TECHNICAL FIELD

[001] The subject matter disclosed herein relates to healthcare management system. More particularly  the subject matter relates to a method of providing healthcare services to remote areas.
BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE
[002] Remote medical diagnosis provides medical assistance to people present at a remote location by providing an adequate consulting link with a physician at some other location.

[003] In the conventional systems  biological information of a person is transmitted together with the identification number of the person to a data processing equipment of a medical treatment center. The biological information is processed to determine whether or not the current value of the biological information lies within the range of predetermined values.

[004] In these systems  the processing of the biological information is carried out in the medical treatment centre and based on this processing the physician present in the medical treatment centre determines whether the patient is suffering from a disease or not. The problem arises when there is non-availability of the physician at the medical treatment center to determine the health condition of the patient due to which the patients have to wait to know about their health condition. There is no medical data communication system intended for early identification or screening of the disease for the patient in the remote areas. Also the conventional systems do not solve imbalance of the availability of the physicians in the remote areas. Further  the conventional systems do not provide an automated result of the health condition of the patient immediately at the patient end.

[005] Hence  there exists a need for providing healthcare service to the people in remote areas efficiently by solving the physician patient imbalance and by providing immediate result of their health condition at the patient end.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE
[006] The shortcomings of the prior art are overcome and additional advantages are provided through the provision of a method and a system as described in the description.

[007] In one non-limiting exemplary aspect  there is provided a healthcare service management system. The system comprises of portable device having one or more medical applications and an analyzer module. The portable device is associated with a user. The analyzer module receives medical data from one or more medical devices through the one or more medical applications to generate a preliminary medical result. The portable device is communicatively connected to one or more medical devices through a communication interface. A server is connected to the portable device over a communication network and the server is associated with a service provider. The server receives and stores both the preliminary medical result and the medical data from the portable device. The system also comprises of a handheld device which is associated with a physician to receive both the preliminary medical result and the medical data from the server over a communication network.

[008] A method of providing a healthcare service is disclosed as another aspect of the present disclosure. The method comprises acts of receiving medical data of a patient by an analyzer module through one or more medical applications which is configured in a portable device. The analyzer module receives the medical data from one or more medical devices. The analyzer module then classifies the received medical data by comparing the received medical data with predefined parameters. After classifying  a preliminary medical result is generated based on result of the classification.

[009] A method of providing a healthcare service is disclosed as another aspect of the present disclosure. The method comprises acts of receiving medical data of a patient by an analyzer module through one or more medical applications which is configured in a portable device. The medical data is received from one or more medical devices. The received medical data is then classified by the analyzer module by comparing the medical data with predefined parameters. After classifying  a preliminary medical result is generated based on result of the classification. The preliminary medical result and the medical data are then sent to a server wherein the server stores and forwards the preliminary medical result and the medical data. The server is associated with a service provider. The server forwards the preliminary medical result and the medical data to a handheld device or any web enabled mechanism associated with a physician for validating the preliminary medical result. The physician validates the preliminary medical result and the validated preliminary medical result is sent to the portable device through the server.

[0010] The foregoing summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. In addition to the illustrative aspects and features described above  further aspects  and features will become apparent by reference to the drawings and the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] The novel features and characteristic of the disclosure are set forth in the appended claims. The embodiments of the disclosure itself  however  as well as a preferred mode of use  further objectives and advantages thereof  will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. One or more embodiments are now described  by way of example only  with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0012] Fig.1 illustrates a healthcare service management system.

[0013] Fig.2 illustrates a sequence diagram showing a method of providing health care service.

[0014] The figures depict embodiments of the disclosure for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following description that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the disclosure described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0015] The foregoing has broadly outlined the features and technical advantages of the present disclosure in order that the detailed description of the disclosure that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the disclosure will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the disclosure. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and specific aspect disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present disclosure. It should also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as set forth in the appended claims. The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of the disclosure  both as to its organization and method of operation  together with further objects and advantages will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying figures. It is to be expressly understood  however  that each of the figures is provided for the purpose of illustration and description only and is not intended as a definition of the limits of the present disclosure.

