BG66970B1 - Decentralized electronic health record management system - Google Patents

Abstract

The electronic health record management system is used in healthcare. Users can be patients, expert doctors and specialists in hospitals, laboratories, pharmacies and other health care institutions, which are verified by computers and can access information related to health records. The information is managed in a decentralized way by computers, which can be connected in a common virtual infrastructure via the Internet protocol. Information can be locally created, deleted, modified, and searched for, or globally summarised, synchronized, and searched by any connected computer. The connectivity between the computers is optional. The advantages of the system are expressed in that automatically is created an electronic health record of information distributed on one or more computers, without the need of having a central computer. As a result, it can be also summarized data on visits to various doctors, data from expertises and analyzes, performed in geographically remote laboratories, data on ongoing treatments in hospitals, data on medicinal products, nomenclatures, stocks, knowledge bases and others. Additionally, the virtual infrastructure ensures continuity of the provided information management services, protection against complete data loss, autonomy of health records for individual users and the ability to automatically include new computers and resources, through which to update and to fill out the health records with new supporting information. In this way is improved the timely and professional health care.

Description

Field of technology

The invention relates to a system for decentralized management of information related to the creation, destruction, modification, aggregation, synchronization and retrieval of data for electronic health records and can be used in healthcare.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There are known systems for creating electronic health records that manage information locally on personal computers of doctors, pharmacists, experts in laboratories and hospitals. Health files are created in a specific format on each computer.

The disadvantages of these systems are that there is no connection between the individual health records and there is no functionality to build such a connection. Users of these systems do not have access to relevant information related to a patient's health or other support information stored on other computers.

Electronic health record management systems are known that store information on a single server or group (cluster) of servers. These systems aim to centralize and unify all information on electronic health records in one place and to provide it to users in a specific way through communication channels. An example of such a system is disclosed in BG 66088 B1. The system refers to the connection of personal computers to a central server via an Internet connection on which a server stores personal electronic files in a database. The dossier is intended to contain information on visits to general practitioners, specialist doctors in laboratories, pharmacies and hospitals. Users of the system can connect to the central server via their personal computers and exchange information on the creation, updating and use of an electronic health record.

The disadvantages of these systems are expressed in several ways. On the one hand, for the creation or updating of a health file it is necessary to establish a connection between a personal computer and the central server and if this connection cannot be made, the information is not recorded in the single database, like all other users of the system. lose the ability to use up-to-date data. On the other hand, in the event of compromising the operation of the central server, such as power outages, accidental or intentional damage and data loss, the operation of all users of the entire system may be suspended or permanent. Also, the possibilities for expanding these systems with additional users and information from external resources are limited due to the presence of a single central server.

A medical system for consulting patients related to occupational health and pharmaceutical advice is also known, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,697,783 B1. This system allows people to call, ask questions and receive specific medical advice, self-medication guidelines or to be referred to other specialists. Communication channels are established through the use of a telephone network. System customers are automatically directed to an operator with certain skills. The system allows operators to redirect calls, receive written medical or pharmaceutical information, update the customer's health profile.

The disadvantages of this system are that it does not store personal medical information about emerging diseases, treatment results, stays in hospitals. There is no direct contact with the doctor. The system is not designed to reflect and record real medical examinations and treatments, and patients receive advice based on publicly available data, which may be insufficiently up-to-date and even inappropriate for their current clinical condition.

Descriptions of issued patents for inventions № 10.2 / 31.10.2019

Technical essence of the invention

The aim of the invention, on the one hand, is to build a virtual electronic health record of information stored on one or more computers without the need for a central computer (server) or a single database. On the other hand, the object of the invention is to enable the electronic health record to be updated and freely expanded to contain information and to contain a data format that may be specific to each individual computer - for each health institution, laboratory or organization.

The goal is achieved through the proposed system for decentralized management of electronic health records.

The system consists of hardware and software. The hardware part of the system includes computers that are located at individual users - patients at home or in public places, expert doctors and specialists in hospitals, laboratories, pharmacies and other health care institutions. Each computer can connect to other computers by connecting via the Internet Protocol. Connected computers build a virtual infrastructure through which they can share information with each other. A computer can participate in this infrastructure if it is connected to one or more randomly selected computers, as well as if it is connected by another computer or several computers. The number of computers that can participate in the infrastructure is not limited. The software part consists of functional modules that can interact directly with each other or through the connectivity of the hardware infrastructure. For the sake of brevity, the functional modules will hereinafter be referred to as "components", and the functions that provide connectivity will be referred to as "interfaces".

Each computer consists of a communication management component, a virtual infrastructure component, a query and results management component, a rights management component, an identification and authorization component, an electronic health record data management component, and a data management component. external sources for the system.

