Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
  • G06Q10/10—Office automation; Time management
  • G06Q10/109—Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • G06Q50/00—Information and communication technology [ICT] specially adapted for implementation of business processes of specific business sectors, e.g. utilities or tourism
  • G06Q50/10—Services
  • G06Q50/22—Social work or social welfare, e.g. community support activities or counselling services
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G16—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR SPECIFIC APPLICATION FIELDS
  • G16H—HEALTHCARE INFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE HANDLING OR PROCESSING OF MEDICAL OR HEALTHCARE DATA
  • G16H10/00—ICT specially adapted for the handling or processing of patient-related medical or healthcare data
  • G16H10/60—ICT specially adapted for the handling or processing of patient-related medical or healthcare data for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G16—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR SPECIFIC APPLICATION FIELDS
  • G16H—HEALTHCARE INFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE HANDLING OR PROCESSING OF MEDICAL OR HEALTHCARE DATA
  • G16H30/00—ICT specially adapted for the handling or processing of medical images
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G16—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR SPECIFIC APPLICATION FIELDS
  • G16H—HEALTHCARE INFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE HANDLING OR PROCESSING OF MEDICAL OR HEALTHCARE DATA
  • G16H30/00—ICT specially adapted for the handling or processing of medical images
  • G16H30/20—ICT specially adapted for the handling or processing of medical images for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G16—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR SPECIFIC APPLICATION FIELDS
  • G16H—HEALTHCARE INFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE HANDLING OR PROCESSING OF MEDICAL OR HEALTHCARE DATA
  • G16H40/00—ICT specially adapted for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities; ICT specially adapted for the management or operation of medical equipment or devices
  • G16H40/20—ICT specially adapted for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities; ICT specially adapted for the management or operation of medical equipment or devices for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms

Definitions

• the present invention relates, in general, to a method, apparatus and system for providing medical information and, more particularly, to a method, apparatus and system for providing medical information, which store medical treatment data about patients medically treated in hospitals, and allow the patients and the hospitals to share medical treatment data with each other, thus guaranteeing medical transparency and improving the accuracy of medical treatment of patients.
• an object of the present invention is to provide a method, apparatus and system for providing medical information, which allow a patient and hospitals to share medical treatment data about the patient with each other, thus improving the transparency of medical treatment and reducing the time spent and expenses incurred by the patient and hospital staff.
• Another object of the present invention is to provide a method, apparatus and system for providing medical information, which extract various statistical data on the basis of medical treatment data about a patient.
• a further object of the present invention is to provide a method, apparatus and system for providing medical information, which allow national organizations or hospitals to utilize various statistical data, thus greatly contributing to the health of people and guaranteeing the collection of taxes.
• Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method, apparatus and system for providing medical information, which guarantee transparency when a hospital requests a medical insurance corporation to pay insurance benefits, and maintain the precision of insurance-related data processed by the medical insurance corporation and the hospital.
• Still another object of the present invention is to provide a method, apparatus and system for providing medical information, which manage distribution channels for medical supplies, thus preventing medical supplies, which are not articles for sale, from being provided to a patient.
• a system for providing medical information comprising at least one user terminal receiving data about an appointment for medical treatment from a user, and providing medical information about the user, at least one hospital server creating a list of patients to be medically treated on the basis of the data about the medical treatment appointment, and storing therein medical treatment data about each medically treated patient, and a medical information provision server making an appointment in the hospital server on the basis of the medical treatment appointment data, receiving the medical treatment data from the hospital server, storing the medical treatment data, and providing the stored medical treatment data to the user terminal or the hospital server.
• a system for providing medical information comprising at least one hospital server storing therein medical treatment data about a medically treated patient, an insurance corporation server receiving the medical treatment data from the hospital server, storing the medical treatment data, and providing the stored medical treatment data and medical information, and at least one user terminal receiving the medical treatment data and the medical information.
• an apparatus for providing medical information comprising a personal medical treatment data management unit receiving medical treatment data about a patient from a medical institution server, and managing the medical treatment data, a personal medical information Database (DB) storing therein the medical treatment data, a security management unit preventing leakage or hacking of corresponding medical treatment data when the medical treatment data is inquired about or is input, and assigning a right to access the medical treatment data, and an appointment management unit for managing details about an appointment for medical treatment of the patient.
• DB personal medical information Database
• a method of providing medical information comprising receiving data about an appointment for medical treatment from a user, creating a list of patients to be medically treated on the basis of the data about the medical treatment appointment, and storing medical treatment data about each medically treated patient, making an appointment with a corresponding hospital server on the basis of the medical treatment appointment data, and receiving and storing the medical treatment data, and providing the stored medical treatment data.
