Apparatus for and method of using an electronic medical records (EMR) system

Abstract

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, medical personnel may enter into an electronic medical records (EMR) storage mechanism the precise treatment instructions issued to a patient. A database is accessible to the patient to allow the patient to review the patient's records, including the exact treatment instructions. The most current recommended diagnosis specific treatment guidelines, for example, may be provided to the medical practitioner as a starting point in specifying the treatment instructions. Patients may customize the manner in which the exemplary system interacts with the patients. Patients may also specify the mechanism by which they will receive compliance reminder messages. The patient may also restrict access to the patient's records, even by medical personnel, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention.

1 . An electronic medical records (EMR) apparatus comprising: 
 an EMR database comprising: 
 a patients table, operable to store personal data related to patients registered in the EMR apparatus;  
 a medical personnel table, operable to store data related to medical personnel registered in the EMR apparatus;  
 a medical encounter table, operable to store data related to medical encounters between a registered patient and registered medical personnel;  
 a patient-specific health condition table, operable to store data related to health conditions of a specific patient registered in the EMR apparatus;  
 a treatment instructions table, operable to store data related to specific instructions issued by medical personnel for at least one registered patient; and  
 a health condition resource information table, operable to store data related to resources directed to at least one health condition of at least one registered patient.  
   
     
     
         2 . The EMR apparatus as recited in  claim 1 , wherein said EMR database further comprises: 
 a treatment resource information table, operable to store data related to resources directed to at least one treatment instruction of at least one registered patient; and    a user log table, operable to store data related to usage of the EMR system by registered users.    
     
     
         3 . The EMR apparatus as recited in  claim 1 , wherein said EMR database further comprises: 
 a clinical practice guidelines table, operable to store data related to treatment guidelines pertinent to one or more health conditions; and    a general health condition table, operable to store data related to health conditions that apply generally to all patients.    
     
     
         4 . The EMR apparatus as recited in  claim 1 , wherein said EMR database is a relational database, wherein at least one table of said database has a one-to-many relationship with other tables in said database, and wherein at least one table of said database is contained within another table of said database.  
     
     
         5 . The EMR apparatus as recited in  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 an EMR processor, wherein said EMR processor controls operation of the EMR apparatus;    a patient client, wherein said patient client permits a registered patient to gain access to select data within said EMR database; and    a medical personnel client, wherein said medical personnel client permits medical personnel to gain access to data within said EMR database.    
     
     
         6 . The EMR apparatus as recited in  claim 5 , wherein said EMR database further comprises a patient compliance table, operable to store data related to compliance by a patient as a result of a medical encounter, wherein said EMR processor determines a measure of patient compliance for a given registered patient, and wherein said medical personnel client permits viewing of patient compliance for any medical encounter of given registered patient.  
     
     
         7 . The EMR apparatus as recited in  claim 6 , wherein said EMR processor determines a measure of patient compliance for a given registered patient based on access, by the given patient through a patient client, of data related to resources directed to at least one health condition of the given registered patient.  
     
     
         8 . The EMR apparatus as recited in  claim 6 , wherein said EMR processor determines a measure of patient compliance for a given registered patient based on access by a patient client of treatment instructions stored in said EMR database that are associated with the given registered patient.  
     
     
         9 . A method of using an electronic medical records (EMR) system, the method comprising: 
 a) forming an EMR database comprising: 
 a1) for at least one patient registered to use the EMR system, storing: patient identification data; patient password; and patient personal identification number (PIN);  
 a2) for at least one medical practitioner registered to use the EMR system, storing: medical personnel identification data; and medical personnel password;  
 a3) for at least one medical encounter between a patient and medical personnel, storing medical encounter data relating to the at least one medical encounter, wherein the medical encounter data includes information related to the at least one reason for the medical encounter, and at least one diagnosis by medical personnel corresponding to the medical encounter;  
   b) allowing access to the EMR database through a patient program, in which an authorized patient has access only to information related to the authorized patient, wherein the authorized patient is assigned a patient PIN in the EMR database for controlling access to information in the EMR database related to the patient; and    c) allowing access to the EMR database through a medical personnel data entry program, in which authorized medical personnel may access records related to a given patient only upon entry of input data corresponding to the patient PIN assigned to the given patient.    
     
     
         10 . The method of using an electronic medical records (EMR) system as recited in  claim 9 , wherein said allowing access to the EMR database through a medical personnel data entry program further comprises, once accessing a given patient's records in the EMR database, allowing authorized medical personnel to enter diagnosis and treatment instructions for the given patient pursuant to a medical encounter.  
     
     
         11 . The method of using an electronic medical records (EMR) system as recited in  claim 9 , said forming an EMR database further comprising storing informational guidelines related to at least one diagnosis stored in the EMR database, wherein said storing informational guidelines includes, storing as informational guidelines treatments compliant with industry standards of practice as related to the at least one diagnosis, storing as informational guidelines customized treatments related to the at least one diagnosis, and designating as a recommended treatment guideline one of a plurality of informational guidelines related to the at least one diagnosis; and 
 wherein, prior to entering treatment instructions for a given medical encounter using the medical personnel data entry program, displaying a recommended treatment guideline corresponding to the entered diagnosis for the given medical encounter, and adopting one of the following as treatment instructions for the given patient pursuant to a medical encounter: the recommended treatment guidelines, informational guidelines customized for the given patient, and a treatment regimen independent of any stored informational guidelines.    
     
