Healthcare notification method and system including a healthcare website

• US 8,401,871 B2
• Filed: 06/18/2009
• Issued: 03/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: PDR Network LLC (PSKW LLC)
• Original Assignee: PNC Bank National Association (The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Guidice, Debra Del, Krym, Nick, Yuan, Leslie, Fotsch, Edward J
• Primary Examiner(s): Morgan, Robert
• Assistant Examiner(s): LAM, ELIZA ANNE
• Application Number:
  US12/487,551
• Publication Number:
  US 20090276243A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,370 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/20 Education
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/26 Government or public services business processes related to the transportation industry G06Q50/40
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/80 for detecting, monitoring or modelling epidemics or pandemics, e.g. flu
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass

Abstract

Methods and apparatus enabling organizations with a need to communicate with healthcare providers regarding health-related issues affecting patient health to notify healthcare providers of a health-related issue affecting patient health are disclosed. An electronic notification of the health-related issue is transmitted by one of the organizations to a healthcare notification network, which may include a healthcare website, for transmission to a healthcare provider, where the electronic notification includes a mechanism for obtaining an acknowledgement indicating that the healthcare provider has received and opened the electronic notification. Healthcare related information, such as drug recalls and medication warnings to healthcare providers from content providers, along with other services, is provided at the healthcare website. Healthcare related information may also be provided through other websites, such as electronic prescription and electronic medical/health records websites. Other services include providing corresponding Continuing Medical Education (“CME”) courses that may enable healthcare providers to earn CME credits toward a Maintenance of Certification (MOC) required by Medical Boards. MOCs for corresponding healthcare providers along with certificates to prescribe particular medications and/or use particular medical devices may be also stored at the healthcare website and verified by third parties, such as pharmacists and medical device manufacturers, before delivery.

Claims

1. A method performed by a processing device to notify a plurality of physicians of a medical event, the method comprising:

receiving, by the processing device, electronic information indicating the medical event, wherein the medical event is selected from a group consisting of a drug recall, a medical device recall, a drug usage warning, a medical device warning, a medical equipment recall, a medical equipment warning, a biological threat and a communicable threat;

selecting, by the processing device, a set of the plurality of physicians to notify in response to a type of medical event, wherein the selecting includes selecting the set from a database of physician names;

selecting, by the processing device, a test to be completed by a physician in the set of physicians in order to earn credit toward continuing medical education requirements;

preparing, by the processing device, an electronic healthcare notification of the medical event to the set of physicians;

providing, by the processing device, the electronic healthcare notification to the set of physicians;

providing, by the processing device, the test to each of the physicians in the set of physicians, wherein the test is related to information in the electronic healthcare notification, wherein the test includes a plurality of multiple choice questions, and wherein a plurality of answers to the plurality of multiple choice questions by the at least one physician indicates that the physician understood the content of the information in the electronic healthcare notification;

receiving, by the processing device, the plurality of answers to the test provided by at least one of the physicians in the set of physicians;

comparing, by the processing device, the plurality of answers with a plurality of correct answers; and

assigning, by the processing device, a credit value to the at least one physician in response to the comparing.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting the set of physicians is based on a medical specialty and the selecting the test is based on a content of the electronic healthcare notification.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing the electronic healthcare notification includes generating an email message to the at least one physician in the set of physicians, wherein the email message includes a hyperlink to a website that includes a content of the healthcare notification.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the providing the test includes providing a web page at a website, the web page including the plurality of multiple choice questions regarding the content of the electronic healthcare notification.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting, by the processing device, a type of electronic notification to provide to each of the physicians in the set of physicians; and

formatting, by the processing device, the information indicating the medical event in response to a selected type of electronic notification,

wherein providing the electronic healthcare notification includes notifying each of the physicians in the set of physicians by the respective selected type of electronic notification.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the electronic information includes receiving information from an entity selected from a group consisting of a pharmaceutical company, a medical device manufacturer, a medical equipment manufacturer and a government agency.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein in the database of physician names is an industry recognized validated database of physicians.

