Implantable Medical Device Management System

Abstract

A suite of applications is provided for the administration of implantable medical devices, particularly implantable therapeutic substance infusion devices. The applications may be accessed over a public network, such as the Internet, and may be run using middleware. The applications provide for the administration of medical devices as they pertain to a particular patient, the ordering of therapeutic agents from participating third-party dispensaries, the scheduling of device maintenance and explant events, and the review of literature and educational materials pertaining to a particular medical device or class of devices.

1 . A method for managing a plurality of medical devices which are deployed to a plurality of users, where a clinician is directing the therapies delivered by the plurality of medical devices, comprising the steps of: 
 providing a manufacturer of the medical devices with a plurality of data sets from at least one of the plurality of users and the clinician, the data sets including information on operation of at least one of the plurality of devices; and    providing the clinician with a communication interface which is configured to present to the clinician information about the plurality of medical devices which is based at least in part on an analysis of the data sets.    
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the plurality of users includes a plurality of patients who receive therapy from the medical devices.  
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the medical devices include a plurality of medical devices implanted in the plurality of patients.  
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the plurality of data sets includes physiologic data.  
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein at least one of the implanted devices is a therapeutic drug infusion device and the communication interface is further configured to accept from the clinician drug orders and transmit the drug orders to a pharmacy.  
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the information about the plurality of implanted devices includes a report on implanted device replacement dates.  
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 5  wherein the communication interface is further configured to provide published literature to the clinician.  
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising analyzing the plurality of data sets to predict the usable life of the plurality of devices.  
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the communication interface is implemented as an Internet graphical user interface application portal.  
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the graphical user interface is a user-configurable template.  
   
   
       11 . A method for managing a plurality of drug infusion devices which are deployed to a plurality of patients comprising the steps of: 
 receiving from the patients over a communications network a plurality of data sets including data characterizing operations of the devices;    analyzing the plurality of data sets to determine a condition of the devices; and    communicating the condition over the communications network to a clinician with responsibility for care of at least one of the patients.    
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the condition includes an expected useful life of the device deployed to the patient.  
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the condition is a condition which affects one or more particular devices in the plurality of devices.  
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 13  wherein the step of communicating to a clinician includes communicating to each of the clinicians with responsibility for care of the patients using the one or more particular devices.  
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 14  wherein the condition is an expected failure mode in the one or more particular devices.  
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the plurality of data sets includes patient physiologic data.  
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 11  further comprising receiving from the clinician feedback on device performance; and wherein the step of analyzing includes analyzing the plurality of data sets and the clinician feedback.