Patent Application
20140249834
Embodiments of the invention relate generally to a mechanism of facilitating user interaction with health care data and more particularly relate to a method, apparatus and computer program product for defining criteria for identification of a patient cohort of interest and configuring one or more user interfaces with patient information for the patients in the cohort.
Currently, the problems in enterprise health care information technology are typically too vast for any one vendor or solution set to address. This may result in a lot of custom software development needed in health care organizations which may be an expensive proposition. Furthermore, clinicians (e.g., nurses, physicians, knowledge workers, laboratory technicians, etc.), that are most attuned to the problems and needed health care solutions may not have access to an adequate toolset for their technical capabilities that allows them to easily address some of their needs themselves such as, for example, defining criteria for selection of a cohort of patients and managing the cohort of patients.
As such, clinicians may be reliant on an information technology team to help develop health care solutions. However, at present information technology teams may not be staffed enough to keep up with the demands for solutions across their health care organizations. A larger number of these needs may involve management of a cohort of patients in which a clinician may need or desire to develop health care solutions to manage and monitor the patient cohort of interest.
In view of the foregoing drawbacks, it may be beneficial to provide a mechanism to enable clinicians to easily and efficiently address or develop some of their health care solution needs themselves.
A method, apparatus and computer program product are therefore provided that may provide an efficient and reliable mechanism for managing a cohort of patients. In this regard, the exemplary embodiments may enable defining of criteria for identification of a patient cohort of interest and enabling provision of one or more configurable user interfaces which provide patient information for the patients in the cohort.
In this regard, the exemplary embodiments may enable a user to define a new health care cohort management solution using a guided experience. As such, the exemplary embodiments may enable (1) defining of criteria for identification of a cohort of patients, (2) visually laying out and configuring views of patient information for patients in the cohort, (3) visually configuring reports, dashboards and other analytics as well as (4) specifying various workflows that may orchestrate surveillance and care of the patients in the cohort.
The exemplary embodiments may also enable specifying in declarative form the criteria used to query a memory or a database to generate a list of patients in the cohort. In addition, the exemplary embodiments may provide a user interface(s) that enables specifying of patient data views and layouts for those views as well as defining rules for generation of alerts. One or more of these alerts may be sent to a clinician(s) based on a defined rule(s).
The example embodiments may also enable identification and risk stratification of a patient cohort of interest and may provide ongoing monitoring or surveillance of this cohort (e.g., including alerts) as well as longitudinal patient chart review and analytics on the patient cohort. The exemplary embodiments may also enable provision of additional workflows around patient interaction or care for patients in the patient cohort.
In one exemplary embodiment, a method for identifying patients of a cohort is provided. The method may include generating at least one user interface defining items of predefined criteria to identify a plurality of patients, among a candidate set of patients, of a cohort. The patients may have at least one common characteristic associated with a designated medical condition or a designated health plan. The method may further include identifying the plurality of patients of the cohort in response to receiving indications of selections of one or more of the items of the predefined criteria. The method may further include monitoring and managing care of the identified patients of the cohort on an ongoing basis to provide interventions and track outcomes.
In another example embodiment, an apparatus for identifying patients of a cohort is provided. The apparatus may include a processor and a memory including computer program code. The memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least perform operations including generating at least one user interface defining items of predefined criteria to identify a plurality of patients, among a candidate set of patients, of a cohort. The patients may have at least one common characteristic associated with a designated medical condition or a designated health plan. The memory and computer program code are also configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to identify the plurality of patients of the cohort in response to receiving indications of selections of one or more of the items of the predefined criteria. The memory and computer program code are also configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to monitor and manage care of the identified patients of the cohort on an ongoing basis to provide interventions and track outcomes.
In another example embodiment, a computer program product for identifying patients of a cohort is provided. The computer program product includes at least one computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable program code instructions stored therein. The computer-executable program code instructions may include program code instructions configured to generate at least one user interface defining items of predefined criteria to identify a plurality of patients, among a candidate set of patients, of a cohort. The patients may have at least one common characteristic associated with a designated medical condition or a designated health plan. The computer program product may further include program code instructions configured to identify the plurality of patients of the cohort in response to receiving indications of selections of one or more of the items of the predefined criteria. The computer program product may further include program code instructions configured to monitor and manage care of the identified patients of the cohort on an ongoing basis to provide interventions and track outcomes.
Having thus described the invention in general terms, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:
Some embodiments of the present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not all embodiments of the invention are shown. Indeed, various embodiments of the invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout. As used herein, the terms “data,” “content,” “information” and similar terms may be used interchangeably to refer to data capable of being transmitted, received and/or stored in accordance with embodiments of the invention. Moreover, the term “exemplary”, as used herein, is not provided to convey any qualitative assessment, but instead merely to convey an illustration of an example. Thus, use of any such terms should not be taken to limit the spirit and scope of embodiments of the invention.
As defined herein a “computer-readable storage medium,” which refers to a non-transitory, physical or tangible storage medium (e.g., volatile or non-volatile memory device), may be differentiated from a “computer-readable transmission medium,” which refers to an electromagnetic signal.
