Platform for connecting medical information to services for medical care

• US 8,700,424 B2
• Filed: 12/03/2009
• Issued: 04/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Itriage LLC (Aetna Health Holdings LLC)
• Original Assignee: Itriage LLC (Aetna Health Holdings LLC)
• Inventors: Hudson, Peter, Guerra, Wayne
• Primary Examiner(s): Cobanoglu, Dilek B
• Assistant Examiner(s): SOREY, ROBERT A
• Application Number:
  US12/630,696
• Publication Number:
  US 20100145723A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,594 Days
• Field of Search: 705 2- 3
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• 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 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 70/00 ICT specially adapted for the handling or processing of medical references

Abstract

A user device for connecting symptom, disease, procedure, and facility based information into actionable services for medical care and cost analysis is presented. The user device may include the functionality of linking medical information and providing user specific information. The user-specific information allows the user to make an informed decision about medical treatment. The user device may further be operative to tailor information in light of user characteristics such as location or healthcare network membership.

Claims

1. A method of providing medical information, the method comprising:

receiving, at a computer-based processing system, information regarding a symptom from a user;

correlating, by said system, said information regarding said symptom to at least one condition that presents said symptom;

obtaining, at said system, healthcare network information regarding a healthcare network to which the user belongs;

acquiring, at said system, information regarding a location of said user;

identifying, by said system, a plurality of medical providers according to provider-type based on at least said condition, said healthcare network information, and said location of said user;

determining, by said system, an indication of appropriateness for each provider-type to treat said condition based on a condition severity level each medical provider is equipped to treat, wherein the indication is either positive to indicate that the provider-type is appropriate when the medical provider is equipped to treat said condition severity level, or negative to indicate that the provider-type is not appropriate when the medical provider is not equipped to treat said condition severity level;

presenting to said user, by said system, with a user interface of said system, a provider-type selection screen comprising a stratified list of provider-types designated with the determined indication of appropriateness;

receiving, by said system, a provider-type selection; and

displaying, by said system, information regarding said plurality of medical providers that are associated with said selection.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said acquiring comprises detecting, at said system, said location of said user.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said detecting comprises utilizing a global positioning system (GPS) receiver to determine the location of said user.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing to said user, using the system, a structured web search based on at least one of said symptom and said condition.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said structured web search is directed to a description of said condition, symptoms of said condition, work-up of said condition, treatment of said condition, disease course of said condition, prognosis of said condition, new research on said condition, images of said condition, and videos of said condition.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said condition severity level each medical provider is equipped to treat is based at least in part on information regarding facilities.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein information regarding facilities comprises at least one of hours of operation, staffing information, and real-time wait times.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said information regarding said plurality of medical providers comprises location information regarding said plurality of medical providers in relation to said location of said user.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said acquiring comprises receiving, at said system, information regarding a location of said user from said user.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said identifying is based on at least said condition, said healthcare network information, and a medical specialty associated with the treatment of said condition.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said obtaining comprises obtaining, at said system, said healthcare network information from the user.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said obtaining comprises determining, using said system, said healthcare network information based on a network accessed by said user.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said obtaining comprises inferring, using said system, said healthcare network information based on user information provided by said user.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein said information regarding said plurality of medical providers comprises at least one link to a website.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein said information regarding said plurality of medical providers comprises a cost estimate associated with a treatment of said condition.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein said information regarding said plurality of medical providers comprises information regarding a cost specialist to assist in determining proper costs regarding a treatment of said condition.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein said information regarding said plurality of medical providers comprises quality reports regarding said plurality of medical providers.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving from the user, at said system, feedback regarding a facility.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein said provider-types comprise at least emergency department, urgent care, retail clinic, physicians, and pharmacy.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein said positive indication to indicate that the provider is appropriate is a check-mark, and said negative indication to indicate that the provider is not appropriate is an x-mark.

21. A computer-based processing system for providing medical information, the system comprising:

a processor, in operative communication with at least one database containing condition information, configured to obtain healthcare network information regarding a healthcare network to which a user belongs;

said processor being configured to access said at least one database and correlate information regarding a symptom to at least one condition that presents said symptom;

input structure, executed by said processor and engageable by said user, configured to receive input from said user comprising information regarding said symptom;

a location determination module, in operative communication with said processor, configured to interpret location information regarding a user and utilize said location information to provide to said processor a user location;

said processor is configured to identify a plurality of medical providers according to provider-type based on said condition, said healthcare network information, and said user location;

said processor is configured to determine an indication of appropriateness for each provider-type to treat said condition based on a condition severity level each medical provider is equipped to treat, wherein the indication is either positive to indicate that the provider-type is appropriate when the medical provider is equipped to treat said condition severity level, or negative to indicate that the provider-type is not appropriate when the medical provider is not equipped to treat said condition severity level;

a user interface, controlled by said processor, configured to present a provider-type selection screen comprising a stratified list of provider-types designated with the determined indication of appropriateness;

said input structure is configured to receive a provider-type selection; and

said user interface is configured to display information regarding said plurality of medical providers that are associated with said selection.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein said location determination module receives location information from a source remote from said system.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein said location information is obtained using a network based technique.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein said network based technique comprises at least one of a handset-based cell location method, cell sector method, microcell method, angle of arrival method, time difference of arrival method, and signal strength method.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein said condition severity level each medical provider is equipped to treat is based at least in part on information regarding facilities.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein information regarding facilities comprises at least one of hours of operation, staffing information, and real-time wait times.

