Clinical management system for chronic illnesses using telecommunication

Abstract

Patients with chronic illnesses resist using conventional automated healthcare management systems to supply necessary clinical data because such systems feel impersonal, preferring to actually visit a clinic where the patient interacts with various healthcare practitioners. In this invention, the patient interacts with a clinical management system via a series of initial GUI screens that replicate the experience of actually visiting the clinic. Additional screens allow the patient to submit clinical information, to communicate with that patient's healthcare practitioner and other healthcare practitioners, to access management information that aids the patient in managing that patient's chronic illness, and to access educational information regarding that chronic illness. The clinical management system may be used to manage a plurality of different chronic illnesses while providing a consistent look and feel to the screens. At least one appearance characteristic can be altered to indicate the particular chronic illness to which a screen applies.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]The present application is a divisional of and claims the benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09 / 967,923, filed Oct. 2, 2001, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein.STATEMENT OF GOVERNMENT SUPPORT[0002]This invention was made with U.S. Government support under Grant Number NOI-LM6-3544 awarded by the National Institutes of Health and Grant Number DAMDI7-94-V-4015 awarded by the Department of Defense. The U.S. Government has certain rights in the invention.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]1. Field of Invention[0004]The invention generally relates to using a distributed network to clinically manage chronic illnesses.[0005]2. Description of Related Art[0006]Managing chronic illnesses is both costly and difficult. Both patients and healthcare practitioners wish to decrease costs and inconvenience by reducing unnecessary clinic visits. However, the management quality of a chronic illness increases with the fr...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The invention provides a clinical management system that simulates an actual visit to a physical clinic directed to managing a chronic illness. The system allows patients with chronic illnesses to interact with a personal healthcare practitioner and other staff members of the clinic through a series of graphical user interface screens. The screens replicate the experience of actually visiting an actual clinic and allow patients to submit updated clinical information, communicate with their personal healthcare practitioner, and access current and archived information regarding their chronic illness. The system can manage multiple chronic illnesses using a consistent metaphor for the various chronic illnesses. The elevator metaphor replicates the organization of an actual clinic into separate floors for each different chronic illness. The technical effects of the invention include improving patient compliance, reducing healthcare insurer costs, and increasing patient access to healthcare services."

Problems solved by technology

However, patients with chronic illnesses often resist using such systems as that described in the 688 patent because such systems often feel impersonal.

Patients also often fail to supply the clinical data through the conventional automated and manual medical devices, again due to the impersonal nature of the systems used to supply such data to the healthcare practitioner.

However, such actual clinic visits are expensive for healthcare insurers and are burdensome for patients with chronic illnesses to make at the needed frequency.

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