Patent Application
20140180708
Embodiments are related to information systems. More particularly, embodiments are related to systems and methods for responding to requests for health related information.
Access to health related information is important for healthcare providers as well as their patients. Healthcare providers prescribe medications for medical conditions that have been diagnosed. Therefore, healthcare providers must have an understanding of the risks, benefits, and other information of a particular drug including intended effects, side effects, dosages, interactions with other medications and the like. While information that is provided by the drug manufacturer and other resources is available to the healthcare provider, accessing the information directly may require research and other time consuming efforts. Furthermore, the healthcare provider wants to be sure that any information discovered is as credible and unbiased as possible. This presents a burden to the healthcare provider.
Efforts have been made to provide less burdensome access to health related information for healthcare providers. For instance, pharmacy institutions may provide a health information service. Typically, a healthcare provider makes a phone call to a health information center of the pharmacy institution and presents a question about a particular medication or other healthcare related topic such as disease or condition information. For every phone call by a given healthcare provider, that provider must provide the same identification and contact information in order to present the current question, and this repetition of information eventually becomes an annoyance to the caller. Pharmacy students then research the medication and draft a response which is peer reviewed. The response may then be provided to the healthcare provider via a phone call or an email. While this does relieve some of the burden on the healthcare provider, the healthcare provider must make the effort to find contact information for the health information center and then make the call. Furthermore, the healthcare provider has no way to monitor the process of receiving a response and has no way to receive future information related to the question unless submitting a future request.
Similarly, patients may seek information about medications that the patients have been prescribed or medications that the patients are already taking or are planning to take. Patients may also have access to publicly available health related information but may be unaware of or otherwise unable to find the desired information. As the services of health information centers of pharmacy institutions are only available to healthcare providers, patients must rely on speaking with a healthcare provider or a pharmacist, where both of these professionals are generally not in a position to spend the time necessary to provide detailed information that a patient may be seeking
Embodiments address issues such as these and others by providing systems and methods that provide access to health related information such as drug information. The systems and methods provide requesters such as a healthcare provider or a patient with a user interface to submit a health related inquiry. The submission may specify a delivery characteristic for the expected response, such as a type of delivery and/or a timeframe for delivery. A response to the inquiry is formulated, and the process of formulating the response may depend upon whether the requester is a healthcare provider or a patient. The response may be a customized response, particularly for a healthcare provider, where the customized response is drafted by another individual. Furthermore, the response may be generated as a result of an automated search, particularly for patients. Other features may also be included, such as a progress indicator and account based features such as credential and preference storage and newsfeed subscriptions.
Embodiments provide a method of providing health related information that involves receiving an electronic inquiry for health related information and receiving an entry of an electronic response delivery characteristic. The method further involves formulating a customized electronic response to the electronic inquiry, the customized electronic response providing the health related information. Additionally, the method involves providing the customized electronic response to the electronic inquiry in accordance with the electronic response delivery characteristic.
Embodiments provide a method of providing health related information that involves receiving an electronic inquiry for health related information and determining from the inquiry whether a requester is a healthcare provider or a patient. The method further involves formulating an electronic response to the electronic inquiry with the health information of the electronic response being based on whether the requester is a healthcare provider or a patient. Additionally, the method involves providing the electronic response to the electronic inquiry.
Embodiments provide a computer system that includes a network interface and a processor in communication with the network interface. The processor is configured to receive an electronic inquiry for health related information and receive an entry of an electronic response delivery characteristic, and the processor is further configured to determine from the inquiry whether a requester is a healthcare provider or a patient. The processor is also configured to access an electronic response to the electronic inquiry with the health information of the electronic response being based on whether the requester is a healthcare provider or a patient. Additionally, the processor is configured to provide the electronic response to the electronic inquiry in accordance with the electronic response delivery characteristic
Embodiments provide systems and methods that receive health related inquiries from one or more types of requesters and provide one or more types of formulated responses in accordance with one or more delivery characteristics. In some embodiments, the type of the formulated response may vary depending upon the type of requester. In some embodiments the delivery characteristic(s) may be specified, such as a preference within an account of the requester and/or via the submission of the inquiry.
