Patient directed system and method for managing medical information

• US 8,090,742 B2
• Filed: 12/01/2009
• Issued: 01/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Peoplechart Corporation
• Original Assignee: Peoplechart Corporation
• Inventors: Mok, Megan Wai-Han, Jopling, Arthur Douglas, Holvey, R. David, Mattox, Joel D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ehichioya, Fred I
• Application Number:
  US12/628,876
• Publication Number:
  US 20100094658A1
• Time in Patent Office: 763 Days
• Field of Search: 707/609, 707/705, 707/770, 707/790, 707/802, 707/821, 707/966, 705/2, 705/3, 705/44, 705/51, 715/248, 715/764
• US Class Current: 707/770
• 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

Abstract

A system and method is provided for the management of a patient'"'"'s medical records by a central data repository under the direction of the patient and enabled by an entity managing records on behalf of the patient. Medical records from a plurality of the patient'"'"'s healthcare providers, including past and present healthcare providers, are maintained in this central repository in a way that provides a centralized, comprehensive, and accessible medical history of the patient, as well as a comprehensive organizational structure across all records. An embodiment has the patient directed central repository as the hub in a hub-and-spoke arrangement, where each spoke goes to one of the patient'"'"'s healthcare providers, both past and present. The patient'"'"'s medical records are collected from all the patient'"'"'s healthcare providers, then classified, stored, and organized for use by the patient, healthcare providers, and any other authorized individuals. The records in the repository can be sorted and/or selected in several different ways and displayed to the patient or to his designated medical care providers, and to certain patient designated third parties.

Claims

1. A method for managing a patient'"'"'s medical records authored by at least two healthcare providers, said method comprising:

collecting at least one medical record from at least two healthcare providers, wherein said collecting is by a service provider;

making an electronic image of each collected medical record;

categorizing each electronic image according to a standard set of categories;

storing in a storage area each categorized electronic image, wherein said storage area comprises a data base; and

retrieving from said storage area and presenting an ordered set of at least some of the categorized electronic images, using at least one of a plurality of predetermined criteria.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said plurality of predetermined criteria include sorting categorized plurality of electronic images in reverse chronological order of creation dates, by medical sub-category, by author, by author specialization, in numerical order of document identifier, by document provider, or any combination thereof.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

sorting a plurality of electronic images; and

presenting said sorted plurality of electronic images based on a selection criterion and a prioritization algorithm.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising displaying said ordered set of electronic images to a current healthcare provider examining said patient.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein said displaying said ordered set of electronic images to a current healthcare provider occurs only for electronic images in said ordered set which are not marked private by said patient.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said standard set of categories is the same for each healthcare provider of a plurality of healthcare providers.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said standard set of categories comprises a plurality of categories, said categories comprising a document identifier.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein said categories further comprise:

an author of a page, a specialization of said author, a date said page was created, a page type, a record source, or a name of a file provider.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein said electronic image comprises a scanned paper-based page of said patient'"'"'s medical records.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said scanned paper-based pages include handwritten notes of a healthcare provider.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising;

the service provider receiving a medical record collection request from the patient for collecting medical records from at least one health care provider identified by the patient.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the patient'"'"'s medical records are authored by a plurality of healthcare providers and at least two healthcare providers of said plurality have different medical record systems.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein collecting the at least one medical record is in response to a request by the patient.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein access to a stored categorized electronic image in said storage area must be authorized by said patient.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein each electronic image is identified by a unique document identifier.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the document identifier comprises a document name or a document title.

17. A method for a patient accessing said patient'"'"'s medical records originating from at least one healthcare provider, said method comprising:

collecting from said at least one healthcare provider at least one electronic image of said patient'"'"'s medical records, wherein collecting is performed by the service provider, said collecting including the steps of the service provider contacting said healthcare provider to request said at least one electronic image of said patient'"'"'s medical records and the service provider receiving said at least one electronic image of said patient'"'"'s medical records from said healthcare provider;

categorizing each electronic image according to a standard set of categories, having at least two categories;

storing in a storage area of a computer each said categorized electronic image, wherein said storage area comprises a database; and

retrieving at least one electronic image of said stored categorized electronic images according to at least one of a plurality of selection criteria, said plurality of selection criteria based on said standard set of categories.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising displaying or providing said retrieved electronic image to said patient.

