Researchers Submit Patent Application, “System And Method For Healthcare Security And Interoperability”, for Approval (USPTO 20210151136)

2021 JUN 25 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Washington, D.C., NewsRx journalists report that a patent application by the inventors Lee, Jessica (Edison, NJ, US); Morimura, Jun (Tokyo, JP); Moschetti, Michael (Montville, NJ, US); Quesada, Marvin (Princeton, NJ, US); Vig, John (Irvine, CA, US), filed on January 14, 2021, was made available online on May 20, 2021.

No assignee for this patent application has been made.

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Healthcare information systems face compliance challenges that limit interoperability. For example, stored information may be subject to various privacy regulations such as Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Privacy rules under HIPAA establish national standards to protect individual medical records and other personal health information when health care transactions are conducted electronically. These regulations may cover privacy (e.g. which entities have access to information), content (what information an authorized entity may access), security (how the information is protected from unauthorized access when stored and during electronic communication), information sharing (the types of information that entities may share), and integrity (the accuracy and authenticity of information). In addition, commercially valuable information may be protected under an organizational policy that may limit sharing of the information with third parties (e.g. as trade secrets, and/or for business or commercial reasons). Regulations such as the European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and state regulations may also impact information collection, storage, sharing, and communication. These regulations have affected information sharing practices between healthcare marketplace participants and led to the creation of organizational “data silos,” where information available to an entity is isolated, even when it could be useful systemically (e.g. to another non-competitive entity). Such compartmentalization of information has led to increased difficulty in selecting appropriate patients for participation in clinical trials and decreased efficiencies in conducting clinical trials. For example, patient pre-screening may involve manual screening by health care provider, manually contacting patients individually for approval, further screening by a clinical trial review board, patient selection, patient consent, etc. all prior to the actual clinical trial. These inefficiencies can have negative consequences when trials are conducted in the midst of a health emergency and/or approved medical products need to be deployed quickly and effectively. In addition, these data silos also increase systemic costs (e.g. by limiting information available to a patient or medical provider when considering the costs of treatment alternatives, treatment locations, etc.), and/or raise patient risk (e.g. from drug interactions, prescription abuse, etc.), and/or limit the efficacy of outcome based approaches to medical treatment or remediation (e.g. making it more difficult and expensive to determine when a desired outcome has been achieved or compare metrics in approaches that achieve similar outcomes). Systems and techniques to address one or more of the above issues that would help facilitate healthcare information security while promoting interoperability between marketplace participants are therefore desirable.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent application, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent application: “In some embodiments, a processor-implemented method may comprise: obtaining a first set of health parameters and collective demographic information associated with one or more population segments; receiving one or more encrypted first Electronic Health Record (EHR) sub-blocks decryptable by the first entity, wherein the one or more first EHR sub-blocks comprise: (a) patient profile information corresponding to one or more patients, and (b) corresponding patient medical histories for the one or more patients; determining, from the one or more patients, a subset of candidate patients eligible for at least one treatment based on a comparison of information in the one or more EHR sub-blocks with corresponding eligibility criteria for the at least one treatment, wherein the corresponding eligibility criteria are based on one or more of: the first set of health parameters, or the collective demographic information; transmitting, one or more encrypted first sub-blocks decryptable by one or more corresponding second entities, wherein each transmitted first sub-block comprises at least one candidate patient profile and medical information associated with the at least one treatment; and, augmenting, in response to a received transaction block with a transaction confirmation, a multi-dimensional blockchain, wherein the multi-dimensional blockchain is augmented with a multi-dimensional block formed by linking: (i) the transaction block comprising treatment deployment related information associated with the at least one treatment, (ii) A Drug-Device Information (DIR) block comprising the medical information associated with the at least one treatment, and (iii) an EHR block comprising the at least one candidate patient profile information, corresponding candidate patient medical history for the at least one candidate patient, and prescription information for the at least one treatment.

