Integrated multiple biomedical information sources

• US 6,751,630 B1
• Filed: 07/20/2000
• Issued: 06/15/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GE Medical Technology Services, Inc. (General Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: GE Medical Technology Services, Inc. (General Electric Company)
• Inventors: Jones, Michael C., Franks, Dorothy B., Jaeger, John G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu, Kim
• Assistant Examiner(s): HAMILTON, MONPLAISIR G
• Application Number:
  US09/620,028
• Time in Patent Office: 1,426 Days
• Field of Search: 707/100, 707/104.1, 707/102, 705/2, 705/28
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 15/00 ICT specially adapted for medical reports, e.g. generation or transmission thereof
• 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 70/00 ICT specially adapted for the handling or processing of medical references
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 80/00 ICT specially adapted for facilitating communication between medical practitioners or patients, e.g. for collaborative diagnosis, therapy or health monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

Biomedical equipment data records for a medical institution are stored in a database and integrated with other information sources within and external to the institution. The equipment data may include identification of equipment components, departmental assignments, site locations, performance data, service data, and so forth. Additional information resources may include hospital information systems, departmental information systems, financial records, external reference materials, and reference data for similarly profiled institutions. The additional resources provide a basis for more detailed analysis, planning, and reporting of equipment inventory management, performance, and servicing.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for managing and analyzing biomedical equipment data in a medical institution, the method comprising:

storing reference data in a reference database, the reference data including equipment utilization data, wherein the reference data includes data representative of equipment utilization by a known population of medical institutions;

operationally assigning a plurality of equipment components to at least two different functional portions of a medical institution of interest;

collecting data representative of identification, operation and operational assignment of the equipment components;

storing the collected data in a centralized database for the institution;

associating the collected data logically in the database for analysis of equipment inventory and for comparison to the reference data; and

generating a profile for the medical institution of interest and comparing the reference data based upon the profile, wherein the profile is generated based at least upon size or demographics of the institution.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the reference data includes historical data for the equipment inventory.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the functional portions include different departments of the institution.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the functional portions include geographically dispersed facility sites of the institution.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the data is collected via a plurality of input stations.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the data is collected via manual input and automatic acquisition from at least one of the equipment components.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a report of the equipment inventory.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the report includes a comparison of the data for the institution of interest and the reference data.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the reference database and the centralized database stored at different locations.

10. A computer-implemented method for analyzing biomedical equipment inventories in a medical institution, the method comprising:

storing reference equipment inventory data for a known population of medical institutions;

generating a plurality of reference institution profiles from the reference data;

collecting data representative of identification and operation of biomedical equipment components of an institution of interest;

storing the collected data in a centralized database for the institution;

generating an institution profile for the institution of interest, wherein the institution profile is based at least upon size or demographics of the institution; and

comparing the collected data to the reference data based upon matching the institution profile with at least one of the reference profiles.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising assigning the equipment components to functional portions of the institution, and wherein the collected data includes identification of the function portion to which the equipment components are assigned.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the functional portions include different operational departments of the institution.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the functional portions include geographically dispersed facility sites of the institution.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the comparison includes comparison of equipment counts by functional portion.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the data is collected via a plurality of input stations.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the data is collected via manual input and automatic acquisition from at least one of the equipment components.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising generating a report of the equipment inventory.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the report includes a comparison of the data for the institution of interest and the reference data.

19. The method of claim 10, wherein the reference database and the centralized database stored at different locations.

20. A system for managing and analyzing biomedical equipment data in a medical institution, the system comprising:

a reference database including reference data representative of reference biomedical equipment utilization, wherein the reference database includes data compiled based upon equipment utilization by a known population of medical institutions;

a centralized institution equipment database including institution data representative of identification, operation and operational assignment of biomedical equipment components to at least two different functional portions of the medical institution; and

a data analysis module configured to compare data from the reference database to data from the centralized database, wherein the data analysis module is configured to compare the data based upon a profile of the medical institution, wherein the profile is generated based at least upon size or demographics of institution.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the reference database and the centralized database are stored at different locations.

22. The system of claim 20, comprising a plurality of data input stations for inputting the institution data into the centralized database.

23. The system of claim 20, wherein the centralized database is stored on at least two different memory devices.

24. The system of claim 20, wherein the medical institution includes a plurality of different departments and the function portions include the departments.

25. The system of claim 20, wherein the medical institution includes a plurality of geographically dispersed facility sites, and wherein the functional portions include the facility sites.

26. The system of claim 20, further comprising a report generation module configured to generate reports based upon the comparisons performed by the analysis module.

27. The system of claim 26, including a network interface for transmitting the report via a configurable network link.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the configurable network link includes the Internet.

29. A system for managing and analyzing biomedical equipment data in a medical institution, the method comprising:

means for storing reference data in a reference database, the reference data including equipment utilization data, wherein the reference data includes data representative of equipment utilization by a known population of medical institutions;

means for operationally assigning a plurality of equipment components to at least two different functional portions of a medical institution of interest;

means for collecting data representative of identification, operation and operational assignment of the equipment components;

means for storing the collected data in a centralized database for the institution;

means for associating the collected data logically in the database for analysis of equipment inventory and for comparison to the reference data; and

means for generating a profile for the medical institution of interest and comparing the reference data based upon the profile, wherein the data analysis module is configured to compare the data based upon a profile of the medical institution, wherein the profile is generated based at least upon size or demographics of institution.