As referred to herein, a cohort, cohort of patients, patients of a cohort and similar terms may denote a group of patients, list of patients or population of patients that may have one or more common characteristics that may link the patients together such that care for the patients may be collectively managed.
Reference is now made to
In one exemplary embodiment, the electronic devices 100, 105, 110, 115, 120 and 125 may be utilized by clinicians (e.g., nurses, pharmacists, physicians, physical therapists) and/or any other suitable health care professionals. The electronic devices 100, 105, 110, 115, 120, 125 may be maintained by a health care institution or a medical entity.
The electronic devices 100, 105, 110, 115, 120, and 125 may receive medical information from and may transmit medical information to each other. The electronic devices 100, 105, 110, 115, 120 and 125 may utilize the medical information in part to generate one or more health care tasks for one or more patients.
It should be pointed out that although
For example, the memory 86 may store content transmitted from, and/or received by, other communication devices (e.g., electronic devices 100, 105, 110, 115, 120 and 125). In this regard, in one exemplary embodiment, the memory 86 may store data received from various disparate sources. For example, the memory 86 may store medical information received by the communication device 145 from electronic devices of a hospital, a pharmacy, a laboratory, a clinic, or any other suitable medical entities.
Also for example, the memory 86 may store client applications, instructions, algorithms or the like for execution by the processor 70 to perform steps associated with operation of the communication device 145 in accordance with embodiments of the invention. As explained below, for example, the memory 86 may store one or more client applications such as, for example, software (e.g., software code also referred to herein as computer code).
The processor 70 may be embodied in a variety of ways. For instance, the processor 70 may be embodied as a controller, coprocessor, microprocessor of other processing devices including integrated circuits such as, for example, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA). In an exemplary embodiment, the processor 70 may execute instructions stored in the memory 86 or otherwise accessible to the processor 70.
The communication device 145 may include one or more logic elements for performing various functions of one or more client applications. In an exemplary embodiment, the communication device 145 may execute the client applications. The logic elements performing the functions of one or more client applications may be embodied in an integrated circuit assembly including one or more integrated circuits (e.g., an ASIC, FPGA or the like) integral or otherwise in communication with a respective network entity (e.g., computing system, client, server, etc.) or more particularly, for example, a processor 70 of the respective network entity.
In addition to the memory 86, the processor 70 may also be connected to at least one interface or other means for displaying, transmitting and/or receiving data, content or the like. The interface(s) can include at least one communication interface 88 or other means for transmitting and/or receiving data, content or the like. In this regard, the communication interface 88 may include, for example, an antenna and supporting hardware and/or software for enabling communications with a wireless communication network. For example, the communication interface(s) may include a first communication interface for connecting to a first network, and a second communication interface for connecting to a second network. In this regard, the communication device is capable of communicating with other communication devices (e.g., for example, electronic devices 100, 105, 110, 115, 120, 125) over one or more networks (e.g., network 140) such as a Local Area Network (LAN), wireless LAN (WLAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN), the Internet, or the like. Alternatively, the communication interface may support a wired connection with the respective network.
In addition to the communication interface(s), the interface(s) may also include at least one user interface that may include one or more earphones and/or speakers, a display 80 (also referred to herein as screen 80), and/or a user input interface 82. The user input interface, in turn, may comprise any of a number of devices allowing the entity to receive data from a user, such as a microphone, a keypad, keyboard, a touch display, a joystick, image capture device, pointing device (e.g., mouse), stylus or other input device.
In an exemplary embodiment, the processor 70 may be in communication with and may otherwise control a cohort management module 78. The cohort management module 78 may be any means such as a device or circuitry operating in accordance with software or otherwise embodied in hardware or a combination of hardware and software thereby configuring the device or circuitry (e.g., a processor, controller, microprocessor or the like) to perform the corresponding functions of the cohort management module 78, as described below. In examples in which software is employed, a device or circuitry (e.g., processor 70 in one example) executing the software forms the structure associated with such means. As such, for example, the cohort management module 78 may be configured to, among other things, define criteria for identifying patients of a cohort and configuring views of patient information for patients in the cohort, as described more fully below.
Exemplary embodiments of the invention may provide an efficient and reliable mechanism for defining criteria for identification of a patient cohort of interest and enabling provision of one or more configurable user interfaces which provide patient information for the patients in the cohort. The exemplary embodiments may also monitor and manage care of the patients in the cohort, as well as perform other features described more fully below.
Referring now to
At operation 300, the cohort management module 78 may provide a set of criteria for a user to identify patients that should be included in the cohort (e.g., a group of patients for a heart program, a diabetes program, a smoking cessation campaign or any other suitable group of patients). The cohort management module 78 may provide the set of criteria for selection by the user (e.g., a clinician) to a user interface. At operation 305, the cohort management module 78 may provide (e.g., via a user interface) one or more options for the user configuring columns. In this regard, the user may select one or more columns of medical data that the user desires the cohort management module 78 to retrieve to be shown in corresponding columns of a user interface by a display (e.g., display 80). At operation 310, the cohort management module 78 may enable configuration of one or more patient chart views. In this regard, the cohort management module 78 may provide visible indicia, for example via a user interface, for the user to select one or more patient chart views for the patients of the cohort.