The following discussion is stated with respect to drug related information. However, it will be appreciated that these systems, methods, and devices are also equally applicable for other health related information including disease and condition information. Therefore, the following discussion should be considered to also include the provisioning of all types of health related information.
The inquiry 104 requests information about a particular drug, and the inquiry 104 is then handled based on various factors. For instance, in this example of the process 102, the response 112 is intended to be customized and provide information suitable for a healthcare provider. Therefore, the inquiry 104 is received by a server computer but is ultimately channeled to a human researcher such as a pharmacy student 105 who may be attending a pharmacy institution that provides a health information center that implements the process 102. The researcher performs a literature search 106. In some implementations, the literature search 106 is based on exclusively on published medical literature from peer reviewed journals and relevant prescribing information from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved package insert for the drug. Other implementations may capture a broader set of information, such as by researching within all available drug publications from authors including the drug manufacturer, government institutions including the FDA and others, private entities other than the drug manufacturer such as physician associations, pharmacy associations, and so forth.
After the literature search 106, the researcher then begins a response formulation process 108. Here, a custom response is drafted that typically includes citations to the various items of literature that were previously discovered. The drafted response is then passed on for a review process 110 where peers review the draft to ensure accuracy and completeness. If necessary, the inquiry may be subjected to additional literature searching 106 and/or response formulation 108, followed by additional review 110. Upon the custom formulated response being approved by the review 110, the finalized response 112 is then accessed by the server and delivered to the requester.
The delivery of the formulated response may also be subject to various factors. For instance, the process 102 may allow for the requester to specify one or more delivery characteristics. Delivery characteristics may include a type of delivery 114, such as an email, a phone call, or other form of electronic communication. Delivery characteristics may also include a time frame for delivery, where options may range from as soon as possible to within 24 hours, to within a week, to any point in the future for inquiries lacking any urgency. Manners of specifying such delivery characteristics are discussed in more detail below with reference to
The process 102 may also provide for ongoing updates regarding the subject matter of the inquiry 104 via newsfeeds 118 and notifications 116. The requester may be given an option, either at the time of receiving the response and/or at the time of establishing an account with the health information center, of subscribing to newsfeeds 118. The newsfeeds 118 may be based on keywords and/or categories found within the response and/or from the inquiry. In this manner, the requester may receive current information relevant to the initial inquiry without subsequent inquiry submissions. For instance, the newsfeeds may include a feed that provides information from resources including the National Library of Medicine DIRLINE, Medline Plus, FDA, and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP).
The inquiry 204 requests information about a particular drug, and the inquiry 204 is then handled based on various factors. For instance, in this example of the process 202, the response 216 is intended to be standardized and provide information suitable for a patient that limits exposure to liability. Therefore, the inquiry 204 is handled directly by a server 205 of the health information center that implements the process 202, which may also be the same server discussed above in relation to
After the search 106 of these resources intended for the general public commences, the server then begins completing the search and formulation process 206 by creating the standardized response. Here, the links, blurbs, paragraphs, or even entire documents are compiled into the response format intended for the patient. The standard formulated response is accessed by the server 205 and then delivered to the requester.
The delivery of the formulated response may also be subject to various factors in this process 202. For instance, as with the process 102 of
As with the process 102 of
The pharmacy students 105 have access to the server 205, to the Internet or other public data network 306, as well as to a database 304 or other storage that maintains the customized, evidence based information that has been compiled for responses to inquiries. The pharmacy students 105 also have access through the public data network 306 and/or through local area networks of the health information center to resources, whether public or private in nature, that provide drug related research information that may be relied upon when formulating the customized responses.
The pharmacy students 105 or other researchers have access to electronic forms of communication such as email, dedicated application program communications, and the like for purposes of research and initiating delivery of the responses to the inquires. The pharmacy students 105 also have telephone access to audibly deliver responses to those requesters who may prefer phone calls.
The server 205 has access to publicly available resources 208-214 via the public data network 306. This allows the server 205 to perform the automated search of the publicly available resources 208-214 to formulate the standardized response that may be delivered to requesters such as patients. Furthermore, the server 205 utilizes the public data network 306 to deliver information to the requester, such as progress indicators, the formulated response to the inquiry, and the newsfeeds that have been requested.
