System and method of aggregating and disseminating in-case-of-emergency medical and personal information

Abstract

A system for aggregating and disseminating in-case-of-emergency (ICE) medical information to medical units. The system includes an ICE medical record server that stores medical records of respective subscribers, and automatically receive updates from health service entities visited by subscribers. When contacted by emergency dispatchers or first responders, the server sends subscribers medical information to first responders, emergency management agencies directly, via a dispatcher, or via a computer aided dispatch (CAD) system. The medical information may be arranged, emphasized, and/or filtered in a manner relevant to the on-going emergency. A communication device may wirelessly receive the medical information and pre-populate a pre-hospital care form with the information, which may be further orally annotated by the first responder. The completed PCR may then be sent to a PCR server for subsequent access by medical units that subsequently treat the subscriber. The medical server may further assist a public health agency to disseminate emergency information to selected subscribers, responders, and public health alerting systems. An ICE personal server for storing important personal documents is also disclosed. A PCR server is also disclosed that can disseminate aggregate PCR information in near real-time to an emergency management agency (EMA) system for developing incident response plans during a wide area emergency.

1 . A medical record server adapted to:
 create a medical record data object including medical information of a subscriber;   receive one or more updates to said medical information from an electronic medical record (EMR) server of a health service entity that provided service to said subscriber;   modify said medical record data object to incorporate said one or more updates to said medical information;   receive a request for said updated medical information from a communication device of a first responder; and   send said updated medical information to said communication device of said first responder.   
     
     
         2 . The medical record server of  claim 1 , wherein said health service entity includes a physician practice visited by said subscriber. 
     
     
         3 . The medical record server of  claim 1 , wherein said health service entity includes a pharmacy visited by said subscriber. 
     
     
         4 . The medical record server of  claim 1 , wherein said health service entity includes a hospital visited by said subscriber. 
     
     
         5 . The medical record server of  claim 1 , wherein said one or more updates to said medical information is received by way of a wide area network. 
     
     
         6 . The medical record server of  claim 1 , wherein said one or more updates are received on a periodic basis. 
     
     
         7 . The medical record server of  claim 1 , wherein said one or more updates are received in response to said subscriber visiting said health service entity. 
     
     
         8 . The medical record server of  claim 1 , further adapted to send a request for said one or more updates to said electronic medical record (EMR) server of said health service entity. 
     
     
         9 . A medical record server adapted to:
 create a medical record data object including medical information of a subscriber;   receive a request for said medical information from a communication device of a first responder, wherein said request includes information related to an on-going emergency experienced by said subscriber;   access said medical information from said medical record data object in response to said request;   arrange, emphasize, and/or filter said medical information in accordance with said information related to said on-going emergency; and   send said arranged, emphasized, and/or filtered medical information to said communication device of said first responder.   
     
     
         10 . The medical record server of  claim 9 , wherein said request includes an identifier associated with said medical record data object. 
     
     
         11 . The medical record server of  claim 10 , further adapted to use said identifier to access said medical information from said medical record data object. 
     
     
         12 . The medical record server of  claim 9 , wherein said request for said medical information is received from said communication device of said first responder by way of a wide area network. 
     
     
         13 . The medical record server of  claim 9 , wherein said arranged, emphasized, and/or filtered medical information is sent to said communication device of said first responder by way of said wide area network. 
     
     
         14 . A medical record server adapted to:
 create a medical record data object including medical information of a subscriber;   receive a request for said medical information from a communication device of an emergency dispatcher;   access said medical information from said medical record data object in response to said request; and   send said medical information to said communication device of said emergency dispatcher.   
     
     
         15 . The medical record server of  claim 14 , wherein said request includes an identifier associated with said medical record data object. 
     
     
         16 . The medical record server of  claim 14 , wherein said request for said medical information is received from said communication device of said emergency dispatcher by way of a wide area network. 
     
     
         17 . The medical record server of  claim 14 , wherein said medical information is sent to said communication device of said emergency dispatcher by way of said wide area network. 
     
     
         18 . A medical record server adapted to:
 create a medical record data object including medical information of a subscriber;   receive a request for said medical information from a communication device of an emergency dispatcher, wherein said request includes information identifying a first responder;   access said medical information from said medical record data object in response to said request; and   send said medical information to a communication device of said first responder using said information identifying said first responder.   
     
     
         19 . The medical record server of  claim 18 , wherein said request further includes information related to an on-going emergency experienced by said subscriber, and further adapted to send said information related to said on-going emergency to said communication device of said first responder. 
     
     
         20 . A communication system for use by a first responder, comprising:
 a mobile communication unit for wireless communicating with a pre-hospital care (PCR) server and a medical record server; and   a portable communication unit for wirelessly communicating with said mobile communication unit.   
     
     
         21 . The communication system of  claim 20 , wherein said mobile communication unit is adapted to communicate with said pre-hospital care (PCR) server via a long-distance wireless protocol. 
     
     
         22 . The communication system of  claim 21 , wherein said long-distance wireless protocol includes a WiFi mesh protocol. 
     
