WO2013013257A1 - System and method for health risk management - Google Patents

System and method for health risk management Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2013013257A1
WO2013013257A1 PCT/AU2011/000934 AU2011000934W WO2013013257A1 WO 2013013257 A1 WO2013013257 A1 WO 2013013257A1 AU 2011000934 W AU2011000934 W AU 2011000934W WO 2013013257 A1 WO2013013257 A1 WO 2013013257A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
occupation
risk
health
person
risk profile
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/AU2011/000934
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Mark Allen CASSIDY
Original Assignee
2Crisk Pty Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by 2Crisk Pty Ltd filed Critical 2Crisk Pty Ltd
Priority to PCT/AU2011/000934 priority Critical patent/WO2013013257A1/en
Publication of WO2013013257A1 publication Critical patent/WO2013013257A1/en

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G16—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR SPECIFIC APPLICATION FIELDS
    • G16H—HEALTHCARE INFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE HANDLING OR PROCESSING OF MEDICAL OR HEALTHCARE DATA
    • G16H50/00—ICT specially adapted for medical diagnosis, medical simulation or medical data mining; ICT specially adapted for detecting, monitoring or modelling epidemics or pandemics
    • G16H50/30—ICT specially adapted for medical diagnosis, medical simulation or medical data mining; ICT specially adapted for detecting, monitoring or modelling epidemics or pandemics for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to health risk management.
  • the invention relates to online systems for heath risk management including determination of high health risk circumstances.
  • Employee health issues can be very costly for a company. Employees are, in many industries, a very valuable asset to a company. A health issue may not only cost a company through loss of a trained employee, but also through rehabilitation costs, and other costs associated with the health issue.
  • the workplace health and safety policy includes rules and guidelines, which aim at minimising health issues and injuries in a workplace.
  • the workplace health and safety policies are not personal, but instead apply to all employees in a particular area, a particular occupation, or all employees generally.
  • Employee health and injury monitoring systems of the prior art typically include a reporting module, which is used to receive injury information.
  • the injury information may be then analysed and be used to take action in a workplace. Examples of actions include adding additional safety equipment to a dangerous machine, and reducing the work time on a machine.
  • Health issue and injury management is also important for reducing costs for a company after a health incident or an injury has occurred. Through management of an injury, an employee may be able to return to work sooner and a risk of permanent injury may be reduced.
  • Injury management systems of the prior art also typically follow the lifecycle of an injury and provide reporting to a manager responsible for the injured person. The manager may then take actions based upon the reporting.
  • the invention resides in a computer implemented method of assessing health risk, including:
  • an occupation risk profile for the occupation based upon the health information relating to the occupation; receiving, on a computer interface, health information relating to a first person;
  • the occupation risk profile and the first applicant risk profile comparing, on a processor, the occupation risk profile and the first applicant risk profile, and determining high health risk circumstances, wherein the high risk circumstances include a circumstance that is common to both the first applicant risk profile and the occupation risk profile; and generating, on a processor, a health management plan for the first person working in the occupation, wherein the health management plan includes actions to reduce a health risk of the first person in the occupation, associated with the high risk circumstance that is common to both the first applicant risk profile and the occupation risk profile.
  • the first person is a candidate for the occupation.
  • the first person is employed in the occupation.
  • the health information relating to the first person includes information from a medical examination.
  • the health information from the first person includes at least one of smoking history, exercise history and alcohol history.
  • the health information relating to an occupation includes at least one of a job classification, hours per shift, work environment, work surface, use of stairs, machinery operation information, lifting weights, number of lifts per shift, temperature, and breaks per shift.
  • the occupation risk profile is site or location specific.
  • the applicant risk profile is reassessed periodically.
  • the method additionally includes injury management for an injury of the first person, wherein a suitable duties plan is generated based upon at least one of a medical assessment of the injury, the applicant risk profile, and an injury claim, and the suitable duties plan includes a second occupation deemed suitable for the first person.
  • the injury management includes updating the occupation risk profile based upon the injury.
  • the occupation risk profile is reassessed periodically and includes trend analysis.
  • the method additionally includes:
  • the method additionally includes:
  • the method additionally includes:
  • the invention resides in a system for assessing a health risk, including:
  • an occupational risk profile generator which receives health information relating to an occupation and generates an occupation risk profile for the occupation based upon the health information relating to the occupation;
  • a user interface for inputting health information relating to a first person
  • an applicant risk profile generator which generates an applicant risk profile for the first person based upon the health information relating to a first person
  • a risk determination module which compares the occupation risk profile and the first applicant risk profile, and determines high health risk circumstances, wherein the high risk circumstances include a circumstance that is common to both the first applicant risk profile and the occupation risk profile;
  • a health management module for generating a health plan for the first person and the occupation, wherein the health management plan includes actions to reduce a health risk of the first person working in the occupation and associated with the high risk circumstances;
  • a presentation module for presenting the health plan to a user.
  • FIG. 1 diagrammatically illustrates a pre-employment method, according to an embodiment of the present invention
  • FIG. 2 diagrammatically illustrates an injury management method according to an embodiment of the present invention
  • FIG. 3 diagrammatically illustrates a pre-employment method, according to an embodiment of the present invention
  • FIG. 4 diagrammatically illustrates an injury management method according to an embodiment of the present invention
  • FIG. 5 diagrammatically illustrates an employee exit method according to an embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 6 illustrates an occupation risk profile user interface, according to an embodiment of the present invention
  • FIG. 7 illustrates an applicant risk profile user interface, according to an embodiment of the present invention
  • FIG. 8 illustrates a pre-employment risk assessment report for three applicants, according to an embodiment of the present invention
  • FIG. 9 illustrates a health management user interface, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 10 illustrates an injury claim user interface, according to an embodiment of the present invention
  • FIG. 11 illustrates a risk assessment and action screen, according to an embodiment of the present invention
  • FIG. 12 describes an injury management claim summary dashboard, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 13 illustrates an injury summary page, according to an embodiment of the present invention
  • FIG. 14 illustrates a pre-employment method, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 15 illustrates a computer system, with which the method of assessing health risk of the present invention may be implemented.
  • Embodiments of the present invention comprise health risk management systems and methods. Elements of the invention are illustrated in concise outline form in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are necessary to the understanding of the embodiments of the present invention, but so as not to clutter the disclosure with excessive detail that will be obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art in light of the present description.
  • adjectives such as first and second, left and right, front and back, top and bottom, etc., are used solely to define one element or method step from another element or method step without necessarily requiring a specific relative position or sequence that is described by the adjectives.
  • Words such as “comprises” or “includes” are not used to define an exclusive set of elements or method steps. Rather, such words merely define a minimum set of elements or method steps included in a particular embodiment of the present invention.
  • the invention resides in a computer implemented method of assessing health risk, including: receiving, on a computer interface, health information relating to an occupation; generating, on a processor, an occupation risk profile for the occupation based upon the health information relating to the occupation; receiving, on a computer interface, health information relating to a first person; generating, on a processor, a first applicant risk profile based upon the health information of the first person; comparing, on a processor, the occupation risk profile and the first applicant risk profile, and determining high health risk circumstances, wherein the high risk circumstances include a circumstance that is common to both the first applicant risk profile and the occupation risk profile; and generating, on a processor, a health management plan for the first person working in the occupation, wherein the health management plan includes actions to reduce a health risk of the first person in the occupation, associated with the high risk circumstance that is common to both the first applicant risk profile and the occupation risk profile.
