Medical equipment customer web portal

• US 10,755,368 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Issued: 08/25/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TC1 LLC (Abbott Laboratories Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: TC1 LLC (Abbott Laboratories Incorporated)
• Inventors: Burke, Edward, Hopkins, Susan Claire, Parker, Christopher Davis, Renteria, James, Rieflin, Edward Lewis, Rivas, Gilbert
• Primary Examiner(s): Morgan, Robert W
• Assistant Examiner(s): Coleman, Charles P
• Application Number:
  US13/826,063
• Publication Number:
  US 20130253952A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,721 Days
• Field of Search: 705 2, 705 3, 705 20
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• 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 40/40 for the management of medical equipment or devices, e.g. scheduling maintenance or upgrades

Abstract

A system for managing medical equipment is described. The system includes an equipment tracking module to maintain equipment records corresponding to medical equipment that are shipped from a medical equipment manufacturer to a medical center. The system also includes a patient information tracking module to maintain patient records corresponding to patients of the medical center and to associate the patient records with the equipment records when the patients are equipped with the medical equipment. In addition, the system includes a mapping module to provide locations of medical facilities capable of providing support for the medical equipment for patients that have been discharged from the medical center. Other embodiments are also described.

Claims

1. A system for managing medical equipment, the system comprising:

one or more web servers;

an equipment tracking module, implemented on the one or more web servers, to maintain equipment records including a plurality of fields corresponding to medical equipment that are shipped from a medical equipment manufacturer to a medical center, wherein the equipment tracking module is configured to allow only the medical equipment manufacturer to create each equipment record about the medical equipment in the equipment tracking module;

an authentication system, implemented on the one or more web servers, to authenticate a user at the medical center;

a patient information tracking module, implemented on the one or more web servers, to maintain patient records including a plurality of fields corresponding to patients of the medical center and to associate the patient records with the equipment records when the patients are equipped with the medical equipment, wherein each equipment record is associated with a patient record for a particular patient by way of at least one field and at least one field in the patient record is associated with at least one equipment record; and

a mapping module, provided through the one or more web servers, to provide locations of medical facilities capable of providing support for the medical equipment for those of the patients that have been discharged from the medical center.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a learning management module to present medical equipment training information for the medical center; and

a product incident module to maintain product incident records to track medical equipment failures.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the equipment tracking module is to create an equipment record for each medical equipment being shipped when the medical equipment manufacturer initiates a shipment of the medical equipment to the medical center and wherein an initial location of the medical equipment is stored as in transit in the equipment record.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the equipment tracking module is to add the medical equipment being shipped to an inventory list of the medical center when the medical equipment manufacturer initiates the shipment of the medical equipment to the medical center.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the medical equipment corresponding to the equipment record that is being associated with the patient record is removed from an inventory list when the equipment record is associated with the patient.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein the mapping module obtains the locations of the medical facilities by using a map database.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the equipment tracking module is configured to automatically add equipment maintenance reminders to an equipment-to-do list.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the patient information tracking module is to automatically add patient care reminders and regulatory compliance reminders to a patient-care-to-do list.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the medical equipment is at least one of an implantable device, an implantable-device-related accessory, a non-implantable device, or a non-implantable-device-related accessory.

32. The system of claim 1, wherein the medical equipment comprises an implantable ventricle assist device.

10. A computer-implemented method for tracking medical equipment sold by a medical equipment manufacturer, the method comprising:

generating, by a computer that includes an equipment tracking module, an equipment record including a plurality of fields corresponding to the medical equipment, wherein the equipment tracking module is configured so that the generating of the equipment record is initiated only by the medical equipment manufacturer when the medical equipment manufacturer ships the medical equipment to a medical center, and wherein an initial location of the medical equipment is stored as in transit in the equipment record;

updating an inventory list of the medical center to include the medical equipment when the equipment record is generated;

authenticating a user of the medical center based on data received from the user;

receiving data from the user indicating an association of the equipment record with a patient record including a plurality of fields of a patient when the patient is equipped with the medical equipment, the equipment record associates with a patient record for a particular patient by way of at least one field associated with the patient record and at least one field in the patient record associated with at least one equipment record;

providing a map which shows locations of medical facilities capable of providing support for the medical equipment for those patients that have been discharged from the medical center; and

receiving data indicating a disassociation of the equipment record from the patient record when the patient is no longer using the medical equipment.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, further comprising:

automatically adding equipment maintenance reminders to an equipment-to-do list.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, further comprising:

automatically adding patient care reminders to a patient-care-to-do list.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving a user-provided geographic location information corresponding to a target location; and

providing on the map locations of medical facilities nearby the target location that are capable of providing support for the medical equipment after the patient has been discharged from the medical center.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the medical equipment is at least one of an implantable device, an implantable-device-related accessory, a non-implantable device, or a non-implantable-device-related accessory.

33. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the medical equipment comprises an implantable ventricle assist device.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions thereon, the instructions when executed by a processor causing the processor to perform a method comprising:

generating, by a computer that includes an equipment tracking module, an equipment record including a plurality of fields corresponding to the medical equipment, wherein the equipment tracking module is configured so that the generating of the equipment record is initiated only by the medical equipment manufacturer when the medical equipment manufacturer ships the medical equipment to a medical center, and wherein an initial location of the medical equipment is stored as in transit in the equipment record;

updating an inventory list of the medical center to include the medical equipment when the equipment record is generated;

authenticating a user of the medical center based on data received from the user;

receiving data from the user indicating an association of the equipment record with a patient record including a plurality of fields of a patient when the patient is equipped with the medical equipment, wherein the equipment record is associated with a patient record for a particular patient by way of at least one field and at least one field in the patient record is associated with at least one equipment record;

providing a map which shows locations of medical facilities capable of providing support for the medical equipment for those patients that have been discharged from the medical center; and

receiving data indicating a disassociation of the equipment record from the patient record when the patient is no longer using the medical equipment.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

automatically adding equipment maintenance reminders to an equipment-to-do list.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a user-provided geographic location information corresponding to a target location; and

providing on the map locations of medical facilities nearby the target location that are capable of providing support for the medical equipment after the patient has been discharged from the medical center.

34. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the medical equipment comprises an implantable ventricle assist device.

18. A system for managing medical equipment from a medical equipment manufacturer, the system comprising:

a processor that includes an equipment tracking module; and

a display device coupled to the processor and presenting a graphical user interface (GUI) to a user, wherein the GUI includes a navigation interface element comprising;

an authentication interface to authenticate a user of a medical center;

a patients interface element accessible by the user to display patients lists of the medical center that are associated with the medical equipment;

an equipment interface element coupled to the equipment tracking module and accessible by the user to display an equipment list of the medical center, wherein the equipment tracking module is configured to allow only the medical equipment manufacturer to create an equipment record including a plurality of fields about the medical equipment in the equipment list, the equipment record associated with a patient record for a particular patient by way of at least one field; and

a mapping interface element that is accessible by the user to allow the user to enter locality information to obtain locations, displayed on a map, of medical facilities nearby a target location or along a route of a trip that are capable of providing support for the medical equipment for those patients that have been discharged from the medical center, wherein each patient having a patient record including a plurality of fields and at least one field associated with an equipment record.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the navigation interface element further comprises:

a to-do interface element accessible by a user to display a patient-care-to-do list and an equipment-to-do list.

35. The system of claim 18, wherein the medical equipment comprises an implantable ventricle assist device.

20. A method of providing a web portal for use by customers,

including a plurality of medical centers, of a medical equipment provider, the method comprising:

storing equipment information for each medical center, the equipment information being stored in an equipment tracking module accessible through the Internet by each medical center, wherein the equipment tracking module is configured to allow only the medical equipment provider to create an equipment record including a plurality of fields about the medical equipment in the equipment tracking module when the medical equipment provider provides medical equipment to each medical center;

storing patient information, for a plurality of patients, for each medical center, the patient information being stored in a patient module accessible through the Internet by each medical center, each medical center causing entry of data for a particular patient when it associates medical equipment with the particular patient by associating at least one field in the equipment record with the particular patient;

authenticating each medical center when it seeks access to either the patient module or the equipment tracking module;

providing access, through the Internet, to the patient module and to the equipment tracking module to a medical center after authenticating the medical center;

receiving data representing inputs from the medical center, as a result of providing access, and updating at least one of the patient module and the equipment tracking module;

transmitting data to cause the display of a web page at the medical center after receiving and processing the data representing inputs; and

providing a mapping interface that is accessible by a patient to allow the patient to enter locality information to obtain locations, displayed on a map, of medical facilities nearby a target location or along a route of a trip that are capable of providing support for the medical equipment.

21. The method as in claim 20, wherein the patient module and the equipment tracking module are one or more databases controlled by the medical equipment provider, and wherein access to the web portal is controlled by the medical equipment provider, and wherein the equipment information comprises at least one of:

(a) product name;

(b) identification number;

(c) service information;

(d) history of ownership of the medical equipment; and

(e) To-Do actions, and wherein the patient information comprises at least one of;

(a) patient name;

(b) contact information;

(c) insurance information;

(d) reference to equipment information for the patient; and

(e) information about equipment servicing.

22. The method as in claim 21, the method further comprising:

transmitting data to cause the display of a user interface (UI) in a web page that allows a user at the medical center to switch between views which include (1) a list of patients having an associated medical equipment;

(2) a record for a particular patient;

(3) a list of inventory of medical equipment at or used by the medical center; and

(4) a summary view showing, for the medical center, a list of patients of the medical center and a list of inventory of medical equipment at or used by the medical center.

23. The method as in claim 22, the method further comprising:

transmitting data to cause the display of a UI in the web page of a view of To-Do maintenance tasks for a medical equipment;

transmitting data to cause the display of a map resource that allows a patient to map out a trip to a medical center; and

transmitting data to cause the display of a product incident report which specifies potential problems with a medical equipment.

