Patent ID: 8600777

Claim:
A computer implemented method for monitoring patients comprising: during a period of time, continuously monitoring patients released from an intensive care unit in a healthcare environment, wherein the at least some of the released patients who are being continuously monitored are at a recovery stage between a first recovery stage of patients remaining at the intensive care unit and a second recovery stage of patients only needing periodic routine examination without continuous monitoring; receiving medical information of a patient released from the intensive care unit and being continuously monitored; evaluating conditions of the released patient on a computing device by applying one or more formula-generated patient specific rules to the medical information of the released patient; and sending a message to a health care professional based on the evaluated conditions of the released patient, wherein the message prompts the health care professional to determine whether to readmit the released patient to the intensive care unit in response to the evaluated conditions indicating the patient is in the first recovery stage or whether to discontinue continuously monitoring the released patient in response to the evaluated conditions indicating the patient is in the second recovery stage that needs periodic routine examination without continuous monitoring.