     
         23 . The communication system of  claim 20 , wherein said portable communication unit is adapted to communicate with said mobile communication unit via a short-distance wireless protocol. 
     
     
         24 . The communication system of  claim 23 , wherein said short-distance wireless protocol includes a Bluetooth protocol. 
     
     
         25 . The communication system of  claim 20 , wherein said portable communication unit comprises a voice capturing module to generate an audio file from speech received from said first responder. 
     
     
         26 . The communication system of  claim 25 , wherein said portable communication unit comprises a speech recognition module to recognize predefined voice commands pertaining to PCR fields from said audio file. 
     
     
         27 . The communication system of  claim 26 , wherein said portable communication unit comprises a pre-hospital care (PCR) form module adapted to:
 receive medical information of a subscriber from said medical record server by way of said mobile communication unit;   pre-populate a pre-hospital care (PCR) form with at least some of said medical information of said subscriber; and   add at least some of said text to said PCR form to generate a filled PCR form.   
     
     
         28 . The communication system of  claim 27 , wherein said portable communication unit is further adapted to wirelessly transmit said filled PCR form to said mobile communication unit, and wherein said mobile communication unit is further adapted to wirelessly transmit said filled PCR form to said pre-hospital care (PCR) server. 
     
     
         29 . The communication system of  claim 26 , wherein said mobile communication unit comprises a pre-hospital care (PCR) form module adapted to:
 receive medical information of a subscriber from said medical record server;   pre-populate a pre-hospital care (PCR) form with at least some of said medical information of said subscriber;   receive said text from said portable communication unit;   add at least some of said text to said PCR form to generate a filled PCR form; and   wirelessly transmit said filled PCR form to said pre-hospital care (PCR) server.   
     
     
         30 . The communication system of  claim 20 , wherein said mobile communication unit comprises a speech recognition module to recognize predefined voice commands pertaining to PCR fields from said audio file received from said portable communication device. 
     
     
         31 . The communication system of  claim 20 , wherein said mobile communication unit is further adapted to:
 receive said audio file from said portable communication unit; and   wirelessly transmit said audio file to said pre-hospital care (PCR) server.   
     
     
         32 . A pre-hospital care (PCR) server adapted to:
 receive medical information of a subscriber from a communication device of a first responder;   receive an audio file from said communication device of said first responder;   convert speech in said audio file into text; and   generate a pre-hospital care (PCR) record including said medical information and said text.   
     
     
         33 . A medical record server adapted to:
 create a database including a plurality of medical record data object containing medical information of respective subscribers;   receive a request to disseminate an emergency message based on a selection criteria;   receive a request to disseminate aggregated emergency data based on a selection criteria;   search said database to determine subscribers that meet said selection criteria; and   send said aggregated emergency data to a selected entity.   
     
     
         34 . The medical record server of  claim 33 , further adapted to:
 create a database of first responders;   search said database to determine first responders that meet said selection criteria; and   send said emergency message to said selected first responders.   
     
     
         35 . The medical record server of  claim 33 , wherein said selection criteria relates to a particular geographical area. 
     
     
         36 . The medical record server of  claim 33 , wherein said selection criteria relates to a medical or environmental condition. 
     
     
         37 . A personal record server adapted to:
 send a prompt to a communication device of a subscriber for one or more specific personal documents;   receive said one or more specific personal documents from said communication device of said subscriber; and   create a personal record data object containing said one or more specific personal documents.   
     
     
         38 . The personal record server of  claim 37 , further adapted to:
 receive a request for said one or more specific personal documents from a communication device of a requesting party; and   send said one or more specific personal documents to said communication device of said requesting party.   
     
     
         39 . The personal record server of  claim 37 , wherein said one or more specific personal documents are respectively one or more legal documents. 
     
     
         40 . The personal record server of  claim 37 , wherein said one or more specific personal documents are respectively one or more mortgage documents. 
     
     
         41 . The personal record server of  claim 37 , wherein said one or more specific personal documents are respectively one or more medical record documents. 
     
     
         42 . The personal record server of  claim 37 , wherein said one or more specific personal documents are respectively one or more insurance documents. 
     
     
         43 . The personal record server of  claim 37 , further adapted to:
 receive information-to-be-distributed and meta tag information from a third party;   select subscribers based on the meta tag information; and   send the information-to-be-distributed to the selected subscribers.   
     
     
         44 . A medical record server adapted to:
 create a medical record data object including medical information of a subscriber;   receive a request for said medical information from a computer aided dispatch (CAD) server;   access said medical information from said medical record data object in response to said request; and   send said medical information to the CAD server.   
     
     
         45 . A pre-hospital care record (PCR) server adapted to:
 receive a plurality of PCRs from communication devices of first responders;   aggregate the information from the PCRs; and   send the aggregated PCR information to an emergency management agency (EMA) server.   
     
     
         46 . An ICE medical record server adapted to:
 receive a request for aggregated subscriber medical record information from an EMA server;   access said subscriber medical record information from said ICE medical record server in response to said request; and   send said subscriber medical information to the EMA server.