On the one hand, each computer functions as through the data management component for an electronic health file can locally create, destroy, modify, search, format and summarize information available in external to the system sources. For this purpose it uses an XML structure, which describes and manages the information with the help of components for management of external data and through respectively activated interfaces for management of such data. With the help of a programming interface users can manage the summarized information is an XML structure, and another programming interface can expand and change the form of this structure, enable or disable some of the components for external data management. On the other hand, any computer can globally process requests to search, compare, summarize, perform tasks and synchronize the contents of the health record with connected computers in the virtual infrastructure through a program interface and is using the electronic health record data management component, the query and results management component and its associated communication management component. Each computer provides the ability to connect to other computers is a communication interface, the ability to automatically connect through the communication interface to known computers of the virtual infrastructure, provided no connection is another computer and the presence of an outgoing request sent by the request component, and Ability to receive connections from computers is another communication interface. Additionally, each computer includes a rights management component, which allows or prohibits actions on the health record data and the execution of requests or acceptance of results, and the associated identification component, through which are given or take away the rights of authorized users. The rights management component is connected to the request management component and the data management component.

The advantages of the system, in accordance with the invention, are that an electronic health record is automatically created and information is received from one or more computers. Each computer contributes individually to the construction of an electronic health record, the information about

Descriptions of issued patents for inventions № 10.2 / 31.10.2019 which can be collected, managed and summarized with the help of components and the built virtual infrastructure of computers. As a result, the format of the dossier can be changed and expanded dynamically, as can data on visits to different doctors, on examinations and analyzes made in geographically remote laboratories, on hospital treatments, on medicinal products, on nomenclatures. and stocks, for knowledge bases and others. Additionally, the virtual infrastructure provides continuity of information management services, protection against complete data loss, autonomy of health records for individual users and the ability to automatically include new computers and resources to update and supplement health records with new supporting information.

The presented system provides an opportunity to improve the timely and professional treatment of the patient, including his awareness of his current health status, as well as to be used by expert doctors and specialists in hospitals, laboratories, pharmacies and other health institutions for current professional information.

Explanation of the attached figures

The invention is illustrated by means of the attached fig. 1, which is an architectural UML diagram of the system for decentralized management of electronic health records, which illustrates the virtual infrastructure of computers and the connection between them, and with the help of the attached fig. 2, which is a component UML diagram illustrating the components of a computer from the system and the interconnection between these components.

Examples of the invention

In FIG. 1 presents an exemplary architecture of the system for decentralized management of electronic health records, which consists of computers 1.1,1.2, ..., ln-1, ln, building a virtual infrastructure in which the users of the system are - patients at home or in public places, expert doctors and specialists in hospitals, laboratories, pharmacies and other health institutions. The connection between the computers 1.1, ..., l.n is not obligatory, but it can be realized through one or more connections with the use of a suitable transport Internet protocol, both in a local computer network and in the public Internet space 1-INET.

In FIG. 2 presents the components that must be present in the composition of each computer of the system for decentralized management of electronic health records. Such a computer consists of a virtual infrastructure communication management component 2.1, a query and results management component 2.2, an electronic health record data management component 2.3, a rights management component 2.4, an identification and authorization component 2.5 and components for data management in sources external to the system 2.6.1, 2.6.2, ..., 2.6.p.

In the embodiment, the system operates as follows.

On the one hand, each computer 1.1, ..., l.n functions as through the data management component for electronic health file 2.3 can locally create, destroy, modify, search, format and summarize information available in external to the system sources. For this purpose, an XML structure 2.3-X is used, which describes and manages the data using the control components 2.6.1, ..., 2.6.η and through activated interfaces 2.3-3.1, ..., 2.3-3. η respectively connected to the interfaces 2.6-6.1, ..., 2.6-bp. Using the 2.3-4 API, users manage the 2.3-X aggregated information, and the 2.3-5 API can extend and change the 2.3-X format, enable or disable some of the external data management components 2.6.1 , ..., 2.6.p. On the other hand, through component 2.3 each computer 1.1, ..., 1 .n can globally process requests for searching, comparing, summarizing, performing tasks and synchronizing the contents of the health file with connected computers in the virtual infrastructure through the programming interface 2.3- 4 and with the help of the connected to 2.3 component for management of requests and results 2.2 and the associated with 2.2 component for management of communication 2.1, which in turn provides the possibility to connect to other computers with the communication interface 2.1-1, the possibility to automatically connect via 2.1-1 to known computers from the virtual infrastructure, provided there is no connection with

Descriptions of issued patents for inventions № 10.2 / 31.10.2019 another computer and the presence of an outgoing request sent by 2.2, and the ability to accept connections from other computers is the communication interface 2.1-2. Additionally, each computer includes a rights management component 2.4, which allows or prohibits actions on the health record data and the execution of requests or acceptance of results, and the associated identification component 2.5, which allows grant or revoke rights to authorized users. Component 2.4 is connected to the request management component 2.2 and the data management component 2.3.

Application of the invention

A practical scenario for using the proposed system, which describes the real situation of its industrial application is the following.

When a patient visits a general practitioner, a medical examination is performed. He uses the system for decentralized management of electronic health records through his personal computer 1.4, which was not originally connected to another computer. Control component 2.3 is pre-configured to store health record data in a file external to the system, which is managed by a suitable XML structure 2.3-X, activated sample interface 2.3-3.4, connected 2.6-6.4 and sample component to manage specific external files 2.6.4, using the programming interface 2.3-5 to perform the presets. The doctor stores the information from the examination in the patient's health record through the program interface 2.3-4, creating or updating locally on his personal computer a file containing an outpatient sheet is personal information about the patient, data from the consultation and medical referral for further examination in hospital.

