WO2011113962A1

WO2011113962A1 - Health management system

Info

Publication number: WO2011113962A1
Application number: PCT/EP2011/054260
Authority: WO
Inventors: Thomas Wacinski; Ayub Khan; Carmelo Bisognano
Original assignee: Easymed Services Sa
Priority date: 2010-03-19
Filing date: 2011-03-21
Publication date: 2011-09-22

Abstract

Method for providing personalized location-related medical information to a user, comprising the steps of retrieving information related to a given location in a geographical resources database (22) containing location-related medical and/or general information, retrieving medical information related to the user from a personal health and medical database (21) containing personal medical information related to one or more patients, and correlating the information related to the given location and the medical information related to the user for generating a personalized report comprising location-related medical information for the user travelling to the given location. Health management system (1) comprising a personal health and medical database (21) containing personal medical information related to one or more patients, a geographical resources database (22) containing location-related medical and/or general information, computing means (10) and memory (13) for storing a computer program for performing the steps of the above method when run on the computing means (10). Computer program for performing the above method when run on computing means (10).

Description

Health Management System

The present invention relates to a system for managing all information related to the health of a patient and/or providing various health-related services to said patient. In particular, the present invention relates to a computer-based platform for storing, controlling remote access to and/or remotely providing any type of location-specific health-related information to a patient.

Prior art computer-based systems used for example by physicians and/or by hospitals or other medical institutions for storing information about their patients have several drawbacks. These systems usually generate an electronic file for each patient and/or for each medical event. They contain some basic information about the patient, such as its name, address, etc., and the medical information directly related to the particular medical event(s) followed by the physician and/or hospital.

A drawback of these systems is that they are essentially designed for medical professionals. Furthermore, the information is usually only locally accessible, and by the physician only. The patient can't access his own file.

Another drawback is that most of these systems are proprietary and/or customized for the procedures of a particular physician, hospital, and that their interoperability is very low or even inexistent. It is therefore very difficult or even impossible to electronically transfer information from one system to another. Thus, if a patient was followed by several physicians and/or was examined in several hospitals he will be the object of several electronic files stored in several platforms, each file containing only part of his health-related information.

Furthermore, there is a need for travelling patients to easily obtain personalized information about their current or next destination, for example, about their needs in terms of medications, vaccines, etc., that takes into account their current and past personal medical history.

An aim of the present invention is thus to propose a health management system overcoming the drawbacks of the prior art medical file systems. Another aim of the present invention is to propose a method and a corresponding health management system for providing personalized location- related medical information to a user or patient.

These aims and other advantages are achieved with a method for providing personalized location-related medical information to a user,

comprising the steps of retrieving information related to a given location in a geographical resources database containing location-related medical and/or general information, retrieving medical information related to the user from a personal health and medical database containing personal medical information related to one or more patients, and correlating the information related to the given location and the medical information related to the user for generating a personalized report comprising location-related medical information for the user travelling to the given location.

In an embodiment, the method further comprises the steps of sending the personalized report to the user and displaying it on display means. The display means for example comprises the display of a personal computer and/or of a portable computing device, for example of the user.

In embodiments, the method comprises the preliminary step of entering the location by the user. The location is for example entered with input means of a personal computer and/or of a portable computing device, for example of the user.

The personalized report for example comprises information about vaccines required for the user when travelling to the given location, and/or allergic risks for the user when travelling to the given location, and/or

information about trade names of drugs in the given location that are equivalent to drugs needed by said user. The personalized report for example comprises a translation of medical terms in a language commonly used in the given location and/or emergency numbers in use in the given location.

These aims and other advantages are achieved also with a health management system comprising a personal health and medical database containing personal medical information related to one or more patients, a geographical resources database containing location-related medical and/or general information, computing means and memory for storing a computer program for performing the steps of the above method when run on the computing means.

In embodiments, the health management system further comprises input means for allowing a user entering information into the system, and/or display means for displaying information to the user.

In embodiments, the health management system further comprises a web-based interface allowing the user entering and retrieving information into and from the system.

In embodiments, the health management system also comprises a translation database containing medical terms in various languages.

These aims and other advantages are further achieved with a computer program for performing the above method when run on computing means.

Accordingly, the health management system and the corresponding method allow providing a user with highly customized and personalized medical information in relation for example with a planed travel, taking into account the specific medical needs and requirements of the user.

The present invention will be better understood by reading the following description illustrated by the figures, where:

Fig. 1 is a schematic representation of components of an embodiment of the platform of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a flow chart illustrating how the platform of the invention matches the user specific information with location-related information;

Fig. 3 is a more detailed flowchart illustrating the process illustrated in

Fig. 2.

