System and method for gauging performance based on analysis of hospitalist and patient information

• US 8,666,774 B1
• Filed: 10/07/2011
• Issued: 03/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hospitalists Now, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Hospitalists Now, Inc.
• Inventors: Gonzales, Merced Jr., Loya, Francisco III, Gonzales, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Sereboff, Neal
• Application Number:
  US13/317,094
• Time in Patent Office: 879 Days
• Field of Search: 705/2, 705/3
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms

Abstract

The present invention provides solutions to many of the problems face by hospitalist medicine providers by supporting the ability to manage patient workflow, improve physician communication, integrate with hospital information systems, identify and document accurate diagnosis codes and capture professional fee charges. The system and method of the present invention enforces discipline in the clinical decision making process by ensuring proper and specific diagnoses and documentation thereof. This system supports the diagnosis, reports patient progress, enhances continuity of care through enhanced communication and notification throughout the treatment episode with all clinical and operational providers, automates core measure compliance documentation and ensure proper notification of any program specific risk management initiatives.

Claims

1. A system for analyzing and displaying performance metrics and information of a hospitalist at a health care facility comprising:

a computer management system having a computer processor, input/output devices, subprograms for operation of the computer processor, a data buffer, and one or more input/output ports for receipt and transmission of patient data, hospitalist information, and administration messages and information, said computer management system provides real-time demographic, financial, clinical, and patient data for each hospitalist for display to a hospitalist user and a health care facility administrative user;

a statistical subprogram operating on the computer management system computer processor, said statistical subprogram coupled to a primary database on the computer management system, said primary database maintaining compiled demographic, financial, clinical, and patient data for each patient admitted to the health care facility and each hospitalist that works at the health care facility in addition to geometric length of stay data,

said statistical subprogram calculating the average length of stay for one or more patients assigned to one or more hospitalists working at the health care facility by summing the total number of days in the length of stay for said one or more patients and dividing that summation of the total number of days in the length of stay by the number of the one or more patients,

said statistical subprogram calculating a variance factor by subtracting the average length of stay calculated by the statistical subprogram from the geometric mean length of stay data, said geometric mean length of stay is an average length of stay for a patient representing a benchmark metric performance standard for patient care that can be compared against the average length of stay,

said computer management system archiving the calculated average length of stay for patients assigned to one or more hospitalists, said geometric mean length of stay data, and said variance factor,

said computer management system provides a visual graphical comparison of the performance of the hospitalists versus the benchmark metric performance including a first graphical representation of average length of stay and a second graphical representation of the geometric length of stay, said computer management system provides the ability to view the visual graphical comparisons of the first and second graphical representations show the performance of one or more hospitalist versus a geometric mean performance and shows a variance factor showing the variation of the performance of one or more hospitalists versus the mean performance through the input/output port of the computer management system,

said statistical subprogram archiving and making available to one or more hospitalists or heath care facility administrators data regarding the dosage and type of medication prescribed to one or more patients admitted to the hospital facility and the frequency of a particular diagnosis given to patients by the hospitalists, said hospitalist or said health care facility administrative user receiving a notification if the frequency of a particular diagnosis or frequency of a prescribed medication exceeds a predetermined level, said statistical subprogram providing real-time feedback to hospitalists on their performance as well as health care facility benchmarking, said administration messages and information including diagnosis information for a patient, reports of patient progress, communications and notifications throughout a treatment episode for a patient, and one or more notifications sent to said hospitalist user or said health care facility administrative user.

2. The computer management system of claim 1 for gauging performance of a hospitalist at a health care facility wherein said administration messages include a notification to a physician or hospitalist regarding a patient transfer to that hospitalist.

3. The system of claim 1 for analyzing and displaying performance metrics and information of a hospitalist at a health care facility wherein said one or more patients used to calculate the average length of stay are assigned to one hospitalist.

4. The system of claim 3 for analyzing and displaying performance metrics and information of a hospitalist at a health care facility wherein visual graphical display includes one of the following visual depictions:

a speedometer, bar chart, or line graphic chart showing the relative performance of the hospitalist health care professional compared to the metric benchmark performance.

5. The system of claim 1 for analyzing and displaying performance metrics and information of a hospitalist at a health care facility wherein benchmark metric performance involves the number of patients seen by all the hospitalists assigned to a particular hospital facility.

