Healthcare organization central record and record identifier management system
A system (100) for providing multiple facility healthcare corporations the ability to assign and maintain shared medical record numbers (43) across multiple entities. The system establishes a parent/child relationship among the entities to share medical record number ranges, formats, and data. A patient record identifier database (102) contains patient records in a searchable unit record file (50) and an identification number file (3). A search processor (105) locates relevant records and a rules processor (104) applies various tests to the returned data in order to assign a medical record number (43, 13) to a single unique unit reference number (2, 5, 11) to a person without duplication or conflict with identifiers used at other entities (4, 9, 190). The reference numbers and their associated medical records are shared among the various entities. The sharing relationships may be altered by authorized users accessing on line file maintenance (312) and programs (311).
This is a divisional application of non-provisional application Ser. No. 10/281,602 filed Oct. 28, 2002 of provisional application Ser. No. 60/364,539 by D. M. Thomas et al. filed Mar. 16, 2002.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates generally to a record keeping and database organization system, and more specifically to a system that permits multiple facility healthcare corporations to assign and maintain shared medical record numbers across multiple entities.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThe healthcare industry has traditionally suffered from information fragmentation. Frequently, multiple medical record numbers are assigned to a patient who is cared for by each of several facilities within a multiple facility hospital organization, creating high volumes of duplicate medical record numbers and causing other waste of, e.g. prelabeled folders. Maintaining decentralized or multiple Medical Records Departments within a multientity organization causes additional overhead costs. This practice results in multiple medical record numbers being assigned to a patient who is cared for by several facilities, inevitably causing confusion regarding a patient's medical record data. The workflow of hospital personnel is often less accurate due to the multiple locations of patient medical record information. Impaired access to complete patient information hinders a physician's ability to properly treat the patient.
Numerous attempts have been made to simplify the collection and integration of medical records by a large healthcare provider. One method is to surrender to the multiplicity of records and simply attempt to locate all of them at any given moment. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,899,998, entitled METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MAINTAINING AND UPDATING COMPUTERIZED MEDICAL RECORDS, issued on May 4, 1999 to McGauley et al., discloses a device for collecting the medical record data by having each patient carry a portable data storage device such as a “smart card” which is sensed by various point of service stations distributed around the healthcare facility. U.S. Pat. No. 6,333,690, entitled WIDE AREA MULTIPURPOSE TRACKING SYSTEM, issued on Dec. 25, 2001 to Nelson et al., is also related to locating the medical record by means of a radio transmitter or similar device.
Reliance on a computer database to retrieve inherently fragmented data creates additional problems. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,974,389, entitled MEDICAL RECORD MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND PROCESS WITH IMPROVED WORKFLOW FEATURES issued on Oct. 26, 1999 to Clark et al., is related to sharing a computer database, and the problem of preventing simultaneous viewing of medical records by those, such as a pharmacist and a physician, who should be aware of the other's action. Thus, the Clark et al. system insures that records are viewed in a serial fashion. On the other hand, U.S. Pat. No. 6,347,329, entitled ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORDS SYSTEM, issued on Feb. 12, 2002 to Evans explicitly permits simultaneous access to fragmented medical records.
Many computer based medical record systems are in fact nothing more than a search engine designed to retrieve multiple, widely dispersed data. U.S. Pat. No. 6,304,848, entitled MEDICAL RECORD FORMING AND STORING APPARATUS AND METHOD RELATED TO SAME, issued on Oct. 16, 2001 to Singer discloses a system of medical records management based on searches of common elements such as medical terms. U.S. Pat. No. 6,263,330, entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF DATA FILES, issued on Jul. 17, 2001 to Bessette provides a network system for storage of medical records. The records are stored in a database on a server. Each record includes two main parts, namely a collection of data elements containing information of a medical nature for a certain individual, and a plurality of pointers providing addresses or remote locations where other medical data for that particular individual resides.