With reference to Fig. 1 , the global health management system 1 , or platform, comprises computing means 10, for example centralized or distributed computing means. The computing means 10 for example comprises a microprocessor, a CPU, a computer, a server, a personal computer, a laptop, a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA) and/or any other adapted computing device, or any combination thereof. Preferably, the global health management system 1 further comprises memory 13 for storing a computer program for implementing the functionalities of the global health management system 1 when said program is run on the computing means 10. In embodiments, the memory 13 is distributed within a plurality of computing devices forming the computing means 10 and at least some computing devices store and run only parts, or modules, of the computer program. According to variant embodiments of the invention, the computing means 10 for example comprises a server and one or more personal computers and/or portable devices such as mobile phones, laptops and/or PDAs or similar, wherein one or more users of the global health management system 1 remotely access information and/or resources on the server with their portable device over a computer network, for example over the Internet.

Preferably, the global health management system 1 further comprises input means 1 1 for allowing users of the system 1 to enter information, and display means 12 for displaying information to the users. The input means 1 1 for example comprises one or more physical or virtual keyboards, one or more microphones and/or one or more cameras, and/or any other adapted input means, that are for example directly connected to, or part of, the computing devices forming the computing means 10. In variant embodiments the input means furthermore comprises a voice recognition and/or a touch and/or gesture recognition module making use for example of the microphone, the camera and/or of a touch screen. The display means 12 for example comprises one or more display screens and/or one or more printers, and/or any other information display means, that are for example directly connected to, or part of, the computing devices forming the computing means 10.

The global health management platform 1 further comprises a personal health and medical database 21 for storing health-related information about one or more patients, a geographical resources database 22 for storing location- related medical and other information and possibly a translation database 23 for storing language-related medical information.

The personal health and medical database 21 for example comprises various types of information about one or more patients. These data types for example comprise vital signs such as weight, height, etc., possible allergies, possible immunizations to various viruses, medical history, present and past medications, present and past treatments, surgical operations, social history such as for example a possible addiction to alcohol, drugs, narcotics and/or any other substance, specific medical problems, etc. The information in the personal health and medical database 21 is preferably categorized per patient and/or per type for its easy retrieval and for avoiding attributing information to the wrong patient.

The geographical resources database 22 for example comprises various location-related pieces of information that can be of use to one or more users of the system 1 , in particular to patients. The location-related information for example comprises local information directly related to a country or a regions, such as the required and/or recommended vaccines when travelling in this country or region, the emergency numbers such as those of the police, fire department, ambulances, etc., the language, the currency, the weather conditions, the allergenic substances that can be found in this country or region depending for example on the time of year, etc. The location-related information for example further comprises drug equivalents, i.e. the different trade names under which a given molecule is sold in the various countries and/or regions of interest, and/or the manufacturers of the corresponding products. Any other location-related pieces of information that are of any relevance for a travelling user can furthermore be stored in the geographical resources database 22.

The optional translation database 23 for example stores language- related information, such as for example the name of various diseases and/or infections, of various parts of the human body, etc., in various languages of interest, preferably at least in the languages of the countries and/or regions listed in the geographical resources database 22.

The databases 21 , 22, 23 are centralized and/or distributed databases. In embodiments, they are for example stored on a single storage device directly connected to, or part of, a server, while in other embodiments they are at least partly stored in the storage memory space of one or more mobile computing devices.

Databases 21 , 22, 23 and the information contained therein are accessible to the computing means 10 of the global health management system 1 , for example directly and/or over a wired and/or wireless communication network. Information can thus for example be retrieved in the databases 21 , 22 and/or 23 and displayed on the display means 12 and/or information can be introduced into the databases 21 , 22 and/or 23 by means of the input means 1 1 . Information is thus preferably accessed and/or managed over a user interface using the input means 1 1 and/or the display means 12. The user interface is for example a web-based user interface, through which a user, for example a patient, accesses one or more of the databases 21 , 22 and/or 23, and enters, modifies and/or retrieves information, for example his health-related information.

The global health management system 1 preferably comprises a plurality of user interfaces, for example a plurality of web-based interfaces, for allowing a plurality of users, for example patients, physicians, pharmacists and/or other professionals, introducing information relative to one or more patients.

In embodiments, the global health management system 1 further comprises electronic interfaces for directly communicating and/or exchanging information with other electronic medical file management systems using for example standardized protocols.