6. The system of claim 5 for analyzing and displaying performance metrics and information of a hospitalist at a health care facility wherein visual graphical display includes one of the following visual depictions:

a speedometer, bar chart, or line graphic chart showing the relative performance of the hospitalist compared to the metric benchmark performance.

7. The system of claim 1 for analyzing and displaying performance metrics and information of a hospitalist at a health care facility wherein the hospitalist can examine his or her individual performances to estimate the fees and wages that may be due to him or her for their work at the facility or with the patient.

8. The system of claim 7 for analyzing and displaying performance metrics and information of a hospitalist at a health care facility wherein visual graphical display includes one of the following visual depictions:

a speedometer, bar chart, or line graphic chart showing the relative performance of the hospitalist compared to the metric benchmark performance.

9. The system of claim 1 for analyzing and displaying performance metrics and information of a hospitalist at a health care facility wherein the frequency of particular diagnosis given to patient is used to determine if there is contagious infection problem.

10. A system for analyzing and displaying performance metrics and information of a hospitalist at a health care facility comprising:

a computer management system having a computer processor, input/output devices, subprograms for operation of the computer processor, a data buffer, and one or more input/output ports for receipt and transmission of patient data, hospitalist information, and administration messages and information, said computer management system provides real-time demographic, financial, clinical, and patient data for display to a hospitalist user and a health care facility administrative user;

a statistical subprogram operating on the computer management system computer processor, said statistical subprogram coupled to a primary database on the computer management system, said primary database maintaining compiled demographic, financial, clinical, and patient data for each patient admitted to the health care facility and each hospitalist that works at the health care facility in addition to geometric length of stay data,

said statistical subprogram calculating the average length of stay for one or more patients assigned to one or more hospitalists working at the health care facility by summing the total number of days in the length of stay for said one or more patients and dividing that summation of the total number of days in the length of stay by the number of the one or more patients,

said statistical subprogram calculating a variance factor by subtracting the average length of stay calculated by the statistical subprogram from the geometric mean length of stay data, said geometric mean length of stay is an average length of stay for a patient representing a benchmark metric performance standard for patient care that can be compared against the average length of stay,

said computer management system archiving the calculated average length of stay for patients assigned to one or more hospitalists, said geometric mean length of stay data, and said variance factor,

said computer management system provides a comparison of the performance of the hospitalists versus the geometric mean length of stay data representing a benchmark metric performance,

the computer management system allowing said hospitalists or health care facility administrative users to access the results of the statistical subprogram and views of the visual graphical comparisons of performance of one or more hospitalists versus the geometric mean data stored in the database archive,

said hospitalist or said health care facility administrative user receiving a notification if the frequency of a particular diagnosis or frequency of a prescribed medication exceeds a predetermined level, said statistical subprogram of providing real-time feedback to hospitalist or health care facility administrative user on performance as well as health care benchmarking,

said administration messages and information including diagnosis information for a patient, reports of patient progress, communications and notifications throughout a treatment episode for a patient, and one or more notifications sent to said hospitalist user or said health care facility administrative user regarding potential contagious infection problems.

11. The system of claim 10 for analyzing and displaying performance metrics and information of a hospitalist at a health care facility wherein said one or more patients used to calculate the average length of stay are assigned to one hospitalist.

12. The system of claim 11 for analyzing and displaying performance metrics and information of a hospitalist at a health care facility wherein visual graphical display includes one of the following visual depictions:

a speedometer, bar chart, or line graphic chart showing the relative performance of the hospitalist compared to the metric benchmark performance.

13. The system of claim 10 for analyzing and displaying performance metrics and information of a hospitalist at a health care facility wherein benchmark metric performance involves the number of patients seen by all the hospitalists assigned to a particular hospital facility.

14. The system of claim 13 for analyzing and displaying performance metrics and information of a hospitalist at a health care facility wherein visual graphical display includes one of the following visual depictions:

a speedometer, bar chart, or line graphic chart showing the relative performance of the hospitalist compared to the metric benchmark performance.

15. The system of claim 10 for analyzing and displaying performance metrics and information of a hospitalist at a health care facility wherein the hospitalist can examine his or her individual performances to estimate the fees and wages that may be due to him or her for their work at the facility or with the patient.

