Patent Application
20170270253
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system, method and device for providing a healthcare referral and, more particularly, for providing an identification of an appropriate healthcare service provider based on information provided by a user via an application executed on a portable device.
Description of the Related Art
Traditionally, a patient in need of a specific treatment was referred to a specialist healthcare provider by a general practitioner. More recently, patients have used the Internet to look for doctors or specialists close to them or in neighboring localities. Further to the Internet, healthcare software applications, or “APPs”, downloadable to, and executable by, a mobile device are known. At least one such healthcare application is described in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0101847 to Johnson et al. More particularly, Johnson et al., discloses a mobile medical information system in which web-based patient portals are accessed and medical history records of a patient are downloaded therefrom, based upon a user profile including personal information that uniquely identifies the patient. According to paragraph [0155] of Johnson et al., an IPHONE® or smartphone device is provided with application programming according to the invention of Johnson et al. Additionally, according to paragraphs [0160]-[0162] of Johnson et al., a disease, symptom or ailment selector is provided that can be used to find doctors and pharmacies within a particular zip code based on the selection of a particular disease (i.e., “sinusitis”) or symptom. See also, for example, paragraph [0183] and FIGS. 2, 5A and 19 of Johnson et al. However, the Johnson et al., system does not provide further deciding factors to the user from which the patient can choose the most appropriate healthcare service provider to meet that particular patient's needs.
In particular, patients need to identify the right healthcare service provider in a field where healthcare service providers are becoming increasingly competitive with diverse offerings and specialties. Often patients must find the most appropriate service provider on very short notice, especially for acutely ill patients. In the event of an emergency or an outbreak of epidemic, delays in medical treatment can result in irreversible health damage (e.g., in the case of stroke, acute cardiac failure, etc.). The increasingly mobile population and urbanization bring forth the need for a system that can guide a patient to a quick and cost effective treatment process.
Additionally, in large population countries, as well as in large cities like Shanghai, Delhi, Istanbul, Los Angeles, New York, etc., it could take a lot of time for a patient to reach a hospital. Also, the payment system in various hospitals could be different due to different contracts with insurance companies, which can further delay a patient's admission process. Some hospitals ask for a cash deposit from a patient before starting treatment. In case of the breakout of an epidemic, such as E. coli, SARS, Dengue fever, etc., this is problematic. The trend for the consolidation of healthcare service providers into hospital chains is leading to the use of healthcare portals. However, these portals are limited to use with only particularly associated healthcare providers.
There is a need in the art for a system and method accessible using a mobile device to determine a healthcare service provider most appropriate to the needs of a particular patient. More particularly, there is a need for a system and method that identifies health care service providers appropriate for meeting the needs of a patient and provides the user with information in addition to location and symptoms (i.e., forms of payment, cost of treatment, etc.), so that the user can determine the most appropriate provider to meet the needs of the patient.
The present invention is particularly suited to overcome those problems which remain in the art in a manner not previously known or contemplated. It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a system and method that identifies an appropriate healthcare service provider for treating a particular medical concern of a patient , which, in addition to identifying a provider based on location and medical concern, provides the user with information about the availability of the treatment provider and an approximate cost, so as to permit the user to select the most appropriate provider for that patient. In one particular embodiment of the invention, identification of appropriate healthcare service providers, their availabilities (estimated availability and/or actual availability) and approximate costs for services, is performed by a cloud server remote from the mobile device. In a further embodiment, a prediction engine or prediction algorithm is executed by the cloud server to generate output results identifying appropriate healthcare service providers using data from the mobile device and a plurality of predictive models stored in a database accessed by the cloud server.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in a system, method and device for identifying an appropriate healthcare service provider and providing a healthcare referral, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.
The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.
The foregoing background, as well as the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, is better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in the drawings an exemplary embodiment that is presently preferred, it being understood however, that the invention is not limited to the specific methods and instrumentality's disclosed. Additionally, like reference numerals represent like items throughout the drawings. In the drawings:
Before explaining the disclosed embodiment of the present invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application only to the details of the particular arrangement shown since the invention is capable of other embodiments. Also, the terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. For terms of the present application, an app or “APP” is defined as a self-contained application, program or piece of software that is designed to fulfill a particular purpose. In the preferred embodiments, such an APP is a mobile software application downloadable by a user to a mobile device, for execution thereon by a processor of the mobile device. A mobile device, as described herein is a portable, mobile computing device or client device, such as a smart phone, PDA or tablet, that includes a non-transitory memory for storing an APP and a processor for executing the stored APP on the mobile device, as well as a display and user interface for facilitating user interaction with the APP.
