1 2
MULTIPLE PATIENT MONITORING SYSTEM dition so that the clinician may focus attention on these
FOR PROACTIVE HEALTH MANAGEMENT patients. Unfortunately, most existing healthcare information
systems are only designed to display medical data on an
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED individual patient basis. Few systems have been developed
APPLICATIONS 5 t^at enabje ... to view medical data for an entire
„ ^ .. ^. . . J-tto ^ ^ group of patients simultaneously. Consequently, it is
ine present application is a continuation oi U.S. patent f . . . . . ■;
application Ser. No. 10/233,296 filed Aug. 30, 2002 which is extremely difficult for a clinician to prioritize his or her time
a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. and efforts ln a manner that optimizes care and minimizes
09/880,735 filed Jun. 12, 2001, (abandoned) which is a con- 10 costs and complications for the entire group of patients,
tinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/152,353 filed Many systems have been developed for remote monitoring
Sep. 14, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,246,992 which is a con- 0f a group 0f patients. For example , U.S. Pat. No. 5,357,427
tinuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/732, issued to Langenetal.on Oct. 18,1994 describes a system for
158 filed Oct. 16, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,832,448. Said simultaneous remote monitori of a of M h risk
U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 10/233,296, 09/880,735, 15 t. t . . , . t ... 5 „ 5 / . , 5, ,
„„,.,, ... j/»m, im 1 1 • + ji J patients using artificial intelligence. 1 he system includes for
09/152,353 and 08/732,158 are hereby incorporated by rel- r, . ° . . , . ,
erence in their entirety. each Patlent a remote monitoring device, such as a blood
pressure cuff, glucometer, etc. The remote monitoring device
FIELD OF THE INVENTION is connected to a telemedical interface box which transmits
20 monitored data over a telephone line to a data recording The present invention relates generally to computer sys- system. Data is also collected from each patient using an terns for managing healthcare, and in particular to a system artificial intelligence program that asks the patient questions and method for proactively monitoring a group of patients through a telephone. A computer is connected to the recordhaving a chronic disease or ongoing health condition. ing system to display individual patient messages indicating a
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION caieat ... °f °ne °f the Patients
Although Langen's system does allow simultaneous moni
Managing a chronic disease or ongoing health condition toring of a gr°uP of patient's, it lacks a display mechanism for requires the monitoring and controlling of a physical or men- simultaneously displaying summary data for the entire group tal parameter of the health condition. Examples of these 30 °f patients. Langen's system also lacks a mechanism for parameters include blood glucose in diabetes, respiratory indicating which patients have been out of contact with the flow in asthma, blood pressure in hypertension, cholesterol in clinician and therefore have an unknown current medical cardiovascular disease, weight in eating disorders, T-cell or status. Consequently, Langen's system is ineffective in aiding viral count in HIV, and frequency or timing of episodes in the clinician to prioritize his or her time and efforts in manmental health disorders. Because of the continuous nature of 35 aging the medical priorities of an entire group of patients, these health conditions, their corresponding parameters must Another medical monitoring system designed to monitor a bemonitoredandcontrolledonaregularbasisbythepatients of ients ig disclosed in y s pat No 533^549
themselves outside oi a medical clinic. • , . „ e , T 1 m mni ^ t J> *
. .... . issued to Crawford on Jul. 19, 1994. Crawford s system
Typically, the patients monitor and control these param- . , , , ,., r , • r ■
. ,. . . r . ,,P . includes a plurality 01 vital signs monitors for monitoring a
eters in clinician assisted seli-care or outpatient treatment 40 , ^ . , . ... . °
., ^ ^ ^. ^ ^ ^ *[ plurality 01 patients, each monitor providing continuous data
programs. While these outpatient treatment programs oner , . • • , ,
■ -r- .j . r .■ . ,, 1.1 -j to a central server. A supervisory screen is connected to the
significant advantages for patients and healthcare providers, r J .
they present the assisting clinician with two problems in server to ... a normal status or ... levels of alarm
effectively managing the medical priorities of his or her status of the vltal slgns of ^dividual patients. The system
patients 45 Permits an overview display of a hospital floor as well as a
The first problem is in determining each patient's current zoom in disPlay of aa individual patient site. The system
medical status. Since the patients themselves monitor their further provides a warning alarm signal when any one or more
health conditions, the clinician is often limited to learning vital signs of an individual patient is outside of a predeter
each patient's status strictly through patient initiated events, mined limit.
such as an emergency visit or the delivery of the patient's 50 While Crawford's system does allow simultaneous viewlatest medical data. Even with the current availability of ing of the vital sign status of each patient in a group, it is only remote monitoring devices that store and transmit medical directed at monitoring a group of patients who are continually data from a patient's home to a clinic, the clinician must still connected to their vital sign monitors. Crawford's overview wait for medical information whose arrival depends on the screen lacks any mechanism for indicating which patients patient s initiative. 55 j^yg been out of contact with a clinician since continual
As a result, the majority of the clinician's time is spent with contact is assumed the patients who are the most motivated and eager for a
response, while the greatest medical needs remain with the Further, the summary data presented for each patient on the unmotivated patients who do not visit the clinician or transmit overview screen is limited to an indication of a normal state or their medical data. These unmotivated patients often develop so alarm state of each Patlent's vltal slgns- Consequently, the urgent medical needs that could have been prevented with system only allows a clinician to determine which patients are proper medical management. Consequently, the cost of treat- having the greatest difficulty in controlling their health coning their chronic health conditions is much higher than one dition when an actual emergency situation exists. Thus, might expect given the sophistication of current medical Crawford's system is effective as a medical alarm system, but monitoring devices. 65 of little use to a clinician in managing the medical priorities of The second problem is in determining which patients are a group of patients who are not continually monitored in a having the greatest difficulty in controlling their health con- healthcare facility.
