Method and system for providing online medical records

• US 8,117,045 B2
• Filed: 12/16/2005
• Issued: 02/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: MyMedicalRecords Incorporated
• Original Assignee: MyMedicalRecords Incorporated
• Inventors: Lorsch, Robert H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Morgan, Robert
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHNG, JOY POH AI
• Application Number:
  US11/305,685
• Publication Number:
  US 20070061170A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,251 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 20/10 relating to drugs or medications, e.g. for ensuring correct administration to patients
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS

Abstract

A method for providing a consumer with the ability to access and collect health records associated with the consumer through use of a consumer account is provided. The method includes assigning a destination address individually associated with the consumer account for receiving communications from at least one healthcare provider, associating access information with the consumer account for the consumer to use to access a secure web site, the communications including a health record associated with the consumer for which the consumer has requested and given permission to the healthcare provider to send, storing a representation of the health record, and providing the consumer with secure access to the web site using the access information and providing on the web site an interface to the health records of the consumer for the consumer to use. The destination address can be a phone number or an email address. The web site also provides for storing, organizing, annotating documents, uploading documents (including vital documents) by the consumer, and providing additional layers of security to particular documents.

Claims

1. A method for providing a consumer with a service to access and collect health records associated with the consumer, comprising:

providing a phone number to the consumer through a web site, the phone number individually associated with the consumer for fax and voice communications from a healthcare provider;

associating access information with the consumer for the consumer to use to access an account of the consumer on the web site hosted on a web server using a web-enabled device;

providing the consumer with a document to provide to the healthcare provider exercising legal rights of the consumer for access to the health records, the document requesting the healthcare provider to send the health records to the phone number;

receiving a private fax communication at a fax server, the private fax communication comprising a health record associated with the consumer for which the consumer has requested and given permission to the healthcare provider to send, the health record is from the set consisting of a patient chart, a birth certificate, a vaccination record, a medical history, a lab report, a test result, a prescription, an x-ray result or image, a scan, and an EKG result or image;

converting the private fax communication into an image file format by the fax server;

storing the health record encoded in the image file format such that the health record is accessible through the web site;

providing the consumer with secure access to the web site using the access information and providing on the web site an interface to the health records of the consumer for the consumer to access the health record;

providing a means of receiving a voice communications message from the healthcare provider to the consumer and maintaining the voice communications message as private;

alerting the consumer of the voice communications message from the healthcare provider and providing the consumer with access information to access the voice communications message;

wherein the web site interface further provides for organizing and annotating the health records by the consumer into separate file folders with functionality for the consumer to name the file folders and add file folders; and

wherein the legal rights being legal rights associated with HIPAA.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the document is a sticker adapted for attachment to the health record.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing the consumer with an emergency access card comprising the access information and adapted for use by a third-party to access the health record associated with the consumer in event of a medical emergency associated with the consumer.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising alerting the consumer of a fax transmission from the healthcare provider with an alert.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the alert is a text message.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the alert is an email.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein the alert is a voice message.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing on the web site means to calendar a prescription refill.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising sending a reminder regarding the prescription refill.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing on the web site means to calendar an appointment with a healthcare provider.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising sending a reminder regarding the appointment with the healthcare provider.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the reminder is a text message.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the reminder is an email.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the reminder is a voice message.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving payment from the customer for facilitating access to the health records associated with the customer.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the web site provides means to facilitate creation of wallet cards containing access information and stickers requesting healthcare providers to fax health records to the toll free phone number.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the health records include prescriptions for drugs and comprising analyzing interactions between the drugs and reporting the interactions.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the health records are dental records.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein the health records associated with the consumer are health records of a child of the consumer.

21. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing a means of receiving vital documents of the consumer and storing the vital documents.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the vital documents are from the set of a will, a living will, and a healthcare power of attorney.

23. The method of claim 1 further comprising means for protecting documents with at least one additional layer of password protection.

20. A method for providing a consumer with a service to access and collect health records associated with the consumer, comprising:

assigning a phone number to the consumer through a web site, the phone number individually associated with the consumer for fax and voice communications from a healthcare provider;

associating access information with the consumer for the consumer to use to access a secure web site hosted on a web server using a web-enabled device;

providing the consumer with a document to provide to the healthcare provider exercising legal rights of the consumer for access to the health records, the document requesting the healthcare provider to send the health records to the phone number;

receiving at a fax server a private fax communication comprising a health record associated with the consumer for which the consumer has requested and given permission to the healthcare provider to send;

converting the private fax communication into an image file format at the fax server;

storing the health record encoded in the image file format such that the health record is accessible through the web site;

