Home medical device systems and methods for therapy prescription and tracking, servicing and inventory
View Patent ↗A home medical device system includes a plurality of home therapy machines that perform a home therapy on a patient; a connectivity server; a system hub coupled to the home therapy machines through the connectivity server; a web portal configured to access the system hub; a plurality of clinics connected to the system hub via the web portal; and a website accessible via the web portal, the website including a patient portion available to patients using the plurality of home therapy machines, the website further including a clinician portion that enables the clinics to manage the home therapy machines.
1. A home medical device system comprising:
a plurality of home therapy machines each configured to perform a home treatment on a patient at a home or dwelling of the patient, wherein each of the plurality of home therapy machines includes at least one processor operating a connectivity agent;
a connectivity server located remote from the home or dwelling of the patient, wherein the connectivity agent of each home therapy machine enables the respective home therapy machine to communicate with the connectivity server only when the connectivity agent is activated, and wherein the connectivity agent is deactivated during the treatment to prevent the home therapy machine from sending any data to or receiving any data from the connectivity server during the treatment, and wherein after the treatment is complete, the at least one processor activates the connectivity agent;
a system hub coupled to the home therapy machines through the connectivity server, the connectivity server in data communication with the home therapy machines and the system hub;
a web portal configured to access the system hub;
a plurality of clinics connected to the system hub via the web portal; and
a website accessible via the web portal, the website including a patient portion accessible by patients using the plurality of home therapy machines, the website further including a clinician portion that enables the clinics to manage the home therapy machines.
2. The system of claim 1 , which includes at least one medical device in operable communication with at least one of the home therapy machines.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the home therapy machines includes a wireless user interface.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the home therapy machine is of at least one type selected from the group consisting of: (i) a hemodialysis machine, (ii) a peritoneal dialysis machine, (iii) a hemofiltration machine, (iv) a hemodiafiltration machine, (v) a continuous renal replacement machine, (vi) a medical fluid delivery machine, or (vii) a machine running a nutritional therapy.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein each home therapy machine generates log files documenting treatments performed by the home therapy machine and sends the log files to the system hub through the connectivity server.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the connectivity server receives and stores data from the clinics until corresponding home therapy machines are turned on, after which the data is able to be transferred to the corresponding home therapy machines.
7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the data transferred includes a new device program, and wherein the system is configured such that the patient for the corresponding home therapy machine must accept the new device program before the new device program is performed by the corresponding home therapy machine.
8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the clinician portion of the website includes a therapy prescription screen for specifying supplies needed at the patient's home or dwelling for operating one of the home therapy machines.
9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the clinician portion of the website includes a device program screen for setting parameters by which one of the home therapy machines operates.
10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the device program screen allows the parameters to be set differently in different device programs for the same home therapy machine and patient.
11. The system of claim 9 , wherein at least one of the parameters is set as a range, and wherein the patient is enabled to choose within the range for operation with the home therapy machine.
12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the device program screen allows for a template to be recalled for populating a plurality of the parameters with preselected values.
13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the clinician portion of the website includes a patient settings screen, the patient settings screen enabling clinicians to set at least one treatment display aspect.
14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the clinician portion of the website includes a clinician dashboard including
a list of patients; and
a notification associated with each patient indicating whether a predefined treatment condition or alert occurred during a treatment.
15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the dashboard associates each patient in the list of patients with at least one of (i) a treatment summary providing detailed treatment data about the patient or (ii) a patient snapshot providing historical treatment data about the patient.
16. The system of claim 1 , which includes a product development client computer in communication with the system hub, the product development client computer capable of providing a firmware upgrade that can be downloaded over the system hub and the connectivity server to the home therapy machine.
17. The system of claim 16 , which enables a service personnel director to be in communication with the system hub, the communication enabling the service personnel director to approve the firmware upgrade for one or more of the plurality of home therapy machines before the firmware upgrade is downloaded to the approved home therapy machine.
18. The system of claim 16 , which enables at least one service personnel to be in communication with the system hub, the communication enabling each service personnel to be dedicated to at least one of the plurality of home therapy machines, the communication further enabling the at least one service personnel to determine when the firmware upgrade is to be delivered to the at least one dedicated home therapy machine.
19. The system of claim 1 , wherein the connectivity server is configured to provide a check that at least one of (i) all data in a packet of data is actually sent or (ii) data is sent to the proper home therapy machine.