The global health management system 1 for example comprises two-way communication means allowing a patient to access and/or edit information in any location, for example with the help of a mobile device. The two-way communication means for example includes a vocal communication system over telephonic and/or data networks (Voice over IP, VoIP), a messaging system such as an e-mail, instant messaging and/or SMS service accessible over a telephone network and/or the Internet, etc. Accordingly, the databases 21 , 22 and/or 23 are always accessible for the patient, either from any computer over a web interface, or from a portable device, for example from a portable phone, a laptop and/or any other portable computer.

The information stored in the databases 21 , 22 and/or 23 of the global health management system 1 is for example categorized by the system and different permissions are attributed to different pieces of information, such that some editing and/or reading restrictions may apply to some pieces of

information for some users of the system 1 . A pharmacist can for example enter information about the drugs bought by a patient and their posology, read stored information about other medicaments taken previously or simultaneously by the patient in order to check for possible compatibility issues, read some basic information about the patient such as his general health condition, allergies, etc. in order to check for possible contra-indications, but he can not access the entire medical information related to the particular event for which the patient bought these medicaments.

In various embodiments, the global health management system 1 of the invention automatically provides specific health-related services to the user. Such services for example include one or more of the following:

Sending reminders to a patient for taking his medication, based for example on the information introduced by the pharmacists and/or the physician.

Providing information to a patient about the pharmacy, physician or other health-related service provider closest to its current location. This can be done for example over a two-way

communication channel between a server and a portable device, for example a portable phone, of the patient. Providing to a patient a translation of all or part of his health- related information, for example when the patient is in a foreign country.

Providing practical information to a patient such as precautions and required or recommended vaccines when preparing travels abroad. This is for example done by looking at his medical information and suggesting missing immunizations, providing emergency phone numbers and adjusting his service and/or user preferences to a specific country in the world.

- Providing health tips, for example on a patient's mobile device, adapted to the patient's medical condition, gender, age, etc.

In embodiments, the system 1 provides two-way communication means, for example a two-way SMS and/or instant messaging and/or e-mail messaging system, for querying the Medical Information available in the database 21 , 22 and/or 23.

In an embodiment, the method is the following: a user sends a message, for example an e-mail or a SMS, preferably with a simple syntax consisting for example of a keyword and an action (which can be a keyword as well). The platform 1 checks the user's access credentials, for example by identifying the owner of the e-mail address and/or of the phone number and associating him with the user, and therewith determines which medical record is concerned. The platform preferably creates a condensed/compact version of the requested and available medical information and returns it to the user, for example in real time via an e-mail or a text message, and/or as a link to a webpage containing the thus generated report. For example, sending VACCINE will return the list of the patient's last immunizations with dates. If the user is travelling and/or

specifically requests it, it will return a translated message with translated medical terminology.

According to an embodiment, the two-way communication means further allows treatment and compliance monitoring. For example, the computing means 10 sends, at periods of time defined by the patient and/or by a doctor, a reminder to the patient for him to take his medication. The reminder is for example displayed on the display means 12. The patient preferably answers to the message positively or negatively with the help of the input means 1 1 , depending respectively on whether he took his medication or not, or he doesn't answer at all, which is then for example considered as a negative answer. The answer is received by the computer means 10 and used to update the monitored treatment, for example by updating information in the personal health and medical database 21 . The system 1 is able to identify the current treatment and can preferably manage several treatments simultaneously for the same patient, for example via e-mail, SMS or instant messaging.

In an embodiment, similarly to the method used for the treatment and compliance monitoring, e-mails or other messages, for example SMS, can be sent by the computing means 10 to a patient to remind him his medical appointments. The patient can answer to the message positively or negatively or not answer at all, which is then for example considered as a negative answer. The answer is received by the computing means 10 and used to update the monitored appointments, for example by updating information in the personal health and medical database 21 .

The two-way communication means, or channel, is described above by way of example as an e-mail-based and/or as an SMS or instant messaging communication system. Other communication means can be used within the frame of the invention, such as for example vocal communication means over telephonic networks, where the system 1 calls a patient and plays to him a recorded message on the display means 12 providing the requested

information, and the response and/or queries from the patient, entered for example with the input means 1 1 , are recorded and interpreted through a vocal menu system.

The platform of the invention can of course combine the use of several two-way communication means, for example e-mail, SMS, instant messaging, vocal, etc., depending on a particular context, application and/or user

preferences.