providing the consumer with secure access to the web site using the access information and providing on the web site an interface to the health records of the consumer for the consumer to access the health record;

providing a means of receiving a voice communications message from the healthcare provider to the consumer and maintaining the voice communications message as private;

alerting the consumer of the voice communications message from the healthcare provider and providing the consumer with access information to access the voice communications message;

wherein the health records associated with the consumer are health records of a pet of the consumer, the health records from the set consisting of a patient chart, a birth certificate, a vaccination record, a medical history, a lab report, a test result, a prescription, an x-ray result or image, a scan, and an EKG result or image; and

wherein the web site interface further provides for organizing and annotating the health records by the consumer into separate file folders with functionality for the consumer to name the file folders and add file folders.

24. A method for providing a service to a consumer, the service providing the consumer with the ability to access and collect health records associated with the consumer through use of a consumer account, the method comprising:

assigning a destination address individually associated with the consumer account for receiving communications from at least one healthcare providers, the step of assigning performed through a web site;

associating access information with the consumer account for the consumer to use to access the web site stored on a web server using a web-enabled device;

receiving a communication from one of the at least one health care providers at the web site, the communication directed to the destination address, the communication comprising a health record associated with the consumer for which the consumer has requested and given permission to the healthcare provider to send, the health record from the set consisting of a patient chart, a birth certificate, a vaccination record, a medical history, a lab report, a test result, a prescription, an x-ray result or image, a scan, and an EKG result or image;

storing a representation of the health record, the representation accessible by the web server and through the web site;

providing the consumer with secure access to the web site using the access information and providing on the web site an interface to the health records of the consumer for the consumer to use;

providing a means of receiving a voice communications message from the healthcare provider to the consumer and maintaining the voice communications message as private;

alerting the consumer of the voice communications message from the healthcare provider and providing the consumer with access information to access the voice communications message; and

wherein the interface further provides for organizing and annotating the health records by the consumer into separate file folders with functionality for the consumer to name the file folders and add file folders.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the destination address is a phone number.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the phone number is a toll-free phone number.

27. The method of claim 24 wherein the destination address is an email address.

28. The method of claim 24 wherein the access information includes a first set of access information for providing a first level of security and at least one second set of access information for providing an additional level of security.

29. The method of claim 24 further comprising receiving an additional health record from the consumer uploaded to the web site.

30. The method of claim 24 wherein the health record is a health record of a family member.

31. The method of claim 24 wherein the health record is a health record of a pet.

32. The method of claim 24 wherein the health record is a dental record.

33. The method of claim 24 further comprising receiving a vital document from the consumer and storing a representation of the vital document.

34. The method of claim 24 further comprising providing the consumer with a document to provide to the healthcare provider exercising legal rights of the consumer for access to the health records, the document requesting the healthcare provider to send the health records to the destination address.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein the document includes an adhesive.

36. The method of claim 24 wherein the destination address is a phone number adapted for accepting both fax communications and voice communications without entry of a personal identification number (PIN) associated with the consumer.

37. The method of claim 24 wherein the destination address identifies a user account of the consumer.

38. The method of claim 24 wherein the destination address identifies a private mailbox associated with the consumer.

39. The method of claim 24 further comprising providing the consumer with a document to provide to the health care provider, the document including a representation of the destination address.

40. A method for providing a user with the ability to access and collect health records associated with the user, comprising:

associating access information with the user for the user to use to access a web site stored on a web server;

providing the user with a document to provide to the healthcare provider, the document providing a fax number and identifying a user account associated with the user;

receiving a fax communication at a fax server, the fax communication comprising a health record associated with the user for which the user has requested and given permission to the healthcare provider to send;

converting the fax communication into an image file format at the fax server;

storing the health record encoded in the image file format at the web server, the health record from the set consisting of a patient chart, a birth certificate, a vaccination record, a medical history, a lab report, a test result, a prescription, an x-ray result or image, a scan, and an EKG result or image;

associating the health record encoded in the image file format with a user account of the user on the web site;

providing the user with access to the user account on the web site through a web-enabled device using the access information;

providing a means of receiving a voice communications message from the healthcare provider to the consumer and maintaining the voice communications message as private;

alerting the consumer of the voice communications message from the healthcare provider and providing the consumer with access information to access the voice communications message; and

wherein a user interface associated with the web site provides for organizing and annotating the health records by the user into separate file folders with functionality for the user to name the file folders and add file folders.

41. The method of claim 40 wherein the step of associating the health record encoded in the image file format is performed using a destination address provided on the document.

42. The method of claim 41 wherein the destination address individually identifiers the user or the user account.

43. The method of claim 41 wherein the fax number identifies the user account.