30. The method of claim 1, wherein the database of physician names has been registered by a medical society.

7. A method of operation in a system including at least one processing device to execute machine readable instructions and at least one storage device to store a plurality of physician names, a plurality of respective specialties and a plurality of tests, the method comprising:

receiving electronic information indicating a medical event;

selecting, by the at least one processing device in response to

     1) the machine readable instructions,

     2) a type of the medical event and

     3) the plurality of specialties, a set of the plurality of physician names to notify from the at least one storage device;

wherein the medical event is selected from a group consisting of a drug recall, a medical device recall, a drug usage warning, a medical device warning, a medical equipment recall, a medical equipment warning, a biological threat and a communicable threat,

wherein the plurality of physician names is stored in a database;

selecting, by the processing device in response to the machine readable instructions, a test from the plurality of tests, stored in the storage device, to be completed by a at least one physician from the set of physician names in order to earn credit toward continuing medical education requirements;

preparing, by the processing device in response to the machine readable instructions, an electronic healthcare notification of the medical event to a set of physicians corresponding to the set of physician names;

providing the electronic healthcare notification to the set of physicians;

providing the test to each of the physicians in the set of physicians, wherein the test includes a plurality of multiple choice questions, and wherein a plurality of answers to the plurality of multiple choice questions by at least one physician in the set of physicians indicates that the physician understood the content of the information in the electronic healthcare notification; and

receiving answers to the test provided by at least one of the physicians in the set of physicians;

comparing, by the at least one processing device in response to the machine readable instructions, the received answers with the plurality of correct answers; and

assigning, by the at least one processing device in response to the machine readable instructions, a credit value to the at least one physician in the set of physicians in response to the comparing.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the providing the electronic healthcare notification includes generating an email message to the at least one physician in the set of physicians, wherein the email message includes a hyperlink to a website that includes a content of the electronic healthcare notification.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the providing the test includes providing a web page at a website, the web page including a plurality of multiple choice questions regarding a content of the electronic healthcare notification.

10. A system to provide information regarding a medical event, the system comprising:

at least one storage device to store a plurality of physician names in a database, a plurality of respective specialties and a plurality of tests to earn continuing education credit;

at least one processor, coupled to the storage device;

the at least one storage device to store executable machine readable instructions for controlling the processor; and

the at least one processor is operative with the executable machine readable instructions to;

receive information regarding the medical event, wherein the medical event is selected from a group consisting of a drug recall, a medical device recall, a drug usage warning, a medical device warning, a medical equipment recall, a medical equipment warning, a biological threat and a communicable threat;

select a set of physicians to receive information regarding the medical event from the plurality of physician names;

select a preferred type of communication for each of the physicians in the set of physicians;

format the information regarding the medical event in response to the preferred type of communication for each of the physicians in the set of physicians;

provide an electronic notification of the information regarding the medical event to each of the physicians in the set of physicians, each electronic notification formatted based on the corresponding preferred type of communication;

select a test from the plurality of tests to provide to each of the physicians in the set of physicians;

provide the test to each of the physicians in the set of physicians, wherein the test includes a plurality of multiple choice questions, and wherein a plurality of answers to the plurality of multiple choice questions by each of the physicians in the set of physicians indicates that each respective physician understood the content of the information in the electronic notification;

receive answers to the test provided by at least one of the physicians in the set of physicians;

compare the received answers with a plurality of correct answers; and

assign a credit value to the at least one of the physicians in the set of physicians in response to the comparison of the provided answers with the plurality of correct answers.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the provided electronic notification includes generating an email message to the at least one physician in the set of physicians, wherein the email message includes a hyperlink to a website that includes information regarding the medical event.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the provided test includes a web page at a website, the web page having a plurality of multiple choice questions regarding the medical event.

13. A method performed by a processing device to notify a plurality of physicians of a medical event, the method comprising:

receiving, by the processing device, electronic information regarding the medical event, wherein the medical event is selected from a group consisting of a drug recall, a medical device recall, a drug usage warning, a medical device warning, a medical equipment recall, a medical equipment warning, a biological threat and a communicable threat;

selecting, by the processing device, a set of the plurality of physicians to notify in response to a type of medical event and in response to whether a physician has received an electronic healthcare notification of the medical event,

wherein the plurality of physicians is obtained from a database of physician names;

preparing, by the processing device, an electronic healthcare notification of the medical event for the set of physicians;

providing, by the processing device, the electronic healthcare notification to the set of physicians;

providing a test to each of the physicians in the set of physicians, wherein the test includes a plurality of multiple choice questions, and wherein a plurality of answers to the plurality of multiple choice questions by each of the physicians in the set of physicians indicates that each respective physician understood the content of the information in the electronic healthcare notification;

