Patent Publication Number: US-2012046969-A1

Title: Converting Medical Data to a Data Format for Exportation from a Brokerage System

Description:
CLAIM OF PRIORITY 
     This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to provisional U.S. Patent Application 61/374,759, filed on Aug. 18, 2010, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     SUMMARY 
     In one aspect of the present disclosure, a computer-implemented method includes retrieving, by a computer included in a brokerage system for determining real-time availability of medical service providers for consultations with consumers of medical services, medical data records of a consumer requesting a consultation with one of the medical service providers, with the medical data records retrieved from an source external to the brokerage system and formatted in accordance with a first data format; converting by the computer the medical data records retrieved from the source external to the brokerage system from the first data format to a second, different data format for medical data records used in the brokerage system; and exporting, by the computer system, the medical data to a medical data system used by the one medical service provider. 
     These and other embodiments can each optionally include one or more of the following features. In some embodiments, the method includes converting the medical data records from the format used by the brokerage system to a third, different format used by the medical data system; and wherein exporting includes: exporting, by the computer system, the medical data converted to the third format to the medical data system. In other embodiments, the method includes receiving the second data format for the medical data system. 
     In still other embodiments, the method includes tagging the second data format with data identifying the medical data system. In some embodiments, the medical data system is an electronic medical record system that is external to the brokerage system. In other embodiments, the method includes receiving data specifying one or more times for exportation of the medical data from the brokerage system to the medical data system. In still other embodiments, the method includes detecting that a current time matches at least one of one or more times for exportation of the medical data. 
     Other embodiments of these aspects include corresponding systems, apparatus, and computer programs, configured to perform the actions of the methods, e.g., encoded on computer storage devices. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
         FIG. 1  is a diagrammatic view of an engagement brokerage service. 
         FIG. 2  depicts a process for generating data formatting instructions for a provider practice. 
         FIG. 3  depicts a process for exporting medical data to a provider practice. 
         FIG. 4  depicts a graphical user interface that when rendered on a display device enables selection of medical data for exportation. 
         FIG. 5  is a block diagram of a computer (computer system) showing exemplary components that is used for the brokerage system and/or client devices. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIG. 1  shows an example system  100  implementing a brokerage service. The system  100  includes a server  110  for making connections between consumers  120 , at client devices  122 , including mobile devices and PDAs, and service providers  130 , at client devices  132 , over a network  140 , e.g., the Internet or other types of networks. The server  110  operates a service running on a web server  102 . 
     The server  110  includes an availability module  112  for tracking the availability of the service providers  130 . Availability information is tracked actively or passively. In an active system, one or more of the service providers  130  provides an indication to the server  110  that the one or more service providers are available to be contacted by consumers  120  and an indication of the mode by which the provider may be contacted. In some examples of an active system, the provider&#39;s mobile device periodically provides an indication of the provider&#39;s availability (e.g., available, online, idle, busy) to the server  110  and a mode (e.g., text, voice, video, etc.) by which he is engaged. In a passive system, the server  110  presumes that the service provider  130  is available by the service provider&#39;s actions, including connecting to the server  110  or registering the provider&#39;s local phone number of the provider&#39;s mobile device with the system. In some examples of a passive system, the server  110  indicates the provider  130  to be available at all times until the provider logs off, except when the provider is actively engaged with a consumer  120 . 
     The server  110  also includes one or more processes such as the tracking module  112  and a scheduling module  116 . The server  110  accesses one or more databases  118 . The components of the server  110  and the web server  102  may be integrated or distributed in various combinations. 
     Using the system  100 , a consumer  120  communicates with a provider  130 . The consumers  120  and providers  130  connect to the server  110  through a graphical user interface displayed on a mobile device and served by the web server  102  using client devices  122  and  132 , respectively. Client devices  122  and  132  include any combination of mobile devices, PDAs, cellular phones, computer systems, and so forth. The client devices  122  and  132  enable the consumers  120  to input and receive information as well as to communicate via video, audio, and/or text with the providers  130 . 
     Client device  132  is associated with a provider practice, including, e.g., a medical office of a physician. Client device  132  implements an electronic medical record (“EMR”) service  121  for storing, processing, analyzing and inputting medical data. EMR service  121  stores the medical data in client device  132  in accordance with a data format, e.g., an EMR format. Client device  132  is used by the provider practice as a medical data system for the storage and/or for the viewing and/or for the retrieval of medical information. 
     Server  110  also stores in database  118  medical data, e.g., data specifying a transcription of a consultation between a consumer and a physician, data specifying physician&#39;s notes following an engagement with a consumer, data specifying a consumer&#39;s diagnosed medical conditions, and so forth. 