“In another aspect, a computing device for a first entity may comprise: a memory, a communications interface, and a processor coupled to the memory and the communications interface. In some embodiments, the processor may be configured to: obtain a first set of health parameters and collective demographic information associated with one or more population segments; receive one or more encrypted first Electronic Health Record (EHR) sub-blocks decryptable by the first entity, wherein the one or more first EHR sub-blocks comprise: (a) patient profile information corresponding to one or more patients, and (b) corresponding patient medical histories for the one or more patients; determine, from the one or more patients, a subset of candidate patients eligible for at least one treatment based on a comparison of information in the one or more EHR sub-blocks with corresponding eligibility criteria for the at least one treatment, wherein the corresponding eligibility criteria are based on one or more of: the first set of health parameters, or the collective demographic information; transmit, one or more encrypted first sub-blocks decryptable by one or more corresponding second entities, wherein each transmitted first sub-block comprises at least one candidate patient profile and medical information associated with the at least one treatment; and augment, in response to a received transaction block with a transaction confirmation, a multi-dimensional blockchain, wherein the multi-dimensional blockchain is augmented with a multi-dimensional block formed by linking: (i) the transaction block comprising treatment deployment related information associated with the at least one treatment, (ii) A Drug-Device Information (DIR) block comprising the medical information associated with the at least one treatment, and (iii) an EHR block comprising the at least one candidate patient profile information, corresponding candidate patient medical history for the at least one candidate patient, and prescription information for the at least one treatment.

“In a further aspect, an apparatus may comprise: means obtaining a first set of health parameters and collective demographic information associated with one or more population segments; means for receiving one or more encrypted first Electronic Health Record (EHR) sub-blocks decryptable by the first entity, wherein the one or more first EHR sub-blocks comprise: (a) patient profile information corresponding to one or more patients, and (b) corresponding patient medical histories for the one or more patients; means for determining, from the one or more patients, a subset of candidate patients eligible for at least one treatment based on a comparison of information in the one or more EHR sub-blocks with corresponding eligibility criteria for the at least one treatment, wherein the corresponding eligibility criteria are based on one or more of: the first set of health parameters, or the collective demographic information; means for transmitting, one or more encrypted first sub-blocks decryptable by one or more corresponding second entities, wherein each transmitted first sub-block comprises at least one candidate patient profile and medical information associated with the at least one treatment; and means for augmenting, in response to a received transaction block with a transaction confirmation, a multi-dimensional blockchain, wherein the multi-dimensional blockchain is augmented with a multi-dimensional block formed by linking: (i) the transaction block comprising treatment deployment related information associated with the at least one treatment, (ii) A Drug-Device Information (DIR) block comprising the medical information associated with the at least one treatment, and (iii) an EHR block comprising the at least one candidate patient profile information, corresponding candidate patient medical history for the at least one candidate patient, and prescription information for the at least one treatment.

“In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable medium may comprise executable instructions to configure a processor to: obtain a first set of health parameters and collective demographic information associated with one or more population segments; receive one or more encrypted first Electronic Health Record (EHR) sub-blocks decryptable by the first entity, wherein the one or more first EHR sub-blocks comprise: (a) patient profile information corresponding to one or more patients, and (b) corresponding patient medical histories for the one or more patients; determine, from the one or more patients, a subset of candidate patients eligible for at least one treatment based on a comparison of information in the one or more EHR sub-blocks with corresponding eligibility criteria for the at least one treatment, wherein the corresponding eligibility criteria are based on one or more of: the first set of health parameters, or the collective demographic information; transmit, one or more encrypted first sub-blocks decryptable by one or more corresponding second entities, wherein each transmitted first sub-block comprises at least one candidate patient profile and medical information associated with the at least one treatment; and augment, in response to a received transaction block with a transaction confirmation, a multi-dimensional blockchain, wherein the multi-dimensional blockchain is augmented with a multi-dimensional block formed by linking: (i) the transaction block comprising treatment deployment related information associated with the at least one treatment, (ii) A Drug-Device Information (DIR) block comprising the medical information associated with the at least one treatment, and (iii) an EHR block comprising the at least one candidate patient profile information, corresponding candidate patient medical history for the at least one candidate patient, and prescription information for the at least one treatment.

