WO2006071482A2

WO2006071482A2 - Method of managing and controlling emergency access to personal information

Info

Publication number: WO2006071482A2
Application number: PCT/US2005/044347
Authority: WO
Original assignee: Winkiel, Joseph, H.
Priority date: 2004-12-08
Filing date: 2005-12-08
Publication date: 2006-07-06
Also published as: WO2006071482A9; WO2006071482A3

Abstract

A method of managing emergency access to personal information of a member of an emergency information service (EIS) network, wherein the personal information of the EIS network member is stored in a computer-accessible database controlled by the network, is disclosed. When a member of an emergency information service network is in an emergency situation (particularly a medical emergency situation) and one or more emergency care personnel are attending the member and have found identifying indicia of the member related to the member’s emergency information service network and the emergency care peronnel determine that they are registered with the EIS network of the member, the emergency care personnel contact the member’s EIS network, furnish their identifying prior registration indicia and furnish the identifying indicia of the member, whereupon the EIS network verifies the furnished registration and identifying indicia and subsequently provides personal emergency information of the member to the emergency care personnel.

Description

TITLE

METHOD OF MANAGING AND CONTROLLING EMERGENCY ACCESS TO PERSONAL INFORMATION

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the priority of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/634,204 filed 08 December 2004 and entitled, EMERGENCY INFORMATION SERVICES NETWORK, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to methodology associated with the storage and retrieval of vital medical and non-medical personal information for use in emergency situations, primarily medical emergency situations, by emergency service organization (ESO) personnel as well as for the retrieval of important documents, lists, and subscriptions in the case of loss or damage through fire, theft, flood, tornadoes, hurricanes, acts of God or other reasons. It is well appreciated that as much as possible should be known by ESO personnel who arrive on the scene of an emergency about the persons involved so that they may quickly administer medically correct procedures and drugs to any individual in need of emergency care. Additionally, many people, after a fire, flood, hurricane, tornado or earthquake are in urgent need of lost records and other documents, e.g., for insurance purposes.

For example, full and accurate knowledge of a patient's prior medical history, current medications, drug allergies, recent medical test results, etc., will typically permit treating ESO personnel to diagnose the patient more accurately and more quickly. Additionally, effective access to such information will tend to facilitate the treating physician choosing and performing the appropriate medical procedures more accurately and effectively. Patients may not be able to speak for themselves in an emergency or unconscious condition. Even conscious and alert, many patients may not recall the specifics of their medical history and/or relevant recent treatments. Still fewer patients recall the results of their recent medical tests. Costs may also be reduced by efficient management of medical information such as by avoiding duplication of tests caused by lack of access to existing test data by the treating physician, or by the physician's reluctance to accept the patient's recollections when serious medical consequences may result from misinformation or misdiagnosis. For such reasons, health care providers have invested considerable effort in technologies related to the computerization and sharing, typically via fax or interactive computer networks, of such medical data and information.

Much of the previous work in connection with computerizing medical information storage and retrieval has been directed to the needs of the care provider. That is, the needs of hospitals and treating physicians have been foremost in the design and implementation of many prior art medical information systems. When medical data storage and retrieval information systems are developed with the needs of the health care provider in mind, the information tends to be that which is appropriate for the needs of the particular physician, practice group or hospital making use of the system, omitting thereby many relevant items of personal health information. For example, provisions are not typically made in such systems for having access to the patient's living will, organ donation wishes, authorization for treatment and other documents potentially highly relevant in the course of medical treatment, most urgently in instances when the patient is unable to speak for himself or herself. In addition, the information systems of the prior art most typically are designed for use from a limited number of known locations, typically terminals located at various locations around a treating hospital or other health care facility. Access to the medical records by the patient, or by an unforeseen and unplanned for health care provider in an emergency situation and possibly at very remote locations and at very inconvenient times of day, is not generally provided for in the prior art.