At operation 315, the cohort management module 78 may provide a user with options, via a user interface, to select one or more forms to be filled in for the patients of the cohort, or provide the user with the option to author one or more new forms. At operation 320, the cohort management module 78 provides the user with the ability to create one or more dashboards or user interfaces and/or charts based in part on the configured columns, the configured patient chart view(s) and/or the created forms. In this regard, the cohort management module 78 may trigger a display (e.g., display 80) to show the dashboards or user interfaces and charts. At operation 325, the cohort management module 78 may provide visible indicia, for example via a user interface, for configuring one or more alerts or notifications. In this regard, the user may select or define one or more alerts or notifications to be generated and sent in response to criteria being met (e.g., in an instance in which patients of the cohort are entered into an intensive care unit (ICU), an emergency room, etc.). The alert(s) or notification(s) (e.g., an email message, a Short Message Service (SMS) message, a Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) message or any other suitable message) may be sent to one or more devices (e.g., electronic devices 100, 105, 110, 115, 120 or 125) of the user (e.g., a nurse) configuring the alert(s)/notification(s) or other users (e.g., physicians) designated by the user.
Referring now to
In the example embodiment of
The user interface 11 may also provide visible indicia for finding patients who match criteria 7. The finding patients who match criteria 7 may include options for selections such as, for example, list membership is not heart failure watch list, patient status in inpatient, diagnosis contains heart failure and its synonyms, chief complaint is dyspnea and its synonyms, chief complaint is heart failure and its synonyms, medication type is diuretic and its synonyms, BNP is greater than 100 pg/ml, as well as any other suitable criteria. The user interface 11 may also include visible indicia denoting quick criteria 10 which may be predefined to help users quickly put together their query criteria to find/identify patients for the cohort related to heart failure. In response to receipt of an indication of the group selected criteria tab 6 and the next tab 8, the cohort management module 78 may generate another user interface (e.g., user interface 17 of
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In some other example embodiments, a single patient view user interface may include a combination of multiple full page dashboards and/or composite user interfaces. In this regard, the cohort management module 78 may configure (in response to receipt of selections from a user) which dashboards and/or composite user interfaces are relevant for a given cohort and the manner (e.g., the order) in which they may be displayed via the single patient view user interface.
Referring now to
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The user interface 29 may also include visible indicia denoting permissions 32, generated by the cohort management module 78, enabling a user (e.g., a clinician) to add and/or remove patients from the list 31. By providing the user interface 29 with the list of patients 31 to other care managers the other care managers may have the ability to add and/or remove patients from the list of patients of the cohort that meet criteria for heart failure.
In some example embodiments, the cohort management module 78 may enable configuring of forms for data entry for the list of patients 31 of the cohort. For example, forms to capture medical history of patients and/or for performing an initial assessment. The cohort management module 78 may also enable configuring one or more workflows. In addition, the cohort management module 78 may also enable configuring and defining of alerts or notifications that may be generated based in part on defined events, defined rules or the like. For purposes of illustration and not of limitation, a rule(s) may be predefined (e.g., by a user) and stored in a memory (e.g., memory 86) to send an alert/notification to a device of a primary care provider (PCP) (e.g., a physician) in response to detecting an acute care/emergency admission event associated with one or more patients of a cohort. As such, the cohort management module 78 may send an alert/notification (e.g., email message, SMS message, MMS message, etc.) to a device (e.g., electronic device 105) of a patient's primary care provider in response to detecting an acute care or emergency admission event associated with the patient of the cohort.
Referring now to
At operation 1405, the apparatus (e.g., communication device 145) may identify the plurality of patients (e.g., list of patients 31) of the cohort in response to receiving indications of selections of one or more of the items of the predefined criteria (e.g., quick criteria 10, custom criteria 12, etc.). At operation 1410, the apparatus (e.g., communication device 145) may monitor and manage care of the identified patients of the cohort on an ongoing basis to provide the necessary interventions and track outcomes to improvement. In some other example embodiments, the apparatus (e.g., communication device 145) may monitor and manage care of the identified patients of the cohort to facilitate determining whether one or more of the identified patients have a medical condition (e.g., heart failure, diabetes) or are candidates for a health plan (e.g., a smoking cessation program, a teen prevention program, etc.).
It should be pointed out that
Accordingly, blocks or steps of the flowcharts support combinations of means for performing the specified functions and combinations of steps for performing the specified functions. It will also be understood that one or more blocks or steps of the flowcharts, and combinations of blocks or steps in the flowcharts, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based computer systems which perform the specified functions or steps, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.
In an exemplary embodiment, an apparatus for performing the methods of
Many modifications and other embodiments of the inventions set forth herein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which these inventions pertain having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the inventions are not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Moreover, although the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings describe exemplary embodiments in the context of certain exemplary combinations of elements and/or functions, it should be appreciated that different combinations of elements and/or functions may be provided by alternative embodiments without departing from the scope of the appended claims. In this regard, for example, different combinations of elements and/or functions than those explicitly described above are also contemplated as may be set forth in some of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.