comparing, by the at least one processing device in response to the machine readable instructions, the received answers with the plurality of correct answers; and

assigning, by the at least one processing device in response to the machine readable instructions, a credit value to the at least one physician in the set of physicians in response to the comparing.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the providing includes providing the electronic healthcare notification to a website that provides electronic prescriptions for the set of physicians.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the providing includes providing the electronic healthcare notification to a website that provides electronic healthcare records for the set of physicians.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the providing includes providing a notification to register at a website in order to obtain the electronic healthcare notification.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the providing includes providing a hyperlink to a website in order to obtain the electronic healthcare notification.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the selecting the set of physicians is based on a medical specialty of the physician and the selecting is based on whether the physician in the plurality of physicians has received an email regarding the electronic healthcare notification.

19. A system to provide information regarding a medical event, the system comprising:

at least one storage device to store a plurality of physician names, a plurality of respective specialties and respective associated healthcare websites, wherein the plurality of physician names is stored in a database;

at least one processor, coupled to the storage device;

the at least one storage device to store executable machine readable instructions for controlling the processor; and

the at least one processor is operative with the executable machine readable instructions to;

receive electronic information regarding the medical event, wherein the medical event is selected from a group consisting of a drug recall, a medical device recall, a drug usage warning, a medical device warning, a medical equipment recall, a medical equipment warning, a biological threat and a communicable threat;

select a set of physicians from the plurality of physician names to notify in response to a type of medical event and in response to respective specialties of the plurality of physicians;

provide an electronic notification of the information regarding the medical event to each of the physicians in the set of physicians at the respective associated healthcare websites;

provide a test to each of the physicians in the set of physicians, wherein the test includes a plurality of multiple choice questions, and wherein a plurality of answers to the plurality of multiple choice questions by each of the physicians in the set of physicians indicates that each respective physician understood the content of the information in the electronic notification;

compare the received answers with a plurality of correct answers; and

assign a credit value to the at least one of the physicians in the set of physicians in response to the comparison of the provided answers with the plurality of correct answers.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the at least one storage device, at least one processor and executable machine readable instructions provide a healthcare website that provides electronic information regarding the medical event, and wherein the electronic notification includes a hyperlink to the healthcare website.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the respective associated healthcare websites include at least one of an electronic prescription website and an electronic medical records website.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the at least one storage device, at least one processor and executable machine readable instructions provide a healthcare website that provides electronic information regarding the medical event, and wherein the electronic notification includes a notification to register at the healthcare website in order to obtain the electronic healthcare notification.

23. A system to provide notification of a medical event to a physician, the system comprising:

a first processing device including a processor to execute machine readable instructions stored on a storage device, the first processing device to access notification of the medical event from a healthcare website;

a second processing device including a processor to execute machine readable instructions stored on a storage device, the second processing device to provide the healthcare website that provides the notification of the medical event, the second processing device to provide a test to the physician, wherein the test includes a plurality of multiple choice questions, and wherein a plurality of answers to the plurality of multiple choice questions by the physician indicates that the physician understood the content of the notification of the medical event the second processing device further comparing in response to the machine readable instructions, the received answers with the plurality of correct answers, and assigning, by the at least one processing device in response to the machine readable instructions, a credit value to the at least one physician in the set of physicians in response to the comparing; and

a third processing device including a processor to execute machine readable instructions stored on a storage device, the third processing device to provide an associated healthcare website that receives an indication that the notification of the medical event is available at the healthcare website,

wherein the medical event is selected from a group consisting of a drug recall, a medical device recall, a drug usage warning, a medical device warning, a medical equipment recall, a medical equipment warning, a biological threat and a communicable threat, and

wherein the physician is obtained from a database storing a plurality of physician names.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the first processing device is used by the physician to access the notification of the medical event.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein the associated healthcare website includes at least one of an electronic prescription website and an electronic medical records website.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the indication that the notification of the medical event is available includes a hyperlink to the notification of the medical event.

27. The system of claim 23, wherein the indication that the notification of the medical event is available includes notification to register at the healthcare website in order to obtain the notification of the medical event.

28. The system of claim 23, wherein the second processing device provides the indication that the notification of the medical event is available at the healthcare website to the third processing device when the second processing device has not sent an email regarding the medical event to the first processing device.