Smart Card Health Information Exchange Module for EHR Interoperability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electronic health record (EHR/EMR) systems lack interoperability, leading to inefficiencies in transferring and sharing patient medical records between different healthcare providers, resulting in delays, errors, and increased administrative costs.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that utilizes a smart card with a Health Information Exchange module to store and transmit patient medical records in a structured format compliant with C-CDA/CCR/CCD standards, enabling seamless interoperability and portability across disparate EHR systems, allowing for secure, efficient transfer and retrieval of medical data between healthcare providers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If medical records are transferred using traditional methods between different EHR/EMR systems, then the transfer process is simple to implement, but the interoperability between systems is poor and data usability is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal smart card system that can interface with multiple different EHR/EMR systems across various healthcare facilities. The smart card contains a standardized data structure that can be read and written by different system vendors, enabling one card to work universally across many systems rather than requiring system-specific transfer mechanisms
Solution Approach 2:
The smart card acts as an intermediary device between disparate EHR/EMR systems. It receives data from one system in a standardized format, stores it securely, and can then transfer that data to another system, mediating the interoperability challenge without requiring direct system-to-system integration
2Ease of operation
If medical records are copied to flash drives in non-structured format, then the storage process is simple, but the data cannot be captured, uploaded and parsed into disparate EHR systems
Solution Approach 1:
The smart card implements different data formats in different sections or layers. It maintains a standardized structured format that is compatible with EHR systems while also potentially supporting other formats, allowing the same device to serve multiple purposes with different data quality characteristics in different contexts
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the data structure parameters from unstructured text files to standardized structured formats with defined schemas, data types, and relationships. This transformation enables the data to be programmatically processed, validated, and imported into disparate EHR systems while maintaining ease of transfer through the smart card interface
3Reliability
If comprehensive medical records are transferred between healthcare providers, then complete patient information is available, but the transfer time and administrative overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-structuring and validating medical record data before it is written to the smart card. Data is organized into standardized formats with proper metadata, indexing, and relationships established in advance, so that when the card is read at the receiving facility, the data is immediately ready for import without requiring additional processing or formatting steps
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses copying mechanisms that create precise replicas of the medical record data structure. The smart card contains an exact copy of the patient's medical record in standardized format, which can be rapidly transferred and then used to generate import files for the receiving EHR system, eliminating the need for manual data extraction and transformation
4Adaptability or versatility
If structured data format is used for medical records, then data can be parsed into disparate systems, but the implementation complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the complex task of structured data implementation into manageable components: a standardized data model layer, a validation layer, a transformation layer, and an interface layer. Each layer handles a specific aspect of the structuring process, making the overall implementation more manageable and maintainable while achieving high system integration capability
Data Source
AI summary
An online system and software application and method for transmitting and transporting patient medical records at the discretion of the user between the user's personal health records cloud-based system and point of care physician for the express purpose of receiving medical consultation. Additionally, the system provides the ability to capture, retrieve, transport medical records from point of care physician for return to the cloud based personal records based system with automatic self-parsing and population into the user medical records system. The present invention provides total interoperability of patient medical records information between all present EHR/EMH electronic medical records based systems.