Systems and methods for supplementing an electronic medical record

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided to supplement an electronic record with additional information related to the electronic record. The additional information is provided to the user of the electronic record as a banner, ribbon or pop-up window that overlays or “floats” over the electronic record. The user can interact with the ribbon to obtain the additional information or ignore the ribbon and the ribbon can be hidden automatically. The ribbon can be launched in response to the user accessing a specific screen or page of the electronic record. The ribbon can provide the user with the additional information that is related to the current screen or page of the electronic record. The additional information can include information obtained from other sources that is not part of the electronic record and calculations and metrics that are not part of the electronic record.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system to provide additional information to supplement an electronic medical record of a patient, the system comprising:
 a first server computer comprising a first patient database, the first patient database including first patient information associated with a plurality of patients;   a second server computer comprising a second patient database, the second patient database including second patient information associated with the plurality of patients and medical information related to the first patient information, the second patient information being different from the first patient information;   at least one user device in communication with the first server computer, the at least one user device having an output interface to display a page of an electronic medical record provided to the at least one user device by an EMR application executed by the first server computer, the page of the electronic medical record being associated with a patient of the plurality of patients and including at least a portion of the first patient information associated with the patient from the first patient database; and   each user device comprising a processor and a ribbon application executable by the processor, the ribbon application, when executed by the processor, is configured to:
 determine information about at least one displayed object from the displayed page of the electronic medical record; 
 identify the displayed page of the electronic medical record on the user device based on the determined information about the at least one displayed object; 
 identify the patient associated with the displayed page of the electronic medical record based on the determined information about the at least one displayed object; 
 obtain at least a portion of the second patient information associated with the identified patient from the second patient database in response to the identification of the displayed page of the electronic medical record and the identification of the patient associated with the displayed page of the electronic medical record; and 
 display a window in the output interface of the at least one user device, wherein the displayed window overlays a portion of the displayed page of the electronic medical record and includes the at least a portion of the second patient information associated with the patient from the second patient database. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the ribbon application is configured to access a plurality of elements associated with the at least one displayed object, wherein the plurality of elements are generated from an additional application separate from the EMR application, each element of the plurality of elements including information about one or more properties of a corresponding displayed object. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the additional application comprises an accessibility framework executed by the processor of the at least one user device and the accessibility framework is configured to identify the plurality of elements associated with the at least one displayed object. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the ribbon application is configured to review text information in the plurality of elements, wherein the text information is obtained from the one or more properties of the at least one displayed object. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the ribbon application is configured to detect an occurrence of a trigger event associated with the displayed page of the electronic medical record by analyzing the plurality of elements to identify the trigger event. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the one or more properties include a textual content property and a control type property, wherein the textual content property represents a text stream of a text container in the corresponding displayed object and the control type property defines an appearance and functionality of the corresponding displayed object. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the ribbon application is configured to hide the displayed window in response to a predetermined time period elapsing without a user interaction with the launched window. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the second patient database is configured to calculate at least one metric for the patient using the second patient information associated with the patient and the medical information, the calculated at least one metric is stored in the second patient database. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the calculated at least one metric includes one or more of an estimated blood loss for the patient, an estimated effective dose of radiation received by the patient, a risk for a  Clostridium difficile  infection, a risk of anemia from blood loss or a risk of cancer from received radiation. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the at least a portion of the second patient information associated with the patient included in the displayed window includes the at least one metric. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the displayed window includes one or more frames, the one or more frames displaying the at least a portion of the second patient information associated with the patient included in the displayed window. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the one or more frames include one or more of a patient frame with information on the patient, an observation frame with information on a length of stay at a medical facility by the patient, a medication frame with information on medications received by the patient, a laboratory frame with information on laboratory procedures performed on the patient, a radiation frame with information on radiation received by the patient or a transfusions frame with information on transfusions received by the patient. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the ribbon application is configured to transform the displayed window in response to a user interaction with one of the medication frame, the laboratory frame or the radiation frame, the transformed displayed window includes an additional portion of the second patient information associated with the patient from the second patient database, the additional portion of the second patient information is selected by the ribbon application in response to the identified patient and the frame interacted with by the user. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the ribbon application is configured to detect an occurrence of a trigger event associated with the displayed page of the electronic medical record, and wherein the display of the window in the output interface occurs in response to the trigger event. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the trigger event includes one or more of a predetermined page of the electronic medical record being displayed or a predetermined field being included in the displayed page of the electronic medical record. 
     
     
         16 . A system to provide additional information to supplement an electronic medical record of a patient, the system comprising:
 a first server computer comprising a first patient database, the first patient database including first patient information associated with a plurality of patients;   a second server computer comprising a second patient database, the second patient database including second patient information associated with the plurality of patients and medical information related to the first patient information, the second patient information being different from the first patient information;   at least one user device in communication with the first server computer, the at least one user device having an output interface to display a page of an electronic medical record provided to the at least one user device by an EMR application executed by the first server computer, the page of the electronic medical record being associated with a patient of the plurality of patients and including at least a portion of the first patient information associated with the patient from the first patient database; and   each user device comprising a processor and a ribbon application executable by the processor, the ribbon application, when executed by the processor, is configured to:
 determine a healthcare provider viewing the displayed page of the electronic medical record; 
 determine information about at least one displayed object from the displayed page of the electronic medical record; 
 identify the displayed page of the electronic medical record on the user device and the patient associated with the displayed page of the electronic medical record based on the determined information about the at least one displayed object; 
 obtain at least a portion of the second patient information associated with the identified patient from the second patient database based on the healthcare provider, the identification of the displayed page of the electronic medical record, and the identification of the patient associated with the displayed page of the electronic medical record; and 
 provide a notification to the healthcare provider, wherein the notification includes the at least a portion of the second patient information associated with the patient from the second patient database. 
   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the at least a portion of the second patient information includes a recommendation for the healthcare provider. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the recommendation for the healthcare provider includes a recommendation for a lower cost medication for the patient. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the at least a portion of the second patient information includes cost information on one or more of medications or laboratory procedures. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the at least a portion of the second patient information includes a risk level for the patent, wherein the risk level is calculated by the second database.