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Section 101 Examples
Example 42: Method for Transmission of Notifications When Medical Records Are Updated

This is an example provided by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for analyzing Section 101 patent subject matter eligibility issues. In particular, this example was created to help explain the 2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance (2019 PEG). The original PDF document is found here.

This example should be viewed in light of the introduction that was provided with it.

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Example 42: Method for Transmission of Notifications When Medical Records Are Updated

Background

Patients with chronic or undiagnosed illnesses often must visit several different medical providers for diagnosis and treatment. These physicians may be physically separate from each other and unaware of each other. During a visit, each medical provider records information about the patient’s condition in their own local patient records. These records are often stored locally on a computer in a non-standard format selected by whichever hardware or software platform is in use in the medical provider’s local office. It is difficult for medical providers to share updated information about a patient’s condition with other health care providers using current patient management systems, due to the above challenges. This can lead to problems with managing prescriptions or having patients duplicate tests, for example. Currently, medical providers must continually monitor a patient’s medical records for updated information, which is often-times incomplete since records in separate locations are not timely or readily-shared or cannot be consolidated due to format inconsistencies as well as physicians who are unaware that other physicians are also seeing the patient for varying reasons.

To solve this problem, applicant has invented a network-based patient management method that collects, converts and consolidates patient information from various physicians and health-care providers into a standardized format, stores it in network-based storage devices, and generates messages notifying health care providers or patients whenever that information is updated. The method provides a graphical user interface (GUI) by a content server, which is hardware or a combination of both hardware and software. A user, such as a health care provider or patient, is given remote access through the GUI to view or update information about a patient’s medical condition using the user’s own local device (e.g., a personal computer or wireless handheld device). When a user wants to update the records, the user can input the update in any format used by the user’s local device. Whenever the patient information is updated, it will first be converted into the standardized format and then stored in the collection of medical records on one or more of the network-based storage devices. After the updated information about the patient’s condition has been stored in the collection, the content server, which is connected to the network-based storage devices, immediately generates a message containing the updated information about the patient’s condition. This message is transmitted in a standardized format over the computer network to all physicians and health-care providers that have access to the patient’s information (e.g., to a medical specialist to review the updated information about the patient’s medical condition) so that all users can quickly be notified of any changes without having to manually look up or consolidate all of the providers’ updates. This ensures that each of a group of health care providers is always given immediate notice and access to changes so they can readily adapt their own medical diagnostic and treatment strategy in accordance with other providers’ actions. The message can be in the form of an email message, text message, or other type of message known in the art.

Claim 1:

A method comprising:

a) storing information in a standardized format about a patient's condition in a plurality of network-based non-transitory storage devices having a collection of medical records stored thereon;
b) providing remote access to users over a network so any one of the users can update the information about the patient’s condition in the collection of medical records in real time through a graphical user interface, wherein the one of the users provides the updated information in a non-standardized format dependent on the hardware and software platform used by the one of the users;
c) converting, by a content server, the non-standardized updated information into the standardized format,
d) storing the standardized updated information about the patient’s condition in the collection of medical records in the standardized format;
e) automatically generating a message containing the updated information about the patient’s condition by the content server whenever updated information has been stored; and
f) transmitting the message to all of the users over the computer network in real time, so that each user has immediate access to up-to-date patient information.
Step Analysis
Step 1: Statutory Category? Yes. The claim recites a series of steps and, therefore, is a process.
Step 2A - Prong 1: Judicial Exception Recited? Yes. The claim as a whole recites a method of organizing human activity. The claimed invention is a method that allows for users to access patients’ medical records and receive updated patient information in real time from other users which is a method of managing interactions between people. Thus, the claim recites an abstract idea.
Step 2A—Prong 2: Integrated into a Practical Application? Yes. The claim recites a combination of additional elements including storing information, providing remote access over a network, converting updated information that was input by a user in a non-standardized form to a standardized format, automatically generating a message whenever updated information is stored, and transmitting the message to all of the users. The claim as a whole integrates the method of organizing human activity into a practical application. Specifically, the additional elements recite a specific improvement over prior art systems by allowing remote users to share information in real time in a standardized format regardless of the format in which the information was input by the user. Thus, the claim is eligible because it is not directed to the recited judicial exception (abstract idea).
Step 2B: Inventive Concept? N/A.

Claim 2:

A method comprising:

a) storing information about a patient’s condition in a plurality of network-based non-transitory storage devices having a collection of medical records stored thereon;
b) providing access, by a content server, to users so that any one of the users can update the information about the patient’s condition in the collection of medical records, and;
c) storing the updated information about the patient’s condition in the collection of medical records in the plurality of network-based non-transitory storage devices.
Step Analysis
Step 1: Statutory Category? Yes. The claim recites a series of steps and, therefore, is a process.
Step 2A - Prong 1: Judicial Exception Recited? Yes. The claim as a whole recites a method of organizing human interactions. The claimed invention is a method that allows for users to access and update patients’ medical records and store the updated information which is a method of managing interactions between people. The mere nominal recitation of a generic content server and generic network-based storage devices does not take the claim out of the methods of organizing human interactions grouping. Thus, the claim recites an abstract idea.
Step 2A—Prong 2: Integrated into a Practical Application? No. The claim as a whole merely describes how to generally “apply” the concept of storing and updating patient information in a computer environment. The claimed computer components are recited at a high level of generality and are merely invoked as tools to perform an existing medical records update process. Simply implementing the abstract idea on a generic computer is not a practical application of the abstract idea.
Step 2B: Inventive Concept? No. As noted previously, the claim as a whole merely describes how to generally “apply” the concept of updating medical records in a computer environment. Thus, even when viewed as a whole, nothing in the claim adds significantly more (i.e., an inventive concept) to the abstract idea. The claim is ineligible.