System for exchanging medical information

Abstract

A server-based system enables exchange of medical messages between users, monitors for a probability of communications breakdown likely to result in medical error, and instigates corrective actions to prevent communications breakdown from occurring. Monitoring may include whether a user has read or acted upon a message received within a specified timeframe and whether a user has specified routing preferences for delivering a message to a user better suited to read or act on the message. Corrective actions include the determination of and routing of messages to an optimal recipient and the generation of alerts to subsequent users where a message has not been read or acted upon within a specified timeframe.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A medical messaging system for exchanging patient-related information, the system comprising:
 a non-transitory computer-readable medium having software residing thereon, the software executable by a processor to direct the performance of operations for:
 generating a user interface effective to enable a first user to submit a messaging request associated with a medical patient; 
 identifying one or more healthcare providers associated with the patient; 
 generating upon the user's request a message associated with the patient, the message comprising patient-related content; 
 determining a recipient for the message; 
 applying a risk assessment algorithm effective to determine a first value associated with a likelihood of communication breakdown associated with the patient; 
 comparing the first value to a second value as a risk maximum threshold; and 
 if the likelihood of communication breakdown exceeds the risk maximum, generating an alert associated with the patient to an alert recipient chosen from the one or more healthcare providers. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the risk assessment algorithm determines the first value by implementing:
 an elapsed time associated with the message, the elapsed time comprising a duration of time since the message was generated;   a read status associated with the message, the read status comprising information pertaining to whether the recipient has viewed the message; and   a time limit associated with the read status.   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein determining the risk maximum threshold further comprises comparing the read status and the elapsed time against the time limit. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 2 , the risk assessment algorithm further effective to identify a message priority associated with the message, wherein one or more of the time limit and the recipient are determined according to the message priority. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , the software further executable by the processor to direct the performance of:
 identifying and classifying medically significant information from the patient-related content; and   combining the medically significant information into a template that is displayed within a graphical user interface.   
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the software identifies the medically significant information by applying a natural language processing algorithm to the patient-related content. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 5 , the software further executable by the processor to direct the performance of enabling the recipient to override the classification of the medically significant information. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , the software further executable by the processor to direct the performance of:
 identifying and classifying messaging statistics from the message; and   combining the messaging statistics into a template that is displayed within a graphical user interface.   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the messaging statistics are displayed within the graphical user interface with respect to the likelihood of communications breakdown. 
     
     
         10 . A medical messaging system for exchanging patient-related information, the system comprising one or more computers configured to:
 identify a medical patient;   identify one or more healthcare providers associated with the patient;   generate a message associated with the patient, the message comprising patient-related content;   determine an intended recipient for the message;   apply an escalation workflow algorithm effective to determine an optimal recipient associated with the intended recipient; and   deliver the message to an endpoint device associated with the optimal recipient.   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the escalation workflow algorithm is effective to determine the optimal recipient according to a routing preference of the intended recipient, the routing preference comprising date data, time data, location data, and availability data. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the one or more computers further configured to determine the location data by identifying a wireless network visible to the endpoint device, the wireless network chosen from at least one of a wireless fidelity network or a cellular tower. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the one or more computers are further configured to determine the location data by identifying a set of GPS coordinates for the endpoint device. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the escalation workflow algorithm is further effective to determine the optimal recipient by comparing the routing preference against routing information stored upon a call systems database. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the one or more computers are further configured to update the routing information of the call systems database with the routing preference of the intended recipient. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the message is accessible by the endpoint device using a secure session, and
 wherein the message does not persist on the endpoint device after the secure session is terminated.   
     
     
         17 . A messaging system comprising:
 a perimeter communications network comprising a server interface for a plurality of user computing devices;   a server network communicatively linked to the perimeter network via a secure message bus, the server network comprising a processor, a data storage network and a non-transitory computer-readable medium having program instructions residing thereon, the instructions executable by the processor to direct the performance of operations comprising:
 providing a user interface platform executable from the plurality of user computing devices, the user interface platform effective to
 enable users to submit respective message routing preferences for storage in the data storage network, and 
 enable a first user to submit a messaging request associated with a medical patient, the messaging request defining a user as an intended recipient; 
 
 in response to the messaging request, identifying one or more users as healthcare providers associated with the patient; 
 generating a message associated with the patient, the message comprising patient-related content; 
 determining an actual recipient for the message from among the identified one or more healthcare providers based at least in part on message routing preferences associated with the intended recipient; 
 applying a risk assessment algorithm effective to determine a first value associated with a likelihood of communication breakdown associated with the patient; 
 comparing the first value to a second value as a risk maximum threshold, wherein if the first value exceeds the second, further generating an alert associated with the patient to an alert recipient chosen from the one or more healthcare providers; 
 calculating messaging benchmarks associated with the patient based on expected messaging activity for each of one or more user-selectable benchmark criteria; and 
 user-selectably generating a graphical representation of the calculated benchmarks with respect to actual messaging activity associated with the patient, the graphical representation displayable on a respective user interface platform. 
   
     
     
         18 . The messaging system of  claim 17 , wherein the user-selectable messaging criteria comprises one or more of a patient condition, healthcare provider, healthcare facility, and date of admission to a healthcare facility. 
     
     
         19 . The messaging system of  claim 17 , wherein determining the first value further comprises:
 an elapsed time associated with the message, the elapsed time comprising a duration of time since the message was generated;   a read status associated with the message, the read status comprising information pertaining to whether the recipient has viewed the message; and   a time limit associated with the read status.   
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein determining the risk maximum threshold further comprises comparing the read status and the elapsed time against the time limit.