27. The system of claim 21, wherein said information regarding said plurality of medical providers comprises location information regarding said plurality of medical providers in relation to said location of said user.

28. The system claim 21, wherein said location determination module comprises a global positioning system (GPS) receiver.

29. The system of claim 21, wherein said location determination module is in operative communication with said input structure and said location information is input by said user.

30. The system of claim 21, wherein said processor is operative to receive said healthcare network information from said user via said input structure.

31. The system of claim 21, wherein said processor is operative to receive said healthcare network information based on a network accessed by said user.

32. The system of claim 21, wherein said processor is operative to infer said healthcare network information based on user information provided by said user.

33. The system of claim 21, wherein the at least one database comprises at least one of a procedure database, a disease database, a symptoms database, and a provider'"'"'s database.

34. The system of claim 21, wherein said processor is operative to identify said plurality of medical providers based on said condition, said healthcare network information, and a medical specialty associated with the treatment of said condition.

35. The system of claim 21, further comprising:

a connection to at least one of a data network and a telephone network,

wherein said user may operate said input structure to activate at least one of said data network and said telephone network based on said information regarding said plurality of medical providers.

36. The system of claim 21, wherein said provider-types comprise at least emergency department, urgent care, retail clinic, physicians, and pharmacy.

37. The system of claim 21, wherein said positive indication to indicate that the provider is appropriate is a check-mark, and said negative indication to indicate that the provider is not appropriate is an x-mark.

38. A user device for obtaining medical information, the user device comprising:

input structure, executed by a microprocessor at the user device, configured to receive healthcare network information regarding a healthcare network to which a user belongs and information regarding a symptom of said user;

said microprocessor being configured to correlate said information regarding said symptom of said user to at least one condition that presents said symptom;

a location determination module, executed by said microprocessor at the user device, and comprising a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, configured to interpret location information received at said GPS receiver and utilize said location information to provide to said microprocessor a user location free from location information input by the user;

a network interface, executed by said microprocessor, configured to transmit user information received by said input structure and said location determination module, respectively, including at least said healthcare network information, said user location, and said information condition to a network platform, and receive information identifying a plurality of medical providers according to provider-type from said network platform in response to said transmitting;

said microprocessor is configured to determine an indication of appropriateness for each provider-type to treat said condition based on a condition severity level each medical provider is equipped to treat, wherein the indication is either positive to indicate that the provider-type is appropriate when the medical provider is equipped to treat said condition severity level, or negative to indicate that the provider-type is not appropriate when the medical provider is not equipped to treat said condition severity level;

a user interface, executed by said microprocessor, configured to present a provider-type selection screen comprising a stratified list of provider-types designated with the determined indication of appropriateness;

said input structure is configured to receive a provider-type selection; and

said user interface is configured to display information regarding said plurality of medical providers that are associated with said selection.

39. The user device of claim 38, wherein said condition severity level each medical provider is equipped to treat is based at least in part on information regarding facilities.

40. The user device of claim 39, wherein information regarding facilities comprises at least one of hours of operation, staffing information, and real-time wait times.

41. The user device of claim 38, wherein said medical provider information comprises location information regarding a plurality of medical providers in relation to said location of said user.

42. The user device of claim 38, wherein said healthcare network information is received from said user.

43. The user device of claim 38, wherein said healthcare network information is based on a network accessed by said user.

44. The user device of claim 38, wherein said healthcare network information is based on user information provided by said user.

45. The user device of claim 38, wherein said network platform accesses at least one database comprising at least one of a procedure database, a disease database, a symptoms database, and a provider'"'"'s database.

46. The user device of claim 38, wherein said medical provider information is based on said condition, said healthcare network information, and a medical specialty associated with the treatment of said condition.

47. The user device of claim 38, further comprising:

a connection to at least one of a data network and a telephone network,

wherein said user may operate said input structure to activate at least one of said data network and said telephone network based on said medical provider information.

48. The user device of claim 38, wherein said provider-types comprise at least emergency department, urgent care, retail clinic, physicians, and pharmacy.

49. The user device of claim 38, wherein said positive indication to indicate that the provider is appropriate is a check-mark, and said negative indication to indicate that the provider is not appropriate is an x-mark.