[0016] In an embodiment  the present disclosure provides a healthcare service management system and a method of providing healthcare service to remote areas.

[0017] Fig.1 is an exemplary embodiment which illustrates a healthcare service management system. The system comprises a portable device (106)  which is associated with a user. The portable device (106) comprises of one or more medical applications (114) and an analyzer module (108). The one or more medical applications include but are not limiting to ECG application  blood pressure application and ultrasound application. A person skilled in the art would understand that any other type of medical applications can be used in the portable device. The portable device (106) is connected to one or more medical devices (102) through a communication interface (104). The one or more medical devices for an example  includes but are not limiting to ECG device  ultrasound device  and blood pressure device. A person skilled in the art would understand that any other type of the medical devices can be used for health care. The one or more medical applications (114) receive medical data from one or more medical devices (102). The analyzer module (108) receives the medical data through the one or more medical applications (114) for generating a preliminary medical result.

[0018] The system further comprises of a server (110)  which is associated with a service provider. The server is connected with the portable device (106) over a communication network. The portable device (106) transmits both the preliminary medical result and the medical data to the server (110). The server (110) forwards the preliminary medical result and the medical data to a handheld device (112) over a communication network. The handheld device (112) is associated with a physician wherein the physician validates the preliminary medical result. The validated preliminary medical result is sent to the portable device (106) through the server (110). The validated preliminary medical result provides an indication to the patient for further treatment.

[0019] The portable device (106) and the handheld device (112) can be any electronic device capable of receiving the information. In one embodiment  the portable device (106) and the handheld device (112) includes but are not limiting to a cellular telephone  a smart phone  a Personal Digital Assistance (PDA)  and a portable computer. In one embodiment  the handheld device can be any web enabled mechanism.

[0020] The communication interface (104) can be any interface capable of communicating information. In one embodiment the communication interface (104) comprises a USB interface  a Zigbee interface  a Bluetooth interface  an ethernet interface and any other interface capable of communicating information.

[0021] In one aspect of the disclosure  the portable device (106) downloads one or more medical applications (114) from the server (110). The user selects an application from the one or more medical applications (114). The selected application will now receive the medical data from the respective medical device (102) through the communication interface. The received medical data will be passed to the analyzer module (108) for analyzing and generating the preliminary medical result. The analyzer module (108) analyzes the received medical data by comparing the medical data with the predefined parameters in order to classify the medical data. In one embodiment  the predefined parameters include but not limiting to symptoms  threshold  data range etc. These predefined parameters could be stored in a database which could be accessed through the server or conventional data analyzing techniques such as machine learning and pattern recognition technique may be used to analyze the medical data. The data analysis techniques need not be limited to the examples mentioned above. The predefined parameters could be stored in portable device. In one embodiment  if the medical data is within the predefined data range the analyzer module generates a preliminary medical result showing normal health condition of the patient. If the received medical data is out of the predefined data range the analyzer module generates a preliminary medical result showing abnormal health condition of the patient. In one embodiment  the analyzer module can be a machine classifier. The predefined parameters are set for each of the medical applications (114) by the machine classifier.

[0022] As an example  when the user selects the ECG application (114)  the ECG application (114) will communicate with the ECG medical device (102) through the communication interface and receives the medical data of the patient. The analyzer module (108) configured in the portable device (106) interacts with the ECG application and receives the medical data. The analyzer module (108) analyzes the medical data  classifies the medical data based on the predefined data range and generates a preliminary medical result. For ex. say the received medical data value is 35. The predefined data range value set for the ECG application is 0-45. The medical data lies in the predefined data range. So  the analyzer module generates a preliminary report showing normal health condition of the patient.