Referring now to
More particularly, in one particular embodiment of the invention, a software application (“APP”) is made available, which is downloaded to the mobile device 110 by a user 120 and stored in non-transitory memory MEM. For example, the mobile device 110 can be a smartphone and the APP can be made available from the APPLE® or Android® store for downloading on a particular mobile device 110, or can be downloaded as a file provided directly by the APP creator or affiliate. The referral APP of the present invention is executable by a processor CPU of the mobile device 110 to identify an appropriate healthcare service provider (“HSP”) offering a treatment appropriate for the patient, based on, in one particular embodiment, patient symptoms 112, known vital parameters 114 and/or certain additional patient parameters 116. However, this is not meant to be limiting, as more, fewer and/or different criteria can be used to determine the most appropriate HSP and/or treatment for a patient without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.
In the present particular embodiment, the user 120 interacts with the APP via a user interface UI of the mobile device 110. More particularly, in the present embodiment, the user 120 interacts with a touch-screen 110a of the mobile device 110, in order to make selections from drop-down menus generated and provided by the APP. For example, selecting the drop down menu Patient Symptoms 112, with a finger of the user 120 will provide a drop down menu 112a from which the user can select one or more the symptoms exhibited by the patient. For example, referring in particular to
Similarly, selecting the drop down menu Known Vital Parameters 114, with the finger of the user 120 will provide a drop down menu 114a from which the user can enter into blanks particularly known information about the patient's vital parameters, such as, but not limited to, the patient's complete blood count (CBC), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), prothrombin time (PT) and international normalized ratio (INR) values, etc. The APP can additionally receive data from one or more available device 111 interfaced with the mobile device 110 through a wired or wireless connection. For example, for purposes of performing an assessment, an available interfaced device 111 can be one that provides the App with one or more of: blood pressure, hemoglobin saturation, blood sugar level, pulse, temperature and/or other vital parameters. Medical devices that interface with mobile devices are known. See, for example, U. S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2010/0279418, 2014/0231252, 2012/0156933 and 2014/0350367, among others, those applications being incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. Further, data can be provided by other devices that interface with the mobile device 110, such as a fitness tracker that monitors heart rate. One such device is the FITBIT® CHARGE HR made by Fitbit, Inc. Similarly, a device 111, or even a camera of the mobile device 110, can be used to capture a photograph of the emergency scene or a picture of an anatomical region of interest, which can be provided to the App and used in performing an assessment of the patient. Further, user interface UI can be linked to electronic records of a patient, either on the device or through a link to a remote database, which can be provided to the App and/or the cloud, for purposes of performing an assessment of the patient.
A further drop-down menu 116a can be provided, if desired, for entry of additional patient parameters such as, but not limited to, patient age, birthdate, gender, blood pressure (BP), etc. Also, some or all of the additional patient parameter information can be stored in the system 100 by the user during the initial setup of the APP.
In addition to the information entered by the user 120, the APP is configured to retrieve location information from the GPS receiver circuitry GPS of the mobile device 120, which determines location data based, at least in part, on signals from the GPS satellite network 102. This is not meant to be limiting, however. if desired, location information of the mobile device 110 can be obtained using a different system and/or method, such as cell tower triangulation, Globalstar network, or the like.
In the present embodiment, back end processing of the information provided by the user 120 to the APP, via the interactive user interface of the mobile device 110, is performed remotely by a cloud server 140 of a Referral APP Service Provider Cloud or “cloud” 130. Such a cloud server and APP could be implemented with, or like, for example, the Google® Cloud Platform and Prediction API available from Google, Inc., described, in part, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,229,864, 8,364,613, 8,706,659, 8,909,564 and 9,020,861 and U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2015/0170048 and 2015/0186800 (collectively, the “Google Patents and Applications”), those patents and applications incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. The system can be trained for a vast number of possible medical concerns of a patient by preparation of predictive models addressing the possible medical concerns. This training can be performed by the Referral APP Service Provider or another entity.
In the present invention, communication circuitry of the mobile device 110 (i.e., rf transceiver COM) is used to transmit data to, and receive data from, the cloud 130, wherein it is processed by a cloud server 140. The cloud server 140 is configured to access cloud databases 145, and convert data provided by the mobile device 110 (including data entered into the user interface UI, as well as, data received from the I/O and/or GPS circuitry of the mobile device 110) to a referral for an appropriate HSP or HSPs for the particular patient. In particular, a prediction algorithm database 145a is provided having pre-trained predictive models addressing possible data entered by a user 120 into the user interface UI. Each input of the user 120 is processed by a respective predictive model and the outputs of the predictive models are used to provide appropriate HSP information from the cloud 130 to the mobile device 110 for display on the user interface UI of the mobile device 110.
