Patent Issued for Computer-Based Management Methods And Systems (USPTO 10,395,217)

2019 SEP 06 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent by the inventor Lovejoy, David (West Hartford, CT), filed on September 29, 2016, was published online on September 9, 2019, according to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx correspondents.

Patent number 10,395,217 is assigned to Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (Springfield, Massachusetts, United States).

The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Existing computer-based systems for personnel management cannot adequately predict a return time-frame for an employee on disability leave. This is partially due to the fact that the expected return date is based upon a wide variety of factors. For example, the expected return date can be based upon a medical diagnosis or based on the employee’s general conditions. In many instances, the health assessment of an employee in view of the employee’s overall conditions has proven to change over time. In many other cases, the return expectation date may change during the time that the employee is on disability leave. For example, as the time that an employee is on disability leave increases, it is generally observed that the likelihood of the employee returning to work decreases exponentially; even though the expected return date remains the same and cannot account for this likelihood. Additionally, when an employee claims disability, that employee may initially assess an return expectation date. However, later during the disability leave period, the employee may adjust to the receipt of the disability payment, and lose the inclination to return to work. It is generally observed that as the disability leave time increases, employee becomes more accustomed and comfortable and are less likely to return to work thereby requiring a larger than expected disability payment. As a result, the conventional computer-based personnel management systems cannot properly calculate or determine a status of current and future employees, thereby affecting payroll and workflow.

“Furthermore, some conventional computer-based personnel management systems utilize several databases to retrieve information regarding the employees and the disability leave policies, previous cases, and expectations dates. For example, one database may include a record for each employee’s work history, another may include information regarding rate of return after disability, others may indicate procedures for similar circumstances or other relevant medical information. Conventional computer-based personnel management systems will inevitably consume a large amount of computing/network resources. There is a need for an efficient method, system, and computer infrastructure to communicate and transmit data between different databases/servers in order to calculate an accurate expected return date is needed.”

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventor’s summary information for this patent: “Embodiments described herein provide computer-based personnel management methods and systems, which may update a personnel record based upon a calculated predicted date of return and generate a web page for an administrator identifying action items for the user. In one embodiment, a method may comprise a server to determine that a record for a user has a status change from available to unavailable in a first database. The server may transmit a message to an administrator and to the user requesting a session. The server may generate a first set of inquiries based on user information extracted from a second database. The server may generate and transmit an instruction to the second database to generate a second set of inquiries based on user’s responses to the first set of inquiries. The server may determine a stage for the user based upon a likelihood of a status change from unavailable to available by evaluating user’s responses to the first and the second set of inquiries. The server may generate and transmit a query to a fourth database regarding information associated with the user and user’s health. The server may generate a score based on the calculated stage and the information associated with the user’s health from the fourth database. The server may generate a web page for the computer associated with the administrator including a set of action items for the user. Furthermore, the server may generate and transmit an instruction, to the first database, to modify the information of the user in the first database regarding user’s return expectation date.

“In another embodiment, a system may comprise a server to determine that a record for a user has a status change from available to unavailable in a first database. The system may transmit a message to an administrator and to the user requesting a session. The system may generate a first set of inquiries based on user information extracted from a second database. The system may generate and transmit an instruction to the second database to generate a second set of inquiries based on user’s responses to the first set of inquiries. The system may determine a stage for the user based upon a likelihood of a status change from unavailable to available by evaluating user’s responses to the first and the second set of inquiries. The system may generate and transmit a query to a fourth database regarding information associated with the user and user’s health. The system may generate a score based on the calculated stage and the information associated with the user’s health from the fourth database. The system may generate a web page for the computer associated with the administrator including a set of action items for the user. Furthermore, the system may generate and transmit an instruction, to the first database, to modify the information of the user in the first database regarding user’s return expectation date.

“Numerous other aspects, features and benefits of the present disclosure may be made apparent from the following detailed description taken together with the drawing figures.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“What is claimed is:

“1. A computer-implemented method comprising: determining, by a server, that a record for a user in a first database has a status change from available to unavailable; upon determining that the record for the user in the first database has the status change from available to unavailable, transmitting, by the server, a message to a computer associated with an administrator and a computer associated with the user requesting a session; upon establishing the session between an administrator and the user, generating, by the server, a first set of inquiries extracted from a second database based on information associated with the user from the first database, wherein the second database comprises a plurality of inquiries associated with unavailability of the user; upon evaluating data representing a set of responses to the first set of inquiries by comparing the data representing the set of responses to data in a third database, generating and transmitting a first instruction to the second and third database, by the server, to generate a second set of inquiries, wherein the second set of inquiries is generated based on the set of responses to the first set of inquiries and data representing other user’s responses; determining, by the server, a stage of the user by evaluating the data representing the set of responses to the first and second set of inquiries; generating and transmitting to a fourth database, by the server, a query regarding information associated with the user’s health from a fourth database, wherein the fourth database comprises information associated with the user’s heath; executing, by the server, a predictive model to generate a score based on the calculated stage and the information associated with the user, wherein the score is generated based on weighted risk factors identified within the second, third, and fourth databases, each of weights and factors is updated based on other users’ responses and outcomes, and the score is an indicator of a likelihood of the user’s status changing from unavailable to available within a predetermined time period; generating, by the server, a web page for display on a web browser of the computer associated with the administrator comprising a set of action items associated with the generated score; and generating and transmitting a second instruction, by the server to the first database, to modify the record in the first database associated with user’s expectation date, wherein the modification is based upon the calculated score.