36. The method of claim 20, wherein the medical equipment comprises an implantable ventricle assist device.

24. A machine readable non-transitory storage medium containing executable program instructions which when executed cause a system to perform a method of providing a web portal for use by customers, including a plurality of medical centers, of a medical equipment provider, the method comprising:

storing equipment information for each medical center, the equipment information being stored in an equipment tracking module accessible through the Internet by each medical center, wherein the equipment tracking module is configured to allow only the medical equipment provider to create an equipment record including a plurality of fields about the medical equipment in the equipment tracking module when the medical equipment provider provides medical equipment to each medical center;

strong patient information, for a plurality of patients, for each medical center, the patient information being stored in a patient module accessible through the Internet by each medical center, each medical center causing entry of data for a particular patient when it associates medical equipment with the particular patient by associating at least one field in the equipment record with the particular patient;

authenticating each medical center when it seeks access to either the patient module or the equipment tracking module;

providing access, through the Internet, to the patient module and to the equipment tracking module to a medical center after authenticating the medical center;

receiving data representing inputs from the medical center, as a result of providing access, and updating at least one of the patient module and the equipment tracking module;

transmitting data to cause the display of a web page at the medical center after receiving and processing the data representing inputs; and

providing a mapping interface that is accessible by a patient to allow the patient to enter locality information to obtain locations, displayed on a map, of medical facilities nearby a target location or along a route of a trip that are capable of providing support for the medical equipment.

25. The machine readable non-transitory storage medium as in claim 24, wherein the system is a set of distributed data processing systems that comprise at least one web server and at least one database server coupled to the web server.

26. The machine readable non-transitory storage medium as in claim 24, wherein the method further comprises:

wherein the patient module and the equipment tracking module are one or more databases controlled by the medical equipment provider, and wherein access to the web portal is controlled by the medical equipment provider, and wherein the equipment information comprises at least one of;

(a) product name, (b) identification number;

(c) service information, (d) history of ownership of the medical equipment; and

(e) To-Do actions, and wherein the patient information comprises at least one of;

(a) patient name;

(b) contact information;

(c) insurance information;

(d) reference to equipment information for the patient; and

(e) information about equipment servicing.

27. The machine readable non-transitory storage medium as in claim 26, wherein the method further comprises:

transmitting data to cause the display of a user interface (UI) in a web page that allows a user at the medical center to switch between views which include (1) a list of patients having an associated medical equipment;

(2) a record for a particular patient;

(3) a list of inventory of medical equipment at or used by the medical center; and

(4) a summary view showing, for the medical center, a list of patients of the medical center and a list of inventory of medical equipment at or used by the medical center.

28. The machine readable non-transitory storage medium as in claim 27, wherein the method further comprises:

transmitting data to cause the display of a UI in the web page of a view of To-do maintenance tasks for a medical equipment;

transmitting data to cause the display of a map resource that allows a patient to map out a trip to a medical center; and

transmitting data to cause the display of a product incident report which specifies potential problems with a medical equipment.

29. A method at a medical center to use a web portal maintained for medical equipment provided by a medical equipment provider, the method comprising:

exchanging data with the web portal to authenticate the medical center with the web portal;

receiving equipment data, from the web portal, about medical equipment provided by the medical equipment provider to the medical center, the equipment data being displayed in a web page on a display device controlled by the medical center, the equipment data being received by a network interface controlled by the medical center, wherein the equipment data is received from an equipment tracking module that includes a database system and wherein the equipment tracking module is configured to allow only the medical equipment provider to create an equipment record including a plurality of fields about the medical equipment in the equipment tracking module;

transmitting patient data, from the medical center to the web portal, for storage in the database system;

displaying a mapping interface that is accessible by a patient to allow the patient to enter locality information to obtain locations, displayed on a map, of medical facilities nearby a target location or along a route of a trip that are capable of providing support for the medical equipment; and

receiving and displaying, at the medical center, patient data and equipment data, the patient data and the equipment data being displayed in a web browser and wherein the web portal provides to the medical center a list of medical equipment from the medical equipment provider that is associated with patients of the medical center and a list of medical equipment in inventory of the medical center, wherein at least one field of the equipment record is associated with a particular patient.

30. The method of claim 29, the method further comprising:

receiving data to cause the display of a user interface (UI) in a web page that allows a user at the medical center to switch between views which include (1) a list of patients having an associated medical equipment;

(2) a record for a particular patient;

(3) a list of inventory of medical equipment at or used by the medical center; and

(4) a summary view showing, for the medical center, a list of patients of the medical center and a list of inventory of medical equipment at or used by the medical center.

31. The method as in claim 30, the method further comprising:

receiving data to cause the display of a UI in the web page of a view of To-Do maintenance tasks for a medical equipment;

receiving data to cause the display of a product incident report which specifies potential problems with a medical equipment; and

wherein the medical equipment comprises an implantable ventricle assist device.