U.S. Patent Application No. 2002/0007284, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IMPLEMENTING A GLOBAL MASTER PATIENT INDEX, published on Jan. 17, 2002 and filed by Schurenberg et al., discloses a global master patient index (GMPI). The GMPI performs functions such as locating patient records, locating duplicate records for a selected patient, printing a selected patient record with all its duplicate patient records, reconciling potential duplicate patient records found while searching and retrieving a patient's record, final reconciliation (certification) of suspected duplicate patients records, maintaining a persistent relationship between patient records in the GMPI, and maintaining a reconciliation audit trail.
U.S. Patent Application No. 2001/0051879, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING SECURITY FOR A DISTRIBUTED HEALTHCARE APPLICATION, filed by Johnson et al., discloses a health data network that allows storage of patient record information in a parent/child relationship using a global master patient index to integrate patient record information used either by multiple facility healthcare organizations or by a single business with multiple sites or computer databases.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention assigns shared medical record numbers across multiple entities. This allows hospitals to assign the same medical record number for a patient throughout their organization, thereby eliminating multiple medical record numbers from being assigned to a patient who is cared for by several different facilities. The present invention reduces the number of duplicate medical record numbers across entities within a multiple facility organization, eliminates the need to maintain multiple Medical Records Departments within a multiple facility organization and improves the accuracy of the medical record number assignment process. A material cost savings will also be realized as duplicate physical record volumes decline.
The present invention simplifies the workflow of hospital personnel by consolidating their work environment. This results in greater accuracy of patient medical information and the possible reduction of staffing costs. The present invention allows data that is associated with one medical record number per patient to be stored in one location, regardless of the number of remote locations the patient has visited within the multiple entity organization. The existence of only one medical record per patient minimizes the need to reconcile duplicate patient records and the need to maintain multiple records is avoided. This invention can be used by hospitals, long term care facilities, skilled nursing facilities, outpatient clinics and physician offices that assign and maintain patient health record numbers.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Large corporations having multiple departments, entities, or facilities that maintain a Central Business Office (CBO) can, according to the principles of the present invention, also create a Central Medical Records Department (CMRD). The CMRD environment includes a centralized medical records staff, shared medical record numbers that are available to multiple departments or entities, and a centralized filing system. Referring to
Medical record personnel organize the shared medical record numbers, their associated medical record number format, and their shared number ranges through online file maintenance. The Record Management System 100 includes a system server 101 housing or accessing a patient record identifier database 102, a rules processor 104 for examining the identifiers of database 102 and a search processor 105 which determines for each entity 110, 112, 114 and 116 the identifier associated with a particular patient. The rules processor 104 includes an identifier generator which produces available identification numbers when a new identifier is needed.
Referring also to
The first scenario 201 is the admission of a patient who does not have a medical record number at any of the other facilities in the hospital. In this situation, the patient will be assigned the lowest available medical record number that has not already been assigned at any of the sharing entities.
The second scenario 202 is the admission of a patient who has a medical record number only at the current facility. In this scenario, the patient will keep the existing medical record number for the current admitting entity.
The third scenario 203 is the admission of a patient who has a medical record number at one of the other two facilities but not the current facility. In this case the patient will be assigned the same medical record number that already exists in any of the other sharing entities.
The fourth scenario 204 is the admission of a patient who has a medical record number at the current facility and a different medical record number at one of the other facilities. The fourth scenario 204 can only exist if historical medical record data was created prior to the implementation of the present invention. In this situation the patient retains the existing medical record number for the current admitting entity.
The fifth scenario 205 is the admission of a patient who has different medical record numbers at other facilities (a relic of a prior record keeping system) but does not have a medical record number in the current facility. The rules processor 104 will cause the patient to be assigned the lowest medical record number of the two existing numbers previously assigned by the other entities.
The sixth scenario 206 is the admission of a patient who has different medical record numbers at all three facilities. This scenario can only exist if historical medical record data was created prior to the implementation of a shared medical record numbers system. In this case the rules processor 104 assigns the patient the existing medical record number for the current admitting entity.
The seventh scenario 207 addresses the admission of a patient who has a medical record number in the second entity and is being admitted to the first entity, but a different patient in the first entity already has the same medical record number. This can happen only if historical medical record data was created prior to sharing medical record numbers. The rules processor 104 does not permit the sharing of the same medical record number between different patients. Hence, a new medical record number will be assigned to the patient by rules processor 104.