     Server  110  stores the medical data in database  118  accordance with another format, including, e.g., a brokerage system format. The brokerage system format differs from the EMR format. The brokerage system format and the EMR format each include various types of formats, including, e.g., a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) format, a portable document format (PDF), a continuity of care record (CCR) format, a continuity of care document (CCD) format, and a text format. 
     Service provider  130  engages in consultations with consumers  120  through server  110  and also through provider practice associated with client device  132 . When service provider  130  engages in consultations through server  110 , medical data pertaining to the consultation is stored in database  118  in accordance with the brokerage system format. When service provider  130  engages in consultations through the provider practice, medical data pertaining to the consultation is stored in client device  132  in accordance with the EMR format. 
     Server  110  includes conversion module  117  to convert medical data stored in database  118  to various formats. Conversion module  117  converts the medical data stored in database  118  from the brokerage system format to the EMR format, e.g., using techniques that are commonly known in the art. Conversion module  117  sends the medical data in accordance with the EMR format to client device  132 , e.g., to promote continuity of medical care among provider practices and server  110 . 
     System  100  also includes medical data system  119 , e.g., which is a source of medical data (including medical data records) for server  110 . Server  110  retrieves medical data records and/or medical data from medical data system  119 . Medical data records include a type of medical data that has been formatted to be presented to a user as a record. Medical data system  119  formats the medical data records in accordance with a data format, including, e.g., a medical data system format. Following retrieval of the medical data records, server  110  executes conversion module  117  to convert the medical data records from the medical data system format to the brokerage system format. When client device  132  sends to server  110  a request for exportation of the medical data records to client device  132 , conversion module  117  converts the medical data records from the brokerage system format to the EMR format. The EMR format may be the same format as the brokerage system format, in which example, conversion module  117  does not perform an additional conversion prior to exporting the medical data records to client device  132 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , server  110  implements process  150  for generating data formatting instructions for a provider practice. In operation, server  110  receives ( 152 ) a request to generate data formatting instructions. In response, server  110  identifies a provider practice associated with the request. Server  110  identifies the provider practice that sent the request using various techniques, including, e.g., parsing contents of the request for a provider practice identifier, determining data uniquely identifying client device  132  that sent the request, prompting the sender of the request for data identifying the provider practice, and so forth. 
     Server  110  also receives ( 156 ) data specifying a data format used by the provider practice, e.g., a data format using by EMR service  121  running on client device  132 . Brokerage system tags ( 158 ) the data format with the data identifying the provider practice. Generally, tagging includes generating a relationship between two items of data. Server  110  also saves ( 160 ) the tagged data format in database  118 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , server  110  implements process  164  to convert medical data from one format to another format for exportation from server  110 . In operation, server  110  retrieves ( 165 ) medical data from medical data system  119 , e.g., in accordance with identities of consumers presently engaged in a consultation with service providers, at scheduled times, and so forth. Conversion module  117  converts ( 166 ) the retrieved medical data from the medical data system format to the brokerage system format, e.g., a CCR. A service provider uses the medical data in the brokerage system format during consultations with consumers. 
     Server  110  receives ( 167 ) a request (not shown) to export medical data from server  110  to client device  132 . The request to export medical data is sent from client device  132 . Using data formatting instructions, server  110  identifies ( 168 ) the data format associated with the provider practice that sent the request to export medical data. Server  110  identifies a data format for a provider practice using a mapping of provider practices to data formatting instructions. Using the mapping and the data identifying the provider practice that sent the request, server  110  identifies data formatting instructions for the provider practice. 
     Using techniques commonly known in the art, conversion module  117  converts ( 172 ) the medical data from the brokerage system format to a format used by EMR service  121  (e.g., the EMR format). Conversion module  117  exports ( 174 ) the medical data formatted in accordance with the EMR format to client device  132 . 
     In an example, the brokerage system format includes a CCR. Conversion module  117  generates the CCR to promote a conversion of the medical data from the brokerage system format to the EMR format with increased accuracy, e.g., relative to an accuracy provided by directly converting the medical data from the brokerage system format to the EMR format. CCR is a format that is widely used in the medical industry, and the industry has developed many conversion modules for converting medical data from one format into a CCR and/or for converting a CCR into another format. 
     Conversion module  117  exports medical data at various times, including, e.g., following receipt of a request, at scheduled times and/or time intervals, in real-time as server  110  collects medical data, and so forth. In an example, service provider  130  specifies that medical data pertaining to consultations among service provider  130  and consumers  120  is exported to client device  132  in real-time, e.g., as service provider  130  engages in a consultation with consumers  120 . 