[0023] In another aspect of the disclosure  the portable device (106) transmits the preliminary medical result and the medical data to the server (110). Before transmitting  the portable device (106) encrypts both the medical data and the preliminary medical result and appends it with a unique id. The server (110) decrypts the medical data and the preliminary medical result using the unique id and stores it in its database as a map data structure with voter id or any other identification details of the patient as a key and the medical data and the preliminary medical result as the value. The server (110) transmits the preliminary medical result and the medical data to the handheld device (112) associated with the physician for the validation of the preliminary medical result. The physician validates the preliminary medical result and transmits the validated preliminary medical result to the portable device (106) through the server (110). The validated preliminary medical result provides an indication to the patient for further treatment.

[0024] In one embodiment  the server detects patterns in the medical data  said pattern detection comprises association of a disease with a region  association of the frequency of the occurrence of a disease with age of the patient and association with the occurrence of the disease with gender of the patient.

[0025] In one embodiment  the handheld devices are registered with the service provider to receive the medical data and the preliminary medical result. The service provider and the physicians are under a financial agreement for sharing revenue generated from service offered to the user.

[0026] In one embodiment  the server (110) receives the medical data and the preliminary medical result from plurality of the portable devices. The server performs a load balancing mechanism among the physicians  with the help of a look up table as shown in the table 1 below. For ex. portable device (106) transmits one set of medical data and the preliminary medical result i.e case 1 to the server (110). The server (110) forwards the case 1 to physician 1. Similarly case 2 and case 3 from portable device (306) are forwarded to the physician 3. Now say that  portable device (406) sends case 4 to the server. The server looks into the look up table to find out the availability of the physician and finds that physician 2 is free at that point of time and hence forwards the case 4 to the physician 2. The server frequently looks into the look up table for the availability of the physician and transmits the medical data and the preliminary medical result to the physician. By performing load balancing operation  all the physicians are equally occupied and the patient gets the response sooner.

Portable device No. of cases Physician Cases being handled
Portable device (106) Case 1 Physician 1 Case 1
Portable device (306) Case 2  case 3 Physician 2 -
Portable device (406) Case 4 Physician 3 Case 2  Case 3
Table 1
[0027] In one embodiment  the service provider and the user are under a financial agreement wherein the server gets revenue for each medical application downloaded by the user of the portable device.

[0028] In an embodiment  the medical data and the preliminary results are stored in the server or a database associated with the server. The data stored can be used in predicting the disease trend for a region. The data could also assist in predicting the preliminary result. In an example  this data can be used for finding patterns in the data like association of a disease with a region  association of the frequency of the occurrence of the disease with the age of the patient  association with the occurrence of the disease with the gender of the patient etc.

[0029] Fig.2 is an exemplary embodiment which illustrates a sequence diagram showing method of providing healthcare service.

[0030] The workflow between the medical device (102)  portable device (106)  server (110) and the handheld device (112) is illustrated in Fig.2. The portable device (106) downloads one or more medical applications (114) from the server (110). The user of the portable device selects one of the medical applications (114). The corresponding medical device (102) captures the medical data at step 202 and transmits the medical data to the portable device (106) at step 204 through the communication interface. The analyzer module configured in the portable device (106) analyzes the medical data and generates a preliminary medical result at step 206. At 208  the portable device (106) transmits the medical data and the preliminary medical result to the server (110). The server (110) stores the medical data and the preliminary medical result at 210. At 212  the server (110) forwards the medical data and the preliminary medical result to the handheld device (112) for validation. The physician associated with the handheld device (112) validates the preliminary medical result at 214. At 216  the validated preliminary medical result is transmitted to the server. At 218 the validated preliminary medical result is transmitted to the portable device (106). The validated preliminary medical result provides an indication to the patient for further treatment.

[0031] This written description uses examples to disclose the invention  including the best mode  and also to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the invention  including making and using any devices or systems and performing any incorporated methods. The patentable scope of the invention is defined by the claims  and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they have structural elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims  or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal languages of the claims.