The system server 101 includes physical files 106 (e.g. disk drives) within the record management system 100. Multiple database fields are defined in each physical file 106 to store specific data elements. A complete set of the database fields is also referred to as a record. A physical file 106 can contain a number of individual records. System server 101 also utilizes logical files 107 to provide different views of the physical files 106. These physical and logical files 106, 107 are grouped together and stored in (or accessed by) application-specific software libraries 1 and 108, for example, based on the purpose of the software. Libraries 1 and 108 also contain the application-specific program libraries 111, 311 that interact with the files 106 and 107.
For example, the system server 101 includes the Accounts Receivable, Admission, Discharge, Transfer (AR/ADT) and General Purpose (GP) application-specific file and program libraries 1. File libraries 1 contain physical and logical files stored within PH#FILE 109 and GP#FILE 309. Program libraries 1 contain programs stored within PH#LIBR 111 and GP#LIBR 311 which contain the programs that work with the physical and logical files 106, 107, 108 contained in PH#FILE 109 and GP#FILE 309 to provide the features and functionality of the present invention. When a system server 101 user accesses the record management system 100 using either their personal computer or a passive terminal, the management system 100 automatically creates, based on the user profile, a library list containing the specific software applications' file 109, 309 and program 111, 311 libraries the user needs to complete their daily work.
The system server 101 includes a common file library called M4#FILE 103. The file library 103 contains or accesses all of the “shared” or “global” physical and logical files across all system server 101 patient financial applications. Hospitals that belong to a multiple entity corporation who implement a Central Business Office (CBO) share the patient record identifier database 102 located in the physical files in the M4#FILE 103. This is also where the Unit Record File (PHPUNIT) 50, the Unit Identification Number File (PHPUIDN) 3, the Next Medical Record Number Assignment File (GPPMRNM) 312, and the General Purpose Table File (GPPTABLE) 313 reside in order to allow patient identifier number sharing to occur.
Throughout the patient record identifier database 102, unit reference number fields exist in physical files and are used to link relevant data. Referring to
The Unit Record Identification Number File (PHPUIDN) 3 contains the following fields:
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- (a) Entity Code field (IDENT#) 4 identifies which entity within the shared environment created the record.
(b) Unit Reference Number field (IDREF#) 45 contains a unique system generated patient identification number 5 that links the person's demographic information with this particular record.
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- (c) Identification Num Type field (IDTYPE) 6 identifies the type of record (medical record number versus a radiology number or foreign system identification number).
- (d) Identification Number field (IDIDE#) 7 contains the actual medical record number.
The two files PHPUNIT 50 and PHPUIDN 3 can be linked together when the value 14 present in the UREF# field 2 in PHPUNIT 50 is identical to the value 5 residing in the IDREF# field 45 in PHPUIDN 3. If the IDTYPE field 6 in PHPUIDN 3 identifies a medical record number type (MR#), and a medical record number 43 resides in the IDIDE# field 7, then the link to a medical record number is established.
The AR/ADT Account File (PHPACCT) 8 contains the following key fields:
-
- (a) Entity Number field (AENT) 9
- (b) Account number field (ACCT#) 10
- (c) Patient's Unit Reference Number field (APREF) 11
- (d) Guarantor/Relative Unit Reference Number field (AGREF) 12
- (e) Medical Record Number field (AMDRC) 13
Each person affiliated with the patient during the registration or admission process also receives his or her own unique unit reference number 44. These unit records include data identifying e.g. the patient's guarantor, the patient's spouse/parent, and the patient's relative. This allows hospitals to service their community and their families by eliminating redundant entry. For unit records belonging to persons that have been patients at any of the facilities, a medical record identification number may also be assigned based on the hospital's choice of which patient types (or services) require medical record numbers. Medical record identification numbers 43 are stored in the Unit Identification Number File (PHPUIDN) 3 in the IDIDE# field 7. Identical fields for both the unit reference number 5 and the medical record number 43 are stored in additional database files which are to be used as links. Additional key fields such as entity code field 4 and account number field 10 are also stored and used as additional links with the unit reference number 5 and the medical record number 7 values in order to define a path to specific information.