  • FIG. 1 diagrammatically illustrates a pre-employment method 100, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
  • the pre- employment method 100 aids in reducing the number of injuries in the workplace.
  • the pre-employment method 100 includes an occupation input step
  • the occupation input may be provided through a user interface, or be retrieved from a memory.
  • the occupation input includes health information relating to the occupation.
  • the pre-employment method 100 includes an applicant input step 1 15 which is used to receive input about an applicant, which is subsequently used to generate an applicant risk profile in step 120.
  • the applicant input is advantageously provided through a user interface, directly by a designated company representative, medical or allied health professional or the applicant.
  • the input about the applicant includes health information.
  • health risk circumstances are determined. This is done by comparing the occupation risk profile and the application risk profile. One or more high risk health circumstances are determined. High, in this context, need not refer to a high percentage risk, but may be used to refer to any level of risk that is deemed significant. For example, with respect to personal injury, even a low percentage risk may be considered high and warrant further consideration.
  • Examples of high health risk circumstances include lower back problems, which may be particularly prevalent in a certain occupation, and in an applicant's history.
  • step 130 the applicant is employed and a health management plan is introduced in order to reduce health risks associated with the high risk health circumstances determined in step 125.
  • the pre-employment method 100 may be used for a person that is already employed in order to determine a health management plan.
  • the applicant and occupation risk profiles are advantageously updated periodically, and the associated health management plans are updated.
  • FIG. 2 diagrammatically illustrates an injury management method 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
  • the injury management method 200 aids in reducing claim sizes and helps employees return to work sooner.
  • the injury management method 200 includes an occupation input step 205 that is similar to the occupation input step 105 of FIG. 1 , a medical input step 210 for receiving medical input relating to an injury, and a claimant input step 215 for receiving input relating to a claimant.
  • the medical input may include a medical report of the injury by a doctor or other health professional.
  • the claimant input step 215 is similar to the applicant input step 15 of FIG. 1.
  • risk circumstances are determined for the injury and any high risk circumstances are determined.
  • High in this context, need not refer to a high percentage risk, but may be used to refer to any level of risk that is deemed significant.
  • actions to be taken and follow up is decided based upon the high risk circumstances.
  • Actions may include, for example, organising meetings for future internal actions, and health assessments.
  • FIG. 3 diagrammatically illustrates a pre-employment method 300, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
  • the pre-employment method 300 includes a step 305 of generating a job vacancy. From the job vacancy, interviews of applicants are conducted in step 310, and in parallel a job analysis step 315 is performed.
  • the job analysis step 315 may include receiving information from a manager or other related person, relating to the job. This information may include for example environmental information relating to a job, or physical and psychological information and is similar to the occupation input step 105 of FIG. 1.
  • an occupation profile is created at step 320.
  • An occupation profile is a data element which contains information relating to the job for future use.
  • the job analysis step 315 is advantageously performed periodically or in response to an event relating to the occupation.
  • the job analysis step 315 may, for example, be reassessed upon a health change in an employee, or when an injury occurs, for example.
  • step 315 and 320 is applied to a site or location at which the job is to be performed, and in step 330 an occupation risk profile is generated from the site specific application of the job and occupation data of step 325.
  • the occupation risk profile is similar to the occupation risk profile of FIG. 1.
  • one or more applicants are shortlisted. From the shortlisted applicants, an applicant data element is created, which contains information relating to an applicant of the shortlisted applicants.
  • the applicant data element creation may include input directly from an applicant, for example through a questionnaire.
  • a medical examination is conducted on the applicant and generates medical information.
  • an applicant risk profile is generated using the applicant information from step 340 and the medical information from step 345.
  • the applicant risk profile is similar to the applicant risk profile of FIG. 1.
  • step 355 the applicant risk profile from step 350 and the occupation risk profile from step 330 are compared.
  • the comparison includes a determination of health risk circumstances.
  • One or more high risk health circumstances are determined, similar to step 125 of FIG. 1.
  • the applicant is employed and a health management plan is introduced in order to reduce health risks associated with the high risk health circumstances determined in step 355.
  • the pre- employment method 300 may include further steps where an applicant of a plurality of applicants is not employed.
  • FIG. 4 diagrammatically illustrates an injury management method 400 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
  • the injury management method 400 includes recording an incident at step 405. From step 405 a claim is created in step 410, and the incident is monitored in step 415. At step 420, a job analysis is updated along with standard operating procedures (SOP). The updated job analysis may be used in step 315 of FIG. 3.
  • SOP standard operating procedures
  • a claim risk profile is created.
  • the claim risk profile may include financial risks, or other types of risks.
  • the claim risk profile may be created based upon a questionnaire filled in by a manager or supervisor, in combination with other information.
  • the claim risk profile may include previous claim information when creating the claim risk profile.
  • step 430 action is taken based upon the claim risk profile. This may include identifying stakeholders that may take the action.
  • step 435 a suitable duties plan is created for the employee.
  • a claim size is estimated.
  • a monitoring of the suitable duties plan in step 445 is used together with the claim estimate from step 440 to update actual costs of the claim in step 450.
  • action is taken based upon the cost updates, and at step 460 these actions are monitored.
  • a health management plan is created from the monitoring of the suitable duties plan in step 445 and the monitoring of the action in step 460.
  • the health management plan is similar to the health management plan of step 130 of FIG. 1.
  • FIG. 5 diagrammatically illustrates an employee exit method 500 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
  • the employee exit method 500 includes conducting an exit medical at step 505.
  • the exit medical may be similar to the medical of FIG. 3 at step 345, or may additionally include a questionnaire completed by the employee, or other person.
  • the applicant risk profile is updated in step 510, based upon the exit medical.
  • the applicant risk profile may have been created in an employment step, post employment, or even created in step 510 if it hasn't already been created.
  • a health history of the employee is assessed in step 515. This may include an evaluation of pre-existing conditions or injuries, and comparing them with current health conditions or injuries.
  • actions are taken. These actions may include generating a post employment health plan.
  • the occupation risk profile is updated based upon the exit medical, the applicant risk profile and the applicant health history.
  • step 525 may be performed in parallel with step 520.
  • step 525 may be performed after step 505, for example.
  • the employee exit method 500 includes a re-evaluation of an employee's health history and a medical report in order to set actions to reduce a risk of post-employment injury relating to the employment, and to reduce any claim for injury incurred during employment.
  • FIG. 6 illustrates an occupation risk profile user interface 600, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
  • the occupation risk profile user interface 600 is used to input health information relating to an occupation.
  • the health information relating to the occupation is then used to generate an occupation risk profile for the occupation.
  • the occupation risk profile user interface 600 includes a plurality of questions and associated input fields, wherein the input fields include radio buttons 605, drop down menus 610 and text fields 615.
  • the questions include a job classification 620, which may include, for example, information relating to how heavy the work is on a person generally, hours per shift 625, work environment 630, work surface 635, use of stairs 640, machinery operation information 645, lifting information 650, temperature 655, and breaks per shift 660.
  • a job classification 620 may include, for example, information relating to how heavy the work is on a person generally, hours per shift 625, work environment 630, work surface 635, use of stairs 640, machinery operation information 645, lifting information 650, temperature 655, and breaks per shift 660.
