Healthcare tracking

• US 9,740,823 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2008
• Issued: 08/22/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RSV QOZB LTSS, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Jr., Earl Edward Breazeale
• Inventors: Breazeale, Jr., Earl Edward
• Primary Examiner(s): Rines, David
• Application Number:
  US12/165,538
• Publication Number:
  US 20090204434A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,340 Days
• Field of Search: 705 2, 705 3, 705 711- 742, 705 4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1095 Meeting or appointment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/22 Social work or social welfare, e.g. community support activities or counselling services
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 1/10 together with the recording, indicating or registering of other data, e.g. of signs of identity
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/185 with management of multicast group membership
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1886 with traffic restrictions for efficiency improvement, e.g. involving subnets or subdomains

Abstract

A computer-implemented method is disclosed. The method includes obtaining location-time data automatically generated by a mobile electronic device associated with a healthcare provider, correlating the location-time data with a location of a healthcare patient, and using the location-time data to bill for care of the healthcare patient by the healthcare provider.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, through the Internet and at a location identification server system that is programmed to identify when geographic locations of particular mobile devices match separately-identified geographic locations, electronic information that identifies locations for care to be provided to healthcare patients who are approved for care by a healthcare provider, and allocated amounts of care that correspond to anticipated durations of stay for one or more visits to the healthcare patients, wherein the healthcare patients have been previously enrolled with a system that coordinates providing of healthcare;

receiving, by the location identification server system, location data generated by an electronic location identification service in response to receiving data generated by global positioning system (GPS) units of mobile devices that identify locations of particular healthcare providers when each instance of the location data is generated by respective ones of the GPS systems;

comparing, with the location identification server system, digital data for the locations of the healthcare providers identified by the received location data obtained from GPS units, to the locations for care to be provided that were received by the location identification server system, so as to determine whether a location of a particular healthcare provider matches a particular location for care to be provided; and

providing, by the location identification server system to a server system that coordinates providing of healthcare, electronic data that indicates an amount of care that corresponds to an actual duration of stay by the particular healthcare provider at the particular location for care to be provided, as a result of determining that the particular location for care to be provided matches the location of the particular healthcare provider responsive to the allocated amount of care, the electronic data being provided in response to receiving the electronic information that identifies the locations for care to be provided, wherein;

the location data is received by the location identification server system (a) monitoring a schedule and location of the healthcare provider so that the monitoring transfers location information at an initial frequency when the schedule and location of the healthcare provider indicates that the healthcare provider is not actively with the patient, and (b) responsive to determining that the healthcare provider is actively with the patient, modifying the frequency with which the location data is obtained.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining data regarding a location of the particular patient'"'"'s residence, and comparing the location data to the location of the residence to determine an amount of time the particular healthcare provider spent at or near the particular patient'"'"'s residence.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising receiving data, periodically provided by the particular healthcare provider while at the location of the particular patient, indicating that the particular healthcare provider is currently physically operating a mobile electronic device, and correlating the received data with times during which the particular healthcare provider is scheduled to be at the location of the particular healthcare patient.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the received data includes a digital image from the location of the particular healthcare patient captured at a time the digital image is submitted, and the location data is stored as time-location data pairs.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising providing information to a mobile electronic device of the particular healthcare provider for generating a schedule of care, including location information for the healthcare patient.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein data for generating multiple schedules of care is provided to multiple mobile electronic devices according to a predetermined schedule.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein comparing the digital data for the locations of the healthcare providers to the locations for care to be provided comprises comparing the location data to a location of a scheduled appointment for the particular healthcare provider during a time indicated by the location data in order to determine whether the particular healthcare provider was at a scheduled location during a sufficient portion of the appointment.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising computing an amount of a billable event based on elapsed time of the particular healthcare provider at the location of the particular healthcare patient.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein a single transmission of the electronic information combines data from multiple different indications of location for a particular mobile device.

10. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

providing over a computer network, for electronic presentation to a user of a mobile computing device, a schedule for treatment of one or more healthcare patients;

generating location data for the mobile computing device that digitally represents locations of the one or more healthcare patients in response to receiving location data from a global positioning system (GPS) unit of the mobile computing device identifying locations of the one or more healthcare patients; and

processing the location data at a central location identification server system by comparing the location data from the GPS unit to locations associated with the one or more healthcare patients, which locations were supplied to a central service over the Internet with allocated amounts of care that correspond to anticipated durations of stay by healthcare providers with particular ones of the patients, and providing duration and location data based on determining that the user of the mobile computing device was present at the locations of the one or more healthcare patients for whom an amount of care has been allocated, the duration and location data being generated by electronically filtering the location data using data supplied to the central location identification server system that identifies locations of healthcare patients, so as to identify information associated with locations within a set distance of the location of the one or more healthcare patients, and being supplied by the central location identification server system to a healthcare billing system as data indicating a duration the mobile computing device was electronically determined to be at one of the locations of the one or more healthcare patients, for generating automatic billing for care provided to the one or more healthcare patients, wherein;

the location data is received by the location identification server system (a) monitoring a schedule and location of the healthcare provider so that the monitoring transfers location information at an initial frequency when the schedule and location of the healthcare provider indicates that the healthcare provider is not actively with the patient, and (b) responsive to determining that the healthcare provider is actively with the patient, modifying the frequency with which the location data is obtained.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein providing the schedule comprises presenting on a graphical user interface one or more maps showing the locations of the one or more healthcare patients.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising automatically downloading schedule data for generating the schedule, without intervention by the user.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising automatically seeking manual input from the user during a time period when the user is supposed to be at the locations of the one or more patients.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the manual input comprises biometric input from the user.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising submitting data for the biometric input and location data together to the central service for verification that the user was actually at a patient location during a particular time period.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising receiving from the central service an indication that treatment of a patient at a scheduled location has been confirmed for the user.