The entity code or number associated with the Entity File (GPPENTY) 190 is stored in important entity specific files such as the Account File (PHPACCT) 8, entity code field (ADENT) 9 and the Medical Record Identification File (PHPUIDN) 3, entity code field (IDENT#) 4 and is used in linking entity specific data. The search processor 105 also utilizes the entity field 4 along with the unit reference number field 5, 45 when searching PHPUIDN. Access to specific entities is controlled through the user's profile stored in the system server 101.
During the registration procedure for a patient, the user who in the illustrated embodiment may be the admission clerk, conditions the system to search the Master Person Index 50 using combinations of the patient's last name, first name, middle initial, social security number, and birth date in order to determine if a unit record number 14 already exists for the person (John Doe) 16 in the PHPUNIT file 50. Whether the admission clerk selects an existing unit record or creates a new unit record, the clerk will then condition the system to search for a medical record entry 4, 6, 43 using the search processor 105 and the rules processor 104. The search processor 105 knows which entity 190 is performing the registration based on the admission clerk's profile stored in the system server 101.
If no unit record number 14 is found, a new unit record in the PHPUNIT file 50 is generated linking the patient name (John Doe) 16 to a newly created unit reference number 14 in field 2, and including biographical and demographical information about the new patient. In addition, a medical record entry 4, 6, 7 is created. A medical record number 43 is assigned in field 7 using the assignment scenarios already described for rules processor 104, and a link is established via the new unit reference number 5 in field 45 to the new patient record created for the patient in PHPUIDN 3. At the same time, a new record is created in the PHPACCT file 8 for this entity 9, 190 linking a newly created account record number 10 to the new unit reference number 11 and the new medical record number 13 for the new patient (John Doe) 16 in the PHPUNIT file 50 and the new medical record entry for this entity 4, 6, 7 in the PHPUIDN file 3. This record also associates or links the unit reference number 44 for the guarantor (Jane Doe) 15 with the guarantor's (Jane Doe) unit reference number 12 in the PHPUNIT file 50 and updates the PHPACCT file 8.
If a unit record number already exists in the PHPUNIT file 50 (John Doe) 16, 14 and a medical record entry 4, 6, 43 already exists in the PHPUIDN file 3 the registration continues creating the new record in the PHPACCT file 8 using the same links previously described. If a unit record number already exists in the PHPUNIT file 50 (John Doe) but a medical record entry 4, 6, 43 does not exist in the PHPUIDN file 3, a medical record entry 4, 6 is created, a medical record number 43 is assigned in field 7 using the assignment scenarios already described for rules processor 104, and the registration continues creating the new record in the PHPACCT file 8 using the same links previously described.
A PHPUIDN 3 record with an MR# identification number type 6 will never be created for a patient unless a PHPUNIT 50 record previously exists or is created simultaneously for a new patient. This eliminates the possibility of orphaned, irrelevant, or wasted medical record identification data in PHPUIDN 3.
The Patient Record Identifier Database 102 (
The following is an example of a few of the different formats for medical record numbers which may be used by hospitals (each numeric value is represented by a 9, each alphabetic character by an A, and the separators are literal):
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- 99-99-99
- 99/99/99
- 9999999
- 999-99-9999
- A9-A9-A9
- 999999999999
Referring to
-
- Element 210 is the entity code;
- Description 211 and Short Description 212 represent the name of the hospital;
- The Field 213 (Field-1) contains the medical record number format (including separators);
- The Field 214 (Field-2) contains the Yes/No prompt which defines whether a screen default of *CALC is used as a shortcut during the admission process in order to calculate a medical record number;
- The Field 215 (Field-4) contains a sorting order for medical record reports. Additional fields are present in the table 17 to allow for future enhancements as needed.
In order to share medical record numbers in a Central Medical Records department, the following rules are followed:
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- All sharing entities must use the same medical record number format in their separate databases or convert them to the same format prior to sharing.
- All sharing entities must share the same common files PHPUNIT 50 and PHPUIDN 3 in the M4#FILE library 103.
- All sharing entities must exist within the same Central Business Office environment.
