Method for secure diagnostic screening, servicing, treatment, and compliance monitoring for sleep apnea for operators of transport vehicles

• US 8,200,510 B1
• Filed: 07/24/2009
• Issued: 06/12/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mk3sd Limited
• Original Assignee: Mk3sd Limited
• Inventors: Berger, Mark, Berger, Helen Francis
• Primary Examiner(s): O'Connor, Gerald J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Holcomb, Mark
• Application Number:
  US12/509,251
• Time in Patent Office: 1,054 Days
• Field of Search: 705 2- 4
• US Class Current: 705/3
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/20 for electronic clinical trials or questionnaires
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 15/00 ICT specially adapted for medical reports, e.g. generation or transmission thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/40 relating to mechanical, radiation or invasive therapies, e.g. surgery, laser therapy, dialysis or acupuncture
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/30 for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment

Abstract

A secure method for delivering sleep apnea diagnostic services on an at least one operator of a transport vehicle to a transport company. The sleep apnea diagnostic services are delivered by a general coordinator using a system. The system includes at least one processor connected to an input device, an output device, and a data storage. The data storage includes a plurality of secure computer instruction. The processor is in encrypted communication with a network which is in encrypted communication with at least one client device.

Claims

1. A method for delivering sleep apnea screening, sleep apnea treatment, and sleep apnea treatment compliance monitoring on an at least one operator of a transport vehicle of a transport company by a general coordinator comprising:

a. the sleep apnea screening comprising;

i. providing input information to the general coordinator using a secured sleep apnea diagnostic screening questionnaire completed by the at least one operator of a transport vehicle;

ii. determining positive predictive values for sleep apnea by categorizing input information using computer instructions on a server to categorize the input information into a member of the group consisting of;

male Witnessed Apnea Positive (WA+), female Witnessed Apnea Positive (WA+), male Witnessed Apnea Negative (WA−

) and Excessive Daytime Sleepiness Positive (EDS+) requiring an odds ratio calculation, female Witnessed Apnea Negative (WA−

) and Excessive Daytime Sleepiness Positive (EDS+) requiring an odds ratio calculation, male Witnessed Apnea Negative (WA−

) and Excessive Daytime Sleepiness Negative (EDS) requiring an odds ratio calculation, or female Witnessed Apnea Negative (WA−

) and Excessive Daytime Sleepiness Negative (EDS−

) requiring an odds ratio calculation;

iii. providing a health screening service report using the categorized input information from the general coordinator to the transport company adapted to identify operators of transport vehicles with high predictive values for sleep apnea;

iv. providing a summary of all positive predictive values using input information to the transport company; and

b. the sleep apnea treatment comprising;

i. directing at least one operator of a transport vehicle to a physician to prescribe a sleep test for sleep apnea and transmitting the results of the sleep test to the general coordinator; and

ii. providing sleep apnea treatment equipment comprising a data transfer device paired with a CPAP machine comprising a compliance chip by the general coordinator to each operator of a transport vehicle indicated by the sleep apnea test data to have sleep apnea simultaneously when the sleep apnea sleep test concludes;

c. the sleep apnea treatment compliance monitoring comprising;

i. using the data transfer device by each operator of a transport vehicle to transmit sleep apnea treatment equipment data from the sleep apnea treatment equipment to the general coordinator;

ii. contacting each operator of a transport vehicle with sleep apnea by the general coordinator after a first predetermined period of continuous compliance monitoring to ascertain sleep apnea treatment equipment performance; and

iii. following the first predetermined period of contacting of each operator of a transport vehicle with sleep apnea periodically by the general coordinator to ascertain sleep apnea treatment equipment performance.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein after the first predetermined period the method further comprises the step of:

a. continuing to track sleep apnea treatment equipment data for each of the at least one operator of a transport vehicles with sleep apnea by the general coordinator for a second predetermined period of continuous compliance monitoring;

