System for communication of health care data

• US 7,685,003 B2
• Filed: 10/26/2007
• Issued: 03/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/11/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Healthtrio LLC (Spok Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Healthtrio LLC (Spok Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wallen, J. Dominic, Post, Cindy A., Korpman, Ralph A., Peterson, John C., Hasan, Malik M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Morgan; Robert W
• Application Number:
  US11/925,045
• Publication Number:
  US 20080103832A1
• Time in Patent Office: 879 Days
• Field of Search: 705 2- 3, 600/300
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• 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

An apparatus for communicating health care data from a sender to a receiver is provided. The apparatus has a first computer system, a second computer system, and a rules engine. The first computer system has health care data stored therein. The second computer system is in operable communication with, and is configured to extract the health care data from, the first computer system. The rules engine normalizes the extracted health care data to a predefined format.

Claims

1. A computer-based method of communicating health care data over a network to a participant computer, the method comprising;

providing one or more legacy databases on a computer operated by a payor, the legacy databases storing one or more health care records containing a plurality of health care data related to a patient and that health care data being displayable in separate fields, and any of the plurality of health care data from the legacy databases intended to have the same meaning are expressed in different formats or have not previously been subject to a normalized format, wherein the normalized format is of a type that displays health care data from one or more sources associated with a single patient such that any health care data associated with that patient having the same meaning is expressed in the same format despite any prior formatting;

transmitting by the computer the plurality of health care data related to the patient from the one or more legacy databases to be normalized;

receiving normalized data relating to the patient by the participant computer over a network.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the participant computer is a patient computer, employer computer, provider computer or a payor computer.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the normalized data is of a type that is selected from a group consisting of eligibility/benefit display, member roster, claim submission, provider lookup, formulary lookup, diagnosis code lookup, procedure code lookup, access health plan information online, communicate with a health plan on-line, communicate with patients on-line, patient-centric view of data across several health plans, order generation and tracking, results review and release, result printing, prescription writing, medication profile for each patient, access to patient'"'"'s personal health record based on patient approval, personalized medical and health care content integration, both context-specific and on demand, e-commerce integration:

office, medical and health-related product awareness and buying capabilities, email, practice management system subscription, support disease management, and physician credentialing subscription.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the normalized data is of a type that is selected from a group consisting of group eligibility, group enrollment, enrollment changes, formulary lookup, e-commerce integration, access from health plan web site or direct access via URL, personalized content integration, both context-specific and on demand, e-commerce integration and health care-related product awareness and buying capabilities.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the normalized data is of a type that is selected from a group consisting of identification card requests, address changes, provider directory inquiries, personalized health information based on an interest profile, diagnosis information, relevant articles and patient education materials, communications from health care providers and health care plans, lab and radiology results, scheduled appointments with a health care provider, prescription refills, personal health records, eligibility/benefit information, claim information, referral and authorization information and status, provider lookup, family history, medication profile and formulary lookup.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the participant computer is a payor computer.