19. The method of claim 17 further comprising displaying or providing said retrieved electronic image to a third party after approval by said patient or said patient'"'"'s legal surrogate.

20. The method of claim 17 further comprising displaying or providing said retrieved electronic image to said patient, but not to said patient'"'"'s legal surrogate.

21. The method of claim 17 further comprising distributing said retrieved electronic image by fax, email, or hard copy.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein said hard copy comprises a floppy disk, CD, microfiche, or paper copy.

23. The method of claim 17 wherein said standard set of categories is the same for all healthcare providers of said patient.

24. The method of claim 17 further comprising displaying a log of said categorized electronic images to said patient.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein said log is organized by document date, page type, or doctor specialty.

26. The method of claim 17 wherein said plurality of selection criteria comprises:

Medications &

Allergies, Immunizations, Patient Intake Apps, Physical Exams, Progress Notes, Consultations, Operative Notes, ER Reports, Hospital Summaries, EKGs, Imaging Reports, Special Tests, Labs &

Cultures, Therapy Notes, Billing &

Insurance, Patient Added Pages and Other.

27. The method of claim 17 wherein said standard set of categories comprises a plurality of categories, said plurality of categories comprising:

document identifier, page type, author, specialization of said author, healthcare provider of the record, and date of the record.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein said selection criteria selects electronic images in a category of said plurality of categories.

29. The method of claim 27 wherein the document identifier comprises a document name or a document title.

30. The method of claim 17 further comprising, when needed, converting to electronic format each document of said patient'"'"'s medical records.

31. The method of claim 17 further comprising, providing to said patient a report, said report comprising said categorized electronic images organized by sections, said sections comprising a clinical section.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein said clinical section comprises Medications &

Allergies, Immunizations, Patient Intake Apps, Physical Exams, Progress Notes, Consultations, Operative Notes, ER Reports, Hospital Summaries, EKGs, Imaging Reports, Special Tests, Labs &

Cultures, Therapy Notes, Billing &

Insurance, and Other sub-sections.

33. The method of claim 17 further comprising the service provider automatically generating letters for said patient'"'"'s signature to request said plurality of electronic images of said patient'"'"'s medical records.

34. The method of claim 17 further comprising the service provider receiving a medical record collection request from the patient for collecting medical records from at least one health care provider identified by the patient.

35. The method of claim 17 further comprising enabling said patient to add comments to the electronic images copied document in electronic image format.

36. The method of claim 17 wherein said at least one healthcare provider comprises a past and a current health care provider.

37. The method of claim 17 wherein the patient'"'"'s medical records are authored by a plurality of healthcare providers and at least two healthcare providers of said plurality have different medical record systems.

38. The method of claim 17 wherein access to a stored categorized electronic image in said storage area is under control of said patient.

39. A method for a patient accessing said patient'"'"'s medical records originating from at least one health care provider, said method comprising:

collecting from said healthcare provider said patient'"'"'s medical records, wherein said collecting is performed by a service provider, said collecting including the steps of the service provider contacting said healthcare provider to request said patient'"'"'s medical records and the service provider receiving said patient'"'"'s medical records from said healthcare provider;

categorizing electronic images of said patient'"'"'s medical records according to a standard set of categories, wherein said categorizing includes categorizing each electronic image of the patient'"'"'s collected medical records;

storing in a storage area of a computer said categorized electronic images, wherein said storage area comprises a database; and

displaying a log of said categorized electronic images.

40. The method of claim 39 further comprising displaying a time line graph indicating a date when an electronic image of said categorized electronic images was created.

41. The method of claim 39 wherein said log comprises an inventory of said categorized electronic images sorted by document identifier, page type, author of said record, specialization of said author, record provider, or record date.

