Electronic personal health record system

• US 20060229918A1
• Filed: 08/19/2005
• Published: 10/12/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/10/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Inventors: Fotsch, Edward J., Yuan, Leslie
• Granted Patent: US 8,090,590 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2137 Time limited access, e.g. to a computer or data
• 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 50/70 for mining of medical data, e.g. analysing previous cases of other patients

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for providing access to information associated with a patient are disclosed. Information associated with a patient may be stored electronically, enabling the information from an electronic health record (e.g., electronic personal health record controlled by a patient) or a portion thereof to be provided to an entity such as a healthcare provider. Patient records may be maintained and controlled by multiple entities, such as the healthcare providers, patients, payors, or other third parties. Information from these records may be transferred among these entities, thereby enabling updates to such records to be performed. These updates may occur automatically or upon acceptance by the receiving entity (e.g., patient or healthcare provider).

Claims

1. A method of providing access to information associated with a patient, comprising:

obtaining information associated with a patient from an electronic health record; and

providing the information to the healthcare provider, wherein the information replaces a manual intake registration form associated with the healthcare provider, thereby eliminating the need for the patient or caregiver associated with the patient to fill out a manual intake registration form associated with the healthcare provider.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining the information during a registration process via a network.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the information is at least a portion of an electronic health record.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein obtaining the information comprises:

printing the information by the healthcare provider or patient.

5. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein printing is performed prior to or at the time of an appointment of the patient with the healthcare provider.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the information is obtained automatically.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the information is received electronically.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein obtaining information is initiated by the patient or healthcare provider.

9. The method as recited in claim 7, further comprising:

updating an electronic medical record with at least a portion of the information, wherein the electronic medical record is maintained and controlled by the healthcare provider, or a network or facility associated with the healthcare provider.

10. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein updating the electronic medical record is performed when the patient leaves the healthcare provider, or the network or facility associated with the healthcare provider.

11. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein updating comprises:

updating or creating an electronic medical record.

12. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein updating comprises:

updating or creating a medical record maintained in a paper format.

13. The method as recited in claim 7, further comprising:

accepting or rejecting at least a portion of the information by the healthcare provider;

storing the at least a portion of the information in an electronic medical record when the at least a portion of the information is accepted by the healthcare provider; and

not storing the at least a portion of the information in the electronic medical record when the at least a portion of the information is rejected by the healthcare provider.

14. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein at least one of accepting or rejecting is performed via input from the healthcare provider.

15. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the information is received in a printed format.

16. A method of providing access to information associated with a patient, comprising:

obtaining information associated with a patient from an electronic health record controlled by the patient or an electronic record controlled by a third party;

providing the information to the healthcare provider;

receiving an acceptance or rejection of at least a portion of the information from the healthcare provider;

storing the at least a portion of the information in an electronic medical record when the at least a portion of the information is accepted by the healthcare provider; and

not storing the at least a portion of the information in the electronic medical record when the at least a portion of the information is rejected by the healthcare provider.

17. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein the electronic record is controlled by another healthcare provider, a payor, or other third party.

18. A method of updating a first electronic health record associated with a patient via the Internet, comprising:

receiving information associated with the patient via the Internet, the information being obtained from a second electronic health record maintained by a second entity; and

updating the first electronic health record associated with the patient and maintained by a first entity with at least a portion of the information obtained from the second electronic health record maintained by the second entity.

19. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the second entity is a healthcare provider and updating the first electronic health record is performed when the patient leaves the healthcare provider, or the network or facility associated with the healthcare provider.

20. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the second electronic health record is a patient health record maintained by a third party and the first electronic health record is an electronic health record, wherein contents of the electronic health record are controlled by the patient or a caretaker of the patient.

21. The method as recited in claim 20, wherein the third party is a payor.

22. The method as recited in claim 20, wherein the third party is a healthcare provider.

23. The method as recited in claim 20, further comprising:

determining whether the patient or caretaker wants to include the at least a portion of the information in the electronic health record;

wherein updating the electronic health record is performed when it is determined that the patient or caretaker wants to include the at least a portion of the information in the electronic health record.

24. A system for maintaining a health record associated with a patient, comprising:

a patient-controlled electronic health record mechanism for enabling a patient or caretaker of the patient to generate or update an electronic health record associated with the patient, wherein the content of the electronic health record is controlled by the patient or caretaker of the patient;

a healthcare provider electronic medical record mechanism for enabling a healthcare provider to generate or update an electronic medical record associated with each of one or more patients, wherein the content of the electronic medical record associated with each of the one or more patients is controlled by the healthcare provider; and

a transfer mechanism supporting the transfer of information at least one of from the electronic health record to the electronic medical record and from the electronic medical record to the electronic health record.

25. The system as recited in claim 24, further comprising:

a patient controlled database including a plurality of electronic health records, wherein the content of each of the plurality of electronic health records is controlled by a patient or caretaker; and

a provider controlled database including a plurality of electronic medical records, wherein the content of each of the plurality of electronic medical records is controlled by a healthcare provider.

26. The method as recited in claim 25, further comprising:

a payor controlled database including a plurality of records, each of the records being associated with a different patient.

27. The method as recited in claim 24, further comprising:

a transfer mechanism supporting the transfer of information at least one of from at least one of a payor controlled system to an electronic health record and from the electronic health record to the payor controlled system.