17. A computer-implemented performance verification system, comprising:

a database storing location data that represents geographic locations for healthcare patients and received from a third party over the Internet, along with indications, for each of the healthcare patients, of allocated amounts of care that include anticipated durations of stay for one or more visits to the healthcare patients;

a server-based interface arranged to receive location data generated by global positioning system (GPS) units of mobile electronic devices associated with healthcare providers, wherein the location data indicates locations of the devices electronically determined using the GPS units at times the healthcare providers are physically at the locations; and

one or more processors operating on one or more computer servers programmed to electronically filter the received location data using the data representing geographic locations for healthcare patients, so as to identify data associated with locations within set distances of the geographic locations for healthcare patients, to use the identified data to determine durations that mobile devices were electronically determined to be within set distances of particular ones of the geographic locations for healthcare patients, and to provide data to a remote healthcare management system that is separate from the performance verification system, the provided data indicating a determination that the received location data matches the stored location data and allocated amount of care that was submitted separately from the location data, so as to allow the remote healthcare management system to generate charges for care provided to the healthcare patients, wherein;

the location data is received by the system (a) monitoring a schedule and location of the healthcare provider so that the monitoring transfers location information at an initial frequency when the schedule and location of the healthcare provider indicates that the healthcare provider is not actively with the patient, and (b) responsive to determining that the healthcare provider is actively with the patient, modifying the frequency with which the location data is obtained.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising an interface to receive historical location information from mobile devices corresponding to the healthcare providers and to provide the location information for comparison with the stored location data.

19. The system of claim 17, further comprising medical record storage for the healthcare patients, and an interface to provide medical record information from medical record storage to verified healthcare providers over a wireless network.

20. The system of claim 17, further comprising an interface programmed to periodically request location information from a plurality of mobile devices associated with the healthcare providers.

21. The system of claim 17, further comprising a schedule generator programmed to identify patients in need of care and to produce schedules for the healthcare providers including location information for the healthcare patients.

22. A computer-implemented system, including one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media comprising:

one or more computer processors;

memory in communication with the one or more processors and storing time-location data for a plurality of healthcare providers in a healthcare system, the time-location information generated by global positioning system (GPS) units of mobile devices of the healthcare providers and correlating a particular physical location of a particular healthcare provider with a particular time the particular healthcare provider was at the particular physical location;

memory in communication with the one or more processors and storing location data for a plurality of healthcare patients with correlated data that indicates allocated levels of care for the healthcare patients corresponding to intended durations of stay by healthcare providers at locations of the healthcare patients, the location information and the information that indicates allocated levels of care being provided to the computer-implemented system over the Internet from a third party;

a comparison module, executable on the one or more processors, and programmed to determine whether time-location data for particular ones of the healthcare providers matches location data for which an allocated level of care has been provided; and

memory storing instructions, executable on the one or more processors, for providing, to a healthcare management system and through a network, data that identifies whether comparisons made by the comparison module indicate that care was provided to a particular patient for whom an allocated level of care has been provided, wherein;

the location data is received by the system (a) monitoring a schedule and location of the healthcare provider so that the monitoring transfers location information at an initial frequency when the schedule and location of the healthcare provider indicates that the healthcare provider is not actively with the patient, and (b) responsive to determining that the healthcare provider is actively with the patient, modifying the frequency with which the location data is obtained.

23. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, through the Internet and at a location identification server system that is programmed to identify when geographic locations of particular mobile devices match separately-identified geographic locations, electronic information that identifies locations for care to be provided to healthcare patients who are approved for care by a healthcare provider, and allocated amounts of care that correspond to anticipated durations of stay for one or more visits to the healthcare patients, wherein the healthcare patients have been previously enrolled with a system that coordinates providing of healthcare;

receiving, by the location identification server system, location data generated by an electronic location identification service in response to receiving data generated by global positioning system (GPS) units of mobile devices that identify locations of particular healthcare providers when each instance of the location data is generated by respective ones of the GPS systems;

comparing, with the location identification server system, digital data for the locations of the healthcare providers identified by the received location data obtained from GPS units, to the locations for care to be provided that were received by the location identification server system, so as to determine whether a location of a particular healthcare provider matches a particular location for care to be provided; and

providing, by the location identification server system to a server system that coordinates providing of healthcare, electronic data that indicates an amount of care that corresponds to an actual duration of stay by the particular healthcare provider at the particular location for care to be provided, as a result of determining that the particular location for care to be provided matches the location of the particular healthcare provider responsive to the allocated amount of care, the electronic data being provided in response to receiving the electronic information that identifies the locations for care to be provided, wherein;

the location data is received by the location identification server system (a) monitoring a schedule and location of the healthcare provider so that the monitoring transfers location information at an initial frequency when the schedule and location of the healthcare provider indicates that the healthcare provider is not actively with the patient, and (b) responsive to determining that the healthcare provider is actively with the patient, modifying the frequency with which the location data is obtained.

24. The computer-implemented method of claim 23, further comprising obtaining data regarding a location of the particular patient'"'"'s residence, and comparing the location data to the location of the residence to determine an amount of time the particular healthcare provider spent at or near the particular patient'"'"'s residence.

25. The computer-implemented method of claim 24, wherein the received data includes a digital image from the location of the particular healthcare patient captured at a time the digital image is submitted, and the location data is stored as time-location data pairs.

26. The computer-implemented method of claim 23, further comprising providing information to a mobile electronic device of the particular healthcare provider for generating a schedule of care, including location information for the healthcare patient.

27. The computer-implemented method of claim 23, wherein a single transmission of the electronic information combines data from multiple different indications of location for a particular mobile device.