     In another example, service provider  130  specifies that the medical data pertaining the consultations among service provider  130  and consumers  120  is exported to client device  132  in accordance with scheduled times, including, e.g., daily, once a week, once a month, and so forth. 
     Referring to  FIG. 4 , server  110  generates graphical user interface  180  to promote continuity of medical care among server  110  and other, external systems (e.g., client device  132 ). Graphical user interface  180  includes portion  182  for selecting a data format for the medical data to be exported to client device  132 . 
     Graphical user interface  180  also includes portion  184  for selection of the medical data to be exported to client device  132 . Through portion  184 , a user selects various types of medical data for exportation, including, e.g., medical data associated with a time period, medical data associated with various patients, medical data that has not been exported, and so forth. Portion  184  of graphical user interface  180  also provides a user with an option of selecting a portion of a medical data record for exportation and/or for selecting an entire medical data record for exportation. Following selection of the medical data for exportation and the data format, conversion module  117  converts the medical data from the brokerage system format to the selected format. 
       FIG. 5  is a block diagram of components  210  of the engagement brokerage system. Client devices  218  is any sort of computing device capable of taking input from a user and communicating over a network (not shown) with server  110  and/or with other client devices. For example, client device  218  is a mobile device, a desktop computer, a laptop, a cell phone, a personal digital assistant (“PDA”), a server, an embedded computing system, a mobile device and so forth. Client devices  218  include monitor  220 , which renders visual representations of interface  216 . 
     Server  110  is any of a variety of computing devices capable of receiving information, such as a computer system, a desktop computer, a laptop, a cell phone, a rack-mounted server, and so forth. Server  110  may be a single server or a group of servers that are at a same location or at different locations, 
     In an example, server  110  is a brokerage system for determining real-time availability of service providers for consultations with consumers. In this example, a part of server  110  includes a computer system for implementing processes  150  ( FIG. 2 ),  164  ( FIG. 3 ). 
     Server  110  can receive information from client device  218  via interfaces  216 , including, e.g., graphical user interfaces. Interfaces  216  is any type of interface capable of receiving information over a network, such as an Ethernet interface, a wireless networking interface, a fiber-optic networking interface, a modem, and so forth. Server  110  also includes a processor  212  and memory  214 . A bus system (not shown), including, for example, a data bus and a motherboard, is used to establish and to control data communication between the components of server  110 . 
     Processor  212  may include one or more microprocessors. Generally, processor  212  may include any appropriate processor and/or logic that is capable of receiving and storing data, and of communicating over a network (not shown). Memory  214  can include a hard drive and a random access memory storage device, such as a dynamic random access memory, machine-readable media, or other types of non-transitory machine-readable storage devices. 
     Components  210  also include storage device  222 , which is configured to store information collected through the brokerage system during a service provider&#39;s consultation with a consumer. In another example, storage device  222  is also configured to receive information from a physician&#39;s physical office and to integrate the information associated with the physical office into the brokerage system so that the brokerage system may access and may use the information associated with the physical office space. 
     Embodiments is implemented in digital electronic circuitry, or in computer hardware, firmware, software, or in combinations thereof. Apparatus of the invention is implemented in a computer program product tangibly embodied or stored in a machine-readable storage device and/or machine readable media for execution by a programmable processor; and method actions is performed by a programmable processor executing a program of instructions to perform functions and operations of the invention by operating on input data and generating output. The invention is implemented advantageously in one or more computer programs that are executable on a programmable system including at least one programmable processor coupled to receive data and instructions from, and to transmit data and instructions to, a data storage system, at least one input device, and at least one output device. Each computer program is implemented in a high-level procedural or object oriented programming language, or in assembly or machine language if desired; and in any case, the language is a compiled or interpreted language. 
     Suitable processors include, by way of example, both general and special purpose microprocessors. Generally, a processor will receive instructions and data from a read-only memory and/or a random access memory. Generally, a computer will include one or more mass storage devices for storing data files; such devices include magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; and optical disks. Computer readable storage media are storage devices. Storage devices suitable for tangibly embodying computer program instructions and data include all forms of memory devices, including by way of example semiconductor memory devices, such as volatile RAM, or non-volatile memory devices such as EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memory devices; magnetic disks such as internal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; and CD_ROM disks. Any of the foregoing is supplemented by, or incorporated in, ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits). 
     Other embodiments are within the scope and spirit of the description claims. For example, due to the nature of software, functions described above is implemented using software, hardware, firmware, hardwiring, or combinations of any of these. Features implementing functions may also be physically located at various positions, including being distributed such that portions of functions are implemented at different physical locations.