System and method for enhancing organizational efficiencies to deliver health care in an ambulatory health care setting

• US 8,041,583 B2
• Filed: 05/19/2008
• Issued: 10/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/12/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Jonathan B. Solomon, Thomas W. Albro
• Original Assignee: Jonathan B. Solomon, Thomas W. Albro
• Inventors: Albro, Thomas W., Solomon, Jonathan B.
• Primary Examiner(s): O'Conner; Gerald J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): PHONGSVIRAJATI, POONSIN
• Application Number:
  US12/123,433
• Publication Number:
  US 20090106051A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,247 Days
• Field of Search: 705 2- 3, 707/608
• US Class Current: 705/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 70/20 relating to practices or guidelines

Abstract

The invention is a system and method for managing patient care workflow, staff and resource allocation in real time in an ambulatory health care (clinic) setting providing the clinic with improved operating efficiencies. The system can stand alone or integrate seamlessly with enabling Electronic Health Record (EHR) applications by presenting the most relevant EHR view and form to the user at appropriate times in the workflow. Embodiments of the invention provide users with enhanced clinical practice functionality, efficiency and effectiveness.

Claims

1. A system for managing patient care workflow and resource allocation in real time in a clinical setting comprising:

an input processor in communication with a workflow management application server and patient record database;

a plurality of workflow management applications on the workflow management application server, each of said workflow management applications associated with at least one of a plurality of system user roles;

a plurality of workflow interfaces associated with the at least one of a plurality of workflow management applications wherein patient information from the patient record database is associated with a patient'"'"'s health record, the workflow interfaces being configured to;

determine the system user'"'"'s role;

associate an image of a patient with a first clinic resource by placing and displaying a graphical representation of the image of the patient in a screen portion of the workflow interface associated with the first clinic resource, wherein the workflow management application does not allow users to assign or associate patients to unavailable resources;

track the patient and clinic resource based on the location of the graphical representation of the image;

update the first clinic resource status for all system users;

record when the graphical representation of the image of the patient is associated with a clinic resource;

generate a wait time for a resource;

generate efficiency data based in part on the generated wait time; and

a timing process associated with said input processor configured to generate automatic data updates indicative of patient progress and/or treatment in the clinic.

2. The system for managing patient care workflow and resource allocation of claim 1, wherein a resource allocated to the patient is indicated by associating graphical representations of clinic resources with the image of the patient in the at least one of a plurality of tailored workflow management applications;

and adapting a workflow based on the resource being allocated to the patient.

3. The system for managing patient care workflow and resource allocation of claim 1, wherein the image of the patient is associated with the at least one of a plurality of workflow management applications by:

opening the at least one of a plurality of tailored workflow management applications; and

capturing the image of the patient from a streamed video image display generated by a video camera in communication with the workflow management application servers by clicking on the streaming video image.

4. The system for managing patient care workflow and resource allocation of claim 1, wherein the image of the patient-is associated with the at least one of a plurality of tailored workflow management applications and when the image is selected, the images acts as a portal to medical information associated with the patient'"'"'s health record in the patient record database.

5. The system of managing patient care workflow and resource allocation of claim 1, wherein a plurality of patient images are associated with a screen portion that represents the at least one of a plurality of tailored workflow management applications indicating each patient'"'"'s real-time status and progress in the at least one of a plurality of tailored workflow applications.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the user roles of system users associated with the at least one of a plurality of tailored workflow management applications are selected from the group consisting of receptionist, clinical care-provider, medical assistant, clinical assistant, medical technologist, nurse, nurse practitioner, practice manager, medical records manager, clinical practice billing manager, or physician.

7. The system for managing patient care workflow and resource allocation in claim 1, wherein the at least one of a plurality of tailored workflow management applications are specific to a system user'"'"'s tasks and wherein the tasks are selected from the group consisting of administrative tasks, non-physician care-provider tasks, physician care-provider tasks, technologist tasks, or practice management tasks.

