Patent Application Titled “Method For Improving Health Information Collection And Health-Related Recommendations Through Data Compartmentalization” Published Online (USPTO 20190108899)

2019 APR 30 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- According to news reporting originating from Washington, D.C., by NewsRx journalists, a patent application by the inventor Robkin, Michael (Woodland Hills, CA), filed on October 10, 2018, was made available online on April 11, 2019.

No assignee for this patent application has been made.

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “The present invention relates generally to generation of health care related recommendations, and more particularly to generation of health care related recommendations based on electronic health care records (EHR) and non-EHR private information.

“A medical doctor may base patient therapeutical recommendations on information regarding the patient known to the doctor. This information may include information relating to the patient’s general health, habits, past medical care, and other information. Often times, the information may be stored electronically, and is often termed Electronic Health Care Records (EHR), and health-related recommendations by the doctor may be based on the patients EHR.

“The provision of appropriate health care, important as it is, may be fraught with difficulties. There are vagaries and differences between different people. There is a possible lack of a complete concrete understanding of all of the operations of the human body, and reaction of the human body to various drugs, substances, and regimens. Compounding all of this, medical doctors and similar health care professionals may face difficulties in eliciting accurate and/or complete information from patients.

“Patients may be simply uncomfortable or unwilling to provide their doctor pertinent information. The cause may be embarrassment, an understanding that information provided to medical doctors will be stored as EHR and the EHR may be later legally obtained by insurance companies or other entities to bad effect to the patient, a recognition that the EHR may be available to parents, caregivers, relatives, employers, co-workers, business associates or compromised by bad actors, or a variety of rational or irrational reasons.

“Some pertinent information may not be disclosed to the doctor and therefore not in the EHR. Indeed, some pertinent information disclosed to the doctor may even be false, therefore contradicting the information of the EHR. This pertinent information may be of importance in making recommendations as to possible lifestyle changes by the patient, in prescribing pharmaceuticals, or a host of other recommendations. Unfortunately, the root causes of why patients do not provide their medical doctors proper information for purposes of medical care may be difficult to address.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent application, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventor’s summary information for this patent application: “In some embodiments a system includes: a first memory storing electronic health care records (EHR) for a plurality of individuals; a first processor coupled to the first memory, the first processor configured to execute instructions of a rules engine associated with the first processor for determining a health-related recommendation for a particular individual of the plurality of individuals based on at least some of the EHR; at least one second memory storing private information for the particular individual of the plurality of individuals, the at least one second memory not readable by the first processor; and a second processor coupled to the second memory, the second processor configured to request and receive from the first processor the EHR for the particular individual and to execute instructions of a rules engine associated with the second processor for determining a health-related recommendation based on at least some of the EHR and at least some of the private information for the particular individual.

“In some embodiments a method comprises: storing electronic health care records (EHR) for a plurality of individuals; executing instructions, by a first system, of a rules engine associated with the first system for determining a first health-related recommendation for a particular individual based on at least some the EHR; transmitting at least some of the EHR for the particular individual to a third party system, the third party system storing private information for the particular individual, at least some of the private information not being information included in the EHR; and executing instructions, by the third party system, of a rules engine associated with the third party system for determining a second health-related recommendation for the particular individual based on at least some the EHR and at least some of the private information for the particular information.

“In some embodiments the method further comprises transmitting information of the second health-related recommendation to the first system.

“In some embodiments the method further comprises providing information of the first health-related recommendation and the second health-related recommendation to the particular individual, without providing information of the second health-related recommendation to the first system.

“In some embodiments the at least some of the EHR transmitted to the third party system comprises information of the first health-related recommendation. In some embodiments the method further comprises comparing, by the third party system, information of the first health-related recommendation and the second health-related recommendation.

“In some embodiments the EHR for the particular individual includes an identification of the third party system.

“In some embodiments the EHR for the particular individual does not include an identification of the third party system. In some embodiments the EHR for the particular individual includes a key for use in determining if a third party requestor should be allowed access to the EHR for the particular individual.

“In some embodiments the rules engine associated with the first processor and the rules engine associated with the third party system are the same rules engine.

“In some embodiments the rules engine associated with the first processor and the rules engine associated with the third party system implement the same rules.