- All sharing entities must use the same medical record number format defined in the MREDIT table 18 in the General Purpose Table File Maintenance 17.
- All sharing entities must use the same medical record number assignment range.
Referring also to
Note that the parent entity 20 in the example of
Existing hospitals typically have the medical record number 43 already stored in a database in a Unit Record File that is analogous to the PHPUNIT file 50 (of
Referring again to
In a hospital that is new to the concept of a centralized medical records office, the present invention is implemented by utilizing the same medical record number format of any preexisting record keeping system. The user sets General Purpose Table file maintenance 17 and the Next Medical Record Number file maintenance 19 to match the existing foreign system format. For example, if the preexisting medical record number was 99-99-99 on the earlier system, the number is converted to database 102 to be exactly the same (99-99-99). A standard conversion program 120 is provided to take the demographic (including medical record number), insurance and account information from the foreign system database to flat file 53 provided in database 102 that contains the architecture of PHPUNIT 50 and PHPUIDN 3. PHPUNIT 50 is populated from the flat file 53 with all of the data except the medical record number 7. The PHPUNIT file 50 is populated first but substantially simultaneously with PHPUIDN 3.
The PHPUIDN file 3 will be populated based on logic similar to that used by an existing hospital. The conversion program 120 analyzes the foreign system to determine if there is a value in their corresponding medical record field. If the foreign system's field is blank, no record is created in PHPUIDN 3. If a value exists, a new record is created in the Unit Identification Number File (PHPUIDN) 3. The entity code value for field 4 is copied and the Unit Reference Number field (UREF#) 2 in the newly created record in PHPUNIT file 50 is copied to IDREF# field 45 in PHPUIDN file 3. The Identification Number Type field (IDTYPE) 6 in PHPUIDN 3 is populated with the value “MR#” to identify this record as a medical record number. The Identification Number field (IDIDE#) 7 is populated with the medical record number value from the foreign system. If the new hospital implementation does require a change of the record format, the conversion program 120 examines the medical record number on the foreign system, maps it to the medical record number field in the flat file 53, reformatting the number using the format defined in the General Purpose Table File's (GPPTABLE 313) MREDIT Table 18.
In the case of an existing hospital which becomes a CBO by adding a new entity, the hospital will already have all of the medical record numbers residing in the Unit Identification Number File (PHPUIDN) 3. The existing hospital becomes a parent or master entity and the parent's PHPUNIT 50 and PHPUIDN 3 files become shared files by moving these two files to M4#FILE library 103. PH#FILE 109 contains a CBO Entity field in the Location Master File which indicates that this hospital is now operating in a multiple entity environment. Once the implementation is complete, the “Sharing Entities” field 54 in the Next MR# File Maintenance display 19 can be accessed.
Two scenarios can exist when adding additional entities. If the hospital adds an existing entity having database 102, the parent hospital will run the standard conversion program 120 that will merge the new entity's PHPUNIT 50 and PHPUIDN 3 files into the now shared PHPUNIT 50 and PHPUIDN 3 files. Specific matching criteria are used to detect if the same person already exists in the shared files. The parent hospital first runs the standard conversion program 120 in “report mode” to identify potential duplicates. The report mode will create a WAS/IS file for potential duplicates between entities.
Matching criteria is used in the report mode as well as during the actual PHPUNIT/PHPUIDN file merge by examining the patient's last name, first name, birth date, medical record number, gender, and address. If the resulting data matches for at least five of the identifying criteria, a new record is not created but the child record would now become the new “IS” record. If the data does not match for at least five of the identifying criteria, a new record is created in the shared PHPUNIT 50 and PHPUIDN 3 files and is populated by copying the data from the “child's” PHPUNIT and PHPUIDN files to the “parent” or shared PHPUNIT and PHPUIDN files. The “report mode” allows both the parent and the child entities to research in advance of the file merge in order to organize or complete existing data in both environments.