  • the occupation risk profile user interface 600 may include questions adapted for a specific industry, for example mining or factory work, where the questions are specifically adapted towards identifying health problems prevalent in the specific industry.
  • a system may thus incorporate a plurality of occupation risk profile user interfaces 600, each adapted to a specific industry.
  • the occupation risk profile user interface 600 may be generated on the fly.
  • Additional information may be provided in order to generate an accurate occupation risk profile for the occupation, including a location of the work.
  • the location may be provided externally to the occupation risk profile user interface 600, and allows for location specific risks to be considered.
  • FIG. 7 illustrates an applicant risk profile user interface 700, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
  • the applicant risk profile user interface 700 is used to input health information relating to an individual.
  • the individual may be an applicant of an occupation, or presently employed in an occupation.
  • the health information relating to the individual is then used to generate an applicant risk profile for the individual.
  • the applicant risk profile user interface 700 includes a plurality of questions and associated input fields, wherein the input fields include radio buttons 705 and text fields 710.
  • the questions include personal history questions and include a smoking history 715, exercise history 720 and alcohol history 725.
  • the questions may be associated with a further information field 730, where further information relating to a question may be provided.
  • the questions include work related history questions including previous problems relating to heights 735, confined spaces 740, protective equipment 745 and hot or cold environments 750.
  • the applicant risk profile user interface 700 may include questions adapted for a specific industry, for example mining or factory work, where the questions are specifically adapted towards identifying health problems prevalent in the specific industry. This is advantageous as adapted questions may more accurately identify problems relating to a type of work. For example, a dusty industry such as mining may have specific respiratory questions, which may not be relevant for the finance industry, which may instead focus on stress related questions.
  • FIG. 8 illustrates a pre-employment risk assessment report 800 for three applicants 805a, 805b, 805c, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
  • the pre-employment risk assessment report 800 is generated using the occupation risk profile of FIG. 1 and the applicant risk profile of FIG. 7.
  • the pre-employment risk assessment report 800 includes a plurality of health risk circumstances 810a-f including spine 810a, lower 810b, upper 810c, system 810d, head 810e and 810f.
  • the health risk circumstances 810a-f may be predetermined or generated dynamically.
  • the health risk circumstances 810a-f include a diagrammatic representation 815a, 815b, 815c of the health risk circumstances for each applicant 805a, 805b, 805c respectively working in the occupation, and a representative representation 820 indicative of the occupation in general.
  • the representative representation 820 may include an average of workers in the occupation at a site, or an estimate thereof.
  • High risk health risk circumstances are determined and shown in the pre-employment risk assessment report 800.
  • High risk health risk circumstances are illustrated with a risk percentage 825 that is high.
  • High risk health risk circumstances may additionally be colour coded, for example using the colour red.
  • High risk circumstances include a risk circumstance that is common to both the applicant risk profile and the occupation risk profile. For example, if an applicant has a history of lower back problems, for example, and an occupation is associated with lower back problems, both the applicant risk profile and the occupation risk profile would include the lower back problem circumstance. This would be shown, in the pre-employment risk assessment report 800, as a high risk circumstance.
  • FIG. 9 illustrates a health management user interface 900, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
  • the health management user interface 900 includes information 905 relating to an employee.
  • the information 905 may include an address, a phone number, an email address and a payroll number.
  • the health management user interface 900 includes employment information 910, stakeholder information 915, documentation information 920, training documents 925 and license, ticket or card information 930.
  • the employment information 910 may include a start date, site information, current role information and information relating to previous roles.
  • the stakeholder information 915 may include manager information and/or superintendent information.
  • the manager information and/or superintendent information may comprise links to a communications means, such as email, in order to communicate with the manager and/or superintendent.
  • the documentation information 920 may include links to relevant documentation relating to the employee.
  • the training documents 925 may include links to training information documentation, such as course information, relating to the employee.
  • the license, ticket or card information 930 may include information relating to the licences, tickets or cards held by the employee.
  • the health management user interface 900 includes a health information field 935 including a plurality of links 940a-h.
  • the links 940a-h include links to current health plans 940a, current vaccination information 940b, drug and alcohol testing information 940c, monitoring information 940d, health course information 940e, current medical certification information 940f, periodic medical information 940g, and current claim information 940h.
  • the health management user interface 900 includes an occupation risk profile 945, similar to the occupation risk profile of FIG. 1 , current health action information 950, and current health reminders 955.
  • the health management user interface 900 may comprise multiple different representations, and need not contain all of the information described in FIG. 9. Additionally, other health management information may be present in the health management user interface 900.
  • FIG. 10 illustrates an injury claim user interface 1000, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
  • the injury claim user interface 1000 includes a plurality of questions, organised in a plurality of categories 1005.
  • the categories 1005 may include preliminary information relating to a person and their employment, information relating to the injury, information relating to physical and or psychiatric health, and claim and insurance history.
  • the questions relating to a particular category 1005 are presented in a window or panel 1010 and include associated input fields. Upon submitting responses to questions in the category 1005, the next category 1005 may be automatically presented.
  • the input fields include drop down menus 1015 and text fields
  • FIG. 11 illustrates a risk assessment and action screen 1100, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
  • the risk assessment and action screen 1 100 includes a risk assessment section 1105, where a risk is displayed based upon an input to the injury claim user interface 1000 of FIG. 10.
  • the risk assessment section 1105 illustrates a risk in a plurality of categories 1 110a-c, wherein the categories include a subset of the categories 005 of FIG. 10.
  • the subset of categories may be predetermined, or chosen dynamically, for example based upon the responses to the injury claim user interface.
  • the risk assessment and action screen 1 100 includes an action section 1 115, where treatment of high risk elements may be accepted or declined. Accepting or declining treatment is done by selecting a field in a radio button 1120 and including a response in a response field 1 25.
  • Reminders may be created and escalation e- mails may be sent to the user and to those designated in the company's escalation process.
  • FIG. 12 describes an injury management claim summary dashboard 1200 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
  • the injury management claim summary dashboard 1200 includes information relating to a claim 1205. This may include claim numbers, injury dates, nature of the injury, and information relating to how much of the questionnaire of the injury claim user interface 1000 has been completed.
  • the injury management claim summary dashboard 1200 includes a risk assessment section 1210 similar to the risk assessment section 1105 of FIG. 1 1.
  • the injury management claim summary dashboard 1200 includes a list of medical certificates 1215, including their applicable dates and classification.
  • the injury management claim summary dashboard 1200 additionally includes a claimant profile 1220 and related claims section 1225.
  • the claimant profile 1220 includes information relating to the claimant including name, payroll number, email and address, for example.
  • the related claims section 1225 includes information relating to any other claims filed by the same person.
  • FIG. 13 illustrates an injury summary page 1300, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
  • the injury summary page 1300 includes a trend analysis, including a diagram 1305 illustrating a number of injuries by department 1310.
  • the number of injuries per department 1310 may be normalised using the total number of employees per department 1310.
  • the trend analysis may include an indicator showing if the number of injuries is increasing or decreasing.
  • the injury summary page includes a trend analysis, where an increase or decrease in injuries per department or overall is shown.
  • the injury summary page 1300 also includes a total number of open claims 1315, a number of new claims 1320 for a period, e.g. a month, and a number of closed claims for the period 1325.