According to the prescribed referral, the patient goes to a suitable hospital to another expert doctor, who also uses the system from his office computer 1.5. On this computer, component 2.3 is configured to manage electronic file data in an external database (DB) that is managed through another independent XML structure, sample interfaces 2.3-3.5 and 2.6-6.5, and a sample database management component. 2.6.5. The hospital expert accepts the patient and successfully connects his or her computer to that of the general practitioner through component 2.1 and the 2.1-1 communication interface. Computers 1.4 and 1.5 are already building a new virtual infrastructure. Using component 2.3 and interface 2.3-4, the hospital expert sends a query of 1.5 to the infrastructure to find the patient's electronic health record. The application is processed by 2.2 and the result is summarized by component 2.3, as a result of which the expert receives detailed information about the medical field from the computer 1.4. The information is synchronized and recorded from 1.5 in an appropriate way in a local database with the help of component 2.6.5. The expert updated the patient's local health record and the results of the medical examination performed at the hospital, but found that it was necessary to perform additional analysis in an independent laboratory. The expert changes the data on the patient's health record through the interface 2.3-4, supplementing it with instructions for laboratory testing and sending a new request for a specialized examination in a laboratory known to the hospital with the help of components 2.3, 2.2 and 2.1. Computer 1.5 makes a successful attempt to automatically connect another computer from the lab.

A specialist in the laboratory also uses the system for electronic health records from a personal computer 1.6. Through the communication interface 2.1-2 it accepts an incoming connection of 1.5. The virtual infrastructure now consists of three computers, which are connected as follows: 1.4 is 1.5 and 1.5 is 1.6. On computer 1.6, component 2.3 is configured to manage electronic file data in another external file, which is managed through a third independent XML structure, sample interfaces 2.3-3.6 and 2.6-6.6, and a sample component for managing specific external files.

2.6.6. The specialist sends a request for searching and summarizing the patient's health file to the virtual infrastructure, as a result of which he receives information from 1.4 through 1.5 about the patient's data and the performed medical examination by the general practitioner and information only from

1.5 for the results of the examinations performed in the hospital, as well as the instructions for additional

Descriptions of issued patents for inventions № 10.2 / 31.10.2019 laboratory examination of the patient. The specialist locally changes the data on the patient's health record through the interface 2.3-4, supplementing it with the results of the required laboratory test.

The general practitioner sends a request to the virtual infrastructure to search for and summarize the result of the required additional tests, entered in the electronic health file of his patient. After analyzing the information obtained from 1.4 and 1.5, he added locally to the file a final history of the patient's clinical condition.

The patient, on the other hand, also uses the electronic health record system from a home computer 1.1. Through the communication interface 2.1-1 it successfully connects to the general practitioner's computer via the Internet. The virtual infrastructure now consists of four computers, which are connected as follows: 1.4 is 1.5, 1.5 is 1.6 and 1.1 is 1.4. On computer 1.1, component 2.3 is not configured to store an electronic health record. As a result, the respective interfaces 2.3-3.η and 2.6-6.η are not activated and there is no data management module in external sources

2.6.p. The patient sends a request to search for his electronic health record through the interface 2.3-4 and receives a summary result through the same interface from the computers:

• 1.4 - ambulatory sheet is his personal information, data from the consultation made with the general practitioner, medical referral for additional examination in a hospital, final anamnesis for his clinical condition made by his general practitioner;

• 1.5 - results of the tests performed in the hospital and instructions for performing additional specialized testing in an independent laboratory, which are made by a specific expert in the hospital;

• 1.6 - results of the specialized research in the laboratory, which is done by a specific specialist.

In this example scenario for the use of the decentralized data management system for an electronic health record, all requests for search and aggregation, as well as the updating of the data and the form of the dossier are always controlled by the rights management component 2.4 and its associated identification component. of authorized users 2.5.3a implementation of the communication uses the standard transport Internet protocol TSRLR.

Claims (1)

1. A system for the decentralized management of electronic health records, comprising computers physically located to individual authorized users connected via an Internet protocol, the computers including a communication management module, a request and results management module, a rights management module, module for identification and management, module for data management for electronic health file and module for data management in sources external to the system, characterized by the fact that each computer (1.1, ..., 1 .p), through the module for data management for electronic health files (2.3), on the one hand a configuration file (2.3-X) is connected, the external data management modules (2.6.1,2.6.n), a data management software programming interface is activated , and on the other hand is connected is computers in the virtual infrastructure through a program interface (2.3-4, 2.3-5) is program interfaces, and is also connected and is the module for managing queries and results (2.2) is as The communication management module (2.1) is connected to it, the latter through a program interface is a possibility to connect other computers and is computers from the virtual infrastructure, such as the data management module for electronic health records (2.3) and the module for management of electronic health files. queries and results (2.2) are related to the rights management module (2.4), which is associated with it identification module (2.5).