Method and system for health assessment and monitoring

• US 8,463,623 B2
• Filed: 07/27/2010
• Issued: 06/11/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: QuarterMaster Newco, LLC (UnitedHealth Group Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Optuminsight Life Sciences, Inc. (UnitedHealth Group Incorporated)
• Inventors: Ware, John E., Kosinski, Mark R., Bjorner, Jakob Bue, Sardinha, Barbara, Dewey, James E., Perfetto, Ralph J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Michelle
• Application Number:
  US12/844,379
• Publication Number:
  US 20110112852A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,050 Days
• Field of Search: 434/236, 434/322
• US Class Current: 705/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/20 for electronic clinical trials or questionnaires
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 15/00 ICT specially adapted for medical reports, e.g. generation or transmission thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/30 for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment

Abstract

The present invention relates to an assessment technique which is conveniently practiced on a computer or over a network. The assessment technique is particularly useful in assessment of health related factors. The invention also relates to a general purpose programmable computer which is provided with instructions for operating according to the assessment technique.

Claims

1. A method of assessing the health status of a patient, comprising the steps of:

generating, by a processing device, a customized test, based on the patient'"'"'s characteristics and one or more health domains, the test having a plurality of questions for the patient selected in accordance with the one or more health domains, in which the health domains are selected by;

comparing the patient'"'"'s characteristics with other patient'"'"'s characteristics;

determining at least one health domain for the patient by identifying at least one health domain related to other patients with similar characteristics;

estimating, by the processing device, a score for the patient based on a survey of other patients with similar characteristics;

administering, through a user interface, the test by providing one question at a time to the patient;

after each question, evaluating, by the processing device, answers provided by the patient to administered questions to adjust the estimated score and to calculate a confidence level in the accuracy of the estimated score;

varying, by the processing device, a threshold, after each question, as a function of the estimated score during administration of the test to the patient;

and dynamically modifying the test being administered to the patient, with the processing device, based on an answer provided to a prior question, the estimated confidence level, and the threshold.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a report regarding the health status of the patient.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the health domain is related to a condition experienced or perceived by the patient.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising ranking the plurality of questions in accordance with the estimated score;

and selecting a question from the plurality of questions based on the ranking that has not been administered to the patient.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising selecting a highest rank question.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein dynamically modifying comprises terminating the administration of the test if it is determined that the estimated confidence level is within the threshold.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein further comprising selecting the questions for the health domain from a database having questions and answers pertaining to a plurality of health domains.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a list of possible answers for each question to the patient.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising statistically analyzing the answers provided by the patient for errors;

wherein the patient'"'"'s answers to at least two questions are compared to an error threshold to determine whether an error has occurred.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising statistically analyzing the answers provided by the patient for consistency.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising statistically analyzing the answers provided by the patient for estimating non-responsive answers to the test.

12. The method of claim 2, wherein reporting further comprises comparing the answers provided by the patient with answers provided by other patients in the health domain.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising administering the test to the patients over a network.

14. The method of claim 2, wherein generating the report comprises generating the report over a network.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the network is one of the following:

an Internet, an intranet, a telephone network, and a wireless network.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the health domain includes at least one of the following:

severity of headaches, level of depression, degree of personal mobility, self-perceived status, effectiveness of a treatment, and physical health, emotional health, impact of asthma, job satisfaction, opinion polling general overall health.

17. The method of claim 1, in which the step of estimating a score for the patient based on a survey of other patients with similar characteristics comprises:

estimating a first score for a first health domain of the one or more health domains; and

estimating a second score for a second health domain of the one or more health domains.

18. The method of claim 17, in which the step of varying, by the processing device, a threshold, after each question, as a function of the estimated score during administration of the test to the patient comprises:

varying a first threshold corresponding to the first health domain; and

varying a second threshold corresponding to the second health domain.

19. A method of dynamically administering a test to assess a domain, comprising:

generating, by a processing device, a customized test, based on a respondent'"'"'s characteristics and one or more domains selected by the respondent or test provider, the test having a plurality of questions for the respondent in accordance with the selected domains, in which the health domains are selected by;

comparing the respondent'"'"'s characteristics with other patient'"'"'s characteristics;

determining at least one health domain for the respondent by identifying at least one health domain related to other patients with similar characteristics;

estimating, by the processing device, a score for the respondent based on a survey of other patients with similar characteristics;

administering, through a user interface, the test by providing one question at a time to the respondent;

evaluating, by the processing device, answers, after each question, provided by the respondent to administered questions to estimate a score and a confidence level in the accuracy of the estimated score;

varying, by the processing device, threshold, after each question, as a function of the estimated score during administration of the test to the respondent; and

dynamically modifying the test being administered to the respondent, with a processing device, based on an answer provided to a prior question, the estimated confidence level, and the threshold.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising terminating the administration of the test if it is determined that estimated confidence level is within the threshold.

21. The method of claim 19, where the domain is one or more health related or non-related options.