each of the plurality of healthcare facilities;

a fourth module for establishing in the centralized server system a shared document repository;

a fifth module for permitting access to the shared repository to practitioners at each of the plurality of healthcare facilities;

a sixth module for receiving patient specific data regarding a certain person to be treated at one of the healthcare facilities;

a seventh module for comparing the specific data to the stored patient identifiers;

an eighth module for determining whether the seventh module for comparing the patient specific data to the stored patient identifiers positively identifies the certain person;

a ninth module for determining a set of two or more tentative patients whose patient identifiers most closely correlate to the patient specific data, if the seventh module for comparing the patient specific data and the additional patient specific data to the stored patient identifiers identifies multiple patients;

a tenth module for displaying the set of tentative patients and their associated patient identifiers to facilitate a positive identification of the certain person;

an eleventh module for enabling the practitioner to positively identify the certain person from the displayed patient identifiers in the displayed set of tentative patients;

a twelfth module for receiving additional patient specific data regarding the certain person in response to an inability to positively identify the certain person from the set of tentative patients;

a thirteenth module for comparing the patient specific data and the additional patient specific data to the stored patient identifiers;

a fourteenth module for determining whether the thirteenth module for comparing the patient specific data and the additional patient specific data to the stored patient identifiers positively identifies the certain person;

a fifteenth module for determining another set of two or more tentative patients whose patient identifiers most closely correlate to the patient specific data and the additional patient specific data, if the thirteenth module for comparing the patient specific data and the additional patient specific data to the stored patient identifiers identifies multiple patients;

a sixteenth module for displaying the another set of tentative patients and their associated patient identifiers to facilitate a positive identification of the certain person;

a seventeenth module for enabling the practitioner to attempt to positively identify the certain person from the displayed patient identifiers in the displayed another set of tentative patients;

an eighteenth module for permitting access, in response to the certain person being positively identified, directly to the shared document repository on the centralized server system storing the medical record for the certain person being positively identified; and

a nineteenth module for adding the certain person to the master index as a new patient, in response to the certain person not being positively identified.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein patient identifiers include fingerprint information.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein patient identifiers include demographic information.

24. The system of claim 21, further comprising a twentieth module for verifying the identity of the practitioner.

25. The system of claim 21, further including a twenty-first module for verifying the identity of the practitioner using fingerprint information.

26. The system of claim 21, further including a twenty-second module for arranging the shared document repository as a partitioned data base;

a twenty-third module operatively connected to the data base for partitioning the data base among the plurality of facilities for the patient records associated with corresponding facilities.

27. The system of claim 21, further comprising a twenty-fourth module for selecting which of the plurality of facilities to operate a unified treatment plan system.

28. The system of claim 27, further comprising a twenty-fifth module for installing a treatment plan system on the server for a facility not selected to operate the unified treatment plan system.

29. The system of claim 27, further comprising a twenty-sixth module for installing a local treatment plan system at a facility not selected to operate the unified treatment plan system.

30. The system of claim 21, further comprising a twenty-seventh module for installing a unified treatment plan system on the server for each of the plurality of facilities.