The system 1 of the invention is preferably a user-centric platform, available at anytime to store and interactively manage health and medical information, including but not limited to: allergies, vaccines, side-effects, treatment history and electronic medical documents. The system 1 is for example accessible over the web via a regular browser. It is also possible to receive information from the system 1 onto the display means of a portable device, for example through an SMS, instant messaging or mobile phone application and/or through any mobile device's browser.

Each connection to the 21 , 22 and/or 23 is preferably encrypted using for example 256bit encryption. The system 1 for example allows a patient accessing and/or editing at least part of his information stored in the personal health and medical database 21 . In embodiments, there is also access for treating doctors or physicians to the patient's records. Both then can amend the information, add and/or update data. In an embodiment, an audit trail system tracks the usage, authors, and modification history.

Preferably, the patient can access the system 1 at anytime via a portable device, for example via a mobile phone and/or a SMS or instant messaging application (two-way). The user can for example query the system 1 by sending an SMS in order to receive quick medical information regarding his medical conditions, including but not limited to: allergies, vaccines, side-effects, etc. The user can also directly register to the product via a mobile phone.

The services provided by the system 1 preferably work over any network, for example any mobile phone network, in the world.

A user, in particular a patient, can preferably share his medical information with any other user of his choice. The other user can then see the content of the patient's medical information that was made accessible to him, according to the access and/or editing rights that the patient temporarily or permanently gave him. In an embodiment, the system 1 monitors the compliance to treatments and/or the medical appointments of a patient by sending to him timely

reminders, for example in the form of e-mail, SMS, instant and/or vocal messages, to remind him to take his medication (any form, any dosage) and/or to attend his next medical appointment. The patient is then preferably requested to confirm whether he took his medication or not and/or whether he went to his appointment or not. The platform stores each medication intake and/or attended medical appointment in the personal health and medical database 21 and for example computes statistics of the treatment. The statistics are for example visible by both the patient and his doctor and can be exported in various formats.

In an embodiment, a user can use his mobile phone to request emergency information (preferably in any country of the world), including but not limited to: ambulance, 24/7 doctor, police. The system 1 preferably also provides interactive maps to the user for locating doctors, hospitals,

pharmacies, etc.

In an embodiment, a user can use his mobile phone to communicate with a doctor over the system 1 . The doctors can access to the patient's data in real time and for example answer a question of the user.

Preferably possible, the system 1 , in particular the information stored in databases 21 , 22 and/or 23, can be synchronized with other computing systems using various standards for representing Electronic Health Records, for example according to the CCR and/or the CDA format.

In an embodiment, the system 1 can warn a user against potential drug interaction on the basis of the user's data and for example of an internal knowledgebase, thus warning for example both the patient and his doctor against any decision that may result in dangerous effects.

In embodiments, the global health management system 1 provides a user with information on drug equivalents or other location-related information in various countries in the world. The global health management system 1 for example returns information regarding compound name, trade name, country and/or manufacturer, user and/or compliance notices, etc. Preferably, this information is available to the user for example on display means 12 of a mobile device or of any other personal computing device.

Fig 2 illustrates for example an embodiment of a method for providing a user with location-related information.

In a first step 30, a user introduces information about a location, for example his next travel destination. In a next decision step 31 , the global health management system checks against the geographical resources database 22 whether this location is known to and/or covered by the system. If not, the system returns to the previous step 30 and waits for another input from the user. If yes, in a next step 32 the system retrieves from the geographical resources database 22 the location-related information related to the location entered by the user. In a next step 33, the system retrieves from the personal health and medical database 21 the relevant medical information related to the user and compares it 34 to the previously retrieved location-related information in order to generate 35 a synthesis of personal recommendations for the particular user travelling to the particular location. Optionally, the personal recommendations are supplemented with language-related information retrieved from the translation database 23. The personal recommendations are then displayed to the user in the form for example of a personalized report.

The report for example comprises specific recommendations, warnings and suggestions for the user that he should take into account before travelling to the location entered in step 30, based on his health condition. The report furthermore optionally comprises practical information such as emergency numbers, trade name of the drugs that he usually takes at the particular location, etc.

Fig. 3 illustrates a variant embodiment of the above method.

In step 30, a user enters the name of a location, for example his next destination. The user for example enters the full name of the corresponding country or region, or an abbreviation thereof. In a step 301 , the system then preferably retrieves a standardized code for said location, for example the corresponding ISO 3166 two-letter country code.

