Patient-centric healthcare information maintenance

• US 7,996,245 B2
• Filed: 12/07/2007
• Issued: 08/09/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Roche Diabetes Care Inc. (Roche Holding AG)
• Original Assignee: Roche Diagnostics Operations Incorporated (Roche Holding AG)
• Inventors: Buck, Schuyler, Beck, Timothy L., Gejdos, Igor, Markisohn, David Bradley, Young, Morris J.
• Primary Examiner(s): O'Connor; Gerald J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): SEOH, MINNAH L
• Application Number:
  US11/999,874
• Publication Number:
  US 20090150176A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,341 Days
• Field of Search: 705 2- 3
• US Class Current: 705/3
• 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

Abstract

A system for facilitating patient centric healthcare information maintenance. For example, a health management software system may be operated to receive, organize, and use patient medical information. The health management software may comprise a database for storing, retrieving, organizing, displaying, and, generally, for managing a patient'"'"'s health. In one exemplary embodiment, the health management software system is used in conjunction with a healthcare maintenance device, such as a blood glucose monitoring system. The blood glucose monitoring system may contain several database objects in the form of data records. Typically in a portable blood glucose monitor, each data record contains a time and a concentration data element, or a time-amount point. Similarly, an insulin pump, which is another exemplary embodiment of a healthcare maintenance device, may maintain data records with time and dosage information, or a time-dosage point.

Claims

1. A device for assisting in maintenance of medical records, comprising:

a processor;

a tangible computer readable memory;

at least one patient database stored on the tangible computer readable memory and configured for storing a plurality of medical records, each of the plurality of medical records associated with a patient;

a display; and

a healthcare management software including a plurality of machine readable instructions executable by the processor, the healthcare management software configured to facilitate reading of at least one medical record stored in a medical device, each of the read medical records comprising medical data and medical device identification data, the healthcare management software further configured to associate the medical data of each read medical record with one of the patient databases by comparing the medical device identification data of the read medical record to an identification index, the identification index comprising an index indicating the medical device identification data assigned to each of the patient databases, the healthcare management software further configured to display the read medical records on the display to a user of the device, and the healthcare management software further configured to display a first user selectable option and a second user selectable option, activation of the first user selectable option causing assignment of the medical data of the medical record into the associated patient database, activation of the second user selectable option providing the user a first additional selectable option and a second additional selectable option, activation of the first additional selectable option permitting the user to select at least one read medical record for deletion and activation of the second additional selectable option permitting the user to select at least one read medical record for association with a different patient database.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the healthcare management software is further configured to tag each of the read medical records as a new entry and to remove the new entry tag from the read medical record upon one of activation of the first user selectable option, deletion of the medical record, and association of the medical record with a different patient database.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the medical device is adapted to generate the medical data of the medical record from a sample of the patient.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the medical device identification data is one of a user generated identification key and the medical device serial number.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein activation of the second selectable option provides the user the further option to select all of the read medical records.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the healthcare management software further includes instructions that when executed by the processor mark the selected read medical record as deleted and store the selected read medical record in a log file along with identification of the person making the selection.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the second user selectable option is provided as an undo screen on the display, the undo screen including a listing of the read medical records and a selection tool for each of the read medical records.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the undo screen includes a menu item, activation of which permits the user to remove from the database all medical records transferred during the last download of the medical device.

9. The device of claim 8, wherein activation of the menu item further generates a warning on the display before removing the medical records from the database, the warning indicating the date of the last download, information about the medical device, a total number of medical records, and a date range of the medical records.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein when the read medical record is selected and the second additional selectable option is activated, the healthcare management software causes the processor to prompt the user to identify a patient database with which to associate the selected read medical record.

11. A method of importing medical records from a portable device to a computer having a database of medical records relating to at least one patient, comprising the steps of:

reading a plurality of medical records from a portable device, the step of reading performed by using a processor of the computer to execute a plurality of computer readable instructions of a healthcare management software stored on a tangible computer readable medium, each of the plurality of read medical records comprising medical data and portable device identification data;

associating each of the plurality of read medical records with a patient database stored on a memory of the computer, the step of associating performed by the healthcare management software comparing the portable device identification data of each of the plurality of downloaded medical records to an index reference stored on the memory of the computer, the index reference comprising an index indicating the portable device identification data assigned to each of the patient databases;

displaying with a display the plurality of medical records to a computer user before assigning the plurality of medical records with a patient database, the step of displaying with the display performed by the healthcare management software;

displaying with the display an user selectable undo download option to the user, the step of displaying with the display performed by the healthcare management software;

responding to activation of the user selectable undo download option by providing to the user with the display an additional user selectable option for the selection of at least one of the plurality of medical records for deletion and re-association to another patient database, the step of responding performed by the healthcare management software; and

assigning the remaining medical records to the particular patient database the medical record was associated with in the step of associating, the step of assigning performed by the healthcare management software.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the responding step includes allowing the user to select all of the plurality of medical records for one of deletion or re-association with the other patient databases.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the responding step includes allowing the user to reassign the portable device identification data to another patient database.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the reading step includes obtaining time data records from the portable device.