Another approach to providing medical information to the treating physician or other care provider has been to equip the individual patient with appropriate medical information to be carried on his or her person. Such information would typically be of the type that health care providers would need during an emergency situation in which the patient cannot speak for himself or herself. Such techniques include emergency medical bracelets, information cards and the like to inform treating medical personnel of the patient's important medical conditions. However, the amount of information that can be carried on such physical items is clearly limited. It would be desirable if a new computer-based system that was secure, patient oriented and designed for easy and quick access by registered ESO personnel were available.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention is directed to a method of managing emergency access to personal information of a member of an emergency information service (EIS) network, wherein the personal information of the EIS network member is stored in a computer-accessible database controlled by the network. When a member of an emergency information service network is in an emergency situation (particularly a medical emergency situation) and one or more emergency care personnel are attending the member and have found identifying indicia of the member related to the member's emergency information service network and the emergency care personnel determine that they are registered with the EIS network of the member, the emergency care personnel contact the member's EIS network, furnish their identifying prior registration indicia and furnish the identifying indicia of the member, whereupon the EIS network verifies the furnished registration and identifying indicia and subsequently provides personal emergency information of the member to the emergency care personnel.

The emergency information service network according to the invention provides a member of the service with the ability to safely store vital information in such a manner that it can be updated at any time and that, e.g., medical emergency information can be retrieved by attending emergency care personnel at the time of a medical emergency involving the member. In addition to the medical emergency information, other personal information may be retrieved at any time for any reason by the member or his/her designee. The medical information will be provided with the affirmation of the attending personnel to be valid emergency care personnel having the training to administer emergency treatment and upon presentation of the member's personal identification number (PIN) and emergency service organization (ESO) password designed exclusively to be valid for only one member. This transfer of information can easily be made over the Internet or via telephone to a registered ESO provider.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiment thereof and from the claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a flow chart showing the steps to be taken for an individual to become a member of an emergency information service network;

Fig. 2 is a flow chart showing the steps to be taken for an emergency service organization to become a registered affiliate of an emergency information service network; and Fig. 3 is a flow chart showing the steps taken in an emergency for providing emergency information of a member to a verified emergency service organization.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As used herein, "member" means a pre-registered individual whose personal records are managed by or are subject to being managed in accordance with the present invention, and "ESO personnel" includes anyone who is a member of an emergency service organization (ESO) and who is attempting to gain access to the emergency information of the member in the case of an emergency, e.g., a medical emergency. The present method is conducted through one Emergency Information Service (EIS) network service provider to whom fees are paid by the member, or by a gift or subscription paid by anyone on the member' s behalf so that the services may be provided. The examples described herein are presented to illustrate the advantages of the present invention and to assist one of ordinary skill in making and using the same. These examples are not intended in any way otherwise to limit the scope of the disclosure.

As indicated in Fig. 1, the member joins, or subscribes for, the services of an EIS network and fills in the required information, such as full name, address, phone, e-mail address, birth date, non-profit organization to whom a donation is made, minor status, whether or not lives alone, security retrieval question and answer, gender, occupation, race, marital status, religion, preferred payment method. An audit trail is also created showing the date and time of access as well as recording the IP address of the computer from which the information originated.

Upon approval for payment, the member will receive his/her personal identification number (PIN) and password (for use in modifying the retained information) and will be displayed a picture of his/her membership card, which reflects the member's PIN and the ESO password (for use in an emergency situation) which can be printed and carried with the member until the official card and IDs arrive through the mail. The member may elect to finish inputting the optional information to be stored at this time or may continue this process later. To make changes to the stored information, including changes to the member's password, the member or his/her designee logs onto the service with his/her PIN and password and updates the data stored therein. An audit trail is also created showing the date and time of access as well as recording the IP address of the computer from which the changes were originated. Emergency service organizations (ESO) such as first responders, rescue, EMS, hospitals, health care facilities, fire, police and other emergency care providers follow a similar procedure to become registered affiliates of the EIS network and gain access to the system. Referring to Fig. 2, it can be seen that an ESO first accesses a secure, encrypted web site and enters the organization name, address, telephone number, contact information, type, e-mail and Federal ID number. The network service personnel verify the authenticity of the information and send out a PIN, a temporary password and universal resource locator (URL) address to allow the ESO to access the system and to obtain a permanent password for their facility. The ESO subsequently logs onto the system to identify and register their employees who are eligible to access the network and to obtain their unique personal identification number and password for auditing purposes.

In emergency situations, medical care givers are entitled to search for and to examine any information that the disabled person may be carrying on his or her person and that may be of assistance in treatment. The member's identification card provided by the EIS network service prominently indicates that the participant has stored medical information that may be of use in an emergency. The subject card also bears the service provider's website address and telephone number, the member's PIN and the member's unique ESO password. As shown in Fig. 3, the emergency facility (if already registered with the service) can log onto the website, whereupon the ESO attendant enters its PIN and password, then enters the member's PIN and ESO password to obtain the member' s medical emergency information. If the ESO is not registered with the service, a toll-free number is provided and a strict dialog is entered into in order to verify that the caller is in fact a participant of an ESO attending to an emergency situation. Once this verification is returned positive, the EIS network will inform the attending ESO personnel of the member's emergency medical information.