“2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein establishing the session between an administrator and the user further comprises selecting, by the server, the administrator from a list of administrators in accordance with the status change in the record.

“3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein establishing the session between an administrator and the user further comprises selecting, by the server, the administrator from a list of administrators in accordance a set of skills associated with the administrator.

“4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the set of action items comprises at least one of a task to enter a substance abuse program, a task to consult a mental health practitioner, and a task to take a specific drug.

“5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising initiating, by the server, the set of actions items to move the user from the calculated stage to a second stage.

“6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, further comprising recording, by the server, time taken and action items from the set of actions items utilized to move the user from the calculated stage to second stage.

“7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising establishing, by the server, a second session between the user and the administrator based on the calculated stage.

“8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the stage is calculated from a list of a plurality of stages comprising at least one of a pre-contemplation stage, a contemplation stage, an action stage, and a maintenance stage.

“9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the sessions are continually arranged between the user and the administrator until the user reaches the maintenance stage.

“10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the information associated with the user in the second database comprises at least one of health information, tobacco use information, and number of doctors visits per year.

“11. A system comprising: a communication network; a non-transitory machine-readable first database configured to store records of one or more users; a non-transitory machine-readable second database configured to store user information of the one or more users; a non-transitory machine-readable third database configured to store inquiries and responses regarding a status change of one or more users; a non-transitory machine-readable fourth database configured to store user information of the one or more users; a user computer configured to have a user interface on which are displayed inquires, the user interface configured to dynamically change the inquiries based on inputs submitted for the inquires; and one or more server computers having one or more processors executing computer readable instructions for a plurality of computer modules over the communication network including a server configured to: determine that a record for a user in a first database has a status change from available to unavailable; upon determining that the record for the user in the first database has the status change from available to unavailable, transmit a message to a computer associated with an administrator and a computer associated with the user requesting a session; upon establishing the session between an administrator and the user, generate a first set of inquiries extracted from a second database based on information associated with the user from the first database, wherein the second database comprises a plurality of inquiries associated with unavailability of the user; upon evaluating data representing a set of responses to the first set of inquiries by comparing the data representing the set of responses to data in a third database, generate and transmit a first instruction to the second and third database to generate a second set of inquiries, wherein the second set of inquiries is generated based on the set of responses to the first set of inquiries and data representing other user’s responses; determine a stage of the user by evaluating the data representing the set of responses to the first and second set of inquiries; generate and transmit to a fourth database a query regarding information associated with the user’s health from a fourth database, wherein the fourth database comprises information associated with the user’s heath; execute a predictive model to generate a score based on the calculated stage and the information associated with the user, wherein the score is generated based on weighted risk factors identified within the second, third, and fourth databases, each of weights and factors is updated based on other users’ responses and outcomes, and the score is an indicator of a likelihood of the user’s status changing from unavailable to available within a predetermined time period; generate a web page for display on a web browser of the computer associated with the administrator comprising a set of action items associated with the generated score; and generate and transmit a second instruction to the first database, to modify the record in the first database associated with user’s expectation date, wherein the modification is based upon the calculated score.

“12. The system of claim 11, wherein the stage is calculated from a list of a plurality of stages comprising a pre-contemplation stage, a contemplation stage, an action stage, and a maintenance stage.

“13. The system of claim 12, wherein the pre-contemplation stage comprises a stage in which the user is not thinking about getting back to work.

“14. The system of claim 12, wherein the contemplation stage comprises a state of ambivalence of the user.

“15. The system of claim 12, wherein the action stage comprises a stage when the user is ready to get back to the work.

“16. The system of claim 12, wherein the maintenance stage comprises a stage when the user is working.

“17. The system of claim 11, wherein the server is further configured to assign the administrator for the session in accordance with the status change in the record.

“18. The system of claim 11, wherein the server is further configured to select the administrator from a list of administrators in accordance with the status change in the record.

“19. The system of claim 11, wherein the set of action items comprises a task to enter a substance abuse program, a task to consult a mental health practitioner, and a task to take a specific drug.

“20. The system of claim 11, wherein the server is further configured to initiate the set of actions items to move the user from the calculate stage to a next stage.”

URL and more information on this patent, see: Lovejoy, David. Computer-Based Management Methods And Systems. U.S. Patent Number 10,395,217, filed September 29, 2016, and published online on September 9, 2019. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=10,395,217.PN.&OS=PN/10,395,217RS=PN/10,395,217

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)