42. The method of claim 41 wherein the document identifier comprises a document name or a document title.

43. The method of claim 39 wherein said log is sorted by date in reverse chronological order.

44. The method of claim 39 wherein said log comprises a link to display an electronic image.

45. The method of claim 39 wherein the patient identifies the healthcare provider to the service provider and wherein the collecting is at the request of the patient.

46. The method of claim 39 wherein access to said categorized electronic images in said storage area is under the control of said patient.

47. A system for centrally managing medical records of a patient from at least one healthcare provider, said system comprising:

a collection module for collecting from said healthcare provider said medical records, wherein a service provider contacts said healthcare provider to request said medical records and receives said medical records from said healthcare provider, and wherein said collection module is other than the patient;

a computerized system for categorizing each medical record into a standard set of categories;

a storage area wherein said storage area comprises a database for electronically storing categorized electronic images of said categorized medical records; and

a retrieval module for retrieving an ordered set of electronic images of said categorized electronic images, wherein said ordered set of electronic images is arranged using at least one of a plurality of criteria, said plurality of criteria based on said computerized system.

48. The system of claim 47 further comprising a display for displaying said ordered set of electronic images.

49. The system of claim 48 wherein said display for presenting comprises a Web browser.

50. The system of claim 47 further comprising a distribution module for creating a CD, email, facsimile document, or printed document comprising information in said ordered set of electronic images.

51. The system of claim 47 further comprising a search engine application stored in a computer readable medium for locating a doctor or an organization of said healthcare provider.

52. The system of claim 47 wherein said computerized system for categorizing each medical record comprises:

document identifier, page type, author of said record, specialization of said author, provider of the record, and date of the record.

53. The method of claim 52 wherein the document identifier comprises a document name or a document title.

54. The system of claim 47 wherein the medical records of the patient are distributed across a plurality of health care providers.

55. The system of claim 47 wherein the patient identifies the plurality of healthcare providers to the service provider, and collecting is at the request of the patient.

56. The system of claim 47 wherein said set of standard categories is the same for all healthcare providers.

57. A method of centrally managing medical records of a patient authored by at least one healthcare provider, said method comprising:

collecting from said at least one healthcare provider medical records, wherein said medical records comprise paper based documents, and wherein said collecting is performed by a service provider;

classifying each page of said paper based documents using classes of a classification system, the classes being a standard set of classes;

converting each page of said paper based documents to an electronic image;

storing each electronic image in a computer readable medium;

retrieving an organized subset of said electronic images, using at least one of a plurality of criteria; and

displaying an electronic image of said organized subset.

58. The method of claim 57 wherein said classifying each page comprises adding a header and a footer to each page, wherein said header comprises a first group of classes of said classification system and said footer comprises a second group of classes of said classification system.

59. The method of claim 58 wherein said first group comprises:

a document identifier, page type, patient name, and member identifier.

60. The method of claim 59 wherein said page type is a medical category selected from a group comprising:

Medications &

Allergies, Immunizations, Patient Intake Apps, Physical Exams, Progress Notes, Consultations, Operative Notes, ER Reports, Hospital Summaries, EKGs, Imaging Reports, Special Tests, Labs &

Cultures, Therapy Notes, Billing &

Insurance, and Other.

61. The method of claim 59 wherein the document identifier comprises a document name or a document title.

62. The method of claim 58 wherein said second group comprises:

author of said page, author'"'"'s specialization, if a doctor, and creation date of said page.

63. The method of claim 57 wherein said classification system comprises:

a document identifier, page type, patient name, member identifier, author of said page, author'"'"'s specialization, if a doctor, and creation date of said page.

64. The method of claim 57 wherein the classes of the classification system are common across a plurality of healthcare providers.

65. The method of claim 57 wherein the patient identifies to the service provider a plurality of healthcare providers from which medical records are to be collected.

66. The method of claim 57 wherein access to said computer readable medium is authorized by said patient.

67. The method of claim 57 wherein said at least one healthcare provider comprises a past and a current health care provider.

