System for communication of health care data

• US 8,626,534 B2
• Filed: 11/22/2006
• Issued: 01/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/11/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Healthtrio LLC (Spok Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Healthtrio LLC (Spok Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hasan, Malik M., Post, Cindy A., Korpman, Ralph A., Wallen, J. Dominic, Peterson, John C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Fuelling, Michael
• Application Number:
  US11/603,399
• Publication Number:
  US 20070203753A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,603 Days
• Field of Search: 705/3
• US Class Current: 705/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 80/00 ICT specially adapted for facilitating communication between medical practitioners or patients, e.g. for collaborative diagnosis, therapy or health monitoring

Abstract

An apparatus for communicating health care data from a sender to a receiver is provided. The apparatus has a first computer system, a second computer system, and a rules engine. The first computer system has health care data stored therein. The second computer system is in operable communication with, and is configured to extract the health care data from, the first computer system. The rules engine normalizes the extracted health care data to a predefined format. The rules engine defines a plurality of health care data fields in the predefined format, as well as a plurality of relationships between fields of normalized data.

Claims

1. A computerized method for facilitating an exchange of information between a patient and at least one health care provider of the patient, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a database on a provider computer having stored personal/individual electronic medical records of a plurality of patients, wherein the personal/individual electronic medical records of the patients are maintained and used by at least one health care provider of the plurality patients in the regular care of the patients;

creating a personal/individual electronic medical record on the provider computer of a patient from the plurality of patients using health related data of the patient from one of the at least one health care provider,

storing the personal/individual electronic medical record of the patient in the database present on the provider computer until deliberately deleted by an authorized person;

organizing the personal/individual electronic medical record of the patient in the database on the provider computer selected from the group consisting at least one of a chronology, health-related procedure code, and diagnosis code;

providing a computerized interface configured so that the personal/individual electronic medical record of the patient from the database on the provider computer is accessible over the Internet;

receiving an electronic request from a patient computer via the computerized interface for information from the personal/individual electronic medical record of the patient;

retrieving one or more entries from the personal/individual electronic medical record of the patient from the database on the provider computer responsive to the electronic request;

generating a web page responsive to the electronic request, wherein the web page contains content that is based at least in part on the personal/individual electronic medical record;

receiving an access list from the patient computer over the Internet, wherein the access list is indicative of access rights to at least a portion of the personal/individual electronic medical record of the patient;

wherein the access list includes a set of access rights with one or more family members of the patient;

transmitting the web page to the patient computer;

wherein the computerized interface is configured to allow transactions selected from the group consisting at least one of view the patient'"'"'s personal/individual electronic medical record online, request prescription refill, request to view lab results, and request to view radiology results, and

transmitting at least another portion of the personal/individual electronic medical record of the patient to a second health care provider.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the data of the patient from the patient'"'"'s health care provider includes clinical data corresponding to the patient and wherein the web page includes content based on the clinical data.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of selecting an information article with a topic based on the data of the patient from the patient'"'"'s provider computer and including at least one of the following in the web page:

the information article and a link to the information article.

4. A computerized method for facilitating an exchange of information between a patient and at least one health care provider of the patient, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a database on a provider computer having stored personal/individual electronic medical records of a plurality of patients, wherein the personal/individual electronic medical records of the patients are maintained and used by at least one health care provider of the plurality patients in the regular care of the patients;

creating a personal/individual electronic medical record on the provider computer of a patient from the plurality of patients using health related data of the patient from one of the at least one health care provider,

storing the personal/individual electronic medical record of the patient in the database present on the provider computer until deliberately deleted by an authorized person;

organizing the personal/individual electronic medical record of the patient in the database on the provider computer selected from the group consisting at least one of a chronology, health-related procedure code, and diagnosis code;

providing a computerized interface configured so that the personal/individual electronic medical record of the patient from the database on the provider computer is accessible over the Internet;

receiving an electronic request for a test result from a patient computer via the computerized interface;

transmitting a web page to the patient computer responsive to the request from the patient computer;

wherein the web page transmitted to the patient computer contains content based on the test result if the provider computer released the test result;

wherein the webpage transmitted to the patient does not contain content based on the test result if the provider computer did not release the test result;

receiving an access list from the patient computer over the Internet, wherein the access list is indicative of access rights to at least a portion of the personal/individual electronic medical record of the patient;

wherein the access list includes a set of access rights for one or more family members of the patient.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the data of the patient from the patient'"'"'s provider computer is at least one of a laboratory test result or a radiology test result.

6. A computerized method for facilitating an exchange of information between a patient and at least one health care provider of the patient, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a database on a provider computer having stored personal/individual electronic medical records of a plurality of patients, wherein the personal/individual electronic medical records of the patients are maintained and used by at least one health care provider of the plurality patients in the regular care of the patients;

creating a personal/individual electronic medical record of the patient using health related data of the patient from the patient'"'"'s health care provider, wherein the personal/individual electronic medical record of the patient is stored in a database present on the provider computer,

storing the health related data in the personal/individual electronic medical record of the patient in the database on the provider computer is maintained and used by the health care provider of the patient in the regular care of the patient;

organizing the personal/individual electronic medical record of the patient in the database on the provider computer selected from the group consisting at least one of a chronology, health-related procedure code, and diagnosis code;

providing a computerized interface configured so that the database on the provider computer is accessible over the Internet;

receiving an electronic request from a patient computer via the computerized interface for information from the database on the provider computer over the Internet;

retrieving provider data from the database on the provider computer responsive to the electronic request;

generating a web page responsive to the electronic request, wherein the web page contains content that is from the personal/individual electronic medical record of the patient that is maintained and used by the health care provider of the patient in the regular care of the patient; and

transmitting the web page to the patient computer over the Internet;

receiving an access list from the patient computer over the Internet, wherein the access list is indicative of access rights to at least a portion of the personal/individual electronic medical record of the patient;

wherein the access list includes a set of access rights for one or more family members of the patient.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of enabling the patient to interact with the database to obtain health information based on a profile of the patient.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of enabling the patient to interact with the database via the computerized interface to access diagnosis information corresponding to the patient.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of enabling the patient to interact with the database via the computerized interface to access clinical information corresponding to the patient.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of enabling the patient to interact with the database via the computerized interface to access lab testing results corresponding to the patient.

11. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of enabling the patient to interact with the database via the computerized interface to access radiology testing results corresponding to the patient.

12. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of enabling the patient to interact with the database via the computerized interface to schedule appointments with the health care provider.

13. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of enabling the patient to interact with the database via the computerized interface to obtain a status as to a referral.

14. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of enabling the patient to interact with the database via the computerized interface to request prescription refills.

15. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of enabling the patient to interact with the database via the computerized interface to maintain a personal health record that is available to the health care provider via the Internet.

16. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of enabling the patient to interact with the database via the computerized interface to obtain eligibility/benefit information.

17. The method of claim 6, wherein the database includes insurer data indicative of a health care plan corresponding to the patient and further comprising the step of enabling the patient to interact with the database via the computerized interface to obtain information on health plan wellness programs corresponding to the patient.

18. The method of claim 6, wherein the data of the patient from the patient'"'"'s health care provider is developed by extracting health care data from a separate database and normalizing the extracted data to a predefined format in accordance with a rules engine that defines a plurality of health care data fields in a predefined format and a plurality of relationships between fields of normalized data.