System for communication of health care data

Abstract

An apparatus for communicating health care data from a sender to a receiver is provided. The apparatus has a first computer system, a second computer system, and a rules engine. The first computer system has health care data stored therein. The second computer system is in operable communication with, and is configured to extract the health care data from, the first computer system. The rules engine normalizes the extracted health care data to a predefined format. The rules engine defines a plurality of health care data fields in the predefined format, as well as a plurality of relationships between fields of normalized data.

1 . A computerized method for facilitating an exchange of information between a patient and a health care provider, the method comprising the steps of:
 providing a database having stored electronic health records of a plurality of patients, wherein the health records of the patients are maintained and used by at least one health care provider of the patients in the regular care of the patients;   establishing a connection using a network between a computer system of a health care provider and the database;   receiving a selection of a selected patient from the plurality of patients from the health care provider through a provider user interface;   receiving a request from the health care provider for at least a portion of a health record of the selected patient through the provider user interface;   retrieving the requested health record of the selected patient from the database and displaying at least a portion of the requested health record on the provider user interface;   receiving a provider entry regarding clinical care of the selected patient from the health care provider through the provider user interface, wherein the provider entry comprises one or more of a physician's note, a physician assistant's note, laboratory results, imaging results, test results, or a medication concerning the selected patient;   storing on the database the provider entry in the health record of the selected patient;   establishing a secure connection via the Internet between a computer system of the selected patient and the database;   receiving a request from the selected patient via the secure connection for at least a portion of the selected patient's health record through a patient user interface, wherein the patient user interface is a web browser interface, and wherein the patient user interface provides access only to the selected patient's health record;   retrieving the health record of the selected patient from the database and displaying at least a portion of the health record on the patient user interface, wherein at least the provider entry made by the health care provider regarding clinical care of the selected patient is displayed on the patient user interface, wherein the provider entry displayed on the patient user interface comprises one or more of a physician's note, a physician assistant's note, laboratory results, imaging results, test results, or a medication concerning the selected patient; and   displaying one or more of content or a link for content on the patient user interface that explains or assists the selected patient regarding one or more of a condition, procedure or medication in the selected patient's health record, wherein the content or link for content is selected based on information contained in the selected patient's health record.