The parent hospital can then run the conversion program 120 in its “merge” mode. When merging files, the same matching criteria as were used in the “report mode” are executed (last name, first name, birth date, medical record number, gender, and address). If the data matches for at least five of the identifying criteria, a new record is not created and a report is produced. If the data does not match on at least five of the identifying criteria, a new record is created in the shared PHPUNIT 50 and PHPUIDN 3 files which populated by copying the data from the “child's” PHPUNIT and PHPUIDN files to the “parent” or shared PHPUINIT 50 and PHPUIDN 3 files.
As may be more readily understood by reference to
If, at step 62, the patient's information does not exist, the clerk creates a new unit record 14 at step 63, or if the patient's information does exist, the clerk selects the existing record from the search and select screen at step 64.
At step 68 the search processor 105 checks the IDIDE# field 45 of PHPUIDN 3 to determine if a medical record number 43 already exists for that patient's unique unit reference number 5 for any of the entities contained within the multiple entity organization. The rules processor 104 considers the multiple assignment scenarios discussed earlier with respect to
The rules processor 104 then creates a new record in PHPUIDN 3 for the entity 4 requesting the medical record number 43. The chosen medical record number 43 is placed in the IDIDE# field 7 in PHPUIDN 3. The medical record number 43 is already properly formatted regardless of its origin. This is because the medical record number 43 is stored as a formatted number in PHPUIDN 3 and is stored as a formatted number in the Next Medical Record Number Assignment File (GPPMRNM 312) 51. If the patient had previously been a patient at this facility, the previously assigned medical record number 43 will already display in the Med Rec # field 7 and a record would already exist in PHPUIDN 3 for that entity 4. The final step 71 updates the files PHPUNIT 50 and PHPUIDN 3, storing all of the data entered.
As depicted in
When performing file maintenance for shared medical record numbers, certain conditions are automatically enforced by the record management system 100. For example, a child entity can only share medical record numbers with one parent entity. A parent entity cannot share with another parent entity. A parent entity can have multiple child entities. A parent entity cannot be deleted until the relationship to the child entities has been deleted. When a sharing entity is deleted as a parent, the actual entity record still exists; only the sharing relationship is deleted. Finally, an inactive entity record cannot be selected as a parent entity. Several examples of actual file sharing manipulations will now be discussed.
The first example addresses the case of adding or updating a Medical Record Number Range. Referring to
If the search of step 92 is unsuccessful, the user must create a new record, at step 94, which causes the second Next MR# Maintenance screen 188 (see
Step 95 (
The second example deals with deleting a medical record number range, and can be best understood by reference to
To delete a specific medical record number range for an entity, the user types a “2” from field 187 into the Opt field 186 next to the desired entity. This results in the display of screen 194 (
In order for a user to add or delete a sharing entity, the first step 102, as illustrated in
To delete an assigned sharing parent entity, the user types a “4” in the Opt field 186 next to the desired child entity at step 105. By pressing <enter> at step 106 the deletion request is executed, causing the “Confirm delete of Sharing Entity” window 214, shown in
This invention has been described with reference to certain preferred embodiments but those skilled in this field will recognize that various modifications can be made. For example, each of the display screens is only an example of how the data might be displayed, and various screens could be added or deleted depending on the needs of a particular record keeping environment. As another example, the present invention could be practiced with stand alone personal computers as part of a network, or each terminal could be a passive component connected to a single mainframe computer. The programming involved to accomplish these modifications are well within the present state of the art.
Claims
1. A central record management system for assigning a patient specific record identifier for use by a plurality of healthcare related organizations, said plurality of organizations including individual organizations potentially having an existing record identifier associated with said patient, comprising:
- a search processor for determining, for a plurality of organizations, an identifier associated with a particular patient and used by an individual organization of said plurality of organizations;
- a rules processor for examining determined identifiers and for assigning a patient specific record identifier for use by at least one of said plurality of organizations based on predetermined identifier allocation rules for preventing assignment of the same identifier to different patients and if said search processor determines no patient specific identifier, for said particular patient, is used by said plurality of organizations, said rules processor assigns a patient specific identifier derived from at least one of, (a) a plurality of predetermined identifiers designated for assignment and (b) an identifier generator for generating identifiers based on a predetermined identifier creation method; and
- a database for storing said assigned patient specific record identifier.