68. A system for centrally managing a medical records of a patient originating from at least one healthcare provider, said system comprising:

a backend server for receiving said medical records from said at least one healthcare provider, wherein each document of said medical records is categorized into a standard set of categories, wherein said plurality of medical records are collected by a service provider, wherein the service provider contacts said healthcare provider to request said medical records and the service provider receives said medical records from said healthcare provider;

a database connected to said backend server for storing said categorized documents as electronic images; and

a Web server connected to said backend server and to a client system, wherein said Web server processes a search request by said client system for retrieving a set of ordered documents of said categorized documents, said set arranged by using at least one of a plurality of criteria.

69. The system of claim 68 further comprising a scanner coupled to said backend server for converting a paper-based document of said medical records to an electronic image for storing in said database.

70. The system of claim 68 further comprising a search engine for locating the at least one a healthcare provider.

71. The system of claim 68 further comprising a window displaying a current collection status of a patient'"'"'s medical records from the at least one healthcare provider.

72. The system of claim 68 wherein the patient identifies the healthcare provider to the service provider.

73. The system of claim 68 wherein collecting of the medical records by the service provider is in response to a request by the patient.

74. The system of claim 68 wherein access to said categorized documents is controlled by said patient.

75. A method for a service provider to manage a patient'"'"'s medical records authored by a plurality of healthcare providers, said method comprising:

the service provider;

collecting the patient'"'"'s medical records from each of the plurality of healthcare providers;

making an electronic image of each document in the collected patient'"'"'s medical records;

categorizing the electronic images according to a standard set of categories;

storing in a data base in a computer storage the categorized electronic images; and

retrieving from said computer storage an ordered set of electronic images of the categorized electronic images, using at least one of a plurality of predetermined criteria.

76. The method of claim 75 wherein said plurality of predetermined criteria include sorting said categorized electronic images in reverse chronological order of creation dates, by medical sub-category, by author, by author specialization, in numerical order of document identifier, by document provider, or any combination thereof.

77. The method of claim 75 further comprising:

sorting said plurality of electronic images; and

presenting said sorted plurality of electronic images based on a selection criterion and a prioritization algorithm.

78. The method of claim 75 further comprising providing said ordered set of electronic images to a healthcare provider examining said patient.

79. The method of claim 78 wherein said providing said ordered set of electronic images to a healthcare provider occurs only for electronic images in said ordered set which are not marked private by said patient.

80. The method of claim 75 wherein said standard set of categories is the same for all healthcare providers of said plurality of healthcare providers.

81. The method of claim 75 wherein said standard set of categories comprises a plurality of categories, said categories comprising a document identifier.

82. The method of claim 81 wherein said categories further comprise:

an author of a page, a specialization of said author, a date said page was created, a page type, a record source, or a name of a file provider.

83. The method of claim 75 wherein said plurality of electronic images comprises scanned paper-based pages of said patient'"'"'s medical records.

84. The method of claim 75 further comprising:

the service provider automatically generating letters for said patient'"'"'s signature to request said plurality of electronic images of said patient'"'"'s medical records.

85. The method of claim 75 further comprising displaying a log of said categorized plurality of electronic images to said patient.

86. The method of claim 75 wherein at least two healthcare providers of said plurality of healthcare providers have different medical record systems.

87. The method of claim 75 further comprising displaying said retrieved electronic images to said patient, a third party after approval by said patient, or to said patient'"'"'s legal surrogate, or any combination thereof.

88. The method of claim 75 further comprising distributing said retrieved document by fax, email, or hard copy.

89. The method of claim 75 wherein said hard copy comprises a floppy disk, CD, microfiche, or paper copy.

90. The method of claim 75 wherein said standard set of categories is used by all healthcare providers of said plurality of healthcare providers.

91. The method of claim 75 further comprising the service provider obtaining authorization from the patient to collect the patient'"'"'s medical records from each of the plurality of healthcare providers.

92. The method of claim 75 further comprising the service provider obtaining authorization from the patient for access to said categorized electronic images.