• the present invention is advantageous in that a patient and hospitals share medical treatment data about the patient with each other, thus improving the transparency of the medical treatment by a doctor. Further, the present invention is advantageous in that a patient and hospitals share medical treatment data about the patient with each other, thus reducing the time spent and expenses incurred by the patient and hospital staff.
• FIGS. IA and IB are diagrams showing the overall construction of a system for providing medical information according to embodiments of the present invention.
• FlG. 2 is a block diagram showing the construction of the medical information provision server of the medical information provision system according to an embodiment of the present invention
• FlG. 3 is a flowchart showing a process of reading personal medical treatment data according to an embodiment of the present invention.
• FlG. 4 is a flowchart showing a process of making an appointment for medical treatment according to an embodiment of the present invention.
• These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-usable or computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer usable or computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means that implement the function specified in the flowchart block (or blocks).
• the computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions that execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block (or blocks).
• each block of the flowchart illustrations may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s).
• each block of the flowchart illustrations may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s).
• FIG. IA is a block diagram showing the overall construction of a system for providing medical information according to an embodiment of the present invention.
• the medical information provision system includes a plurality of user terminals 101 for receiving data about an appointment for medical treatment from users and providing medical information about the users, a plurality of hospital servers 102 for creating a list of patients to be medically treated on the basis of the medical treatment appointment data and storing medical treatment data about medically treated patients, and a medical information provision server 103 for making an appointment for medical treatment in the hospital servers on the basis of the medical treatment appointment data, receiving medical treatment data from the hospital servers, storing the medical treatment data, and providing the stored medical treatment data to the user terminals or the hospital servers.
• the medical information provision system may include a pharmacy server
• the medical information provision server 103 can receive data about the medicine purchased by the patient from the pharmacy server 104, store the medicine data, and provide the stored medicine data to each user terminal 101, each hospital server 102 or the pharmacy server 104.
• the medical information provision system may include a tax collection institution server 105 connected to the medical information provision server 103 to receive information about profits obtained from medical treatment in the hospital in which the corresponding patient was medically treated, or information about profits obtained from the sale of medicines by the pharmacy at which the patient purchased the prescribed medicine, and to utilize the received information as data required to collect taxes from the corresponding hospital or pharmacy.
• a tax collection institution server 105 connected to the medical information provision server 103 to receive information about profits obtained from medical treatment in the hospital in which the corresponding patient was medically treated, or information about profits obtained from the sale of medicines by the pharmacy at which the patient purchased the prescribed medicine, and to utilize the received information as data required to collect taxes from the corresponding hospital or pharmacy.
• an insurance corporation server 106 may be connected to the medical information provision server 103 to receive data required for the management of medical insurance, such as the consultation, examination, medical treatment, hospital admission, and surgery records for a patient, medicines purchased by the patient, or materials required for the treatment of the patient, from the medical information provision server 103, thus providing services, such as the levying and calculation of an insurance bill, the management of insurance payments, or health consultation.
• data required for the management of medical insurance such as the consultation, examination, medical treatment, hospital admission, and surgery records for a patient, medicines purchased by the patient, or materials required for the treatment of the patient
• the insurance corporation server 106 determines whether the above- described data required for the management of medical insurance is identical to data about repayment of medical insurance benefits claimed by the hospital, in order to prevent false claims or excessive claims for medical insurance benefits by a hospital or pharmacy against a medical insurance corporation. If it is determined that a claim from a hospital or pharmacy is a false claim or an excessive claim as the result of the determination, the insurance corporation server 106 requests the corresponding hospital to correct the false or excessive claim, thus maintaining transparency in the management of medical insurance and the precision of medical insurance-related data.
• the medical information provision server 103 and the insurance corporation server 106 may be independently provided, or the medical information provision server 103 may be included in the insurance corporation server 106 to allow the medical insurance corporation to manage the medical information provision system.
• the medical information provision system may include a medical supply distribution management server 107 for managing distribution channels for medical supplies when such medical supplies are provided to a hospital or pharmacy.
• a medical supply company provides medical supplies to a hospital or pharmacy
• information about the hospital or pharmacy to which corresponding medical supplies are to be provided through the medical supply distribution management server 107, and information about the provided medical supplies are recorded.
• the medical supply distribution management server 107 provides corresponding information to the insurance corporation server 106.