“The methods disclosed may be performed by one or more of mobile computing devices, computers, including servers, cloud-based systems, etc. using computer-readable media or computer-readable memory.

“In the figures, like reference numbers and symbols in the various figures, which depict certain example embodiments indicate like elements. For example, sub-blocks with similar information are referred to with the same reference numbers. In addition, multiple instances of an element may be indicated by following a first number for the element with a letter or with a hyphen and a second number. For example, multiple instances of an element 280 may be indicated as 280-1, 280-2, etc. When referring to such an element using only the first number, any instance of the element is to be understood (e.g. element 280 in the previous example would refer to elements 280-1, 280-2 . . . and/or 280-N). Further, in the figures below, an asterisk symbol (“*”) associated with a reference number indicates that the element (or some portion thereof) may be repeated (e.g. for each instance of the element). For example, a prescription may include several drug instances, and a dosage field may be repeated for each drug instance.

“The figures below also show hierarchies of records, which may comprise fields and sub-fields. Records include any fields (and some or all of sub-blocks) that are part of the record. Similarly, a field includes any sub-fields. Sub-fields may include additional sub-fields. In addition to laws/regulations governing information sharing, the fields in the sub-blocks that are shared between entities may depend on one or more of: the informational interface between the entities, the transaction type, the context in which the data is being shared, and the state of the transaction at the time the sub-blocks are being exchanged.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A processor-implemented method at a first entity comprising: obtaining a first set of health parameters and collective demographic information associated with one or more population segments; receiving one or more encrypted first Electronic Health Record (EHR) sub-blocks decryptable by the first entity, wherein the one or more first EHR sub-blocks comprise: (a) patient profile information corresponding to one or more patients, and (b) corresponding patient medical histories for the one or more patients; determining, from the one or more patients, a subset of candidate patients eligible for at least one treatment based on a comparison of information in the one or more EHR sub-blocks with corresponding eligibility criteria for the at least one treatment, wherein the corresponding eligibility criteria are based on one or more of: the first set of health parameters, or the collective demographic information; transmitting, one or more encrypted first sub-blocks decryptable by one or more corresponding second entities, wherein each transmitted first sub-block comprises at least one candidate patient profile and medical information associated with the at least one treatment; and augmenting, in response to a received transaction block with a transaction confirmation, a multi-dimensional blockchain, wherein the multi-dimensional blockchain is augmented with a multi-dimensional block formed by linking: (i) the transaction block comprising treatment deployment related information associated with the at least one treatment, (ii) A Drug-Device Information (DIR) block comprising the medical information associated with the at least one treatment, and (iii) an EHR block comprising the at least one candidate patient profile information, corresponding candidate patient medical history for the at least one candidate patient, and prescription information for the at least one treatment.

“2. The processor-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the at least one treatment forms part of at least one clinical trial, wherein the at least one clinical trial is associated with a corresponding clinical trial protocol comprising the corresponding eligibility criteria.

“3. The processor-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the multi-dimensional block is further augmented with a Clinical Trial Record (CTR) block comprising the at least one candidate patient profile, the medical information associated with the at least one treatment, and the corresponding clinical trial protocol, wherein the clinical trial protocol further comprises the first set of health parameters,

“4. The processor-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the corresponding eligibility criteria comprise: one or more corresponding exclusion criteria to determine the one or more patients ineligible for inclusion in the subset of candidate patients, and one or more corresponding inclusion criteria to determine the one or patients potentially eligible for inclusion in the subset of candidate patients.

