Care Plan Manager for Interoperable Healthcare Data

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current care management systems are inefficient in sharing and updating care plans among diverse healthcare providers within Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), particularly for patients with multiple needs, due to interoperability issues, data redundancy, and the inability to automatically filter sensitive information, leading to potential harm and increased costs.

Innovation Solution

A centralized software solution, the Care Plan Manager (CPM), transforms data from various machine languages into unitary data objects for storage and processing, allowing real-time notification and filtering of sensitive information, thus enabling secure, efficient communication and coordination among providers and patients without manual intervention.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If a centralized care plan management system is implemented to share care plans among multiple providers, then care coordination and information sharing are improved, but interoperability issues and system complexity increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecare coordinationVSAvoidsystem complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements a centralized care plan management system that serves as an intermediary between multiple healthcare providers, patients, and payors. This central system receives care plan data from various providers in different formats, standardizes and stores it centrally, then distributes relevant information to authorized parties. This mediator approach resolves interoperability issues by providing a common platform that handles data translation and coordination, improving care coordination while managing system complexity through centralized control.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Reliability

If care plan data is shared among all providers in an ACO, then care coordination is improved, but data security and privacy protection become more difficult

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecare coordinationVSAvoiddata security risk
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies local quality by implementing differential access rights for different providers based on their specific roles and needs. The centralized system evaluates each care plan update and determines which providers should receive which information. For example, a specialist may receive detailed clinical information while administrative staff receive only scheduling-related updates. This selective information distribution improves care coordination for those who need it while minimizing security risks by limiting exposure of sensitive data to only those with legitimate need-to-know.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

Solution Approach 2:

The system incorporates feedback mechanisms where care plan updates are evaluated against established criteria before distribution. The centralized system monitors data access patterns and can alert providers to potential security issues or inappropriate access attempts. This feedback loop enables continuous improvement of both care coordination effectiveness and data security posture.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

3Object-affected harmful factors

If manual review and redaction of sensitive information is performed, then data security is improved, but time consumption and operational efficiency decrease

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedata securityVSAvoidoperational efficiency
Core Design Contradiction:
Object-affected harmful factorsVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements automated systems that perform self-service functions for data security. The centralized care plan management system automatically evaluates incoming care plan data against pre-established security criteria and redaction rules. Sensitive information is automatically identified, flagged, and redacted or protected based on the evaluated criteria without requiring manual review. This automation maintains high data security standards while eliminating the time-consuming manual processes, thereby improving operational efficiency.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

4Adaptability or versatility

If multiple providers develop separate care plans for the same patient, then provider autonomy and specialization are maintained, but data redundancy and inconsistency increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveprovider autonomyVSAvoiddata redundancy
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

The patent merges separate care plans from multiple providers into a single centralized care plan. Each provider can contribute their specialized input and maintain autonomy in developing their portion of the care plan, but all contributions are integrated into one unified document stored centrally. This consolidation eliminates data redundancy and inconsistencies while preserving provider autonomy through the collaborative input process. The centralized system manages the integration, ensuring all provider perspectives are incorporated without duplication.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Data Source

PatentUS12080430B1Care plan management
Publication Date: 2024.09.03 BAYSTATE HEALTH
  • US12080430B1 patent drawing
  • US12080430B1 patent drawing
  • US12080430B1 patent drawing

AI summary

A system and method for preparing, modifying, and administering a coordinated health care plan for a person receiving services from multiple providers that allow various user controlled devices speaking different machine and database languages to communicate with and contribute to a central database and processing unit that can interpret the variously expressed data, understand their relationships, establish linkages and consequences among the data, adjust a unified care management plan accordingly, and selectively communicate those consequences to appropriate provider, payor, and patient nodes in their respective machine and database languages.