• the medical insurance corporation can detect information about specific medical supplies, that is, information about the manufacturing company of specific medical supplies, the hospital or pharmacy provided with the specific medical supplies, and the patient who purchased the specific medical supplies through the hospital or pharmacy, through the insurance corporation server 106, and can manage the distribution channels for the specific medical supplies, thus preventing medical supplies, which are not articles for sale, from being provided to the patient through the above procedure.
• Respective servers and terminals of the medical information provision system according to the embodiment of the present invention are connected to each other through wired communication, or wireless communication using Digital Multimedia Broadcast (DMB) or Wireless Broadband (WIBRO) technology, so that a condition required to perform data communication is provided.
• DMB Digital Multimedia Broadcast
• WIBRO Wireless Broadband
• the patient can be provided with verified medical information by the medical information provision server 103 and the insurance corporation server 106 through a security network in wired/wireless communication.
• FlG. IB is a diagram showing the overall construction of a system for providing medical information according to another embodiment of the present invention.
• the medical information provision system includes a plurality of hospital servers 102b for storing medical treatment data about a medically treated patient, an insurance corporation server 103b for receiving the medical treatment data from the hospital servers 102b, storing the medical treatment data, and providing the stored medical treatment data and medical information, a plurality of user terminals 101b for receiving the medical treatment data and the medical information, and a medical insurance review agency server 104b for reviewing data related to claims for insurance benefits from the hospital servers 102b and transmitting review results to the insurance corporation server 103b.
• the insurance corporation server 103b connected to the hospital servers 102b through a wired/wireless data communication network, assigns an access right to the specific Internet Protocol (IP) address of each hospital server 102b, thus strengthening security.
• IP Internet Protocol
• Each hospital server 102b applies to the insurance corporation server 103b for an access right for a specific IP address through a predetermined procedure, so that only the hospital server 102b having the access rights can share medical information and medical treatment data with the insurance corporation server 103b.
• the sharing of medical information and medical treatment data between the insurance corporation server 103b and each hospital server 102b can be realized through a set of rules enabling information to be made compatible between the applications of different health medical fields, for example, Health Level 7 (HL7), which is a standard for text-based data exchange protocol.
• HL7 Health Level 7
• communication between the information systems conforms to the standard, thus the systems can be easily extended.
• the medical treatment data about medically treated patients, stored in the hospital servers 102b, is collected in and managed by the insurance corporation server 103b.
• the insurance corporation server 103b stores the results of medical examination, implemented as a basic task for health promotion business by the national medical insurance corporation, and also provides differentiated reliable health and disease information to protect users from unreliable health information and disease information available on the Internet.
• the insurance corporation server 103b provides information about a medical service provider to satisfy the user's right to know about the medical service provider, and to help the user select a medical service provider. Further, the insurance corporation server 103b provides medical treatment data collected from the hospital servers 102b to each user, provides the convenience of allowing the user to choose to receive medical service through an on-line health consultation as appropriate, compensates for the imbalance in information, enables the reasonable use of medical service, and enables preferable health management.
• An insurance corporation constructs a separate medical portal site through the insurance corporation server 103b, thus allowing each user to inquire about his or her medical treatment data and providing the above-described medical information.
• the portal site can be connected to a billing system (not shown) and can charge a certain amount of money for the provided data through a security network.
• a billing system not shown
• the amount of money to be charged can be set differently depending on the quality of image data.
• billing criteria are set based on the quality of image data, so that the insurance corporation, operating the portal site, charges users provided with the image data from the hospital A at a higher rate than users provided with image data from hospital B, thus providing medical treatment data and medical information about a person.
• corresponding patients' medical treatment data from the hospital servers 102b can be collected in the insurance corporation server 103b, as described above.
• respective hospital servers 102b are connected to the insurance corporation server 103b through a grid system, and thus share patients' medical treatment data with the insurance corporation server 103b.
• the data related to claims for insurance benefits from the hospital server 102b can be reviewed by the medical insurance review agency server 104b through a predetermined review procedure, and then data resulting from the review can be transmitted to the insurance corporation server 103b.
• a medical insurance review agency for managing the medical insurance review agency server 104b functions to prevent the illicit use of medical insurance funds through a procedure such as the analysis and judgment of medical treatment details corresponding to the insurance benefit-related data claimed by the hospital, and the review of claims for medical treatment costs.
• the insurance corporation can pay different insurance benefits depending on the quality of image data obtained by photographing part of the body of the patient in the hospital, when paying the insurance benefits claimed by the hospital.