The requesters may communicate with the system 300 in various ways. In this particular example, requesters who are healthcare providers 308 have devices 310 that are connected to the public data network 306 and offer email communications and/or application program communications with the server 205 including web based portals as previously mentioned. Device 310 may include personal computers, tablet computers, smartphones and the like. Furthermore, in some implementations the healthcare providers have access to telephones that may be used to as a readily available form of communication to contact representatives of the drug related information center, such as the pharmacy students 105 who are conducting the research and formulating the responses. Additionally, a telephone service may be provided by the health information center as a form of communication available to the healthcare provider 308 only during service outages that prevent other types of electronic communication
As another example, requesters who are patients 312 have devices 314 that are also connected to the public data network 306 and offer email communications and/or application program communications with the server 205 including web based portals. Device 314 may include personal computers, tablet computers, smartphones and the like. In this example, the patients are not offered the option of contacting the health information center via telephone or receiving responses to inquiries via telephone, so as to insulate the representatives of the health information center from the general public. However, in other examples, telephone access may be provided to patients as a readily available form of communication or as a form of communication available to the patient 312 only during service outages that prevent other types of electronic communication.
Returning to the system 300, the server 205 orchestrates the operation of the system 300, such as by providing the logic and functions to implement the processes 102, 202 of
Initially, the requester accesses an interface of a dedicated application program for interacting with the server 205 or accesses a web based interface provided by the server 205 at an access operation 402. The server 205 then detects at a query operation 404 whether this is the first time this particular requester has accessed the site, such as by the requester either logging in manually or automatically to an existing account or by selecting an option to create an account.
Where account creation is necessary, the user then proceeds to create an account at an account operation 406.
Additionally, where the requester has selected the type as being a healthcare provider, the display 408 may provide an input 506 for receiving a selection of whether the healthcare provider is affiliated with a particular organization, such as being a preceptor for a university that provides the health information center. This information will be used when determining whether to allow access to the references cited in the customized response.
Once the requester submits the account creation information, the server 205 then detects whether the requester indicated the requester type as a healthcare provider at a query operation 410. Where the requester is specified as a patient, no further action is taken at skip operation 414 and then the operational flow proceeds to a home operation 418 where a home screen is displayed for requesters who are logged in. Where the requester is specified as a healthcare provider, then the server 205 then initiates a verification process of the licensure of the healthcare provider. This process may be an automated look-up of the specified license number or may be a manual task that is assigned by the server 205 to a health information center representative. Upon confirming the license, the healthcare provider is then directed to the home operation 418.
Returning to query operation 404, where the requester already has an account and a log in 416 has occurred, the subscriber then is provided a home page either by the dedicated application program or from the web based interface at the home operation 418. Here the subscriber is shown a display 420, an example being screen capture 600 shown in
In this example, the subscriber submits the inquiry including entering the free form text to specify the question, a category, and a turn-around time at a submission operation 424. In this example, the server 205 then determines at query operation 426 whether to provide a display to the requester that is appropriate for a healthcare provider or appropriate for a patient. Where the requester is a healthcare provider, the server 205 then generates a display 428, a screen capture 700 of
Where the requester is a patient, the server 205 then generates a display 430, a screen capture 800 of
Concurrently with providing the displays 428, 430, the server 205 also orchestrates the remainder of the response process. The server 205 delivers the inquiries to a pharmacy student 105 or other researcher via an email or through a dedicated application program at an inquiry operation 432. The selection of the student for delivery may occur in various ways, such as by random assignment, by round-robin assignment, by workload balancing, or to a dedicated gatekeeper person who then subsequently assigns the inquiry. In this example, the server 205 delivers all inquiries regardless of the requester type to the pharmacy student. This allows the pharmacy student or other gatekeeper to keep track of all inquiries and monitor their progress including those where the research and response are automated. In other examples, the inquiries from a patient may proceed directly to the automated activities while the inquiries from a healthcare provider proceed to a student or gatekeeper.