16. The system of claim 15 for analyzing and displaying performance metrics and information of a hospitalist at a health care facility wherein visual graphical display includes one of the following visual depictions:

a speedometer, bar chart, or line graphic chart showing the relative performance of the hospitalist compared to the metric benchmark performance.

17. The system of claim 10 for analyzing and displaying performance metrics and information of a hospitalist at a health care facility wherein the frequency of particular diagnosis given to patient is used to determine if there is contagious infection problem.

18. A method for analyzing and displaying performance metrics and information of a hospitalist at a health care facility using a computer management system comprising the steps of:

providing a computer management system with a computer processor, input/output devices, subprograms for operation of the computer processor, a data buffer, and one or more input/output ports for receipt and transmission of patient data, hospitalist information, and administration messages and information, said computer management system provides real-time demographic, financial, clinical, and patient data for display to a hospitalist user or a health care facility administrative user;

executing a statistical subprogram operating on data archived and maintained on a database associated with the computer management system computer processor,

analyzing information archived and maintained on the database with the statistical subprogram including the length of stay for one or more patients assigned to one or more hospitalist assigned to the health care facility,

calculating the average length of stay for these patients by summing the length of stay by days for each of one or more patients and dividing that total number of days in the length of stay by the number of patients used in this calculation,

identifying with the statistical subprogram a benchmark metric performance standard for patient care, said benchmark metric performance standard being a geometric mean length of stay data in addition to the archived information on the database regarding the dosage and type of medication prescribed to a patient by the hospitalist and the frequency of a particular diagnosis given to patients by the hospitalists, said hospitalist user or said health care facility administrative user,

comparing the average length of stay for the one or more hospitalists, which shows the performance of a hospitalist or group of hospitalists at the health care facility, against geometric mean data for length of stay, which is the benchmark metric performance standard, and

providing a visual graphical comparison of the performance of the hospitalist by showing the calculated average length of stay for patients assigned to said one or more hospitalists versus the geometric mean length of stay data showing the benchmark metric performance, said computer management system allowing said hospitalist users and health care facility administrative users to access the results of the statistical subprogram and view the visual graphical comparisons of performance, said statistical subprogram capable of providing real-time feedback to hospitalist on their performance as well as health care facility benchmarking,

sending administration messages and information including notifications of potential infection problems at the health care facility, diagnosis information for a patient, reports of patient progress, communications and notifications throughout a treatment episode for a patient, and one or more notifications sent to said hospitalist user or said health care facility administrative user.

19. The method of claim 18 for analyzing and displaying performance metrics and information of a hospitalist at a health care facility wherein said one or more patients used to calculate the average length of stay are assigned to one hospitalist.

20. The method of claim 19 for analyzing and displaying performance metrics and information of a hospitalist at a health care facility wherein visual graphical display includes one of the following visual depictions:

a speedometer, bar chart, or line graphic chart showing the relative performance of the hospitalist health care professional compared to the metric benchmark performance.

21. The method of claim 18 for analyzing and displaying performance metrics and information of a hospitalist at a health care facility wherein benchmark metric performance involves the number of patients seen by all the hospitalists assigned to a particular hospital facility.

22. The method of claim 21 for analyzing and displaying performance metrics and information of a hospitalist at a health care facility wherein visual graphical display includes one of the following visual depictions:

a speedometer, bar chart, or line graphic chart showing the relative performance of the hospitalist health care professional compared to the metric benchmark performance.

23. The method of claim 18 for analyzing and displaying performance metrics and information of a hospitalist at a health care facility wherein the physician or hospitalist can examine his or her individual performances to estimate the fees and wages that may be due to him or her for their work at the facility or with the patient.

24. The method of claim 23 for analyzing and displaying performance metrics and information of a hospitalist at a health care facility wherein visual graphical display includes one of the following visual depictions:

a speedometer, bar chart, or line graphic chart showing the relative performance of the hospitalist compared to the metric benchmark performance.

25. The method of claim 18 for analyzing and displaying performance metrics and information of a hospitalist at a health care facility wherein the frequency of particular diagnosis given to patient is used to determine if there is contagious infection problem.