Patent Issued for Using De-Identified Healthcare Data to Evaluate Post-Healthcare Facility Encounter Treatment Outcomes (USPTO 9965651)

Journal of Engineering

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Journal of Engineering -- According to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by VerticalNews journalists, a patent by the inventors Paris, III, Andrew L. (Victor, NY), filed on May 26, 2017, was published online on May 8, 2018.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 9965651, is Vigilytics LLC (Victor, NY).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: "The present disclosure relates to processing and transmitting personal data, the dissemination of which is restricted by federal law.

"Due to federal privacy laws and the inconsistency of electronic medical record deployments, healthcare facilities (e.g., hospitals, nursing homes, residential mental health facilities, prison medical wards) are often unable to obtain information about health care services patients receive before or after healthcare facility encounters. Having access to these data may allow healthcare facilities to better serve patients. Gaining an understanding of care that occurs in the outpatient setting is needed to evaluate potential for changes in the process of inpatient care. Not having this information may lead to unrecognized suboptimal care and ultimately to healthcare facility readmission for which the healthcare facility may be held accountable. Outpatient healthcare providers such as pharmacies and physicians generate private healthcare data about patients, including medical and prescription drug data, and administrative healthcare claims data. Data that associates patient identity with health information is known as protected health information (PHI). Healthcare providers can store protected health information in electronic databases for future use in patient care and insurance claims processing. Healthcare facilities could identify changes in the process of care provided (e.g., patient and provider education, adherence follow-up) by having information on trends in health care utilization before and after health care facility encounters. Federal privacy laws, however, make obtaining this information a cumbersome process which would add considerable expense to operations."

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, VerticalNews editors also obtained the inventors' summary information for this patent: "The systems and techniques described here relate to de-identifying patient identities from healthcare facility encounters and retrieving information from pre or post encounter activity.

"In one aspect, a computer-implemented method includes producing medical information from a set of private data representing pre or post-encounter characteristics of the individuals, where the individuals have had an encounter with a healthcare facility. The identity of the individuals is unattainable from the produced medical information. The method includes using the produced medical information to report the pre or post-encounter characteristics for the group.

"Implementations may include any of all of the following features. Producing medical information that characterizes the group of encounters may include producing a request token for each individual included in the group of encounters. Producing such a request token for each individual may include encrypting respective data that identifies each individual. Producing medical information that characterizes the group of encounters may include comparing the request tokens to tokens associated with the medical information to be produced. The tokens associated with the medical information to be produced and the request tokens may be similarly encrypted. Producing medical information that characterizes the group of encounters may include determining if the comparison provides at least a minimum number of matches. Producing medical information that characterizes the group may include requesting a predefined portion of the medical information. Additionally, producing medical information that characterizes the group may include determining if the group includes at least a minimum number of individuals. The private data may represent medical information associated with pre or post-encounter medical activity for the individuals within the group. The private data may be obtained from pharmacies or other medical care providers.

"In another aspect a system includes an encryption server for producing a request token for each individual included in a group identified in a request for medical information that characterizes the group consisting of individuals who had an encounter with a healthcare facility. The system may also include a data server for producing the medical information that characterizes the group from a set of private data representing pre or post-encounter characteristics of the individuals. The identity of the individuals is unattainable from the produced medical information. The data server is also configured to provide the produced medical information to report the characteristics of the group of encounters.

"Implementations may include any of all of the following features. The data server may provide a request token for each individual included in the group of encounters to produce the medical information that characterizes the group of encounters. The request token for each individual may represent encrypted data that identifies the corresponding individual. The data server may be configured to compare the request tokens to tokens associated with the medical information to be produced. The tokens associated with the medical information to be produced and the request tokens may be similarly encrypted. The data server may be configured to determine if the comparison provides at least a minimum number of matches. The request may represent a predefined portion of information to use for producing the medical information that characterizes the group of encounters. The encryption server may be configured to determine if the group includes at least a minimum number of individuals. The private data may represent medical information associated with pre or post-encounter medical activity of the individuals within the group. The private data may be obtained from pharmacies or other medical care providers.

"In another aspect, one or more computer readable media storing instructions that are executable by a processing device, and upon such execution cause the processing device to perform operations that include producing medical information that characterizes a group of individuals from a set of private data representing pre or post encounter characteristics of the individuals. The individuals have had an encounter with a healthcare facility. The identity of the individuals is unattainable from the produced medical information. The operations also include providing the produced medical information to report the characteristics of the group.

"Implementations may include any of all of the following features. Producing medical information that characterizes the group may include producing a request token for each individual included in the group. Producing such a request token for each individual may include encrypting respective data that identifies each individual. Producing medical information that characterizes the group of encounters may include comparing the request tokens to tokens associated with the medical information to be produced. The tokens associated with the medical information to be produced and the request tokens may be similarly encrypted. Producing medical information that characterizes the group may include determining if the comparison provides at least a minimum number of matches. Producing medical information that characterizes the group may include requesting a predefined portion of the information. Additionally, producing medical information that characterizes the group of encounters may include determining if the group includes at least a minimum number of individuals. The private data may represent medical information associated with pre or post-encounter medical activity of the individuals of the group of encounters. The private data may be obtained from pharmacies or other medical care providers.

"The details of one or more embodiments of the invention are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims."

For more information, see this patent: Paris, III, Andrew L.. Using De-Identified Healthcare Data to Evaluate Post-Healthcare Facility Encounter Treatment Outcomes. U.S. Patent Number 9965651, filed May 26, 2017, and published online on May 8, 2018. 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=9965651.PN.&OS=PN/9965651RS=PN/9965651

Keywords for this news article include: Business, Vigilytics LLC, Information Technology, Information and Data Server, Information and Data Encoding and Encryption.