Methods, systems and computer program products for synthesizing diagnoses in healthcare databases

• US 20070073654A1
• Filed: 09/29/2005
• Published: 03/29/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hennessy, Richard, Friedlander, Robert, Khan, Anwer, Chow, Tony
• Granted Patent: US 7,761,440 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 70/20 relating to practices or guidelines

Abstract

Methods, systems and computer program products for synthesizing diagnoses stored in healthcare databases are provided. A diagnosis query associated with a single patient or a group of patients is received. Query results are provided responsive to the diagnosis query. The query results may include diagnoses from multiple sources that are expressed in multiple standards formats.

Claims

1. A method of synthesizing diagnoses stored in healthcare databases, comprising:

receiving a diagnosis query associated with a single patient or a group of patients; and

providing query results responsive to the diagnosis query, the query results including diagnoses from multiple sources that are expressed in multiple standards formats.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving is preceded by verifying a username and password associated with the username and wherein receiving further comprises receiving the diagnosis query only if the username and password are verified.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein each username and associated password is associated with a level of security clearance, the level of security clearance determining which information can be accessed by a user of the associated username and password.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein providing query results comprises:

determining if the diagnosis query includes a first standards code in conformance with a first standard therein;

determining equivalent standards codes to the first standards code in conformance with at least one second standard, different from the first standard, if it is determined that the diagnosis query includes a first standards code; and

providing the query results based on both the first standards code and the equivalent standards codes.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving query adjustments responsive to the provided query results.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising adjusting future query results based on the received query adjustments.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the received diagnosis query comprises a discrete query or a semantic query.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein providing query results is preceded by processing the received diagnosis query to generate at least one modified diagnosis query that can be provided to external databases to obtain the query results.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

providing the at least one modified diagnosis query to at least one standards database and/or at least one diagnostic test results database;

receiving intermediate query results from the at least one standards database and/or the at least one diagnostic test results database; and

modifying a format of the intermediate query results before providing the query results to a user.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein modifying the format further comprises modifying the format based on a user profile and/or information obtained from previously received diagnosis queries.

11. A system for synthesizing diagnoses stored in healthcare databases, comprising a healthcare query module configured to receive a diagnosis query associated with a single patient or a group of patients and provide query results responsive to the diagnosis query, the query results including diagnoses from multiple sources that are expressed in multiple standards formats.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the healthcare query module is further configured to verify a username and password associated with the username before receiving the diagnosis query and receive the diagnosis query only if the username and password are verified.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein each username and associated password is associated with a level of security clearance, the level of security clearance determining which information can be accessed by a user of the associated username and password.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the healthcare query module comprises a query generation module, the query generation module being configured to:

determine if the diagnosis query includes a first standards code in conformance with a first standard therein;

determine equivalent standards codes to the first standards code in conformance with at least one second standard, different from the first standard, if it is determined that the diagnosis query includes a first standards code; and

provide the query results based on both the first standards code and the equivalent standards codes.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the healthcare query module further comprises a learning module, the learning module being configured to receive query adjustments responsive to the provided query results.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the learning module is further configured to adjust future query results based on the received query adjustments.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the received diagnosis query comprises a discrete query or a semantic query.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the query generation module is further configured to process the received diagnosis query to generate at least one modified diagnosis query that can be provided to external databases to obtain the query results.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the query generation module if further configured to:

provide the at least one modified diagnosis query to at least one standards database and/or at least one diagnostic test results database;

receive intermediate query results from the at least one standards database and/or the at least one diagnostic test results database; and

wherein the healthcare query module further comprises a semantic module, the semantic module being configured to modify a format of the intermediate query results before providing the query results to a user.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the semantic module is further configured to modify the format based on a user profile and/or information obtained from previously received diagnosis queries.

21. A computer program product for synthesizing diagnoses stored in healthcare databases, comprising:

computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied in said medium, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to receive a diagnosis query associated with a single patient or a group of patients; and

computer readable program code configured to provide query results responsive to the diagnosis query, the query results including diagnoses from multiple sources that are expressed in multiple standards formats.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising computer readable program code configured to verify username and password associated with the username, wherein the computer readable program code configured to receive further comprises computer readable program code configured to receive the diagnosis query only if the username and password are verified.

23. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein each username and associated password is associated with a level of security clearance, the level of security clearance determining which information can be accessed by a user of the associated username and password.

24. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the computer readable program code configured to provide query results comprises:

computer readable program code configured to determine if the diagnosis query includes a first standards code in conformance with a first standard therein;

computer readable program code configured to determine equivalent standards codes to the first standards code in conformance with at least one second standard, different from the first standard, if it is determined that the diagnosis query includes a first standards code; and

computer readable program code configured to provide the query results based on both the first standards code and the equivalent standards codes.

25. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising computer readable program code configured to receive query adjustments responsive to the provided query results.

26. The computer program product of claim 25, further comprising computer readable program code configured to adjust future query results based on the received query adjustments.

27. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the received diagnosis query comprises a discrete query or a semantic query.

28. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising computer readable program code configured to process the received diagnosis query to generate at least one modified diagnosis query that can be provided to external databases to obtain the query results.

29. The computer program product of claim 28, further comprising:

computer readable program code configured to provide the at least one modified diagnosis query to at least one standards database and/or at least one diagnostic test results database;

computer readable program code configured to receive intermediate query results from the at least one standards database and/or the at least one diagnostic test results database; and

computer readable program code configured to modify a format of the intermediate query results before providing the query results to a user.

30. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the computer readable program code configured to modify the format further comprises computer readable program code configured to modify the format based on a user profile and/or information obtained from previously received diagnosis queries.