Method or secure diagnostic screening, servicing, treatment, and compliance monitoring for sleep apnea for oil and gas offshore workers, construction workers and heavy equipment workers

• US 8,249,896 B1
• Filed: 07/24/2009
• Issued: 08/21/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Mk3sd Limited
• Original Assignee: Mk3sd Limited
• Inventors: Berger, Mark, Berger, Helen Francis
• Primary Examiner(s): Najarian, Lena
• Assistant Examiner(s): Woods, Teresa
• Application Number:
  US12/509,189
• Time in Patent Office: 1,124 Days
• Field of Search: 705/2, 705/3, 600/300
• 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 20/30 relating to physical therapies or activities, e.g. physiotherapy, acupressure or exercising
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/60 for the operation of medical equipment or devices
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems

Abstract

A secure method for delivering sleep apnea diagnostic services on an at least one operator of heavy equipment to a company. The sleep apnea diagnostic services are delivered by a general coordinator. 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 company device.

Claims

1. A method for delivering sleep apnea screening, sleep apnea treatment, and sleep apnea treatment compliance monitoring on a plurality of operators of heavy equipment of a 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 operator;

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 company adapted to identify operators with high predictive values for sleep apnea; and

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

b. the sleep apnea treatment comprising;

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

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 the operators indicated by the sleep apnea test data to have sleep apnea when the sleep apnea sleep test concludes;

c. the sleep apnea treatment compliance monitoring comprising;

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

ii. contacting each operator 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, contacting each operator 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 further comprising the step of:

a. returning the data transfer device by each operator with sleep apnea to the general coordinator after a second predetermined period of continuous compliance monitoring;

b. continuing to track sleep apnea treatment equipment data for each operator with sleep apnea by the general coordinator;

c. downloading sleep apnea treatment equipment data by each operator with sleep apnea to an encrypted removable data storage device;

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

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

3. 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 using a company 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 each operator by the server.

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

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

6. 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.

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

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the second predetermined time of continuous compliance monitoring comprises a range between 2 weeks and 4 weeks.

9. 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.

10. The method of claim 2, further comprising providing the compliance report for at least one of the operators with sleep apnea to the company by the general coordinator.

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

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

15. The method of claim 1, 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 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 to the operator with the categorized input information.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step 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 or absence of sleep apnea;

d. body mass index;

e. presence or absence of hypertension;

f. presence or absence of diabetes;

g. presence absence of heart disease;

h. neck size;

i. presence or absence of lung disease;

j. presence or absence of asthma;

k. presence or absence of heart burn;

l. an indicator for frequent urination at night; and

m. combinations thereof.

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

20. The method of claim 18, 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 18, 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 secured sleep apnea diagnostic screening questionnaire comprises:

a. company employee information;

b. individual personal information; and

c. personal health information.

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

25. The method of claim 18, 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 the operator;

c. a high, medium, or low positive predictive value for each operator;

or combinations thereof.