• This procedure can create a motive using excellent equipment to provide high quality service to patients in a hospital.
• FlG. 2 is a block diagram showing the construction of the medical information provision server of the medical information provision system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
• the medical information provision server includes a personal medical treatment data management unit 201 for receiving medical treatment data about a patient from a medical institution server and managing the medical treatment data, a personal medical information DB 202 for storing the medical treatment data, a security management unit 203 for preventing the leakage or hacking of corresponding medical treatment data when medical treatment data is inquired about or is input, and assigning a right to access the medical treatment data, an appointment management unit 204 for managing details about the medical treatment appointment of each patient, and a control unit 205 for controlling the overall operation of the medical information provision server.
• a personal medical treatment data management unit 201 for receiving medical treatment data about a patient from a medical institution server and managing the medical treatment data
• a personal medical information DB 202 for storing the medical treatment data
• a security management unit 203 for preventing the leakage or hacking of corresponding medical treatment data when medical treatment data is inquired about or is input, and assigning a right to access the medical treatment data
• an appointment management unit 204 for managing details about the medical treatment appointment
• the medical information provision server may further include a documentary evidence management unit 206 for providing data required to issue documentary evidence of medical treatment data about patients, an inquiry history management unit 207 for managing the history of inquiries into the medical treatment data about patients, and a statistical management unit 208 for providing health statistics for patients on the basis of the medical treatment data about patients.
• a documentary evidence management unit 206 for providing data required to issue documentary evidence of medical treatment data about patients
• an inquiry history management unit 207 for managing the history of inquiries into the medical treatment data about patients
• a statistical management unit 208 for providing health statistics for patients on the basis of the medical treatment data about patients.
• the term 'medical institution' means an institution including a hospital and a pharmacy
• the hospital includes a medical treatment institution, such as a typical private hospital, a university hospital, and a health center.
• the term 'medical insurance review agency' means a public institution and department, or a private institution and department, which review and evaluate claims for repayment of medical insurance benefits and set insurance money to be paid when a medical institution claims repayment of medical insurance benefits based on medical insurance regulations for private insurance or public insurance.
• the term 'insurance corporation' means a government institution and department functioning to provide public medical insurance when public medical insurance is provided according to a social security system, or a private institution and department functioning to provide private medical insurance when medical insurance is private medical insurance.
• the term 'medical institution server' means the hospital servers 102 and the pharmacy server 104 constituting the system of FlG. 1.
• 'unit' as used herein, that is, 'module' or 'table' means, but is not limited to, a software or hardware component, such as a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), which performs certain tasks.
• FPGA Field Programmable Gate Array
• ASIC Application Specific Integrated Circuit
• a module may advantageously be configured to reside on the addressable storage medium and may be configured to execute on one or more processors.
• a module may include, by way of example, components, such as software components, object-oriented software components, class components and task components, processes, functions, attributes, procedures, subroutines, segments of program code, drivers, firmware, microcode, circuitry, data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays, and variables.
• components such as software components, object-oriented software components, class components and task components, processes, functions, attributes, procedures, subroutines, segments of program code, drivers, firmware, microcode, circuitry, data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays, and variables.
• the user accesses the medical information provision system, the user is assigned an access right through the security management unit 203 of the medical information provision server 200.
• the term 'user' conceptually includes a patient who desires to make an appointment for medical treatment in a hospital, or to read his or her medical treatment data, through the user terminal 101 shown in FlG. 1, a doctor or a hospital staff member who desires to read previous medical treatment records for a patient to be medically treated or to enter medical treatment records for a patient currently being treated, through the hospital server 102, or a pharmacist who desires to enter information about medicine through the pharmacy server 104 when a patient purchases such medicine according to a prescription from a hospital.
• the security management unit 203 of the medical information provision server 200 includes an encryption processing unit 203a for preventing the leakage or hacking of corresponding medical treatment data when the user inquires about or enters medical treatment data, and a right management unit 203b for grouping respective users at the time of accessing medical treatment data and assigning rights to access the medical treatment data to respective groups.
• an encryption processing and decryption program capable of decrypting encrypted data must be installed.
• an encryption processing and decryption program must also be installed in the encryption processing unit 203a to decrypt user information or task instruction data that is encrypted by and input from the user terminal 101 or the medical institution server 102 or 104.
• the right management unit 203b is connected to a right information DB (not shown) in which details about access to medical treatment data and possible tasks for medical treatment data are coded with respect to respective user groups, thus managing rights.