  • the inputs of the methods described above may be web based, for example, where input is received at a server via a computer interface.
  • FIG. 14 illustrates a pre-employment method 1400, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
  • health information relating to an occupation is received, on a computer interface.
  • the health information may include injury information relating to the occupation, or any other type of health information relating to the occupation.
  • an occupation risk profile for the occupation is generated, on a processor, based upon the health information relating to the occupation.
  • health information relating to a first person is received, on a computer interface.
  • the health information may include information provided by the first person, and/or information from a medical examination, for example.
  • a first applicant risk profile is generated, on a processor, based upon the health information of the first person.
  • the occupation risk profile and the first applicant risk profile are compared, on a processor, and high health risk circumstances are determined.
  • the high risk circumstances include a circumstance that is common to both the first applicant risk profile and the occupation risk profile.
  • a health management plan is generated, on a processor, for the first person working in the occupation.
  • the health management plan includes actions to reduce a health risk of the first person in the occupation, associated with the high risk circumstance that is common to both the first applicant risk profile and the occupation risk profile.
  • FIG. 15 illustrates a computer system 1500, with which the methods of assessing health risk of the present invention may be implemented.
  • the computer system 1500 includes a central processor 1502, a system memory 1504 and a system bus 1506 that couples various system components including coupling the system memory 1504 to the central processor 1502.
  • the system bus 1506 may be any of several types of bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures.
  • the structure of system memory 1504 is well known to those skilled in the art and may include a basic input/output system (BIOS) stored in a read only memory (ROM) and one or more program modules such as operating systems, application programs and program data stored in random access memory (RAM).
  • BIOS basic input/output system
  • ROM read only memory
  • RAM random access memory
  • the computer system 1500 may also include a variety of interface units and drives for reading and writing data.
  • the computer system 1500 includes a hard disk interface 1508 and a removable memory interface 1510 respectively coupling a hard disk drive 1512 and a removable memory drive 1514 to system bus 1506.
  • removable memory drives 1514 include magnetic disk drives and optical disk drives.
  • the drives and their associated computer-readable media, such as a Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) 1516 provide nonvolatile storage of computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules and other data for the computer system 1500.
  • a single hard disk drive 1512 and a single removable memory drive 1514 are shown for illustration purposes only and with the understanding that the computer system 1500 may include several similar drives.
  • the computer system 1500 may include drives for interfacing with other types of computer readable media.
  • the computer system 1500 may include additional interfaces for connecting devices to system bus 1506.
  • FIG. 15 shows a universal serial bus (USB) interface 1518 which may be used to couple a device to the system bus 1506.
  • An IEEE 1394 interface 520 may be used to couple additional devices to the computer system 1500.
  • the computer system 1500 can operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers or other devices, such as a server, a router, a network personal computer, a peer device or other common network node, a wireless telephone or wireless personal digital assistant.
  • the computer 1500 includes a network interface 1522 that couples system bus 1506 to a local area network (LAN) 1524.
  • LAN local area network
  • a wide area network such as the Internet
  • network connections shown and described are exemplary and other ways of establishing a communications link between the computers can be used.
  • the existence of any of various well-known protocols, such as TCP/IP, Frame Relay, Ethernet, FTP, HTTP and the like, is presumed, and the computer system 1500 can be operated in a client-server configuration to permit a user to retrieve web pages from a web-based server.
  • any of various conventional web browsers can be used to display and manipulate data on web pages.
  • the health information of steps 1405 and 1415 of the method of FIG. 14 are advantageously received over a network interface as described above.
  • the user interfaces may reside on a web server, and be accessed via a web interface.
  • the user interfaces may reside on a dedicated application, which sends the health information to a server via a suitable protocol.
  • the operation of the computer system 1500 can be controlled by a variety of different program modules.
  • program modules are routines, programs, objects, components, and data structures that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types.
  • the present invention may also be practiced with other computer system configurations, including hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network PCS, minicomputers, mainframe computers, personal digital assistants and the like.
  • the invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network.
  • program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.
  • Program modules for generating occupation risk profiles and applicant risk profiles are advantageously present in the computer system 1500. Additionally, program modules for comparing the occupation risk profile and the first applicant risk profile as described in step 1425 of FIG. 14 and for generating a health management plan as described in step 1430 of FIG. 14 are advantageously present in the computer system 1500.
  • advantages of some embodiments of the present invention include an ability to reduce the number of injuries in an occupation, reduce costs associated with injuries, reduce claim size and employees returning to work sooner after an injury. These advantages can be achieved through the automated processing, matching and analysis of known health risks and applicant risk profiles as described herein.

Abstract

A computer implemented method of assessing health risk for reducing the number of health issues in an occupation and health issue related costs, including receiving, on a computer interface, health information relating to an occupation (1405), generating, on a processor, an occupation risk profile for the occupation based upon the health information relating to the occupation (1410), receiving, on a computer interface, health information relating to a first person (1415), generating, on a processor, a first applicant risk profile based upon the health information of the first person (1420), comparing, on a processor, the occupation risk profile and the first applicant risk profile, and determining high health risk circumstances, wherein the high risk circumstances include a circumstance that is common to both the first applicant risk profile and the occupation risk profile (1425), and generating, on a processor, a health management plan for the first person working in the occupation, wherein the health management plan includes actions to reduce a health risk of the first person in the occupation, associated with the high risk circumstance (1430).

Description

TITLE
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR HEALTH RISK MANAGEMENT
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to health risk management. In particular, although not exclusively, the invention relates to online systems for heath risk management including determination of high health risk circumstances. BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION
Employee health issues can be very costly for a company. Employees are, in many industries, a very valuable asset to a company. A health issue may not only cost a company through loss of a trained employee, but also through rehabilitation costs, and other costs associated with the health issue.
Employee health issue and injury prevention of the prior art often includes a workplace health and safety policy. The workplace health and safety policy includes rules and guidelines, which aim at minimising health issues and injuries in a workplace. The workplace health and safety policies are not personal, but instead apply to all employees in a particular area, a particular occupation, or all employees generally.
Employee health and injury monitoring systems of the prior art typically include a reporting module, which is used to receive injury information. The injury information may be then analysed and be used to take action in a workplace. Examples of actions include adding additional safety equipment to a dangerous machine, and reducing the work time on a machine.
Health issue and injury management is also important for reducing costs for a company after a health incident or an injury has occurred. Through management of an injury, an employee may be able to return to work sooner and a risk of permanent injury may be reduced. Injury management systems of the prior art also typically follow the lifecycle of an injury and provide reporting to a manager responsible for the injured person. The manager may then take actions based upon the reporting.
However, prior art health and injury monitoring and management systems generally cannot be used to automatically process, match and analyse known health risks and personal risk profiles in order to further reduce overall health care costs. Therefore there is a need for an improved system and method for health risk management.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of some embodiments of the present invention to provide consumers with improvements and advantages over the above described prior art, and/or overcome and alleviate one or more of the above described disadvantages of the prior art, and/or provide a useful commercial choice.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to one aspect, the invention resides in a computer implemented method of assessing health risk, including:
receiving, on a computer interface, health information relating to an occupation;
generating, on a processor, an occupation risk profile for the occupation based upon the health information relating to the occupation; receiving, on a computer interface, health information relating to a first person;
generating, on a processor, a first applicant risk profile based upon the health information of the first person;
comparing, on a processor, the occupation risk profile and the first applicant risk profile, and determining high health risk circumstances, wherein the high risk circumstances include a circumstance that is common to both the first applicant risk profile and the occupation risk profile; and generating, on a processor, a health management plan for the first person working in the occupation, wherein the health management plan includes actions to reduce a health risk of the first person in the occupation, associated with the high risk circumstance that is common to both the first applicant risk profile and the occupation risk profile.