b. downloading sleep apnea treatment equipment data by each operator of a transport vehicle with sleep apnea to an encrypted removable data storage device;

c. transferring sleep apnea treatment equipment data from the encrypted removable data storage device to a processor by the general coordinator; and

d. compiling the sleep apnea treatment equipment data using the processor to create a compliance report.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the data transfer device is adapted for use with a data transfer system.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising transmitting sleep apnea treatment equipment data from the sleep apnea treatment equipment to the general coordinator using the data transfer system.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of continuing to track sleep apnea treatment equipment data for each operator of a transport vehicle while complying with specified requirements established by the transport company after the second predetermined time of continuous compliance monitoring by the general coordinator.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the second predetermined time of continuous compliance monitoring is between 2 weeks to 4 weeks.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the encrypted removable data storage device comprises flash memory cards, flash drives, portable hard drives, memory cards, modems, and direct cable connections to the processor.

8. The method of claim 2, further comprising providing the compliance report for the at least one operator of a transport vehicle with sleep apnea to the transport company by the general coordinator.

9. The method of claim 2, further comprising associating the compliance report and the health screening service report by the general coordinator with each operator of a transport vehicle.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the input information to the general coordinator further comprises providing answers to the secure sleep apnea screening questionnaire to the general coordinator by each operator of a transport vehicle using a client device connected in encrypted communication with a network further in communication with at least one server;

and wherein the at least one server communicates with an input device, an output device, and a data storage, wherein the data storage comprises encrypted computer instructions for the sleep apnea screening questionnaire, and encrypted computer instructions providing a confirmation e-mail to the at least one operator of a transport vehicle by the server.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the sleep apnea treatment equipment data provides hours of use, data on mask leakage, and an apnea index based on throat closure during sleep apnea treatment compliance monitoring.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing delivery of sleep apnea screening, sleep apnea treatment, and sleep apnea treatment compliance monitoring simultaneously on a plurality of operators of transport vehicles simultaneously to a plurality of transport companies.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is complaint with the United States Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 2002, 42 C.F.R. section 164.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing an individualized health screening service report to the at least one operator of a transport vehicle.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising providing the individualized health screening service report by e-mail.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the individual personal information comprises:

a. name of an operator;

b. an employee number for each operator;

c. gender for each operator;

d. social security number for each operator;

e. an alert icon for self admitted sleep apnea;

f. date of input of information;

g. date of hire;

or

h. at least one company designated field.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising compiling the results of the sleep apnea sleep test with the categorized input information to provide a summary of data of the sleep apnea sleep test administered operators of transport vehicles of a commercial transport company with the categorized input information.

18. The method of claim 1, capable of generating a health screening survey report for the company comprising a member of the group comprising of:

a. company name;

b. gender of operator;

c. presence of absence of sleep apnea;

d. body mass index;

e. an indication of hypertension;

f. an indication of diabetes;

g. an indication of heart disease;

h. an operator'"'"'s neck size range;

i. an indication of lung disease;

j. an indication of asthma;

k. an indication of heart burn;

l. an indication of frequent urination at night; and

m. combinations thereof.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising flagging at least operator with self admitted sleep apnea for additional validation data supporting self admitted sleep apnea.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the health screening service report comprises a look-up table for each operator by name, employee number, or social security number.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating additional reports comprising:

a. sleep test results;

b. compliance reports;

or

c. receipts verifying delivery of equipment.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising confirming the company has a United States Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 2002 42 CFR section 164, compliant release for each operator.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the sleep apnea screening questionnaire comprises:

a. company employee information;

b. individual personal information;

c. personal health information.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the sleep apnea screening questionnaire further comprises a situational questionnaire with gender related questions.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the health screening service report comprises:

a. at least one rating per operator, wherein the rating comprises an member of the group consisting of;

b. individualized numerical scores indicating a positive predictive value for at least one operator; and

c. a high, medium, or low positive predictive value for at least one operator.