• the user when a user is a patient, the user can be classified in the 'patient' group, and can be authorized to access the medical information provision system, to read all of his or her medical treatment data, and to use various services related to medical treatment data, but is prohibited from entering medical treatment data.
• the user when a user is a doctor, the user can be classified in the 'doctor' group, and can be authorized to access the medical information provision system, to read the medical treatment data about a patient to be treated, and to enter medical treatment content.
• a corresponding group can be classified in detail as a 'doctor- surgeon' group, so that the reading of medical treatment data can be restricted according to each clinical department.
• the personal medical treatment data management unit 201 is the core part of the medical information provision system and is connected to a basic information DB 202a for storing information, such as a medical treatment date, the hospital in which the medical treatment was given, the clinical department, the doctor in charge, details about medical treatment provided by the doctor in charge, medical treatment costs, a prescribed medicine, the pharmacy at which the medicine was purchased, the pharmacist in charge, and the charge for medicine, and a video/image information DB 202b for storing medical image information, such as an MRI picture, or image information, such as a Tag Image File Format (TIFF) image, or a Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPG) image, thus managing the basic information and the video/image information.
• a basic information DB 202a for storing information, such as a medical treatment date, the hospital in which the medical treatment was given, the clinical department, the doctor in charge, details about medical treatment provided by the doctor in charge, medical treatment costs, a prescribed medicine, the pharmacy at which the medicine was purchased, the pharmacist in charge, and the
• the user can conveniently inquire about data that is arranged with respect to the medical treatment date, medical treatment hospital, clinical department, or doctor in charge, through the personal medical treatment data management unit 201. If data inquired about is medical image information, such as an X-ray picture or an MRI picture, corresponding image information can be viewed in accordance with Digital Image and Communication in Medicine (DICOM), which is a standard for an image storage method and communication method, as a standard in the medical imaging field.
• DICOM Digital Image and Communication in Medicine
• the appointment management unit 204 handles appointments for providing medical treatment to the user.
• the user makes an appointment for medical treatment with a hospital connected to the medical information provision system, stores appointment details in an appointment management DB (not shown) existing in the appointment management unit 204, and manages the stored appointment details.
• the appointment management unit 204 transmits the details about the appointment for medical treatment of the user to the hospital server 102, thus making an appointment for medical treatment.
• the appointment management unit 204 transmits information about the cancellation of the medical treatment appointment to the hospital server 102.
• a plurality of hospitals constructs respective websites to allow the user to make an appointment for medical treatment and later confirm the details about the medical treatment appointment.
• the user in order to confirm the details about a medical treatment appointment after the medical treatment appointment has been made, the user must access the corresponding hospital site again and must separately remember details about medical treatment appointments and cor- responding hospitals when appointments for medical treatment have been made with several hospitals.
• the appointment management unit 204 manages and displays the details about medical treatment appointments of the user, thus allowing the user to view the current state of his or her medical treatment appointment at a glance.
• the documentary evidence management unit 206 is provided with data required to issue documentary evidence of medical treatment of a patient, such as a medical treatment receipt, a medical examination certificate, a doctor's observation, or a medical certificate, through the personal medical treatment data management unit 201, and provides required information to issue documentary evidence through a website using the medical information provision system through DICOM, or through wired/ wireless data communication, such as email or fax. Further, the documentary evidence management unit 206 is connected to a billing system (not shown), and is then capable of charging a certain amount of money through a security network whenever documentary evidence of the medical treatment of a patient is issued.
• a billing system not shown
• the inquiry history management unit 207 is another security device for preventing the leakage of the medical treatment data about the user.
• Information such as the ID and name of the user who is reading medical treatment data, the reading time, or the reading place (institution), is stored in an inquiry history DB (not shown) included in the inquiry history management unit 207.
• the user can himself or herself determine whether the medical treatment data has been leaked to an unauthorized user by inquiring about users who have read his or her medical treatment data.
• the statistical management unit 208 can be provided with medical treatment data about the user by the personal medical treatment data management unit 201 and can provide statistical data related to the medical treatment of the user.
• statistics indicating the hospital or clinical department in which the highest number of medical treatments has been given, or the doctor who has conducted the highest number of medical treatments, in a specific year or for a few recent years, can be provided. Further, statistics, indicating medical treatment costs or the charge for medicine for a specific period, can be provided.
• the statistical management unit 208 can provide a list of statistical tasks which can be provided to the user, and can provide the results of statistical tasks through an optimal query which has been previously coded for each statistical task.