We claim:

1. A healthcare service management system comprising:
a portable device associated with a user having one or more medical applications and an analyzer module  said analyzer module is configured to receive and analyze medical data from one or more medical devices to generate a preliminary medical result.

a server associated with a service provider connected to the portable device over a communication network  said server receives and stores both the preliminary medical result and the medical data from the portable device; and
a handheld device associated with a physician configured to receive both the preliminary medical result and the medical data from the server over a communication network.
2. The system as claimed in claim 1  wherein the portable device downloads the one or more medical applications from the server.

3. The system as claimed in claim 2  wherein the user and the service provider are under a financial agreement   wherein the service provider generates revenue for each of the medical application downloaded by the user.

4. The system as claimed in claim 1  wherein the portable device is communicatively connected to one or more medical devices through a communication interface.

5. The system as claimed in claim 4  wherein the communication interface is selected from a group comprising a USB interface  a Zigbee interface  a Bluetooth interface  ethernet interface and any other interface capable of communicating information.

6. The system as claimed in claim 1  wherein the medical application receives the medical data from the medical device when the user selects the corresponding medical applications and forwards the received medical data to the analyzer module.

7. The system as claimed in claim 1  wherein the medical device is selected from a group comprising a ECG device  a ultrasound device  a blood pressure device and any other device used in health care.

8. The system as claimed in claim 1  wherein the portable device and the handheld device are selected from a group comprising a cellular telephone  a smart phone  a Personal Digital Assistance (PDA)  a web enabled device  a portable computer and any other electronic device capable of receiving information.

9. A method of providing healthcare service comprising acts of:
receiving medical data of a patient by an analyzer module through one or more medical applications configured in a portable device from one or more medical devices;
classifying the received medical data by the analyzer module by comparing the received medical data with predefined parameters; and
generating a preliminary medical result based on result of the classification.
10. The method as claimed in claim 9  wherein health condition of a patient is predicted partially based on the preliminary medical result.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10 further comprises displaying the health condition of the patient in the portable device.

12. The method as claimed in claim 9  wherein the predefined parameters are selected from a group comprising symptoms  threshold  data range  conventional data analyzing techniques such as machine learning  and pattern recognition algorithm.

13. A method of providing healthcare service comprising acts of:
receiving medical data of a patient by an analyzer module through one or more medical applications configured in a portable device from one or more medical devices;
classifying the received medical data by the analyzer module by comparing the received medical data with predefined parameters;
generating a preliminary medical result based on result of the classification;
sending the preliminary medical result and the medical data to a server associated with a service provider for storing and forwarding;
receiving the preliminary medical result and the medical data by a handheld device associated with a physician from the server for validating the preliminary medical result; and
sending the validated preliminary medical result to the portable device through the server.
14. The method as claimed in claim 13  wherein health condition of a patient is predicted partially based on the preliminary medical result.

15. The method as claimed in claim 14 further comprises displaying the health condition of the patient in the portable device.

16. The method as claimed in claim 13  wherein the received medical data is encrypted and appended with a unique id before transmitting the medical data to the server.

17. The method as claimed in claim 13  wherein the server detects patterns in the medical data  said pattern detection comprises association of a disease with a region  association of the frequency of the occurrence of a disease with age of the patient and association with the occurrence of the disease with gender of the patient.

18. The method as claimed in claim 13  wherein the handheld devices are registered with the service provider to receive the medical data and the preliminary medical result.

19. The method as claimed in claim 18  wherein the service provider and the physician and the user and the service provider are under a financial agreement for sharing revenue generated from service offered to the user.

20. The method as claimed in claim 18  wherein the server determines availability of the physician before transmitting the medical data and the preliminary medical result based on the number of the cases the physician can address per day and the number of cases already sent to a particular physician.

Dated this 30th day of September  2011

MADHUSUDAN S.T
OF K & S PARTNERS
AGENT FOR THE APPLICANT