System and method for anonymizing patient data

Abstract

A system and method for managing healthcare information is disclosed. The data servers each include a data manager that comprises a controller, a scrubber module and a user interface engine. The controller manages the core functions and the transmission of data between data manager components. The scrubber module manages the pseudoanonymization of data and the collection of data for clinical trials. The user interface engine generates user interfaces for displaying the applications and collecting clinical trial data.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims priority under 35 USC §119(e) to U.S. provisional patent Application Ser. No. 61 / 406,003, entitled “System and Method for Managing Healthcare Information,” filed Oct. 22, 2010.BACKGROUND[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]The invention relates to managing healthcare information. In particular, the invention relates to a distributed system for managing healthcare information across different platforms.[0004]2. Description of the Related Art[0005]The exchange of electronic healthcare information over networks is increasing. The electronic healthcare information is exchanged between medical offices and other physicians, local hospitals and clinics, location and national labs and imaging centers, insurance payers, local pharmacies, public health and government agencies and patients. This type of collaboration requires the practice to engage in numerous healthcare transactions with many different people and organizatio...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009]The technology described in the invention overcomes the deficiencies and limitations of the prior art at least in part by providing a system and method for managing healthcare information. The data manager allows users to control the application as they see fit by configuring the settings and downloading different applications to include as part of the data manager. The data manager is securely connected to other collaborative partners in the community and works with local and remote computer systems. In addition, because there are multiple data managers in the system that store different pieces of information, there is no risk of a system-wide failure.

Problems solved by technology

Previous attempts to overcome these problems suffer from deficiencies.

Thus, the physicians are missing an opportunity for a larger exchange of information.

Health information exchanges (HIEs) are appearing in many communities, however, they lack widespread acceptance and their focus is on creating comprehensive, patient-centric records and not on enhancing clinical workflow for physician practices.

Other solutions suffer from deficiencies that prevent them from being adopted by physicians.

For example, most software is insufficient or too immature to meet the broad range of collaborative needs of a physician practice.

In addition, the costs of adopting the technology, both for the licensing and the expense of re-engineering the practice, are often considered too great.

Lastly, the existing systems fail to match the established workflow that the physicians and staff are accustomed to performing.

As a result, the existing system must be restructured, which requires manual intervention by the staff to complete the process.

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