Preferably, the first person is a candidate for the occupation.
Alternatively, the first person is employed in the occupation.
Preferably, the health information relating to the first person includes information from a medical examination.
Preferably, the health information from the first person includes at least one of smoking history, exercise history and alcohol history.
Preferably, the health information relating to an occupation includes at least one of a job classification, hours per shift, work environment, work surface, use of stairs, machinery operation information, lifting weights, number of lifts per shift, temperature, and breaks per shift.
Preferably, the occupation risk profile is site or location specific.
Preferably, the applicant risk profile is reassessed periodically.
Preferably, the method additionally includes injury management for an injury of the first person, wherein a suitable duties plan is generated based upon at least one of a medical assessment of the injury, the applicant risk profile, and an injury claim, and the suitable duties plan includes a second occupation deemed suitable for the first person.
Preferably, the injury management includes updating the occupation risk profile based upon the injury.
Preferably, the occupation risk profile is reassessed periodically and includes trend analysis.
Preferably, the method additionally includes:
receiving, on a computer interface, health information relating to a second person, wherein the second person is not employed in the occupation;
generating, on a processor, a second applicant risk profile based upon the health information relating to the second person; comparing, on a processor, the occupation risk profile and the second applicant risk profile, and determining high risk health risk circumstances, wherein the high risk circumstances include a circumstance that is common to both the second person and the occupation; and
comparing the high risk circumstances of the first person and the high risk circumstances of the second person and determining that the first person has a lower risk in at least one high risk circumstance of the second person.
Preferably, the method additionally includes:
conducting an exit medical on a second person, wherein the exit medical is conducted before the occupation risk profile and the first applicant risk profile are compared; and
updating, on a processor, the occupation risk profile based upon the exit medical of the second person.
Preferably, the method additionally includes:
updating, on a processor, an applicant risk profile of the second person based upon the exit medical of the second person;
assessing, on a processor, a health history of the second person; and
taking action in order to reduce at least one of a risk of injury or claim size relating to the second person, based upon the exit medical of the second person and the health history of the second person.
According to another aspect, the invention resides in a system for assessing a health risk, including:
an occupational risk profile generator, which receives health information relating to an occupation and generates an occupation risk profile for the occupation based upon the health information relating to the occupation;
a user interface, for inputting health information relating to a first person; an applicant risk profile generator, which generates an applicant risk profile for the first person based upon the health information relating to a first person;
a risk determination module, which compares the occupation risk profile and the first applicant risk profile, and determines high health risk circumstances, wherein the high risk circumstances include a circumstance that is common to both the first applicant risk profile and the occupation risk profile;
a health management module for generating a health plan for the first person and the occupation, wherein the health management plan includes actions to reduce a health risk of the first person working in the occupation and associated with the high risk circumstances; and
a presentation module, for presenting the health plan to a user. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
To assist in understanding the invention and to enable a person skilled in the art to put the invention into practical effect, preferred embodiments of the invention are described below by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 diagrammatically illustrates a pre-employment method, according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 diagrammatically illustrates an injury management method according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 3 diagrammatically illustrates a pre-employment method, according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 4 diagrammatically illustrates an injury management method according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 5 diagrammatically illustrates an employee exit method according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 illustrates an occupation risk profile user interface, according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 7 illustrates an applicant risk profile user interface, according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 8 illustrates a pre-employment risk assessment report for three applicants, according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 9 illustrates a health management user interface, according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 10 illustrates an injury claim user interface, according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 11 illustrates a risk assessment and action screen, according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 12 describes an injury management claim summary dashboard, according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 13 illustrates an injury summary page, according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 14 illustrates a pre-employment method, according to an embodiment of the present invention; and
FIG. 15 illustrates a computer system, with which the method of assessing health risk of the present invention may be implemented.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that minor deviations from the layout of components as illustrated in the drawings will not detract from the proper functioning of the disclosed embodiments of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention comprise health risk management systems and methods. Elements of the invention are illustrated in concise outline form in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are necessary to the understanding of the embodiments of the present invention, but so as not to clutter the disclosure with excessive detail that will be obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art in light of the present description. In this patent specification, adjectives such as first and second, left and right, front and back, top and bottom, etc., are used solely to define one element or method step from another element or method step without necessarily requiring a specific relative position or sequence that is described by the adjectives. Words such as "comprises" or "includes" are not used to define an exclusive set of elements or method steps. Rather, such words merely define a minimum set of elements or method steps included in a particular embodiment of the present invention.
According to one aspect, the invention resides in a computer implemented method of assessing health risk, including: receiving, on a computer interface, health information relating to an occupation; generating, on a processor, an occupation risk profile for the occupation based upon the health information relating to the occupation; receiving, on a computer interface, health information relating to a first person; generating, on a processor, a first applicant risk profile based upon the health information of the first person; comparing, on a processor, the occupation risk profile and the first applicant risk profile, and determining high health risk circumstances, wherein the high risk circumstances include a circumstance that is common to both the first applicant risk profile and the occupation risk profile; and generating, on a processor, a health management plan for the first person working in the occupation, wherein the health management plan includes actions to reduce a health risk of the first person in the occupation, associated with the high risk circumstance that is common to both the first applicant risk profile and the occupation risk profile.
Advantages of some embodiments of the present invention include an ability to reduce the number of injuries in an occupation, reduce costs associated with injuries, reduce claim size and enable employees to return to work sooner after an injury. These advantages can be achieved through the automated processing, matching and analysis of known health risks and applicant risk profiles as described herein. FIG. 1 diagrammatically illustrates a pre-employment method 100, according to an embodiment of the present invention. The pre- employment method 100 aids in reducing the number of injuries in the workplace.
The pre-employment method 100 includes an occupation input step
105 which is used to receive input about an occupation, which is subsequently used to generate an occupational risk profile in step 110. The occupation input may be provided through a user interface, or be retrieved from a memory. The occupation input includes health information relating to the occupation.
The pre-employment method 100 includes an applicant input step 1 15 which is used to receive input about an applicant, which is subsequently used to generate an applicant risk profile in step 120. The applicant input is advantageously provided through a user interface, directly by a designated company representative, medical or allied health professional or the applicant. The input about the applicant includes health information.
At step 125, health risk circumstances are determined. This is done by comparing the occupation risk profile and the application risk profile. One or more high risk health circumstances are determined. High, in this context, need not refer to a high percentage risk, but may be used to refer to any level of risk that is deemed significant. For example, with respect to personal injury, even a low percentage risk may be considered high and warrant further consideration.
Examples of high health risk circumstances include lower back problems, which may be particularly prevalent in a certain occupation, and in an applicant's history.
At step 130, the applicant is employed and a health management plan is introduced in order to reduce health risks associated with the high risk health circumstances determined in step 125.