“5. The processor-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the method is initiated in response to an approval of the corresponding clinical trial protocol associated with the at least one clinical trial.

“6. The processor-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the at least one clinical trial is associated with: one or more drugs; or one or more biologics; or one or more medical devices; or a combination thereof.

“7. The processor-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the corresponding patient profile information for each patient comprises corresponding individual patient demographic information.

“8. The processor-implemented method of claim 2, wherein, for each of the one or more patients, the corresponding patient medical history comprises one or more of: corresponding current and past patient medical conditions, or corresponding current and past patient diagnoses, or corresponding current and past patient treatments, or corresponding current and past patient medical conditions.

“9. The processor implemented method of claim 2, further comprising: receiving, in response to the transmission of the one or more encrypted first sub-blocks and prior to the reception of the transaction block, at least one encrypted second EHR sub-block decryptable by the first entity, wherein the at least one second EHR sub-block comprises the at least one candidate patient profile and a corresponding patient consent by the at least one candidate patient to participation in the at least one clinical trial.

“10. The processor-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the patient profile information in first EHR block comprises non-personally identifiable (PII) information and the at least one candidate patient profile information in second EHR block comprises PII information.

“11. The processor-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the at least one treatment is associated with at least one drug deployment.

“12. The processor-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the at least one drug deployment is initiated in response to a public health emergency and the eligibility criteria are based further on risk parameters associated with the public health emergency, wherein the health parameters comprise the risk parameters.

“13. The method of claim 13, wherein the risk parameters comprise locations at risk and the population segments indicate populations at risk from the public health emergency.

“14. A computing device for a first entity comprising: a memory, a communications interface, and a processor coupled to the memory and the communications interface, wherein the processor is configured to: obtain a first set of health parameters and collective demographic information associated with one or more population segments; receive one or more encrypted first Electronic Health Record (EHR) sub-blocks decryptable by the first entity, wherein the one or more first EHR sub-blocks comprise: (a) patient profile information corresponding to one or more patients, and (b) corresponding patient medical histories for the one or more patients; determine, from the one or more patients, a subset of candidate patients eligible for at least one treatment based on a comparison of information in the one or more EHR sub-blocks with corresponding eligibility criteria for the at least one treatment, wherein the corresponding eligibility criteria are based on one or more of: the first set of health parameters, or the collective demographic information; transmit, one or more encrypted first sub-blocks decryptable by one or more corresponding second entities, wherein each transmitted first sub-block comprises at least one candidate patient profile and medical information associated with the at least one treatment; and augment, in response to a received transaction block with a transaction confirmation, a multi-dimensional blockchain, wherein the multi-dimensional blockchain is augmented with a multi-dimensional block formed by linking: (i) the transaction block comprising treatment deployment related information associated with the at least one treatment, (ii) A Drug-Device Information (DIR) block comprising the medical information associated with the at least one treatment, and (iii) an EHR block comprising the at least one candidate patient profile information, corresponding candidate patient medical history for the at least one candidate patient, and prescription information for the at least one treatment.

“15. The computing device of claim 14, wherein the at least one treatment forms part of at least one clinical trial, wherein the at least one clinical trial is associated with a corresponding clinical trial protocol comprising the corresponding eligibility criteria.

“16. The computing device of claim 14, wherein the at least one treatment is associated with at least one drug deployment.

“17. The computing device of claim 16, wherein the at least one drug deployment is initiated in response to a public health emergency and the eligibility criteria are based further on risk parameters associated with the public health emergency, wherein the health parameters comprise the risk parameters.”

There are additional claims. Please visit full patent to read further.

For additional information on this patent application, see: Lee, Jessica; Morimura, Jun; Moschetti, Michael; Quesada, Marvin; Vig, John. System And Method For Healthcare Security And Interoperability. Filed January 14, 2021 and posted May 20, 2021. Patent URL: https://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=%2220210151136%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20210151136&RS=DN/20210151136

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