System and methods for facilitating computerized interactions with emrs

Abstract

A method for using a health information exchange system which stores patient record data regarding a multiplicity of patients, to serve a first plurality of EMRs each interacting with an EMR community including a set of at least one EMR, the method comprising: for each individual EMR within the first plurality of EMRs, performing a computerized context interception process using a processor to intercept context from the individual EMR and to identify therewithin an event whereby a health provider using the individual EMR calls up an individual patient's record from said individual EMR; and responsive to identification of the event, using a computerized output device for providing patient record data, pertaining to the individual patient, to the health provider.

1 . A method for using a health information exchange system which stores patient record data regarding a multiplicity of patients, to serve a first plurality of EMRs each interacting with an EMR community including a set of at least one EMR, the method comprising:
 for each individual EMR within said first plurality of EMRs, performing a computerized context interception process using a processor to intercept context from the individual EMR and to identify therewithin an event whereby a health provider using said individual EMR calls up an individual patient's record from said individual EMR; and   responsive to identification of said event, using a computerized output device for providing patient record data, pertaining to said individual patient, to said health provider.   
     
     
         2 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein said patient record data includes at least one information item which is tagged to indicate a source EMR which provided said information item to said health information exchange system and wherein said patient record data provided to said health provider is filtered so as to filter out said at least one information item if said information item's source EMR equals said individual EMR. 
     
     
         3 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein said intercepting and identifying includes using a context management protocol. 
     
     
         4 . A method according to  claim 3  wherein said context management protocol comprises CCOW. 
     
     
         5 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein said health provider is served by a display screen when using said individual EMR and wherein said identifying includes capturing information from said display screen. 
     
     
         6 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein said identifying includes:
 pre-storing a patient identifier location for each EMR within said first plurality of EMRs; and 
 capturing said individual patient's patient identifier from said patient identifier location. 
 
     
     
         7 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein said providing patient record data includes subscribing to events exchanged between the individual EMR and an operating system serving the EMR, ascertaining in real time at least one current EMR display operation and mimicking the EMR display operation when providing the patient record data. 
     
     
         8 . A method according to  claim 7  wherein said EMR display operation comprises at least one of a translation along a display screen, a minimization of size and a maximization of size. 
     
     
         9 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein said intercepting and identifying includes screen-capturing EMR context. 
     
     
         10 . A method according to  claim 5  wherein said patient record data includes at least one information item which is tagged to indicate a category of information to which said information item pertains,
 and wherein said capturing includes capturing screen information indicative of a category of information currently being viewed by the health provider, 
 and wherein said patient record data presented to said health provider is filtered so as to filter out said at least one information item pertaining to a category of information other than the category of information currently being viewed by the health provider. 
 
     
     
         11 . A method according to  claim 10  wherein said category of information includes at least one of the following group of categories: laboratory information, medicines, allergies, procedures, vital signs, pathologies, imaging results, clinical documents, immunizations, problems, and diagnosis. 
     
     
         12 . A method for using a health information exchange system, storing patient record data regarding a multiplicity of patients, to serve a first plurality of EMRs each interacting with an EMR community including a set of at least one EMR, the method comprising:
 for each individual EMR within said first plurality of EMRs, using a processor to automatically identify an event whereby a health provider using said individual EMR calls up an individual patient's record from said individual EMR; and   using a processor to apply at least one predetermined rule involving intercepted EMR context and using a computerized output device to provide an alerting indication drawing the health provider's attention to at least some of said patient record data according to said predetermined rule.   
     
     
         13 . A method according to  claim 12  wherein said generating an alerting indication comprises presenting patient record data, pertaining to said individual patient, to said health provider. 
     
     
         14 . A method according to  claim 12  wherein said predetermined rule comprises alerting said health provider's attention if said patient record data includes at least one item of information not included in said individual EMR. 
     
     
         15 . A method according to  claim 12  wherein said rule involves health-provider specific context and wherein said applying includes identifying said health provider's identifier. 
     
     
         16 . A method according to  claim 14  wherein items of information included in said patient record data are stored in computerized storage, in association with respective information source tags indicating an information source supplying each said item, and wherein a determination is made, based on said information source tags, of whether or not said patient record data includes at least one item of information not included in said individual EMR. 
     
     
         17 . A method according to  claim 16  wherein a list of information sources supplying an individual EMR is stored in computerized storage and wherein said determination includes determining whether all items in said patient record data are supplied by one of said individual EMR, and an information source appearing in the list of information sources supplying the individual EMR. 
     
     
         18 . A method according to  claim 15  wherein said predetermined rule comprises alerting said health provider's attention if said patient record data includes at least one item of information which was not seen by the health provider identified by said identifier when he was last served by said health information exchange system. 
     
     
         19 . A method according to  claim 15  wherein said identifying said health provider's identifier employs single-sign-on authentication of said health provider. 
     
     
         20 . A method according to  claim 15  wherein said identifying said health provider's user name includes capturing said health provider's identifier from a screen display employed by said health provider. 
     
     
         21 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein said intercepting and identifying includes providing an architecture which interacts with at least one context interception adaptor and, when operating in conjunction with a specific EMR having a specific context sharing capability, using an adaptor adapted to utilize said specific context sharing capability as said context interception adaptor. 
     
     
         22 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein said context intercepted includes an indication of at least one display characteristic characterizing a graphic user interface being generated by the EMR and wherein said providing patient record data includes generating a graphic user interface for displaying said patient record data which shares said display characteristic. 
     
     
         23 . A method according to  claim 22  wherein said at least one display characteristic includes at least one of: a color characteristic, a texture characteristic, a text font, a text size, and a characteristic of an icon such as a button. 
     
     
         24 . A system for using a health information exchange system, storing patient record data regarding a multiplicity of patients, to serve a first plurality of EMRs each interacting with an EMR community including a set of at least one EMR, the system comprising:
 a record-call up identifying processor operative, for each individual EMR within said first plurality of EMRs, to automatically identify an event whereby a health provider using said individual EMR calls up an individual patient's record from said individual EMR; and   an intercepted context rule applying processor applying at least one predetermined rule involving intercepted EMR context and controlling a computerized output device to provide an alerting indication drawing the health provider's attention to at least some of said patient record data according to said predetermined rule.   
     
     
         25 . A system for using a health information exchange system which stores patient record data regarding a multiplicity of patients, to serve a first plurality of EMRs each interacting with an EMR community including a set of at least one EMR, the method comprising:
 a record-call up identifying processor operative, for each individual EMR within said first plurality of EMRs, for performing a computerized context interception process using a processor to intercept context from the individual EMR and to identify therewithin an event whereby a health provider using said individual EMR calls up an individual patient's record from said individual EMR; and   a record-call up identifying processor-driven output device controller operative, responsive to identification of said event, to control a computerized output device for providing patient record data, pertaining to said individual patient, to said health provider.