As will be readily understood by a person skilled in the art, further steps may be present including rejecting an applicant based upon high risk. Similarly, the pre-employment method 100 may be used for a person that is already employed in order to determine a health management plan.
The applicant and occupation risk profiles are advantageously updated periodically, and the associated health management plans are updated.
FIG. 2 diagrammatically illustrates an injury management method 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The injury management method 200 aids in reducing claim sizes and helps employees return to work sooner.
The injury management method 200 includes an occupation input step 205 that is similar to the occupation input step 105 of FIG. 1 , a medical input step 210 for receiving medical input relating to an injury, and a claimant input step 215 for receiving input relating to a claimant. The medical input may include a medical report of the injury by a doctor or other health professional. The claimant input step 215 is similar to the applicant input step 15 of FIG. 1.
At step 220, risk circumstances are determined for the injury and any high risk circumstances are determined. High, in this context, need not refer to a high percentage risk, but may be used to refer to any level of risk that is deemed significant.
At step 225, actions to be taken and follow up is decided based upon the high risk circumstances. Actions may include, for example, organising meetings for future internal actions, and health assessments.
FIG. 3 diagrammatically illustrates a pre-employment method 300, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The pre-employment method 300 includes a step 305 of generating a job vacancy. From the job vacancy, interviews of applicants are conducted in step 310, and in parallel a job analysis step 315 is performed.
The job analysis step 315 may include receiving information from a manager or other related person, relating to the job. This information may include for example environmental information relating to a job, or physical and psychological information and is similar to the occupation input step 105 of FIG. 1.
From the job analysis step 315, an occupation profile is created at step 320. An occupation profile is a data element which contains information relating to the job for future use. The job analysis step 315 is advantageously performed periodically or in response to an event relating to the occupation. The job analysis step 315 may, for example, be reassessed upon a health change in an employee, or when an injury occurs, for example.
At step 325, the job analysis and occupation information from steps
315 and 320 is applied to a site or location at which the job is to be performed, and in step 330 an occupation risk profile is generated from the site specific application of the job and occupation data of step 325. The occupation risk profile is similar to the occupation risk profile of FIG. 1.
At step 335 one or more applicants are shortlisted. From the shortlisted applicants, an applicant data element is created, which contains information relating to an applicant of the shortlisted applicants. The applicant data element creation may include input directly from an applicant, for example through a questionnaire.
At step 345, a medical examination is conducted on the applicant and generates medical information. At step 350, an applicant risk profile is generated using the applicant information from step 340 and the medical information from step 345. The applicant risk profile is similar to the applicant risk profile of FIG. 1.
At step 355 the applicant risk profile from step 350 and the occupation risk profile from step 330 are compared. The comparison includes a determination of health risk circumstances. One or more high risk health circumstances are determined, similar to step 125 of FIG. 1.
At step 360, the applicant is employed and a health management plan is introduced in order to reduce health risks associated with the high risk health circumstances determined in step 355. As will be readily understood by a person skilled in the art, the pre- employment method 300 may include further steps where an applicant of a plurality of applicants is not employed.
FIG. 4 diagrammatically illustrates an injury management method 400 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The injury management method 400 includes recording an incident at step 405. From step 405 a claim is created in step 410, and the incident is monitored in step 415. At step 420, a job analysis is updated along with standard operating procedures (SOP). The updated job analysis may be used in step 315 of FIG. 3.
At step 425, a claim risk profile is created. The claim risk profile may include financial risks, or other types of risks. The claim risk profile may be created based upon a questionnaire filled in by a manager or supervisor, in combination with other information. The claim risk profile may include previous claim information when creating the claim risk profile.
At step 430, action is taken based upon the claim risk profile. This may include identifying stakeholders that may take the action. In step 435 a suitable duties plan is created for the employee.
At step 440, a claim size is estimated. A monitoring of the suitable duties plan in step 445 is used together with the claim estimate from step 440 to update actual costs of the claim in step 450. At step 455 action is taken based upon the cost updates, and at step 460 these actions are monitored.
At step 465 a health management plan is created from the monitoring of the suitable duties plan in step 445 and the monitoring of the action in step 460. The health management plan is similar to the health management plan of step 130 of FIG. 1.
At step 470 costs of the incident are processed. At step 475 insurance is claimed and at step 480 statutory reporting is performed.
FIG. 5 diagrammatically illustrates an employee exit method 500 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The employee exit method 500 includes conducting an exit medical at step 505. The exit medical may be similar to the medical of FIG. 3 at step 345, or may additionally include a questionnaire completed by the employee, or other person.
The applicant risk profile is updated in step 510, based upon the exit medical. The applicant risk profile may have been created in an employment step, post employment, or even created in step 510 if it hasn't already been created.
A health history of the employee is assessed in step 515. This may include an evaluation of pre-existing conditions or injuries, and comparing them with current health conditions or injuries.
At step 520 actions are taken. These actions may include generating a post employment health plan.
At step 525 the occupation risk profile is updated based upon the exit medical, the applicant risk profile and the applicant health history.
As will be readily understood by a person skilled in the art, the steps described above do not necessarily need to be performed in the order described, or even sequentially. For example, step 525 may be performed in parallel with step 520. Alternatively step 525 may be performed after step 505, for example.
The employee exit method 500 includes a re-evaluation of an employee's health history and a medical report in order to set actions to reduce a risk of post-employment injury relating to the employment, and to reduce any claim for injury incurred during employment.
FIG. 6 illustrates an occupation risk profile user interface 600, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The occupation risk profile user interface 600 is used to input health information relating to an occupation. The health information relating to the occupation is then used to generate an occupation risk profile for the occupation. The occupation risk profile user interface 600 includes a plurality of questions and associated input fields, wherein the input fields include radio buttons 605, drop down menus 610 and text fields 615.
The questions include a job classification 620, which may include, for example, information relating to how heavy the work is on a person generally, hours per shift 625, work environment 630, work surface 635, use of stairs 640, machinery operation information 645, lifting information 650, temperature 655, and breaks per shift 660. As can be seen from FIG. 6, and will be readily understood by a person skilled in the art, many more questions may be present in the occupation risk profile user interface 600, and similarly not all of the questions of FIG. 6 need be present in the occupation risk profile user interface 600.
The occupation risk profile user interface 600 may include questions adapted for a specific industry, for example mining or factory work, where the questions are specifically adapted towards identifying health problems prevalent in the specific industry. A system may thus incorporate a plurality of occupation risk profile user interfaces 600, each adapted to a specific industry. Alternatively, the occupation risk profile user interface 600 may be generated on the fly.
Additional information may be provided in order to generate an accurate occupation risk profile for the occupation, including a location of the work. The location may be provided externally to the occupation risk profile user interface 600, and allows for location specific risks to be considered.
FIG. 7 illustrates an applicant risk profile user interface 700, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The applicant risk profile user interface 700 is used to input health information relating to an individual. The individual may be an applicant of an occupation, or presently employed in an occupation. The health information relating to the individual is then used to generate an applicant risk profile for the individual. The applicant risk profile user interface 700 includes a plurality of questions and associated input fields, wherein the input fields include radio buttons 705 and text fields 710.
The questions include personal history questions and include a smoking history 715, exercise history 720 and alcohol history 725. The questions may be associated with a further information field 730, where further information relating to a question may be provided.
The questions include work related history questions including previous problems relating to heights 735, confined spaces 740, protective equipment 745 and hot or cold environments 750.
