System and method for early identification of safety concerns of new drugs

• US 8,473,309 B2
• Filed: 06/14/2012
• Issued: 06/25/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Optuminsight, Inc. (UnitedHealth Group Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Optuminsight, Inc. (UnitedHealth Group Incorporated)
• Inventors: Walker, Alexander M.
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, HIEP VAN
• Application Number:
  US13/517,775
• Publication Number:
  US 20120323604A1
• Time in Patent Office: 376 Days
• Field of Search: 705/2
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/20 for electronic clinical trials or questionnaires
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/10 relating to drugs or medications, e.g. for ensuring correct administration to patients
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/70 for mining of medical data, e.g. analysing previous cases of other patients
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 70/40 relating to drugs, e.g. their side effects or intended usage

Abstract

A drug registry database is administered by storing healthcare claims for a plurality of patients and providing a user interface that displays new drug/comparator drug pairings in which a new drug includes a threshold number of healthcare claims and a comparator drug with substantially similar medical indications as the new drug. Based on receiving a new drug/comparator drug pairing selection, an analysis engine identifies from healthcare claims a statistically matched first of patients having used the new drug and second group of patients having used the comparator drug; identifies a comparative occurrence of existing medical conditions or new medical conditions in the statistically matched groups; and calculates a probability value indicating a relative likelihood that a patient taking the new drug will have a medical condition from the new or existing medical conditions in comparison to a likelihood that a patient taking the comparator drug will have the medical condition.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented system for administering a drug registry database, comprising:

an electronic database configured to store a plurality of healthcare claims for a plurality of patients;

an electronic user interface configured to

display a plurality of new drug/comparator drug pairings, wherein the plurality of new drug/comparator drug pairings include a new drug for which a threshold number of healthcare claims have been received and a comparator drug that has substantially similar medical indications as the new drug; and

receive a selection of a new drug/comparator drug pairing; and

an analysis engine configured to

search the healthcare claims stored in the database to identify a statistically matched first and second group of patients, wherein the first group includes patients with claim data indicating use of the new drug and the second group includes patients with claim data indicating use of the comparator drug and are statistically matched with demographic characteristics of the patients in the first group;

identify a comparative occurrence of existing medical conditions or new medical conditions in the statistically matched first and second groups of patients; and

calculate a probability value indicating a relative likelihood that a patient taking the new drug will have a medical condition from the new or existing medical conditions in comparison to a likelihood that a patient taking the comparator drug will have the medical condition;

wherein the electronic user interface displays the medical condition and the probability value in accordance with one or more report parameters entered by the user.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the display generated by the electronic user interface includes at least one of demographic characteristics, prevalence of diagnosis, prevalence of procedures, prevalence of drug class and healthcare utilization.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the patients in the second group are statistically matched with health insurance experiences of the patients in the first group.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the patients in the second group are statistically matched to the patients in the first group in at least one category including age, sex, geographic region, diagnoses, drugs dispensed, procedures performed, and generalists and specialists seen.

5. A computer-implemented method for administering a drug registry database, comprising:

storing a plurality of healthcare claims for a plurality of patients on a computing device;

displaying on a user interface a plurality of new drug/comparator drug pairings, wherein the plurality of new drug/comparator drug pairings include a new drug for which a threshold number of healthcare claims have been received and a comparator drug that has substantially similar medical indications as the new drug;

receiving a selection of a new drug/comparator drug pairing;

searching by an analysis engine the healthcare claims stored in the database to identify a statistically matched first and second group of patients, wherein the first group includes patients with claim data indicating use of the new drug and the second group includes patients with claim data indicating use of the comparator drug and are statistically matched with demographic characteristics of the patients in the first group;

identifying a comparative occurrence of existing medical conditions or new medical conditions in the statistically matched first and second groups of patients;

calculating a probability value indicating a relative likelihood that a patient taking the new drug will have a medical condition from the new or existing medical conditions in comparison to a likelihood that a patient taking the comparator drug will have the medical condition; and

displaying the medical condition and the probability value in accordance with one or more report parameters entered by the user.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the display generated by the user interface includes demographic characteristics, prevalence of diagnosis, prevalence of procedures, prevalence of drug class, or healthcare utilization.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the patients in the second group are statistically matched with health insurance experiences of the patients in the first group.

8. The method according to claim 5, wherein the patients in the second group are statistically matched to the patients in the first group in at least one category including age, sex, geographic region, diagnoses, drugs dispensed, procedures performed, and generalists and specialists seen.