Systems and methods for constructing a local electronic medical record data store using a remote personal health record server

• US 8,108,311 B2
• Filed: 04/09/2009
• Issued: 01/31/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/09/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Herlitz, Sten
• Primary Examiner(s): Reagan, James A
• Application Number:
  US12/421,031
• Publication Number:
  US 20100262545A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,027 Days
• Field of Search: 705/51
• US Class Current: 705/51
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/027 involving a payment switch or gateway
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/085 involving remote charge determination or related payment systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/0855 involving a third party
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/88 Medical equipments
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures

Abstract

Certain embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for managing medical information. Certain embodiments provide a local electronic medical record system including a local personal health record (PHR) client, the PHR client downloading encrypted patient documents from a remote PHR server and parsing the downloaded encrypted patient documents to form a local PHR database. The example system also includes an interface receiving user input including an encryption key to decrypt the downloaded encrypted patient documents and displaying patient medical information to the user based on the downloaded decrypted patient documents.

Claims

1. A local electronic medical record system, said system comprising:

a local personal health record (PHR) client, the PHR client to download encrypted patient documents from a remote PHR server and parse the downloaded encrypted patient documents to form a local PHR database, the local PHR client to provide local electronic medical record service using the remote PHR server and the local PHR database for access by a clinician, the local PHR database to include encrypted patient documents for a plurality of patients associated with the clinician; and

an interface to receive user input including an encryption key to decrypt the downloaded encrypted patient documents and display patient medical information to the user based on the downloaded decrypted patient documents,

the PHR client to encrypt data from the local PHR database before uploading the data to the remote PHR server, wherein the remote PHR server cannot decrypt the encrypted patient documents and is to receive only encrypted data,

the local PHR client to facilitate both secure patient access to the remote PHR server for the patient'"'"'s PHR information and secure clinician access to the remote PHR server for the patient'"'"'s electronic medical record information, wherein the patient'"'"'s PHR information is to be controlled by the patient and made accessible to the clinician with the patient'"'"'s electronic medical record information via the remote PHR server.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a local storage storing the downloaded encrypted patient documents as separate files on a user'"'"'s computer apart from the local PHR database.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the local PHR database is rebuilt from encrypted patient documents at the remote PHR server based at least in part on a) a change at a user'"'"'s computer or b) a change in the encrypted patient documents.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein patient medical data is encrypted at the PHR client and uploaded to the remote PHR server in encrypted form without saving a local copy.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the encryption key comprises at least one of a patient encryption key and a physician private key.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the PHR client generates a patient summary document from the downloaded encrypted patient documents for display to the user via the interface.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the PHR client generates an index of patient documents from the downloaded patient documents for display to the user via the interface, the interface facilitating selection of a document in the index by the user for display.

8. A computer-implemented method for providing a local electronic medical record system, said method comprising:

downloading encrypted patient documents from a remote personal health record (PHR) server to a local PHR client;

parsing the downloaded encrypted patient documents to form a local PHR database;

providing local electronic medical record service using the remote PHR server and the local PHR database via the local PHR client for access by a clinician, the local PHR database to include encrypted patient documents for a plurality of patients associated with the clinician;

decrypting the downloaded encrypted patient documents using an encryption key at the local PHR client;

displaying patient medical information to a user via the local PHR client based on the downloaded decrypted patient documents;

encrypting data from the local PHR database via the PHR client and uploading the data to the remote PHR server, wherein the remote PHR server cannot decrypt the encrypted patient documents and is to receive only encrypted data; and

facilitating both secure patient access to the remote PHR server for the patient'"'"'s PHR information and secure clinician access to the remote PHR server for the patient'"'"'s electronic medical record information via the PHR client, wherein the patient'"'"'s PHR information is to be controlled by the patient and made accessible to the clinician with the patient'"'"'s electronic medical record information via the remote PHR server.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising storing the downloaded encrypted patient documents as separate files in local storage on a user'"'"'s computer apart from the local PHR database.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising rebuilding the local PHR database from encrypted patient documents at the remote PHR server based at least in part on a) a change at a user'"'"'s computer or b) a change in the encrypted patient documents.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the local PHR database includes encrypted patient documents for a plurality of patients associated with a clinician.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein patient medical data is encrypted at the PHR client and uploaded to the remote PHR server in encrypted form without saving a local copy.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising generating, via the PHR client, a patient summary document from the downloaded encrypted patient documents for display to the user via the interface.

14. A computer-readable medium including a set of instructions which, when executed on a computer, implement a local electronic medical record system, the set of instructions comprising:

a local personal health record (PHR) client, the PHR client to download encrypted patient documents from a remote PHR server and parse the downloaded encrypted patient documents to form a local PHR database, the local PHR client to provide local electronic medical record service using the remote PHR server and the local PHR database for access by a clinician, the local PHR database to include encrypted patient documents for a plurality of patients associated with the clinician; and

an interface receiving user input including an encryption key to decrypt the downloaded encrypted patient documents and displaying patient medical information to the user based on the downloaded decrypted patient documents,

the PHR client to encrypt data from the local PHR database before uploading the data to the remote PHR server, wherein the remote PHR server cannot decrypt the encrypted patient documents and is to receive only encrypted data,

the local PHR client to facilitate both secure patient access to the remote PHR server for the patient'"'"'s PHR information and secure clinician access to the remote PHR server for the patient'"'"'s electronic medical record information, wherein the patient'"'"'s PHR information is to be controlled by the patient and made accessible to the clinician with the patient'"'"'s electronic medical record information via the remote PHR server.