The applicant risk profile user interface 700 may include questions adapted for a specific industry, for example mining or factory work, where the questions are specifically adapted towards identifying health problems prevalent in the specific industry. This is advantageous as adapted questions may more accurately identify problems relating to a type of work. For example, a dusty industry such as mining may have specific respiratory questions, which may not be relevant for the finance industry, which may instead focus on stress related questions.
FIG. 8 illustrates a pre-employment risk assessment report 800 for three applicants 805a, 805b, 805c, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The pre-employment risk assessment report 800 is generated using the occupation risk profile of FIG. 1 and the applicant risk profile of FIG. 7.
The pre-employment risk assessment report 800 includes a plurality of health risk circumstances 810a-f including spine 810a, lower 810b, upper 810c, system 810d, head 810e and 810f. The health risk circumstances 810a-f may be predetermined or generated dynamically.
The health risk circumstances 810a-f include a diagrammatic representation 815a, 815b, 815c of the health risk circumstances for each applicant 805a, 805b, 805c respectively working in the occupation, and a representative representation 820 indicative of the occupation in general. The representative representation 820 may include an average of workers in the occupation at a site, or an estimate thereof.
High risk health risk circumstances are determined and shown in the pre-employment risk assessment report 800. High risk health risk circumstances are illustrated with a risk percentage 825 that is high. High risk health risk circumstances may additionally be colour coded, for example using the colour red. High risk circumstances include a risk circumstance that is common to both the applicant risk profile and the occupation risk profile. For example, if an applicant has a history of lower back problems, for example, and an occupation is associated with lower back problems, both the applicant risk profile and the occupation risk profile would include the lower back problem circumstance. This would be shown, in the pre-employment risk assessment report 800, as a high risk circumstance.
FIG. 9 illustrates a health management user interface 900, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The health management user interface 900 includes information 905 relating to an employee. The information 905 may include an address, a phone number, an email address and a payroll number.
The health management user interface 900 includes employment information 910, stakeholder information 915, documentation information 920, training documents 925 and license, ticket or card information 930.
The employment information 910 may include a start date, site information, current role information and information relating to previous roles.
The stakeholder information 915 may include manager information and/or superintendent information. The manager information and/or superintendent information may comprise links to a communications means, such as email, in order to communicate with the manager and/or superintendent.
The documentation information 920 may include links to relevant documentation relating to the employee. The training documents 925 may include links to training information documentation, such as course information, relating to the employee. The license, ticket or card information 930 may include information relating to the licences, tickets or cards held by the employee.
The health management user interface 900 includes a health information field 935 including a plurality of links 940a-h. The links 940a-h include links to current health plans 940a, current vaccination information 940b, drug and alcohol testing information 940c, monitoring information 940d, health course information 940e, current medical certification information 940f, periodic medical information 940g, and current claim information 940h.
The health management user interface 900 includes an occupation risk profile 945, similar to the occupation risk profile of FIG. 1 , current health action information 950, and current health reminders 955.
As will be readily understood by a person skilled in the art, the health management user interface 900 may comprise multiple different representations, and need not contain all of the information described in FIG. 9. Additionally, other health management information may be present in the health management user interface 900.
FIG. 10 illustrates an injury claim user interface 1000, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The injury claim user interface 1000 includes a plurality of questions, organised in a plurality of categories 1005. The categories 1005 may include preliminary information relating to a person and their employment, information relating to the injury, information relating to physical and or psychiatric health, and claim and insurance history.
The questions relating to a particular category 1005 are presented in a window or panel 1010 and include associated input fields. Upon submitting responses to questions in the category 1005, the next category 1005 may be automatically presented.
The input fields include drop down menus 1015 and text fields
1020. FIG. 11 illustrates a risk assessment and action screen 1100, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The risk assessment and action screen 1 100 includes a risk assessment section 1105, where a risk is displayed based upon an input to the injury claim user interface 1000 of FIG. 10. The risk assessment section 1105 illustrates a risk in a plurality of categories 1 110a-c, wherein the categories include a subset of the categories 005 of FIG. 10. The subset of categories may be predetermined, or chosen dynamically, for example based upon the responses to the injury claim user interface.
The risk assessment and action screen 1 100 includes an action section 1 115, where treatment of high risk elements may be accepted or declined. Accepting or declining treatment is done by selecting a field in a radio button 1120 and including a response in a response field 1 25.
If treatment of a high risk element is declined, the user may be forced to create an action. Reminders may be created and escalation e- mails may be sent to the user and to those designated in the company's escalation process.
FIG. 12 describes an injury management claim summary dashboard 1200 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The injury management claim summary dashboard 1200 includes information relating to a claim 1205. This may include claim numbers, injury dates, nature of the injury, and information relating to how much of the questionnaire of the injury claim user interface 1000 has been completed.
The injury management claim summary dashboard 1200 includes a risk assessment section 1210 similar to the risk assessment section 1105 of FIG. 1 1. The injury management claim summary dashboard 1200 includes a list of medical certificates 1215, including their applicable dates and classification. The injury management claim summary dashboard 1200 additionally includes a claimant profile 1220 and related claims section 1225. The claimant profile 1220 includes information relating to the claimant including name, payroll number, email and address, for example. The related claims section 1225 includes information relating to any other claims filed by the same person.
FIG. 13 illustrates an injury summary page 1300, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The injury summary page 1300 includes a trend analysis, including a diagram 1305 illustrating a number of injuries by department 1310. The number of injuries per department 1310 may be normalised using the total number of employees per department 1310. The trend analysis may include an indicator showing if the number of injuries is increasing or decreasing.
In an alternative embodiment, the injury summary page includes a trend analysis, where an increase or decrease in injuries per department or overall is shown.
The injury summary page 1300 also includes a total number of open claims 1315, a number of new claims 1320 for a period, e.g. a month, and a number of closed claims for the period 1325.
The inputs of the methods described above may be web based, for example, where input is received at a server via a computer interface.
FIG. 14 illustrates a pre-employment method 1400, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
At step 1405, health information relating to an occupation is received, on a computer interface. The health information may include injury information relating to the occupation, or any other type of health information relating to the occupation.
At step 1410, an occupation risk profile for the occupation is generated, on a processor, based upon the health information relating to the occupation.
At step 1415, health information relating to a first person is received, on a computer interface. The health information may include information provided by the first person, and/or information from a medical examination, for example. At step 1420, a first applicant risk profile is generated, on a processor, based upon the health information of the first person.
At step 1425, the occupation risk profile and the first applicant risk profile are compared, on a processor, and high health risk circumstances are determined. The high risk circumstances include a circumstance that is common to both the first applicant risk profile and the occupation risk profile.
At step 1430, a health management plan is generated, on a processor, for the first person working in the occupation. The health management plan includes actions to reduce a health risk of the first person in the occupation, associated with the high risk circumstance that is common to both the first applicant risk profile and the occupation risk profile.
FIG. 15 illustrates a computer system 1500, with which the methods of assessing health risk of the present invention may be implemented.
The computer system 1500 includes a central processor 1502, a system memory 1504 and a system bus 1506 that couples various system components including coupling the system memory 1504 to the central processor 1502. The system bus 1506 may be any of several types of bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. The structure of system memory 1504 is well known to those skilled in the art and may include a basic input/output system (BIOS) stored in a read only memory (ROM) and one or more program modules such as operating systems, application programs and program data stored in random access memory (RAM).
