Methods, systems, and devices for verifying and approving government required release forms

• US 8,121,870 B2
• Filed: 05/31/2011
• Issued: 02/21/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: OneMedNet Corp.
• Original Assignee: OneMedNet Corp.
• Inventors: Maresh, Guy, Yu, Jeffrey N.
• Primary Examiner(s): O'Connor, Gerald J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, TRANG T
• Application Number:
  US13/149,680
• Publication Number:
  US 20110231327A1
• Time in Patent Office: 266 Days
• Field of Search: 705/2, 705/3
• US Class Current: 705/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 15/00 ICT specially adapted for medical reports, e.g. generation or transmission thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation

Abstract

The disclosure herein provides methods, systems, and devices for managing, transferring, modifying, converting and/or tracking medical files and/or medical system messages. In certain embodiments, the foregoing may generally be based on requesting medical files at a first medical facility, identifying the requested medical files at a second medical facility, initiating a secure network connection between the first and second medical facility, modifying a header portion of the medical files based on patient identification information created by the first medical facility, and other processing steps.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for verifying and approving a government required release form, the computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving an electronic copy of an executed government required release form from a patient;

determining by a computer system an identity of the patient associated with the executed government required release form based on a unique identifier associated with the executed government required release form;

correlating by the computer system the identity of the patient obtained from the unique identifier with at least one medical file associated with the identity of the patient;

verifying by the computer system using an optical character recognition module a signature on the executed government required release form with one or more prior signatures stored in a database; and

transmitting electronically by the computer system an approval communication based on said verifying to a remote server at a source facility to allow a transfer of the at least one medical file from the source facility to a destination facility, and to allow modification of the at least one medical file by removing a first patient identifier and replacing the first patient identifier with a second patient identifier, wherein the source facility uses the first patient identifier for identifying the patient and the destination facility uses the second patient identifier for identifying the patient; and

wherein the computer system comprises at least a computer processor and an electronic storage device.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the executed government required release form is received by a facsimile system.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the executed government required release form is received by a kiosk system.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the executed government required release form is received by the computer system via an internet connection.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the determining the identity of the patient comprises analyzing a bar code on the executed government required release form.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the electronic copy of the executed government required release form is received from a mobile device.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the transfer of the at least one medical file further comprises using an electronic communication to mark or cause to mark the at least one medical file as signed, so that the at least one medical file does not appear to a medical professional as unread and/or a new study.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the computer system comprises one or more computer systems.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the destination facility is a central storage facility.

10. A computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium having a computer program stored thereon for causing a suitably programmed computing system to process by one or more computer processors computer-program code by performing a method when the computer program is executed on the suitably programmed computing system, the method comprising:

receiving an electronic version of an executed government required release form;

determining by a computer system an identity of a patient associated with the executed government required release form based on a unique identifier associated with the executed government required release form;

correlating by the computer system the identity of the patient obtained via the unique identifier with at least one medical file associated with the patient;

verifying by the computer system, using an optical character recognition module, a signature on the executed government required release form with one or more prior signatures stored in a database; and

transmitting electronically by the computer system an approval communication to a source computing system, based on the verifying, to allow a transfer of the at least one medical file associated with the patient from the source computing system to a destination computing system, and to allow modification of the at least one medical file by removing a first patient identifier and replacing the first patient identifier with a second patient identifier, wherein the source computing system uses the first patient identifier for identifying the patient and the destination computing system uses the second patient identifier for identifying the patient.

11. The computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium of claim 10, wherein the receiving is performed by a facsimile system.

12. The computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium of claim 10, wherein the receiving is performed by a kiosk system.

13. The computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium of claim 10, wherein the receiving is performed by the computer system via an internet connection.

14. The computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium of claim 10, wherein the unique identifier is a bar code.

15. The computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium of claim 10, wherein the transfer of the at least one medical file further comprises using an electronic communication to mark or cause to mark the at least one medical file as signed, so that the at least one medical file does not appear to a medical professional as unread and/or a new study.

16. The computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium of claim 10, wherein the computer system comprises one or more computer systems.

17. The computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium of claim 10, wherein the destination computing system resides at or is accessible by a central storage facility.

18. A storage computer system comprising:

a computer processor configured to execute modules comprising at least;

a determination module programmed to determine an identity of a patient associated with an executed government required release form based on a unique identifier associated with the executed government required release form;

a matching module programmed to match the identity of the patient obtained via the unique identifier with at least one medical file associated with the patient;

a recognition module programmed to verify a signature on the executed government required release form;

a communication module programmed to send a communication to a source computing system, based on the verifying, to authorize a transfer of the at least one medical file associated with the patient from the source computing system to a destination computing system; and

a modification module programmed to allow modification of the at least one medical file by removing a first patient identifier and replacing the first patient identifier with a second patient identifier, wherein the source computing system uses the first patient identifier for identifying the patient and the destination computing system uses the second patient identifier for identifying the patient.

19. The computer system of claim 18, further comprising a facsimile system configured to receive and digitize the executed government required release form.

20. The computer system of claim 18, further comprising a scanning module programmed to scan a paper version of the executed government required release form.

21. The computer system of claim 18, further comprising a kiosk system programmed to receive the executed government required release form.

22. The computer system of claim 18, further comprising a kiosk system having a signature pad to enable the patient to execute a government required release form.

23. The computer system of claim 18, further comprising a kiosk system configured to obtain an image of the patient for use in further verifying the identity of the patient.

24. The computer system of claim 18, further comprising a receiving module programmed to receive the executed government required release form via a network.

25. The computer system of claim 18, wherein one or more modules reside at or are accessible by a server, and wherein the server is in communication with the source computing system.

26. The computer system of claim 18, further comprising a receiving module programmed to receive user identification information separate from the executed government required release form, and wherein the match is based on the received user identification information.

27. The computer system of claim 18, wherein the unique identifier is a bar code of the executed government required release form.

28. The computer system of claim 18, wherein the executed government required release form is a HIPAA form.

29. The computer system of claim 18, wherein the recognition module is programmed to verify the signature based on optical character recognition.

30. The computer system of claim 18, wherein the transfer of the at least one medical file further comprises using an electronic communication to mark or cause to mark the at least one medical file as signed, so that the at least one medical file does not appear to a medical professional as unread and/or a new study.

31. The computer system of claim 18, wherein the destination computing system resides at or is accessible by a central storage facility.