Home care logistics and quality assurance system

• US 8,852,093 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2007
• Issued: 10/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Health Hero Network Incorporated (Robert Bosch GmbH)
• Original Assignee: Health Hero Network Incorporated (Robert Bosch GmbH)
• Inventors: Clapp, Geoffrey, Brown, Stephen J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Thomson, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): JIAN, SHIRLEY XUEYING
• Application Number:
  US11/686,020
• Publication Number:
  US 20080058615A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,764 Days
• Field of Search: 705 2- 5
• US Class Current: 600/300
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02055 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular condition and temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14532 for measuring glucose, e.g. by tissue impedance measurement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 15/00 ICT specially adapted for medical reports, e.g. generation or transmission thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation

Abstract

A mobile home care logistics and quality assurance system to enhance the efficiency, accuracy, accountability, and overall level of care for nurses visiting patients in their home. The system has a patient home health communication interface to establish a communication between a patient and a central server to receive instructions from and to transmit collected data/information to a remote server. The remote server generates various reports including a home visit prioritization report and a routing report based on the collected and stored data. The information and reports are used for billing, performance reviews, and patient data for assessment of each homecare nurse'"'"'s in-field assignments.

Claims

1. A mobile home care logistics and quality assurance system, comprising:

a patient home health communication interface system installed at a patient'"'"'s home, the patient home health communication interface system collects patient data, time stamps the patient data, and transmits collected patient data to a remote server, the patient home health communication interface system includes a location awareness device;

the remote server communicatively coupled to patient home health communication interface system, the remote server receives collected patient data and stores collected patient data, scripted contents, patient location data and applications for processing collected patient data and for generating reports containing home prioritization data and routing data for visiting patient homes;

a mobile unit held by a nurse visiting said patient at a home and communicatively coupled to said remote server, said mobile unit receives report data and transmits patient call visit data, the mobile unit includes a location awareness device;

a home health care service provider interface communicatively coupled to said remote server, said home health care service provider interface receives collected patient data, generated report data and nurse call visit data to provide logistic support to patient at home and to visiting nurse, wherein said remote server generates various reports including a home visit prioritization report and routing report, the remote server generates a map image including a route and a patient priority for a visiting home care nurse based upon collected patient data, a location of the visiting home care nurse and a location of each patient which is transmitted to said mobile unit, the patient home health communication interface system communicates with said mobile unit and is configured to collect an arrival time of said nurse and a departure time of said nurse of a visit of said nurse; and

a quality service monitoring device coupled to said remote server, said quality service monitoring device receives nurse visit data, said quality service monitoring device compares the received nurse visit data with prioritized patient visit data to evaluate efficiency.

2. The system according to claim 1 wherein the said patient home health communication interface comprises a microprocessor, a memory that stores scripted content, program instructions and data, a user interface and a communication unit.

3. The system according to claim 1 wherein the patient home health communication interface connects with a plurality of sensors to collect patient data.

4. The system according to claim 3 wherein said plurality of sensors includes any of a blood pressure monitor, a blood glucose level monitor, a pulse and heart rate variability monitor, a pulse oximeter device, a blood coagulation monitor, a respiratory sensor, a weight scale and body fat sensor, a smoke detector, a fire alarm detector, a gas leak sensor, and a humidity sensor.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein said patient home health communication interface is connected through a communication channel to receive instructions from the said remote server and to transmit collected data to said remote server.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the home health care service provider interface includes a computer that connects to said remote server in order to view patient data and reports, enter patient data, assign programs to patients, and send messages to patients.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein said mobile unit is a portable proxy for the home health care service provider interface.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the mobile unit records nurse location in memory of the mobile unit at regular time intervals.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein said mobile unit transmits information to the said remote server.

10. The system according to claim 1, wherein said mobile unit receives patient scripts and educational content pertaining to patient health.

11. The system according to claim 10, wherein said educational content pertaining to patient health includes updated medical assistance procedures with respect to a particular patient based upon received patient data.

12. The system according to claim 1,

a work flow analysis module, said work flow analysis module adjusts a work flow of particular nurses based on collected patient data and received patient data.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein work flow analysis module transfers data processed by the work flow analysis module to a third party pay for performance database.

14. A mobile home care logistics and quality assurance method, comprising:

communicatively connecting a remote server with a patient home health care communication interface system, the patient home health communication interface system located at patient'"'"'s home and collects patient data, time stamps the patient data and transmits collected patient data to the remote server, the patient home health communication interface system includes a location awareness device, the remote server collecting and storing patient data at databases to generate reports containing a patient prioritization data, location data of patients and a routing data for visiting the patients at home;

the remote server transmitting the generated reports to a nurse through a mobile unit held by a nurse visiting a patient at home and collecting data regarding a nurse visit, said mobile unit includes a location awareness device;

the remote server transmitting collected patient data, generated report data and nurse visit data to a home health care service provider interface, the home health care service provider interface providing a logistics support to a patient and to monitor a nurse visit;

the home health care service provider interface transmitting a map image including a route and a patient priority for a visiting home care nurse based upon collected patient data, a location of the visiting home care nurse and a location of each patient to said mobile unit; and

the patient home health care communication interface system collecting an arrival time of said nurse and a departure time of said nurse of said nurse visit by interacting with the mobile unit held by the visiting nurse;

a quality service monitoring device receiving nurse visit data; and

the quality service monitoring device comparing the received nurse visit data with prioritized patient visit data to evaluate efficiency.

15. The method according to claim 14 wherein the patient home health communication interface is connected to at least one patient data collection sensor.

16. The method according to claim 15 wherein said at least one patient data collection sensor includes any of a blood pressure monitor, a blood glucose level monitor, a pulse and heart rate variability monitor, a pulse oximeter device, a blood coagulation monitor, a respiratory sensor, a weight scale and body fat sensor, a smoke detector, a fire alarm detector, a gas leak sensor, and a humidity sensor.

17. A method according to claim 14, wherein said patient home health communication interface is connected through a communication channel to receive instructions from the remote server and to transmit collected data to the remote server.

18. The method according to claim 14, wherein said mobile unit is a portable proxy for the home health care service provider interface.

19. The method according to claim 14, wherein the mobile unit records nurse location in memory of the mobile unit at regular time intervals.

20. The method according to claim 14, wherein the mobile unit transmits information to the said remote server.