The computer system 1500 may also include a variety of interface units and drives for reading and writing data. In particular, the computer system 1500 includes a hard disk interface 1508 and a removable memory interface 1510 respectively coupling a hard disk drive 1512 and a removable memory drive 1514 to system bus 1506. Examples of removable memory drives 1514 include magnetic disk drives and optical disk drives. The drives and their associated computer-readable media, such as a Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) 1516 provide nonvolatile storage of computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules and other data for the computer system 1500. A single hard disk drive 1512 and a single removable memory drive 1514 are shown for illustration purposes only and with the understanding that the computer system 1500 may include several similar drives. Furthermore, the computer system 1500 may include drives for interfacing with other types of computer readable media.
The computer system 1500 may include additional interfaces for connecting devices to system bus 1506. FIG. 15 shows a universal serial bus (USB) interface 1518 which may be used to couple a device to the system bus 1506. An IEEE 1394 interface 520 may be used to couple additional devices to the computer system 1500.
The computer system 1500 can operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers or other devices, such as a server, a router, a network personal computer, a peer device or other common network node, a wireless telephone or wireless personal digital assistant. The computer 1500 includes a network interface 1522 that couples system bus 1506 to a local area network (LAN) 1524. Networking environments are commonplace in offices, enterprise-wide computer networks and home computer systems.
A wide area network (WAN), such as the Internet, can also be accessed by the computer system 1500, for example via a modem unit connected to serial port interface 526 or via the LAN 1524.
It will be appreciated that the network connections shown and described are exemplary and other ways of establishing a communications link between the computers can be used. The existence of any of various well-known protocols, such as TCP/IP, Frame Relay, Ethernet, FTP, HTTP and the like, is presumed, and the computer system 1500 can be operated in a client-server configuration to permit a user to retrieve web pages from a web-based server. Furthermore, any of various conventional web browsers can be used to display and manipulate data on web pages.
The health information of steps 1405 and 1415 of the method of FIG. 14 are advantageously received over a network interface as described above. The user interfaces may reside on a web server, and be accessed via a web interface. Alternatively, the user interfaces may reside on a dedicated application, which sends the health information to a server via a suitable protocol.
The operation of the computer system 1500 can be controlled by a variety of different program modules. Examples of program modules are routines, programs, objects, components, and data structures that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The present invention may also be practiced with other computer system configurations, including hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network PCS, minicomputers, mainframe computers, personal digital assistants and the like. Furthermore, the invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.
Program modules for generating occupation risk profiles and applicant risk profiles are advantageously present in the computer system 1500. Additionally, program modules for comparing the occupation risk profile and the first applicant risk profile as described in step 1425 of FIG. 14 and for generating a health management plan as described in step 1430 of FIG. 14 are advantageously present in the computer system 1500.
In summary, advantages of some embodiments of the present invention include an ability to reduce the number of injuries in an occupation, reduce costs associated with injuries, reduce claim size and employees returning to work sooner after an injury. These advantages can be achieved through the automated processing, matching and analysis of known health risks and applicant risk profiles as described herein.
The above description of various embodiments of the present invention is provided for purposes of description to one of ordinary skill in the related art. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to a single disclosed embodiment. As mentioned above, numerous alternatives and variations to the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art of the above teaching. Accordingly, while some alternative embodiments have been discussed specifically, other embodiments will be apparent or relatively easily developed by those of ordinary skill in the art. Accordingly, this patent specification is intended to embrace all alternatives, modifications and variations of the present invention that have been discussed herein, and other embodiments that fall within the spirit and scope of the above described invention.

Claims

The claims defining the invention are:
1.. A computer implemented method of assessing health risk, including:
receiving, on a computer interface, health information relating to an occupation;
generating, on a processor, an occupation risk profile for the occupation based upon the health information relating to the occupation; receiving, on a computer interface, health information relating to a first person;
generating, on a processor, a first applicant risk profile based upon the health information of the first person;
comparing, on a processor, the occupation risk profile and the first applicant risk profile, and determining high health risk circumstances, wherein the high risk circumstances include a circumstance that is common to both the first applicant risk profile and the occupation risk profile; and
generating, on a processor, a health management plan for the first person working in- the occupation, wherein the health management plan includes actions to reduce a health risk of the first person in the occupation, associated with the high risk circumstance that is common to both the first applicant risk profile and the occupation risk profile.
2. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the first person is a candidate for the occupation.
3. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the first person is employed in the occupation.
4. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the health information relating to the first person includes information from a medical examination.
5. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the health information from the first person includes at least one of smoking history, exercise history and alcohol history.
6. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the health information relating to an occupation includes at least one of a job classification, hours per shift, work environment, work surface, use of stairs, machinery operation information, lifting weights, number of lifts per shift, temperature, and breaks per shift.
7. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the occupation risk profile is site or location specific
8. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the applicant risk profile is reassessed periodically.
9. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the method additionally includes injury management for an injury of the first person, wherein a suitable duties plan is generated based upon at least one of a medical assessment of the injury, the applicant risk profile, and an injury claim, and the suitable duties plan includes a second occupation deemed suitable for the first person .
10. The computer implemented method of claim 9, wherein the injury management includes updating the occupation risk profile based upon the injury
1 1. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the occupation risk profile is reassessed periodically and includes trend analysis.
12. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the method additionally includes:
receiving, on a computer interface, health information relating to a second person, wherein the second person is not employed in the occupation;
generating, on a processor, a second applicant risk profile based upon the health information relating to the second person;
comparing, on a processor, the occupation risk profile and the second applicant risk profiles, and determining high risk health risk circumstances, wherein the high risk circumstances include a circumstance that is common to both the second person and the occupation; and
comparing the high risk circumstances of the first person and the high risk circumstances of the second person and determining that the first person has a lower risk in at least one high risk circumstance of the second person.
13. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the method additionally includes:
conducting an exit medical on a second person, wherein the exit medical is conducted before the occupation risk profile and the first applicant risk profile are compared; and
updating, on a processor, the occupation risk profile based upon the exit medical of the second person.
14. The computer implemented method of claim 13, wherein the method additionally includes:
updating, on a processor, an applicant risk profile of the second person based upon the exit medical of the second person;
assessing, on a processor, a health history of the second person; and
taking action in order to reduce at least one of a risk of injury or claim size relating to the second person, based upon the exit medical of the second person and the health history of the second person.
15. A system for assessing a health risk, including:
an occupational risk profile generator, which receives health information relating to an occupation and generates an occupation risk profile for the occupation based upon the health information relating to the occupation;
a user interface, for inputting health information relating to a first person;
an applicant risk profile generator, which generates an applicant risk profile for the first person based upon the health information relating to a first person; an risk determination module, which compares the occupation risk profile and the first applicant risk profile, and determines high health risk circumstances, wherein the high risk circumstances include a circumstance that is common to both the first applicant risk profile and the occupation risk profile;
a health management module for generating a health plan for the first person and the occupation, wherein the health management plan includes actions to reduce a health of the first person working in the occupation, associated with the high risk circumstances; and
a presentation module, for presenting the health plan to a user.
PCT/AU2011/000934 2011-07-22 2011-07-22 System and method for health risk management WO2013013257A1 (en)

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