More particularly, the outputs of the predictive models and training data in the prediction algorithm database 145a are used to obtain information as to particular HSPs registered in the specialist and institution database 145b. In one particular embodiment, the specialists and their institutions register with the referral APP service provider and, if desired, have a service level agreement or contract with the APP service provider. Information about the specialists and their institutions are then stored in the institution database 145b. In one particular example, the data record for the HSP stored in the database 145b includes information including, but not limited to, the areas of specialty of the HSP, the name of the HSP, typical or actual availability, location, fees, method of payment, insurances accepted, etc. The algorithm database 145a is used to correlate the information from the mobile device (e.g., user inputs/urgency/location and symptoms of the patient) to produce a result set from the HSP database based on, in one example, a predicted treatement, a cost of the predicted treatment, user interfaces for various users, patient classification (e.g., emergency patient, etc.), etc.
The database(s) 145 of the system 100 can be maintained centrally or can be decentralized, depending upon the service agreements between the service provider and the APP provider. More particularly, the system of the present invention uses a prediction engine or algorithm to process the patient information (i.e., symptoms, known vital parameters, additional patient parameters, location data) and determine an appropriate HSP for the patient. In one particular embodiment, the prediction algorithm is executed by the cloud server 140, and the prediction algorithm database 145a is part of the prediction algorithm engine. Alternately, if desired, the cloud server 140 can provide data from the databases 145 to a prediction algorithm (or prediction API, as described in, for example, the Google Patents and Applications incorporated herein) being executed as part of the APP. The prediction algorithm uses the data from the mobile device 110 to perform a patient risk assessment and, additionally, performs automated recognition for patterns indicative of certain diseases, such as cardiac arrest, strokes, etc.
The results can include, but are not limited to, a treatment plan, treatment costs, HSP availability and treatment period, optimized by the algorithm for each patient. Subsequently, the results produced by the prediction algorithm are formatted for output on the user interface UI of the mobile device 110. More particularly, based on these results, the user interface UI can present information to the user 120 about, for example, various available locations along with the medical facilities/specialties and time required to reach each location; the cost of the procedures, as well as the methods of payment accepted; treatment plans; and the opportunity to book an appointment from the APP using the user interface UI.
Referring now to
As illustrated in
The further display element 166 offers a plurality of selectable choices to the user 120. Among the choices offered to the user include a predicted cost of treatment for the concern entered into the field 150 and, in the illustrated example, the expected availability of an HSP professional to address the concern. This information is pulled from the institution database 145b and provided to the APP for display by the user interface UI. Additionally, the APP can be configured to inform the HSP of the upcoming arrival of a patient for treatment related to the medical concern or to book a bed in a facility for treatment of the medical concern. Additionally, in the present particular embodiment, the HSP result 162 can include rating and/or comment information entered by users to the database 145b, which can be displayed with, and accessed through, the HSP result 162. In the embodiment illustrated, testimonials about the HSP that are left by patients or visitors with the HSP can be accessed by selecting a “Testimonials” link on the further display element 166.
As illustrated in
In one particular embodiment of the invention, the user is additionally given the option to connect to the HSP directly, by telephone, from the mobile device 110. Soft buttons 174, 176 generated by the APP permit the user to accept or decline an offered expected appointment date and time and effectively provides an acknowledgement of the user to the approximate cost of treatment 172 by the service provider. Upon acceptance of an offered appointment date or hospital stay, the Referral APP Service Provider will schedule the appointment or stay with the HSP.
After scheduling an appointment and/or stay with the HSP, the APP can generate a confirmation message 178 for display on the device 110. Additionally, the APP can be used to calculate and display an optimum route 180 from the user's current location to the selected HSP, and to guide the user 120 to the destination using the onboard GPS capability of the mobile device 110.
The system 100 of the present invention can be used by other individuals than the patient. If desired, an APP according to one embodiment of the present invention can be used directly by referring physicians to schedule a patient for various in-vivo and/or in-vitro tests. For example, the information about the kind of examination can be used to refer a stroke patient directly for magnetic resonance imaging, T1, T2, TOF, diffusion, perfusion sequence testing. This would save time, not only for the medical treatment authorization (MTA), but also for the radiologist, as the purpose of the examination is clearly defined by the referring physician.
Further, if desired, the APP can include an input that can be used patients can rate the services of a particular healthcare provider, and feedback can be given to improve services. Additionally, the system could be used by HSPs to offer their services to patients (e.g., Cardiac and mammo-screening) via advertisements that are generated and output on the user interface UI by the App and/or the cloud server 140. Further, the HSPs could offer various incentives for using their services to potential patients through the APP.
While the invention has been described, disclosed, illustrated and shown in various terms of certain embodiments or modifications, which it has presumed in practice, the scope of the invention is not intended to be, nor should it be deemed to be, limited thereby and such other modifications or embodiments as may be suggested by the teachings herein are particularly reserved, especially as they fall within the breadth and scope of the claims here appended. Accordingly, while a preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown and described herein, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise than as herein specifically illustrated or described, and that within the embodiments certain changes in the detail and construction, as well as the arrangement of the parts, may be made without departing from the principles of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.
