Patent Application Titled “Method and System to Obtain and Manage Medical Records” Published Online (USPTO 20160371786)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health & Medicine Week -- According to news reporting originating from Washington, D.C., by NewsRx journalists, a patent application by the inventors KUSENS, BRUCE HOWARD (NORTH MIAMI BEACH, FL); KUSENS, MICHAEL (COOPER CITY, FL), filed on June 17, 2016, was made available online on December 29, 2016 (see also Insurance Companies).

No assignee for this patent application has been made.

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: "In the current environment approximately 291 million life insurance policies are in force, representing over $18 Trillion dollars of total policy value in the United States alone. Additionally, each year over 29 million new life insurance policies are purchased with a total policy value of approximately $2.9 Trillion dollars, each of which has undergone some type of insurance underwriting process prior to being offered for purchase by the insurance companies. Typically, the insurance underwriting process begins with an applicant requesting to purchase an insurance policy, whether for life, disability or some other type of medically underwritten policy. As part of the application process, the insurance underwriter will gather many types of information including, but not limited to, medical, financial and familial history about the applicant in order to make a determination of insurability and risk associated with any given applicant.

"Obtaining this information from various sources, especially information subject to strict privacy regulations such as health information, can be a complex and time consuming process often resulting in substantial delays and costs in processing an insurance application. A cursory review of various insurance companies' estimates for the time to process a medically underwritten policy reveal time frames ranging from several weeks to several months, with the factor contributing the most time and variability being obtaining medical records from various sources and the necessary consents from the applicant to request the records in the first place."

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent application, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventors' summary information for this patent application: "The present invention generally relates to obtaining and managing medical records, particularly for non-medical purposes, more particularly for the purposes of insurance underwriting. This Brief Summary is provided as an overview of selected aspects of the disclosure that are described in greater detail in the description that follows, inclusive of the figures. This Brief Summary is not meant to define the invention or the claims in isolation from the remainder of the disclosure.

"In some aspects, this disclosure relates to a method for obtaining medical records. The method may comprise receiving, by an electronic medical record consent system and from an insurance policy applicant, one or more credentials needed to access medical records for the insurance policy applicant from a third party medical record source. The method may comprise using the received one or more credentials to electronically retrieve one or more medical records for the insurance policy applicant from the third party medical record source by a medical record retrieval system. The method may comprise storing the one or more medical records in a medical record database.

"The medical records may be retrieved by downloading one or more documents or files from the third party medical record source. The medical records may be retrieved by scraping information from one or more databases or information outputs accessed from the medical record source.

"The method may comprise electronically notifying the insurance policy applicant that retrieved medical records are available for review by the insurance policy applicant. The method may comprise electronically analyzing the retrieved medical records, by the medical record review system. The method may comprise electronically identifying, by the medical record review system, possible discrepancies for human user review. The method may comprise electronically receiving additional information from the insurance policy applicant. The additional information may comprise comments related to the retrieved medical records. The additional information may comprise documents or files uploaded by the insurance policy applicant. The method may comprise electronically storing the additional information from the insurance policy applicant in the medical record database. The method may comprise electronically transmitting at least a portion of the retrieved medical records to a medical record recipient by a medical record transmission system.

"The method may comprise using the received one or more credentials to electronically retrieve one or more medical records for the insurance policy applicant from the third party medical record source by a medical record retrieval system. The method may comprise formatting, by the medical record transmission system, at least a portion of the retrieved medical records prior to transmitting the retrieved medical records to the medical record recipient. The formatting may comprise changing the file type used to store the retrieved medical records. The formatting may comprise generating a new file using information from the retrieved medical records. The method may comprise generating a log entry for each transmission of retrieved medical records. The method may comprise storing the log entry in the medical records database.

"In some aspects, this disclosure relates to a computerized system for obtaining medical records. The system may comprise a medical record consent system configured to receive from an insurance policy applicant one or more credentials needed to access medical records for the insurance policy applicant from a third party medical record source. The system may comprise a medical record retrieval system configured to use the one or more credentials to electronically receive one or more medical records for the insurance policy applicant from the third party medical record source. The system may comprise a medical record database for storing the one or more medical records.

"The system may comprise a medical record review system configured to notify the insurance policy applicant of receipt of medical records from the third party medical record source. The medical record review system may be further configured to permit the insurance policy applicant to provide additional information. The medical record review system may be configured to analyze retrieved medical records and identify possible discrepancies for human user review. The system may comprise a medical record transmission system configured to transmit at least a portion of the retrieved medical records to a medical record recipient. The medical record transmission system may be configured to reformat at least a portion of the medical records prior to transmitting the at least a portion of the medical records to the medical record recipient.

"Additional objects, advantages, and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

"This disclosure references the attached drawing figures, wherein:

"FIG. 1 is an exemplary computing environment useful in the practice of the disclosure;

"FIG. 2 is an exemplary workflow for obtaining and managing medical records;

"FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an exemplary process for an applicant to provide consent related to medical record access and transfers, supply credentials for accessing electronic medical records and/or verify the credentials;

"FIG. 4 is a flowchart of an exemplary process for retrieving and/or storing an applicant's medical records;

"FIG. 5 is a flowchart of an exemplary process for an applicant to review retrieved records; and

"FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an exemplary process for transmitting medical records to a third party."

For more information, see this patent application: KUSENS, BRUCE HOWARD; KUSENS, MICHAEL. Method and System to Obtain and Manage Medical Records. Filed June 17, 2016 and posted December 29, 2016. Patent URL: http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.html&r=2469&p=50&f=G&l=50&d=PG01&S1=20161222.PD.&OS=PD/20161222&RS=PD/20161222

Keywords for this news article include: Medical Records, Records as Topic, Insurance Companies.

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