New members are assigned a PIN and a randomly generated password, which information they will keep to update their records at any time. A second password known as an ESO password is also assigned and used for access by Emergency Service Organization (ESO) personnel. This unique combination of numbers will work only for one member and will provide access only to the emergency medical information stored on behalf of the member. All data being transmitted to or from the computer will follow a secure method of transmission back and forth through a triple DES formula of encryption. This method is based upon the current SSL methodology as approved and used by the U.S. Government and by other corporations and individuals, with each organization having its own unique public and private encryption keys. The entered data elements are then stored in a database that also has been password protected and encrypted to assure the highest level of security. This database is stored on a secure server fitted with firewalls, virus protection and other necessary security measures to guard against hackers and viruses. The database is stored and backed up in accordance with HIPAA regulations and is supported also on a redundant server for protection in case of mechanical difficulties.

The member designates, and agrees to have made known in a medical emergency situation, certain information designated as medical emergency information. The network will store any information the member deems necessary for this type of situation. The member also designates and the network service agrees to keep private certain personal information that would be accessible by either the member and/or any other designee to whom the member gives the PIN and password to in order to retrieve such information. A member gains access to the network by supplying his/her PIN and password and can update his/her emergency medical information or non-emergency personal information whenever desirable.

Members donate a portion of their fee to a non-profit organization, e.g., an emergency service organization. Preferably, all personnel and or service organizations that are permitted to become registered with an EIS network are HIPAA compliant, and all processing, storage and backup systems are documented and accounted for, all in accordance with the requirements of HIPAA, or are in excess of those requirements .

All medical emergency information and only medical emergency information is available at the time of a medical emergency situation to ESO personnel. Medical emergency information can consist of, but is not limited to, the following:

Name, address, telephone number, donor information, birth date, sex, religion, marital status, minor status, whether or not lives alone, tetanus shot, height, weight, hair color, eye color, identifying marks, preferred hospital, family, friends, clergy, doctors, advanced medical directives, living will, do not resuscitate orders, power of attorney, medical alerts, medical history, allergies, medications, pictures, notarized signature, final will, finger prints, insurance policies, insurance card, x-rays.

Non-medical emergency information can consist of, but is not limited to, the following:

Passport, driver's license information, social security number, E-mail address, occupation, valuables, deeds, videos, serial no. lists for valuables, beneficiaries, adoption papers, appraisals, baptismal record, citizenship papers, death certificates, deeds, diplomas, divorce papers, education records, household inventories, purchase receipts, life insurance policies, marriage certificate, military papers, patents, copyrights, trusts, warranties and contact information for various individuals.

The current system is set up for use by English language speakers only but will soon be expanded to be viewed and read in other languages (primarily Spanish) .

While the present invention has been described in conjunction with a preferred embodiment, one of ordinary skill, after reading the foregoing specification, will be able to effect various changes, substitutions of equivalents, and other alterations to the compositions and methods set forth herein. It is therefore intended that the protection granted by Letters Patent hereon be limited only by the definitions contained in the appended claims and equivalents thereof.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat i s claimed is :

1. A method of managing emergency access to personal information of a member of an emergency information service (EIS) network, wherein the personal information of the EIS network member is stored in a computer-accessible database controlled by the network, wherein said member is in an emergency situation, wherein one or more emergency care personnel are attending said member and said emergency care personnel have found identifying indicia of said member related to said member's EIS network and wherein said emergency care personnel determine that they are registered with said EIS network of said member, said method comprising the steps of: said emergency care personnel contacting said member's EIS network, furnishing identifying indicia of prior registration of said emergency care personnel with said EIS network and furnishing identifying indicia of said member; and said EIS network verifying said furnished registration and identifying indicia and subsequently providing personal emergency information of said member stored in said computer- accessible database to said emergency care personnel.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the emergency situation is a medical emergency situation.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said identifying indicia of said member comprise a personal identification number (PIN) and an emergency service organization (ESO) password.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said prior registration indicia of said emergency care personnel comprise a PIN and a password.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said emergency care personnel contacts said emergency information service network via the Internet.