• the business or entity providing the medical information provision system can collect statistics of data related to the medical treatment of residents in a specific region, a specific enterprise, or all users, on the basis of statistics related to the medical treatments of respective users which are provided by the statistic management unit 208.
• the business or entity can collect various statistical data, such as which diseases are increasing at the highest rate compared to the previous year, or which medicine was consumed most in a specific year, thus utilizing the statistical data as important data for preventing disease or establishing medical policies.
• FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a process of reading personal medical treatment data according to an embodiment of the present invention.
• the encryption processing unit 203a of the security management unit 203 encrypts subsequent processes, and then protects the processes from hacking and leakage at step S301.
• the process of the user gaining access is a procedure of authenticating the user as a user who is authorized to use the medical information provision system, and is a procedure of entering information, such as an ID or a password, or performing certification.
• the right management unit 203b of the security management unit 203 determines whether the ID and password entered by the user are valid through the right information DB (not shown) included in the right management unit 203b, finds the group to which the corresponding ID belongs, and assigns a task right, assigned to the corresponding group, to the user at step S302.
• the control unit 205 can display menus operable by the user depending on the user's right, assigned at step S302, through the interface (not shown) of the medical information provision system at step S303.
• the personal medical treatment data management unit 201 loads medical treatment data matching the ID of the user from the personal medical information DB 202 at step S305, and shows the medical treatment data to the user in the form of a list at step S306.
• the personal medical treatment data management unit 201 stores information about the user who has read the personal medical treatment data, and an inquiry history in the inquiry history DB (not shown) via the control unit 205 at step S307.
• FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a process of making an appointment for medical treatment according to an embodiment of the present invention.
• the appointment management unit 204 provides a list of hospitals connected to the medical information provision system to the user at step S402. The user selects a desired hospital from the provided hospital list at step S403.
• the appointment management unit 204 is connected to the server of the hospital selected by the user, and is provided with information about available clinical departments and available doctors in charge, with which the user can make an appointment, at step S404.
• the user selects a desired clinical department and a desired doctor to give medical treatment with reference to the information about the available clinical departments and the available doctors, provided at step S404, and can set an appointment for medical treatment at an available time, for which no other person has made an appointment, at step S405.
• the appointment management unit 204 stores details about appointment in the appointment management DB (not shown) included in the appointment management unit 204 at step S406, and later provides the details about the appointment to the user.
• the appointment management unit 204 can check the time, for which the medical treatment appointment is scheduled, and can notify the user of the details about the medical treatment appointment one day or several hours before the medical treatment appointment time using a short message service provided by a mobile communication company.
• the medical information provision system notifies the user of the addition of new history in real time using a short message service provided by a mobile communication company taking advantage of the fact that a history of the issuance of documentary evidence is collected in the documentary evidence management DB (not shown) existing in the documentary evidence management unit 206 at the time of issuing documentary evidence and an inquiry history is collected in the inquiry history DB (not shown) existing in the inquiry history management unit 207 at the time of reading medical treatment data. Therefore, the fear that an unauthorized person may access the user's medical treatment data or may illegally use the medical treatment data without permission can be eliminated.
• the method, apparatus and system for providing medical information according to the present invention, constructed as described above, have the following one or more advantages.
• the present invention is advantageous in that a patient and hospitals share medical treatment data about the patient with each other, thus improving the transparency of the medical treatment by a doctor.
• the present invention is advantageous in that a patient and hospitals share medical treatment data about the patient with each other, thus reducing the time spent and expenses incurred by the patient and hospital staff.
• the present invention is advantageous in that it can collect various statistical data related to medical treatment on the basis of medical treatment data about a patient.
• the present invention is advantageous in that national organizations or hospitals utilize various statistical data collected on the basis of medical treatment data about patients, thus greatly contributing to the health of people and guaranteeing the collection of taxes.
• the present invention is advantageous in that it guarantees transparency when a hospital requests a medical insurance corporation to pay insurance benefits, and maintains the accuracy of medical insurance-related data processed by the medical insurance corporation and the hospital. [126] The present invention is advantageous in that it manages distribution channels for medical supplies, thus preventing medical supplies, which are not articles for sale, from being provided to a patient. [ 127] Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have has been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims. [128] The scope of the present invention is defined by the accompanying claims.

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  • 2006-05-30 KR KR1020060048995A patent/KR20070115107A/ko not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2006-09-01 WO PCT/KR2006/003473 patent/WO2007139250A1/en active Application Filing

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