15. The method of claim 11, further including the step of tagging each of the plurality of downloaded medical records, the step of tagging performed by the healthcare management software and indicating the tagged medical record is newly read, wherein the tag is removed upon one of deletion of the medical record, re-association of the medical record to a another patient database, and inputting the medical record into the particular patient database.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the medical data of the medical record is generated by the portable device from a patient sample.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of reading comprises downloading the medical records from the medical device to a storage database on the computing device, the medical records removed from the storage database upon one of deletion of the medical record, re-association of the medical record to a another patient database, and inputting the medical record into the particular patient database.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the portable device identification data of the medical record is one of a user generated portable device identification code and the portable device serial number.

19. A device for assisting in maintenance of medical records, comprising:

a processor;

a tangible computer readable memory;

a first database stored on the tangible computer readable memory and configured for receiving a plurality of medical records, each of the plurality of medical records associated with a patient;

at least one patient database stored on the tangible computer readable memory and configured for storing the plurality of medical records received by the first database;

a display; and

a healthcare management software including a plurality of machine readable instructions executable by the processor, the plurality of machine readable instructions configured to facilitate transfer of at least one medical record from a medical device to the first database, each of the transferred medical records comprising medical data and medical device identification data, the healthcare management software further configured to associate the medical data of each transferred medical record with one of the patient databases by comparing the medical device identification data of the transferred medical record to an identification index, the identification index comprising an index indicating the medical device identification data assigned to each of the patient databases, the healthcare management software further configured to display the transferred medical records on the display to a user of the device, and the healthcare management software further configured to display a first user selectable option and a second user selectable option, activation of the first user selectable option causing assignment of the medical data of the medical record into the associated patient database, activation of the second user selectable option providing the user a first additional selectable option and a second additional selectable option, activation of the first additional selectable option permitting the user to select at least one transferred medical record for deletion and activation of the second additional selectable option permitting the user to select at least one transferred medical record for association with a different patient database.

20. The device of claim 19, wherein the healthcare management software is further configured to tag each of the transferred medical records as a new entry, the healthcare management software configured to remove the new entry tag from the medical record upon one of activation of the first user selectable option, deletion of the medical record, and association of the medical record with a different patient database.

21. The device of claim 19, wherein when the second additional selectable option is activated and one of the transferred medical records is selected, the healthcare management software causes the processor to prompt the user to identify a patient database with which to associate the selected medical record.

22. A method of importing electronic medical data from a medical device to a computing device having a database configured to receive electronic medical data relating to at least one patient, the method comprising the steps of:

generating at least one electronic medical data relating to a medical condition of a patient, the step of generating performed by a medical device, the medical device further assigning an electronic medical device identification key to the at least one electronic medical data;

downloading the at least one electronic medical data and electronic medical device identification key assigned thereto onto a computing device having a processor, the step of downloading performed by a healthcare maintenance software comprising a plurality of computer readable instruction executable by the processor;

associating a new download data tag with each of the at least one electronic medical data and electronic medical device identification key assigned thereto, the step of associating performed by the healthcare maintenance software;

inferring a patient database with which to input each of the at least one electronic medical data, the step of inferring performed by the healthcare maintenance software comparing the electronic medical device identification key assigned to the electronic medical data to an electronic identification reference index comprising an index indicating which of the electronic medical device identification key are assigned to specific patient databases, the patient databases stored on tangible a computer readable memory of the computing device; and

presenting a user on a display a representation of the at least one electronic medical data, the representation presented indicating the inferred patient database for assigning the electronic medical records, the inferred patient database determined by the step of inferring, the step of presenting further including presenting the user a first user selectable option and a second user selectable option, wherein upon activation of the first user selectable option the electronic medical records are input into the inferred patient database and the new download data tag associated with the electronic medical record is removed, and upon activation of the second user selectable option the user is provided a first additional selectable option, a second additional selectable option, and a third additional selectable option, the first additional selectable option configured to allow the user to delete the electronic medical record from the computing device, the second additional selectable option configured to allow the user to assign a different patient database to the electronic medical record, the third additional selectable option configured to allow the user to assign the electronic medical device identification key to another patient.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the step of downloading includes inputting the at least one electronic medical data and electronic medical device identification key assigned thereto into a storage database on one of the at least one tangible computer readable memory, the medical records removed from the storage database upon one of activation of the first user selectable option, deletion of the medical record, and association of the medical record to a different patient database.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the medical device generates the electronic medical data from a sample of the patient.