In step 32 the system retrieves from the geographical resources database 22 all relevant location-related information corresponding to the location entered by the user, for example to the two-letter country code. In a next step 321 , the thus retrieved user-invariant information such as currency, weather conditions, language, etc. are appended to a report that will contain all information relevant to the user. The step of retrieving the personal health information related to the user is illustrated by way of example by a substep of retrieving user-related allergy information 331 and a substep of retrieving user-related vaccine information 332. Other substeps are however possible for retrieving other user-related personal health information.

In the illustrated example, substep of retrieving user-related allergy information 331 comprises checking in the personal health and medical database 21 whether there are any allergy records related to the user. If the personal health and medical database 21 does not comprise any allergy record at all, or does not comprise any allergy record related to the user, then the substep is terminated. If allergy information concerning the user is retrieved from the personal health and medical database 21 , the system further checks whether this or these particular allergies are related to the current conditions and/or the conditions that the user might encounter in the entered location (for example, but not exclusively, presence of particular pollens depending on the time of year and/or the location, season of some particular aliments, etc.). If the result is positive, i.e. if there are possible correlations between the user's allergy and the current conditions, the information relating to these allergies is appended to the report that will be sent and displayed to the user.

Substep of retrieving user-related vaccine information 332 comprises checking in the personal health and medical database 21 whether there are any vaccine records related to the user. If vaccine infornnation concerning the user is retrieved from the personal health and medical database 21 , the system further checks whether this or these particular vaccination are related to the current conditions and/or the conditions that the user might encounter in the entered location (for example, is a particular vaccine required or recommended for the entered location, should a standard vaccine such as tetanus, for example, be repeated before travelling to the entered location, etc.). If the result is positive, i.e. if there are retrieved vaccine information that is relevant for the entered location, the information relating to these vaccines is appended to the report that will be sent and displayed to the user.

In another substep 333, for example, the system checks against the personal health and medical database 21 whether the user is currently undergoing any medical treatment. If this is the case, the system loads from the personal health and medical database 21 the information about all drugs currently taken by the user and retrieves from the geographical resources database 22 the equivalents in the location entered by the user. The information about the local drug equivalents is then appended to the report that will be sent and displayed to the user.

In an optional further step, the information retrieved and appended to the report in the previous step is translated in the language corresponding to the entered location with the help of the corresponding information stored in the translation database 23.

The thus compiled and translated report is then sent to the user and for example displayed to him on a display screen, for example the display of a personal computer and/or the display of a personal portable device such as a mobile phone or a PDA for example.

Claims

1 . Method for providing personalized location-related medical information to a user, comprising the steps of:

- retrieving information related to a given location in a geographical resources database (22) containing location-related medical and/or general information;

- retrieving medical information related to said user from a personal health and medical database (21 ) containing personal medical information related to one or more patients;

- correlating said information related to said given location and said medical information related to said user for generating a personalized report comprising location-related medical information for said user travelling to said given location.

2. Method according to the preceding claim further comprising the steps of:

- sending said personalized report to said user;

- displaying said report on display means.

3. Method according to the preceding claim wherein said display means comprises the display of a personal computer and/or of a portable computing device.

4. Method according to one of the preceding claims comprising the preliminary step of entering said given location by the user.

5. Method according to the preceding claim, wherein said given location is entered with input means of a personal computer and/or of a portable computing device.

6. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein said personalized report comprises information about vaccines required for said user when travelling to said given location.

7. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein said personalized report comprises information about allergic risks for said user when travelling to said given location.

8. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein said personalized report comprises information about trade names of drugs in said given location that are equivalent to drugs needed by said user.

9. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein said personalized report comprises a translation of medical terms in a language commonly used in said given location.

10. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein said personalized report comprises emergency numbers in use in said given location.

1 1 . Health management system (1 ) comprising:

- a personal health and medical database (21 ) containing personal medical information related to one or more patients;

- a geographical resources database (22) containing location- related medical and/or general information;

- computing means (10);

- memory (13) for storing a computer program for performing the steps of the method of one of claims 1 to 10 when said computer program is run on said computing means (10).

12. Health management system (1 ) according to the preceding claim, further comprising input means (1 1 ) for allowing a user entering information into said system (1 ).

13. Health management system (1 ) according to one of claim 1 1 or 12, further comprising display means (12) for displaying information to a user.

14. Health management system (1 ) according to one of claim 1 1 or 13, further comprising a web-based interface allowing said user entering and retrieving information into and from said system (1 ).

15. Health management system (1 ) according to one of claim 1 1 or 14, further comprising a translation database (23) containing medical terms in various languages.

16. Computer program for performing the method of one of claims 1 to 10 when run on computing means (10).