Patent ID: 7736318
Filing Date: 2010-06-15
Classification: A61B,G01G,G06Q,G16H,Y10S

Abstract:
1. A computer-implemented method of detecting an impending need for rehospitalization of a patient for chronic heart failure in the patient, the method comprising: receiving, by a remote computer via a communication network, data measured by a cardiac rhythm management device implanted in the patient, the remote computer remote from the patient; obtaining, by the remote computer via the communication network, a weight measurement of the patient from a home monitoring apparatus; receiving, by the remote computer via the communication network, answers to a plurality of questions posed to the patient by the home monitoring apparatus, each of the questions representative of a symptom in a plurality of symptoms associated with chronic heart failure, each of the answers assigned a score representing a severity of a symptom in the plurality of symptoms; calculating, by the remote computer, a total of the scores assigned to the answers; detecting, by the remote computer, an impending need for rehospitalization of the patient for chronic heart failure based at least in part upon the weight measurement and based at least in part on whether the total exceeds a threshold; and in response to detecting the impending need for rehospitalization of the patient for chronic heart failure, alerting, by the remote computer, a medical professional caregiver regarding the impending need for rehospitalization of the patient for chronic heart failure.