Longitudinal Composite Medical Records for Faster Patient Data Linking

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Solution Overview

Problem

Modern database systems face computational inefficiencies due to large data volumes and disparate data sources with varying formats and privacy concerns, making it burdensome to establish links between complex medical records.

Innovation Solution

Generating longitudinal non-conforming medical data records that aggregate healthcare events from multiple sources into a single composite record, sorted by time, enabling parallel processing and efficient analysis without disk I/O.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Loss of information

If multiple separate database queries are used to gather medical records from different data sources, then comprehensive patient data can be collected, but processing time and computational resources increase significantly

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecompleteness of patient dataVSAvoidprocessing time

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary actions by pre-aggregating medical records from multiple data sources into composite records during data ingestion, organizing them by patient and time period. This preliminary structuring eliminates the need for multiple runtime queries, allowing the system to retrieve complete patient data in a single operation while maintaining data comprehensiveness across pharmaceutical transactions, medical visits, and procedures.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Adaptability or versatility

If data from multiple disparate sources with different formats is integrated, then comprehensive analysis capability is achieved, but system complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedata integration capabilityVSAvoidsystem complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system applies homogeneity by standardizing disparate data formats from multiple sources into a unified composite record structure. All medical records (pharmaceutical transactions, medical visits, procedures) are transformed into a consistent schema with standardized fields for patient identifiers, time periods, and event types. This homogeneous structure enables versatile data integration while simplifying the system by eliminating the need for complex format-specific processing logic.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #33Homogeneity

3Loss of information

If traditional database joining operations are used to link records across sources, then comprehensive patient history is constructed, but computational burden increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecompleteness of patient historyVSAvoidprocessing efficiency

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The system merges multiple separate database operations into a single composite record retrieval operation. Instead of performing separate joins for pharmaceutical transactions, medical visits, and procedures across different tables and data sources, the system combines all these elements into pre-aggregated composite records that can be retrieved in one operation, significantly improving processing efficiency while maintaining complete patient history.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

4Reliability

If de-identified data is used to satisfy privacy concerns, then patient confidentiality is protected, but data linkage capability is reduced

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvepatient privacy protectionVSAvoiddata linkage capability

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDifficulty of detecting and measuring

Solution Approach 1:

The system uses patient identifiers and time period metadata as intermediaries to enable data linkage while maintaining privacy. Composite records are structured with de-identified patient identifiers that allow linking across multiple records and time periods without exposing personal information. These intermediary elements facilitate epidemiological studies and pattern recognition while preserving patient confidentiality through standardized anonymization protocols.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Data Source

PatentUS12603161B1System and method for longitudinal non-conforming medical data records

Publication Date: 2026.04.14 QUINTILES IMS INC

AI summary

A computer-assisted method including obtaining healthcare records from multiple different data sources that each provide information regarding a corresponding type of healthcare events, identifying healthcare records from the multiple different data sources that are for a healthcare event associated with a particular individual and that occurred during a particular period of time, and generating a composite record for the particular individual for the particular period of time, and storing the composite record in a database of composite records. The composite record include an identifier for the particular individual, a pharmaceutical transactions array, where each entry in the pharmaceutical transactions array represents a pharmaceutical transaction that occurred during the particular period of time, and a medical visit array, where each entry in the medical visit array represents a medical visit that occurred during the particular period of time.