IP Verse

Network-Based Systems And Methods For Providing Readmission Notifications

Patent No. US11114194 (titled "Network-Based Systems And Methods For Providing Readmission Notifications") was filed by Collective Medical Technologies Inc on Oct 1, 2015.

What is this patent about?

’194 is related to the field of healthcare information exchange , specifically systems and methods for providing targeted notifications to healthcare providers. The background acknowledges the existence of Health Information Exchanges (HIEs) that aggregate patient medical records from various sources. However, these existing systems often suffer from incomplete or erroneous data, leading to inaccurate or irrelevant notifications, and can overwhelm providers with excessive information.

The underlying idea behind ’194 is to selectively notify healthcare providers when a patient is readmitted within a specific timeframe. This is achieved by electronically receiving healthcare information from various sources, parsing it for HL7 Admit-Discharge-Transfer (ADT) messages , comparing these messages to identify readmissions, and generating a real-time notification to the readmitting provider only when a readmission is detected within a defined threshold.

The claims of ’194 focus on a method comprising electronically receiving healthcare information from distinct sources, parsing the information for HL7 ADT messages, storing patient-identifying information in a standardized format, determining a readmission time by comparing ADT messages, and generating a readmission notification in real-time. The notification is transmitted to the first healthcare provider if the readmission time is within a stored readmission time threshold and the patient-identifying information indicates the messages identify the same patient. The claims also cover a notification system networked among independent data feeds, with interfaces to read healthcare information in different protocols and a computer processor configured to perform the readmission detection and notification.

In practice, the system receives a stream of healthcare data, including ADT messages, from various hospitals and clinics. The system then parses these messages to extract patient information and admission/discharge dates. When a new admission message is received, the system compares it against previously stored discharge messages for the same patient. If a discharge record exists within the defined timeframe, a readmission notification is generated and sent to the admitting provider. This allows the provider to be immediately aware of the patient's recent medical history and potential readmission risks.

’194 differentiates itself from prior approaches by selectively filtering and delivering only clinically relevant alerts, specifically focusing on readmissions within a critical timeframe. Unlike conventional HIEs that may flood providers with unfiltered data, this invention aims to provide timely and actionable information, preventing information overload and improving care management. The system also leverages the synergy between different healthcare information sources to enhance message accuracy and completeness, addressing the limitations of existing systems that rely solely on provider-submitted data.

How does this patent fit in bigger picture?

Technical landscape at the time

In the mid-2010s when '194 was filed, healthcare systems commonly relied on HL7 ADT messages for exchanging patient information between disparate systems. At a time when healthcare providers were increasingly adopting electronic health records (EHRs), the ability to efficiently process and analyze these messages to improve patient care and outcomes was a significant technical challenge. The need for interoperability and real-time data analysis was growing, but hardware and software constraints made it non-trivial to process large volumes of HL7 ADT messages and provide timely notifications to healthcare providers.

Novelty and Inventive Step

The examiner allowed the claims because the prior art, including Chen and McNair, did not disclose comparing a first HL7 ADT message indicating a patient's discharge against a second HL7 ADT message indicating a later admission to determine a readmission time. Furthermore, the prior art did not teach instructing a computer of one of the healthcare providers to display a readmission notification in real-time, providing immediate access to up-to-date patient information, and identifying the readmission based on the comparison, where the instruction is executed only if the readmission time is within a threshold stored in memory. The examiner also stated that the closest foreign reference, Amarasingham, discusses using clinical data from the patient's record to analyze patient data, including readmissions, but does not disclose or render obvious the claimed invention. The examiner also stated that the closes non-patent literature reference, Alexander, Alex et al., Department of Health & Human Services, Improving Hospital Transitions and Care Coordination Using Automated Admission, Discharge and Transfer Alert, discusses using ADT alerts to coordinate patient care, but does not disclose the claimed invention (comparing HL7 ADT messages to generate an alert).

Claims

This patent contains 20 claims, with independent claims numbered 1, 10, and 16. The independent claims are generally directed to methods and a system for processing healthcare information from multiple sources to identify and notify healthcare providers of patient readmissions. The dependent claims generally elaborate on and refine the specifics of the methods and system described in the independent claims.

Key Claim Terms New

Definitions of key terms used in the patent claims.

Term (Source)Support for SpecificationInterpretation
HL7 Admit-Discharge-Transfer (ADT) messages
(Claim 1, Claim 10, Claim 16)		“Example methods and embodiments work with a variety of different types of healthcare information, being configured to receive and process HL7 messages, CCDA information, clinical feeds, and several types of electronic provider output when treating patients. Of course, other information types can be transferred over interface 135, such as clinical feed information and/or all HL7 messages from providers 50, which may be thousands or more of HL7 messages per day including ADT-type messages.”Healthcare information messages in HL7 format that contain patient admission, discharge, and transfer information.
Readmission notification
(Claim 1, Claim 10, Claim 16)		“Only when a readmission is identified, potentially among millions of pieces of healthcare information across several different providers and patients, the computer processor causes a readmission notification to be generated for the readmitting provider. The readmission notification can include any information about the patient and readmission—including patient identification, prior admissions and admitting provider(s), treated conditions, etc.—and may be provided on a schedule or in real time with the readmission.”A notification generated and transmitted to a healthcare provider when a patient is readmitted within a certain timeframe, providing immediate access to up-to-date patient information.
Readmission time
(Claim 1, Claim 10, Claim 16)		“Example systems and methods are configured to receive healthcare information generated by healthcare information technology in response to patients presenting for treatment. Using this healthcare information electronically received, a computer processor can quickly determine when a piece of healthcare information indicates that a patient is being readmitted for treatment.”The difference in time between a first HL7 ADT message indicating admission/discharge of a patient and a second HL7 ADT message for the same patient.
Readmission time threshold
(Claim 1, Claim 10, Claim 16)		“Readmission alerts can be customized based on the type of readmitting facility, parameters or limitations—such as timing or format—requested by the healthcare provider, default rulesets, timeframes between readmission and prior treatment, etc.”A pre-defined time limit. If the readmission time is within this threshold, a readmission notification is generated.
Standardized format
(Claim 1, Claim 10, Claim 16)		“Cluster 110, via logic core 113, an intake module of direct provider interface 132, and/or another interface can recognize and be able to process information in specific data formats and information relationships sent directly from providers 50, including CCDA summary of care documents and ADT messages, for example.”A uniform data structure for storing patient-identifying information extracted from HL7 ADT messages.

Patent Family

Patent Family

File Wrapper

The dossier documents provide a comprehensive record of the patent's prosecution history - including filings, correspondence, and decisions made by patent offices - and are crucial for understanding the patent's legal journey and any challenges it may have faced during examination.

  • Date

    Description

  • Get instant alerts for new documents

US11114194

COLLECTIVE MEDICAL TECHNOLOGIES INC
Application Number
US14872445
Filing Date
Oct 1, 2015
Status
Granted
Expiry Date
Oct 19, 2037
External Links
Slate, USPTO, Google Patents