“In some embodiments the rules engine associated with the first processor and the rules engine associated with the third party system implement different rules.

“In some embodiments a method comprises: storing electronic health care records (EHR) for a plurality of individuals; executing instructions, by a first system, of a rules engine for determining a first health-related recommendation for a particular individual based on at least some the EHR; transmitting options for the first health-related recommendation to a third party system, the third party system storing private information for the particular individual, at least some of the private information not being information included in the EHR; and executing instructions, by the third party system, of the rules engine based on at least some of the private information to determine whether options for the first health-related recommendation are contraindicated or re-prioritized by the private information.

“In some embodiments the method further comprises determining that at least some options for the first treatment program are contraindicated by the private information.

“In some embodiments the method further comprises transmitting results of the determination whether options for the first treatment program are contraindicated by the private information to the first system.

“These and other aspects of the invention are more fully comprehended upon review of this disclosure.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A system for determining health-related recommendations, comprising: a first memory storing electronic health care records (EHR) for a plurality of individuals; a first processor coupled to the first memory, the first processor configured to execute instructions of a rules engine associated with the first processor for determining a health-related recommendation for a particular individual of the plurality of individuals based on at least some of the EHR; at least one second memory storing private information for the particular individual of the plurality of individuals, the at least one second memory not readable by the first processor; and a second processor coupled to the second memory, the second processor configured to request and receive from the first processor the EHR for the particular individual and to execute instructions of a rules engine associated with the second processor for determining a health-related recommendation based on at least some of the EHR and at least some of the private information for the particular individual.

“2. A method for use in providing health-related recommendations, comprising: storing electronic health care records (EHR) for a plurality of individuals; executing instructions, by a first system, of a rules engine associated with the first system for determining a first health-related recommendation for a particular individual based on at least some the EHR; transmitting at least some of the EHR for the particular individual to a third party system, the third party system storing private information for the particular individual, at least some of the private information not being information included in the EHR; and executing instructions, by the third party system, of a rules engine associated with the third party system for determining a second health-related recommendation for the particular individual based on at least some the EHR and at least some of the private information for the particular information.

“3. The method of claim 2 further comprising transmitting information of the second health-related recommendation to the first system.

“4. The method of claim 2 further comprising providing information of the first health-related recommendation and the second health-related recommendation to the particular individual, without providing information of the second health-related recommendation to the first system.

“5. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least some of the EHR transmitted to the third party system comprises information of the first health-related recommendation. In some embodiments the method further comprises comparing, by the third party system, information of the first health-related recommendation and the second health-related recommendation.

“6. The method of claim 2, wherein the EHR for the particular individual includes an identification of the third party system.

“7. The method of claim 2, wherein the EHR for the particular individual does not include an identification of the third party system.

“8. The method of claim 7, wherein the EHR for the particular individual includes a key for use in determining if a third party requestor should be allowed access to the EHR for the particular individual.

“9. The method of claim 2, wherein the rules engine associated with the first processor and the rules engine associated with the third party system are the same rules engine.

“10. The method of claim 2, wherein the rules engine associated with the first processor and the rules engine associated with the third party system implement the same rules.

“11. The method of claim 2, wherein the rules engine associated with the first processor and the rules engine associated with the third party system implement different rules.

“12. A method for use in providing health-related recommendations, comprising: storing electronic health care records (EHR) for a plurality of individuals; executing instructions, by a first system, of a rules engine for determining a first health-related recommendation for a particular individual based on at least some the EHR; transmitting options for the first health-related recommendation to a third party system, the third party system storing private information for the particular individual, at least some of the private information not being information included in the EHR; and executing instructions, by the third party system, of the rules engine based on at least some of the private information to determine whether options for the first health-related recommendation are contraindicated or re-prioritized by the private information.

“13. The method of claim 12 further comprising determining that at least some options for the first treatment program are contraindicated or reprioritized by the private information.

“14. The method of claim 12, further comprising: transmitting results of the determination whether options for the first treatment program are contraindicated by the private information to the first system.”

For more information, see this patent application: Robkin, Michael. Method For Improving Health Information Collection And Health-Related Recommendations Through Data Compartmentalization. Filed October 10, 2018 and posted April 11, 2019. Patent URL: http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220190108899%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20190108899&RS=DN/20190108899

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