8. A non transitory machine-readable medium encoded with instructions, that when executed by one or more processors, cause the processors to carry out a process for providing a medical management workflow application linked to a patient'"'"'s health record in response a request of a system user and an assigned role of the system user, the process comprising:

providing at least one of a plurality of workflow management applications, said workflow management applications associated with a plurality of system user roles as determined by a User-Role Database (URD);

providing the at least one of a plurality of workflow management applications associated with a patient'"'"'s record, wherein the at least one of a plurality of workflow management

applications further comprises;

a user interface configured to;

enable a user of the at least one of the plurality of workflow management applications to track a patient throughout a clinic;

enable a user to activate a resource component based on a graphical representation of an image of a patient being associated with a screen portion of the user interface that is linked to a resource, the resource component configured to;

(1) alert one or more clinical staff members that the patient is ready for the next step of the patient workflow;

(2) update a status for the resource for all system users;

(3) access a patient health record;

(4) calculate efficiency data based in part on a generated wait time; and

(5) modify a patient workflow for the patient; and

a plurality of tasks associated to the system user'"'"'s role and patient'"'"'s status in the workflow presented to the system user at a system user specific time in the patient care workflow; and

displaying a link to the patient'"'"'s health record whereby medical information is recorded and stored in the patient'"'"'s record, and input from the user automatically updates the medical information in the patient'"'"'s record.

9. The machine-readable medium of claim 8, wherein a resource allocated to the patient is indicated by associating graphical representations of clinic resources with the image of the patient-in the at least one of a plurality of tailored workflow management applications.

10. The machine-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the process further comprises:

capturing the image of the patient from a streamed video image display generated by a video camera in communication with the workflow management application servers by clicking on the streaming video image; and

associating the image of the patient with the at least one of a plurality of tailored workflow management applications and the patient'"'"'s health record.

11. The machine-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the image of the patient-is associated with the at least one of a plurality of tailored workflow management applications and is a portal to medical information associated with the patient'"'"'s health record in the patient record database.

12. The machine-readable medium of claim 8, wherein a plurality of patient images are associated with the at least one of a plurality of tailored workflow management applications indicating each patient'"'"'s real-time status and progress in the at least one of a plurality of tailored workflow applications.

13. The machine-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the user roles of system users associated with the at least one of a plurality of tailored workflow management applications are selected from the group consisting of receptionist, clinical care-provider, medical assistant, clinical assistant, medical technologist, nurse, nurse practitioner, practice manager, medical records manager, clinical practice billing manager, or physician.

14. The machine-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the at least one of a plurality of tailored workflow management applications are specific to a system user'"'"'s tasks and wherein the tasks are selected from the group consisting of administrative tasks, non-physician care-provider tasks, physician care-provider tasks, technologist tasks, or practice management tasks.

15. A method in a computing system for managing patient care workflow and resource allocation in real time in a clinical setting comprising:

providing at least one of a plurality of tailored workflow management applications, said tailored workflow management applications associated with a plurality of system user roles as determined by a User-Role Database (URD);

associating the at least one of a plurality of tailored workflow management applications with a patient'"'"'s health record, wherein the at least one of a plurality of tailored workflow management applications further comprises;

a user interface defining one or more screen portions that are associated with one or more resources, wherein when a graphical representation of the patient is associated with a screen portion associated with one or more resources, the patient is assigned to that resource and an update to the patient status is shown in the user interface for all system users;

the computer system recording when the graphical representation of the image of the patient is associated with a clinic resource;

determining a plurality of tasks associated to the system user'"'"'s role and patient'"'"'s status in the workflow and presenting the plurality of tasks to the system user at a system user specific time in the patient care workflow;

the computer system generating a wait time for a resource;

the computer system generating efficiency data based in part on the generated wait time; and

the computer system displaying a link to the patient'"'"'s health record whereby medical information is recorded and stored in the patient'"'"'s health record, and input from the user automatically updates the medical information in the patient'"'"'s health record.

16. The method for managing patient care workflow and resource allocation claim 15, further comprising:

dragging the graphical representation of the patient and dropping the representation in a screen portion associated a check in location, such that patient demographic and insurance information is displayed within the user interface.

17. The method for managing patient care workflow and resource allocation of claim 15, wherein the image of the patient is associated with the at least one of a plurality of workflow management applications by:

opening the at least one of a plurality of tailored workflow management applications; and

capturing the image of the patient from a streamed video image display generated by a video camera in communication with the workflow management application servers by clicking on the streaming video image.

18. The method for managing patient care workflow and resource allocation of claim 15, wherein the image of the patient-is associated with the at least one of a plurality of tailored workflow management applications and is a portal to medical information associated with the patient'"'"'s health record in the patient record database.

19. The method of managing patient care workflow and resource allocation of claim 15, wherein a plurality of patient images are associated with a the at least one of a plurality of tailored workflow management applications indicating each patient'"'"'s real-time status and progress in the at least one of a plurality of tailored workflow applications.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the user roles of system users associated with the at least one of a plurality of tailored workflow management applications are selected from the group consisting of receptionist, clinical care-provider, medical assistant, clinical assistant, medical technologist, nurse, nurse practitioner, practice manager, medical records manager, clinical practice billing manager, or physician.