Again, the server 205 bases the operational flow on whether the requester is a patient or a healthcare provider at a query operation 434. For patients, the server 205 then performs the automated searching of the publicly available information and standardized response formulation at a response operation 436. The server 205 builds the response page as information is being discovered during the search. The automated searching occurs by extracting keywords from the inquiry and performing a look-up of those keywords. Filtering of the search findings may then be performed based on the category that has been specified in the response. In building the response page, in some embodiments the server 205 may proceed to deliver an option to the patient requester via the app or website to offer the patient the option to call the drug information center pursuant to the contact operation 437. This added level of interaction may be offered for a separate fee.
Concurrently with building the response display as shown in
Returning to the query 434, for healthcare providers the server 205 has already distributed the inquiry to an appropriate pharmacy student or other researcher. Therefore, that student or other researcher begins the literature search, the response formulation, and peer review circulation at operation 438. The server 205 monitors the progress by having the student input information to identify the stage of the process, and the server 205 utilizes that input information to then generate the progress indication 702 of
Upon finalization of the response formulation, the server 205 then performs concurrent operations to deliver the response. For the healthcare provider, the account information specifies whether there is an affiliation with an organization that allows copies of resources cited within the response to be provided. The health information personnel have verified that status where such verification is appropriate. For instance, the healthcare provider may be a preceptor for the university that provides the health information center. The server 205 detects from the account information whether the healthcare provider has the appropriate affiliation at a query operation 440. Where the affiliation exists, the server 205 then appends the resources that have been cited at a reference operation 442, or omits the references at a reference operation 444. One manner of doing so involves the researcher flagging the resources or saving copies of the resources to the response database in association with the response. The server 205 may then find and append the resources to the response document that has been generated prior to delivery of the response, or may deliver the cited documents as a separate delivery.
Concurrently, the server 205 detects from the account information whether the default contact option is for email, phone, or other form of electronic delivery such as via a dedicated application program at a query operation 446. Where the delivery option is specified as a phone, the pharmacy student then makes the phone call to report the response. At a response operation 450, the server 205 may prompt the pharmacy student to provide the response via phone upon the pharmacy student indicating the status of the response as being finalized. The server 205 may also send a survey as described above via a text or other electronic communication at this point.
Where the delivery option is specified as email or other electronic delivery such as via the dedicated application program or web portal, the server 205 disseminates the response document accordingly at a response operation 448. The server 205 may also send a survey as described above via a text or other electronic communication at this point. An example of the finalized response document showing the customized response content 900 is shown in
In conjunction with delivering the response, the server 205 may also generate an electronic message, such as an email, a text message, or dedicated application based communication to offer the requester a newsfeed related to the response to the inquiry at a newsfeed operation 452. The server 205 may extract keywords from the response, for instance, by finding keywords flagged or otherwise specified by the student or other researcher who drafted the response. The electronic message may provide for the requester responding to the offer with a return electronic message that is received by the server 205. The server 205 detects whether the offer has been accepted at a query operation 454. If no response or a negative response has occurred, then the server 205 takes no further action within respect to the inquiry at a skip operation 456. Where the server 205 does receive an acceptance of the offer, then server 205 then begins pushing electronic notifications of the newsfeed to the requester at a notification operation 458.
In addition to the system 300 of
The system 300 of the health information center may utilize various business models to produce revenue if desired. For example, advertisement space on home screens such as the example 600 in
Various embodiments may also provide social networking features to further connect requesters of drug related information. Users may post messages to various forums that are maintained by the server 205. Users may be provided the option to post messages, and techniques such as hashtagging may be employed to allow posters to develop threads of related posts. Furthermore, users can use conventions such as @<name> to flag another user within a post in order to direct that post to the other use. As shown in the screen capture 1300 of
While the specification has been described in detail with respect to specific embodiments thereof, it will be appreciated that those skilled in the art, upon attaining an understanding of the foregoing, may readily conceive of alterations to, variations of, and equivalents to these embodiments. Accordingly, the scope of the present invention should be assessed as that of the appended claims and any equivalents thereto.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61745714 | Dec 2012 | US |
