System for communication of health care data

Abstract

An apparatus for communicating health care data from a sender to a receiver is provided. The apparatus has a first computer system, a second computer system, and a rules engine. The first computer system has health care data stored therein. The second computer system is in operable communication with, and is configured to extract the health care data from, the first computer system. The rules engine normalizes the extracted health care data to a predefined format. The rules engine defines a plurality of health care data fields in the predefined format, as well as a plurality of relationships between fields of normalized data.

What is claimed: 
     
         1 . A computerized method of building an electronic health record of each of a plurality of patients from a plurality of healthcare providers, wherein one of the electronic health records is selectively accessible by a corresponding one of the plurality of patients, and wherein at least one of the electronic health records is selectively accessible by a second authorized healthcare provider of the plurality of healthcare providers, wherein the computerized method provides the steps of:
 providing a healthcare provider computer that includes a memory for storing instructions and data;   providing a database on the healthcare provider computer containing stored electronic medical records of the plurality of patients, wherein each of the electronic medical records of the plurality of patients comprise electronic healthcare data corresponding to the each of the plurality of patients, wherein the each of the electronic medical records of the plurality of patients are maintained and used by at least one healthcare provider of the plurality of patients in regular care of the plurality of patients, and wherein the healthcare provider computer further includes a processor that executes the instructions according to the following steps;   receiving additional healthcare data for the each patient of the plurality of patients from at least one healthcare provider database wherein the at least one healthcare provider database stores and maintains the additional healthcare data for the each patient of the plurality of patients in a format that is incompatible with the electronic medical records stored on the database of the healthcare provider computer;   inserting each of the additional healthcare data for the each patient of the plurality of patients from the at least one healthcare provider database in separate fields in the database;   normalizing the additional healthcare data of the each patient of the plurality of patients from the plurality of healthcare provider databases to create the electronic personal health record of the each patient of the plurality of patients with remodeled additional healthcare data of the each patient of the plurality of patients as expressed by the normalized format according to a process that is implemented by the following steps:
 a. establishing a predetermined condition wherein any of the additional healthcare data of the each patient of the plurality of patients that has:
 (i) the same meaning but expressed in different formats are normalized into the normalized format; or 
 (ii) not been previously been subject to the normalized format are normalized into the normalized format; 
 (iii) the normalized format is a format of a type that displays the additional healthcare data of the each patient of the plurality of patients from one or more sources associated with the plurality of patients such that any of the additional healthcare data associated with the plurality of patients having the same meaning are expressed in the same format despite any prior formatting according to the following steps of:
 (a) providing a predetermined expression as the normalized format for each of the additional healthcare data of the each patient of the plurality of patients in each of their respective fields; 
 (b) remodeling the additional healthcare data of the each patient of the plurality of patients such that any of the fields in the normalized format that correspond to the separate fields of the additional healthcare data of the each patient of the plurality of patients not already expressed as predetermined by the normalized format are expressed as predetermined by the normalized format; and 
 
 
 b. populating the electronic personal healthcare record of the each patient of the plurality of patients with the remodeled additional healthcare data of the each patient of the plurality of patients as expressed by the normalized format; 
   receiving a request from a healthcare provider of the plurality of healthcare providers for a selection of the electronic personal healthcare record of a selected patient from the plurality of patients on the healthcare provider computer through a healthcare provider user interface;   retrieving the requested selection from the electronic personal healthcare record of the selected patient from the plurality of patients on the healthcare provider computer;   displaying the requested selection from the electronic personal healthcare record on the healthcare provider user interface;   receiving a provider entry on the healthcare provider computer regarding clinical care of the selected patient from the at least one healthcare provider through the healthcare provider user interface, wherein the provider entry is selected from the group consisting of at least one of a physician's note, laboratory results, imaging results, test results, and a medication concerning the selected patient;   storing the provider entry regarding the clinical care of the selected patient in the electronic personal healthcare record of the selected patient on the healthcare provider computer;   establishing a secure connection via the Internet between the healthcare provider computer and a computer system of the selected patient;   retrieving the electronic personal healthcare record of the selected patient on the healthcare provider computer;   sending at least a portion of the electronic personal healthcare record of the selected patient to the computer system of the selected patient, wherein at least the provider entry made by the health care provider regarding the clinical care of the selected patient is sent for display on the computer system of the selected patient, wherein the provider entry displayed is selected from the group consisting of at least one of the physician's note, the laboratory results, the imaging results, the test results, and the medication concerning the selected patient;   receiving an access list on the healthcare provider computer from the computer system of the selected patient over the Internet, wherein the access list is indicative of access rights to at least the portion of the electronic personal healthcare record of the selected patient, wherein the access list includes a first set of access rights associated with the second health care provider and a second set of access rights associated with one or more family members of the selected patient;   receiving a separate request on the healthcare provider computer for the at least the portion of the electronic personal healthcare record of the selected patient on the healthcare provider computer from the second health care provider of the selected patient;   detecting the access rights on the healthcare provider computer for the second health care provider to grant access to the at least the portion of the electronic personal healthcare record of the selected patient based on the access list; and   transmitting the at least the portion of the electronic personal healthcare record of the selected patient from the healthcare provider computer to the second healthcare provider responsive to detection that the second health care provider has been granted access to the at least the portion of the electronic personal healthcare record of the selected patient based on the access list.