Method and system for information workflows

• US 8,856,064 B2
• Filed: 02/21/2012
• Issued: 10/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/12/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hussain, Saleem, Rath, Cale T., Sakhitab, Saeid, Devries, James R.
• Primary Examiner(s): KUDDUS, DANIEL A
• Application Number:
  US13/401,044
• Publication Number:
  US 20120150962A1
• Time in Patent Office: 959 Days
• Field of Search: 707/602, 707/728, 707/731
• US Class Current: 707/602
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/20 for electronic clinical trials or questionnaires
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records

Abstract

A method and apparatus for information repository workflows to transfer information between a first domain, such as healthcare sites, and a second domain, such as medical research facilities. Large quantities of medical information may be directly transferred to an information repository or indirectly transferred to the repository through the use of pointers. The information is cleansed and normalized prior to storage in a production database within the repository. The cleansing process is conducted while ensuring integrity of the production database is maintained and while continuing to receive additional information transfers. Errors encountered during processing are logged and reported.

Claims

1. A method of preparing a document for transfer between a remote site and a central processing facility, the document including medical information corresponding to one or more patients, the method comprising:

determining whether a size of the document exceeds a size threshold;

for each of the one or more patients, and prior to producing a message;

identifying, in the document, one or more items of identification information associated with the patient,

generating an anonymous global patient identifier by encrypting at least one of the items of identification information, and

replacing the items of identification information in the document with the anonymous global patient identifier;

computing a first checksum for the document that is compared with a second checksum at the central processing facility to verify the integrity of the medical information;

combining the document with first header information to produce the message when the size of the document does not exceed the size threshold; and

generating a link to a location storing the document and combining the link with second header information to produce the message when the size of the document exceeds the size threshold.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the first header information and the second header information includes respective metadata associated with the medical information and specifying one or both of a data type of the medical information and routing information, wherein the data type indicates one or more formats used for the medical information.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

upon determining that the size of the document exceeds the size threshold, storing the document on one or more secure servers communicatively coupled to a datastore located at the central processing facility.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

upon determining that the size of the document exceeds the size threshold, and prior to storing the document, splitting the document into a plurality of portions, each portion having a respective size less than the size threshold.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein generating a link to a location storing the document comprises generating a respective link to a location of each of the plurality of portions.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the size threshold is based on a message input capacity at one or both of the central processing facility and an intermediate site between the remote site and the central processing facility.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the document is stored for a predetermined period of time, during which the document is downloaded to the datastore, and wherein the document is deleted from the one or more secure servers upon expiration of the predetermined period of time.

8. A computer program product for preparing a document for transfer between a remote site and a central processing facility, the document including medical information corresponding to one or more patients, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable device having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code configured to;

determine whether a size of the document exceeds a size threshold;

for each of the one or more patients, and prior to producing a message;

identify, in the document, one or more items of identification information associated with the patient,

generate an anonymous global patient identifier by encrypting at least one of the items of identification information, and

replace the items of identification information in the document with the anonymous global patient identifier;

compute a first checksum for the document that is compared with a second checksum at the central processing facility to verify the integrity of the medical information;

combine the document with first header information to produce the message when the size of the document does not exceed the size threshold; and

generate a link to a location storing the document and combining the link with second header information to produce the message when the size of the document exceeds the size threshold.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein each of the first header information and the second header information includes respective metadata associated with the medical information and specifying one or both of a data type of the medical information and routing information, wherein the data type indicates one or more formats used for the medical information.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein to generate a link to a location storing the document comprises generating two or more links corresponding to two or more locations, and wherein each location stores a portion of the document.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the size threshold is based on a message input capacity at one or both of the central processing facility and an intermediate site between the remote site and the central processing facility.

12. A system, comprising:

a computer processor; and

a memory containing a program that, when executed on the computer processor, performs an operation for preparing a document for transfer between a remote site and a central processing facility, the operation comprising;

determining whether a size of the document exceeds a size threshold;

for each of the one or more patients, and prior to producing a message;

identifying, in the document, one or more items of identification information associated with the patient,

generating an anonymous global patient identifier by encrypting at least one of the items of identification information, and

replacing the items of identification information in the document with the anonymous global patient identifier;

computing a first checksum for the document that is compared with a second checksum at the central processing facility to verify the integrity of the medical information;

combining the document with first header information to produce a message when the size of the document does not exceed the size threshold; and

generating a link to a location storing the document and combining the link with second header information to produce the message when the size of the document exceeds the size threshold.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the document includes metadata associated with the medical information and specifying one or both of a data type of the medical information and routing information.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein generating a link to a location storing the document comprises generating two or more links corresponding to two or more locations, and wherein each location stores a portion of the document.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the size threshold is based on a message input capacity at one or both of the central processing facility and an intermediate site between the remote site and the central processing facility.