METHODS, APPARATUSES AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCTS FOR FACILITATING LOCATION AND RETRIEVAL OF HEALTH INFORMTION IN A HEALTHCARE SYSTEM

• US 20130262474A1
• Filed: 03/30/2012
• Published: 10/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Change Healthcare Holdings, LLC (UnitedHealth Group Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Mckesson Financial Holdings Limited (McKesson Corp.)
• Inventors: D'Oench, Susannah, Curran, Charles
• Granted Patent: US 8,805,900 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/748
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/70 for mining of medical data, e.g. analysing previous cases of other patients

Abstract

An apparatus is provided for retrieving information associated with one or more patients. The apparatus includes at least one memory and at least one processor configured to receive queries from devices of health care systems. The queries include data requesting information associated with patients that corresponds to specified items of information indicated in the queries. The queries also indicate a predetermined threshold to determine whether the requested information corresponds to respective patients. The processor is further configured to analyze stored patient information to determine items of the patient information that correspond to the specified items of the information. The processor is further configured to detect a subset of the items of the patient information related to health data that is determined to correspond to a respective patient(s) based on a determined value that equals or exceeds the predetermined threshold. Corresponding computer program products and methods are also provided.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving one or more queries from one or more devices of one or more respective health care systems, the queries comprising data requesting information, associated with one or more patients, that corresponds to one or more specified items of information indicated in the queries, the queries indicating a predetermined threshold utilized to determine whether the requested information corresponds to respective patients;

analyzing stored patient information of the requested information to determine items of the patient information that correspond to one or more of the specified items of the information;

and

detecting, via a processor, at least a subset of the items of the patient information related to health data that is determined to correspond to one or more of the respective patients based in part on a determined value that equals or exceeds the predetermined threshold.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling provision of one or more generated responses to the devices comprising content indicating one or more of the respective patients and the items of health data associated with a respective determined score indicating a confidence that the items of health data correspond to the one or more respective patients.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein prior to enabling provision, the method further comprises:

identifying one or more candidate items of the patient information related to the health data; and

excluding the candidate items from the responses based in part on detecting that another determined value is below the predetermined threshold.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein detecting that the another determined value is below the predetermined threshold denotes that the subset of items of patient information does not correspond to one of the respective patients or signifies an unacceptable level of confidence that the subset of the items of patient information corresponds to the respective patient.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determined value that equals or exceeds the predetermined threshold denotes that the subset of items of patient information corresponds to one of the respective patients or signifies an acceptable level of confidence that the subset of the items of patient information corresponds to the respective patient.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

arranging the content of the responses in respective medical records to enable the devices to display the records.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein prior to receiving the queries the method further comprises:

receiving the patient information from the devices of the health care systems.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the health data comprises at least one of a medication, a health procedure, an allergy, a health problem, or a medical diagnosis of one of the respective patients.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the health data corresponds to a health condition of one of the respective patients.

10. An apparatus comprising:

at least one memory; and

at least one processor configured to cause the apparatus to;

receive one or more queries from one or more devices of one or more respective health care systems, the queries comprising data requesting information, associated with one or more patients, that corresponds to one or more specified items of information indicated in the queries, the queries indicating a predetermined threshold utilized to determine whether the requested information corresponds to respective patients;

analyze stored patient information of the requested information to determine items of the patient information that correspond to one or more of the specified items of the information; and

detect at least a subset of the items of the patient information related to health data that is determined to correspond to one or more of the respective patients based in part on a determined value that equals or exceeds the predetermined threshold.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the apparatus to:

enable provision of one or more generated responses to the devices comprising content indicating one or more of the respective patients and the items of health data associated with a respective determined score indicating a confidence that the items of health data correspond to the one or more respective patients.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein prior to enable provision, the processor is further configured to cause the apparatus to:

identify one or more candidate items of the patient information related to the health data; and

exclude the candidate items from the responses based in part on detecting that another determined value is below the predetermined threshold.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein detecting that the another determined value is below the predetermined threshold denotes that the subset of items of patient information does not correspond to one of the respective patients or signifies an unacceptable level of confidence that the subset of the items of patient information corresponds to the respective patient.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the determined value that equals or exceeds the predetermined threshold denotes that the subset of items of patient information corresponds to one of the respective patients or signifies an acceptable level of confidence that the subset of the items of patient information corresponds to the respective patient.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the apparatus to:

arrange the content of the responses in respective medical records to enable the devices to display the records.

16. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein prior to receive the queries the processor is further configured to cause the apparatus to:

receive the patient information from the devices of the health care systems.

17. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the health data comprises at least one of a medication, a health procedure, an allergy, a health problem, or a medical diagnosis of one of the respective patients.

18. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the health data corresponds to a health condition of one of the respective patients.

19. A computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable program code instructions stored therein, the computer executable program code instructions comprising:

program code instructions configured to cause receipt of one or more queries from one or more devices of one or more respective health care systems, the queries comprising data requesting information, associated with one or more patients, that corresponds to one or more specified items of information indicated in the queries, the queries indicating a predetermined threshold utilized to determine whether the requested information corresponds to respective patients;

program code instructions configured to analyze stored patient information of the requested information to determine items of the patient information that correspond to one or more of the specified items of the information; and

program code instructions configured to detect at least a subset of the items of the patient information related to health data that is determined to correspond to one or more of the respective patients based in part on a determined value that equals or exceeds the predetermined threshold.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, further comprising:

program code instructions configured to enable provision of one or more generated responses to the devices comprising content indicating one or more of the respective patients and the items of health data associated with a respective determined score indicating a confidence that the items of health data correspond to the one or more respective patients.