2. A system according to claim 1, wherein if said search processor determines a single patient specific identifier, for said particular patient, is used by one of said plurality of organizations, said rules processor assignment of said patient specific record identifier comprises adopting said single patient specific identifier for use by at least one other of said plurality of organizations.
3. A system according to claim 1, wherein said request from said first organization or said second organization is initiated in response to admission of said particular patient at said first organization or said second organization.
4. A system according to claim 1, wherein if said rules processor determines said first and said second identifiers are substantially the same said rules processor assigns a patient specific identifier unused by patients in said plurality of organizations.
5. A system according to claim 1, wherein if said search processor determines a first identifier is used by a first organization for a second patient different from said particular patient and said first identifier is also used by a second organization of said plurality of organizations for said particular patient, said rules processor assigns a patient specific identifier unused by patients in said plurality of organizations.
6. A system according to claim 5, wherein said unused patient specific identifier is assigned in response to a request from said first organization initiated to support admission of said particular patient at said first organization.
7. A system according to claim 6, wherein said unused patient specific identifier is derived from at least one of, (a) a plurality of predetermined identifiers designated for assignment and (b) an identifier generator for generating identifiers based on a predetermined identifier creation method.
8. A central record management system for assigning a patient specific record identifier for use by a plurality of healthcare related organizations, said plurality of organizations including individual organizations potentially having an existing record identifier associated with said patient, comprising:
- a search processor for determining, for a plurality of organizations, an identifier associated with a particular patient and used by an individual organization of said plurality of organizations;
- a rules processor for examining determined identifiers and for assigning a patient specific record identifier in response to a request from a first organization of said plurality of organizations initiated to support admission of said particular patient at said first organization, said patient specific identifier being generated based on predetermined identifier allocation rules for preventing assignment of the same identifier to different patients and if said search processor determines a single patient specific identifier, for said particular patient, is used by said first organization and others of said plurality of organizations do not have an identifier for said particular patient, said rules processor assignment of said patient specific record identifier comprises adopting said single patient specific identifier for use by at least said first organization of said plurality of organizations; and
- a database for storing said assigned patient specific record identifier.
9. The system according to claim 8 further comprising a conversion program for interacting with a previous scheme of identifier format and assignment used by at least one of the first and second organizations, the conversion program adopting the scheme of identifier format and assignment whenever the scheme poses no conflict with identifier assignments made by the rules processor.
10. The system according to claim 9, wherein if the conversion program detects a conflicting identifier format adopted under the previous scheme the rules processor creates a new patient specific record identifier.
11. The system according to claim 10, wherein if the conversion program detects some conflicting identifiers adopted under the previous scheme and detects some nonconflicting identifiers adopted under the previous scheme, the conversion program merges the nonconflicting identifiers with the new patient specific record identifiers assigned by the rules processor into a single unit record file.
12. A method of managing demographic records in an organization having a plurality of entities, comprising the steps of:
- (a) creating a unit record file;
- (b) creating an identification number file;
- (c) creating application specific files;
- (d) creating a unique person specific record identifier that resides in the unit record file, the identification number file and each application specific file;
- (e) searching unit record files for the presence of the person specific record identifier so as to link each unit record file to other files containing the same unique person specific record identifier and
- (f) creating a person specific record identifier protocol adapted to create a new person specific record identifier whenever the same identifier is used to refer to different people.
13. The method of claim 12, further comprising the steps of
- (a) creating a file sharing relationship between at least two of the entities in the organization; and
- (b) sharing a person specific record identifier found in at least one of the files with each of the files accessible to each entity in the file sharing relationship.
14. The method of claim 13, further comprising the steps of:
- (a) creating a parent/child relationship between at least two entities in the organization;
- (b) permitting all files in the child entity to be accessible to the parent entity; and
- (c) permitting at least some files in the parent entity to be accessible to the child entity.
Type: Application
Filed: Sep 13, 2005
Publication Date: Jan 12, 2006
Inventors: Denise Thomas (Salt Lake City, UT), Gaylene Curtis (Taylorsville, UT), John Grant (Layton, UT)
Application Number: 11/225,220
International Classification: G06Q 10/00 (20060101);