     
         12 . The method of using an electronic medical records (EMR) system as recited in  claim 11 , wherein said storing informational guidelines includes storing a hypertext link to an Internet resource, in which the Internet resource stores underlying text describing informational guidelines in the form of treatment guidelines, and wherein at least one of the stored informational guidelines has a plurality of steps identified by a sequence number to be followed in a specific sequence or temporal relationship.  
     
     
         13 . The method of using an electronic medical records (EMR) system as recited in  claim 9 , said forming an EMR database further comprising storing compliance information related to at least one diagnosis associated with a given medical encounter stored in the EMR database.  
     
     
         14 . The method of using an electronic medical records (EMR) system as recited in  claim 13 , wherein said forming an EMR database further comprises storing, for at least one diagnosis, patient compliance information related to specific treatment instructions issued to a patient and the status of patient compliance thereto.  
     
     
         15 . The method of using an electronic medical records (EMR) system as recited in  claim 9 , wherein the EMR system is in a client-server network, in which the patient program resides on a client computer, and wherein said allowing access to the EMR database through a patient program further comprises: 
 displaying a list of medical encounters related to the authorized patient;    selecting for display treatment instructions for at least one of the listed medical encounters;    selecting for display a measure of compliance related to at least one set of treatment instructions; and    selecting for display a list of alerts informing the patient of symptoms for which the patient should seek immediate medical attention should the patient experience such symptoms.    
     
     
         16 . The method of using an electronic medical records (EMR) system as recited in  claim 9 , wherein said allowing access to the EMR database through a patient program further comprises: 
 displaying diagnosis resource information listing resources containing information related to a patient's diagnosis, including Internet resources; and    displaying treatment resource information listing resources containing information related to a patient's treatment, including Internet resources.    
     
     
         17 . The method of using an electronic medical records (EMR) system as recited in  claim 9 , wherein said allowing access to the EMR database through a medical entry program further comprises: 
 displaying a list of records for patients for which authorized medical personnel may review;    for a given listed patient, displaying a list of medical encounters; and    selecting for display compliance information for at least one medical encounter for the given listed patient.    
     
     
         18 . The method of using an electronic medical records (EMR) system as recited in  claim 9 , further comprising: 
 logging at least one patient user accessing the EMR system to create an audit record, including a date and time of access of the system.    
     
     
         19 . A method of using a patient client computer system, the method comprising the steps of: 
 gaining secured access to records of a given patient;    viewing at least one previous medical encounter of the given patient;    for the at least one previous medical encounter, viewing at least the following medical encounter data: complaint of the given patient; diagnosis for the complaint; and treatment instructions for the diagnosis; and    viewing resource information for at least one of the following: information related to the diagnosis; and information related to the treatment instructions.    
     
     
         20 . The method of using a patient client computer system as claimed in  claim 19 , further comprising the step of viewing patient compliance information for the given patient, and wherein: 
 said step of gaining secured access comprises entry by a patient of its own username and password to gain access to its own individual patient records in an electronic medical records (EMR) database;    said step of viewing at least one previous medical encounter comprises viewing a plurality most recent doctor's office visits personally attended by the given patient; and    said step of viewing medical encounter data further comprises: viewing a date of the medical encounter; viewing an identity of a physician attending to the given patient during the medical encounter; viewing medication prescribed for the given patient; and viewing physician warnings and follow-up instructions.    
     
     
         21 . The method of using a patient client computer system as claimed in  claim 19 , wherein said viewing resource information includes links to Internet resources for both diagnosis and treatment information.  
     
     
         22 . The method of using a patient client computer system as claimed in  claim 19 , further comprising the steps of: 
 customizing display of information;    restricting access to personal data of the given patient.    
     
     
         23 . An article of manufacture comprising at least one machine-readable storage medium having stored therein indicia of a plurality of machine-executable control program steps, the control program comprising the steps of: 
 a) storing patient data, including patient identification data, and patient password;    b) storing medical encounter data relating to at least one medical encounter between a medical personnel and a patient, wherein the medical encounter data includes at least one reason for the medical encounter, and at least one diagnosis by medical personnel corresponding to the medical encounter; and    c) storing medical condition data relating to at least one medical condition that may be deemed by medical personnel to relate to a patient as a result of a medical encounter, wherein medical condition data includes general information about a given medical condition.    
     
     
         24 . The article of manufacture as recited in  claim 23 , the control program further comprising the steps of: 
 (d) storing treatment information for at least one medical encounter of a given patient;    (e) determining compliance by the given patient with the treatment information stored in said storing step (d) for a given medical encounter; and    (e issuing a notification based on a determination of non-compliance in said determining step (e).    
     
     
         25 . The article of manufacture as recited in  claim 24 , wherein: 
 said storing step (b) includes storing data regarding: a medical encounter in the form of a doctor's office visit, medical personnel in the form of a doctor who examined the patient during the office visit, and a patient complaint as a reason for the office visit;    the treatment information in said storing step (d) includes medication regimen issued by the doctor who examined the given patient during a given office visit; and    said issuing step (f) includes issuing a notification in the form of a reminder message sent to the given patient to comply with the medication regimen issued by the doctor.