System and method for clinical trial candidate matching

1. A method for identifying potential clinical trial participants, comprising:

(a) receiving, by a computer, a data file including data pertaining to a clinical trial, the data including at least one of an inclusion criterion and an exclusion criterion;

(b) determining a key concept of an interface terminology ontology pertaining semantically to the data, the interface terminology ontology comprising a plurality of concepts with corresponding codes;

(c) identifying one or more entries of a reference or administrative code set relating to the key concept in the context of the clinical trial, the reference or administrative code set comprising a plurality of entries with corresponding codes;

(d) mapping, using a computer, one or more interface terminology concepts to the one or more reference or administrative code set entries;

(e) analyzing, using the computer, a first database of anonymized patient electronic health record information from a first institution for first patients having a first match to the key concept if the key concept pertains to an inclusion criterion or no first match to the key concept if the key concept pertains to an exclusion criterion;

(f) analyzing, using the computer, a second database of anonymized patient electronic health record information from a second, separate institution for second patients having a second match to the key concept if the key concept pertains to an inclusion criterion or no second match to the key concept if the key concept pertains to an exclusion criterion;

(g) aggregating the first and second patients for reporting to a user; and

(h) returning the aggregated first and second patients to the user,

wherein the first database stores patient information from a first electronic health record provider and the second database stores patient information from a second, distinct electronic health record provider,

wherein the first and second matches are represented by patient information that is stored in different formats in the first and second databases and that pertains an inclusion criterion or that pertains to an exclusion criterion, and

wherein the first and second matches each comprise a direct match to the key concept or a match to one of the one or more interface terminology concepts mapped to the one or more reference or administrative code set entries.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining one or more additional concepts of the interface terminology ontology pertaining to the data.

3. The method of claim 2 ,

wherein each analyzing step comprises building a query including the key concept and the one or more additional concepts and comparing the respective database of patient electronic health record information against the query.

4. The method of claim 3 ,

wherein the query is structured using Boolean logic.

5. The method of claim 3 ,

wherein the query comprises a SQL statement including a call to an XML function that executes one or more Boolean operators acting on the at least one of an inclusion criterion and an exclusion criterion.

6. A method for identifying potential clinical trial participants, comprising:

receiving, by a computer, a data file including data pertaining to a clinical trial, the data including at least one of an inclusion criterion and an exclusion criterion;

mapping, using a computer, one or more concepts of an interface terminology ontology to each of the at least one inclusion criterion and the at least one exclusion criterion, the interface terminology ontology comprising a plurality of concepts with corresponding codes;

determining a key concept of the interface terminology ontology pertaining to the data;

identifying one or more concepts of the interface terminology ontology relating to the key concept in the context of the clinical trial;

analyzing, using the computer, a database of patient electronic health record information for a match to the key concept or the one or more interface terminology concepts relating to the key concept; and

presenting, to a user, information relating to a patient to which the match pertains via a graphical user interface generated by the computer,

wherein the match and the key concept or the one or more interface terminology concepts relating to the key concept are stored in different formats and pertain to the at least one inclusion criterion or the at least one exclusion criterion,

wherein the analyzing step comprises building a query including the key concept and the one or more interface terminology concepts relating to the key concept and comparing the database of patient electronic health record information against the query, and

wherein the query comprises a SQL statement including a call to an XML function that executes one or more Boolean operators acting on the at least one of an inclusion criterion and an exclusion criterion.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

determining one or more additional concepts of the interface terminology ontology pertaining to the data;

revising the query to include the one or more additional concepts; and

iterating the analyzing step by comparing the database of patient electronic health record information against the revised query.

8. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

determining one or more additional concepts of the interface terminology ontology pertaining to the data.

9. The method of claim 7 ,

wherein the analyzing step comprises building a query including the key concept and the one or more additional concepts of the interface terminology ontology and comparing the database of patient electronic health record information against the query.

10. The method of claim 6 ,

wherein the key concept pertains to an inclusion criterion of the clinical trial.

11. The method of claim 6 ,

wherein the key concept pertains to an exclusion criterion of the clinical trial.

12. A method for identifying potential clinical trial participants, comprising:

(a) receiving, by a computer, a data file including data pertaining to a clinical trial, the data including at least one inclusion criterion and at least one exclusion criterion;

(b) mapping, using a computer, one or more concepts of an interface terminology ontology to each of the at least one inclusion criterion and the at least one exclusion criterion, the interface terminology ontology comprising a plurality of concepts with corresponding codes;

(c) mapping, using a computer, elements of a database of patient electronic health record information to one or more interface terminology ontology elements;

(d) building a query including at least one of the at least one inclusion criterion and the at least one exclusion criterion, wherein the query is a SQL statement including a call to an XML function that executes one or more Boolean operators acting on the at least one inclusion criterion and the at least one exclusion criterion;

(e) determining, by a computer, which elements of the interface terminology ontology map to the at least one inclusion criterion and the at least one exclusion criterion;

(f) analyzing, by the computer, the elements of the database of patient electronic health record information for a match to the determined elements of the interface terminology ontology; and

(g) presenting, to a user, information relating to a patient to which the match pertains via a graphical user interface generated by the computer,

wherein multiple matching elements are stored in the database in different formats and pertain to the at least one inclusion criterion or the at least one exclusion criterion.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein step (a) includes building a group comprising one of the one or more interface terminology ontology concepts and one or more additional interface terminology ontology concepts, where the concepts are related in the context of the clinical trial.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the one or more additional interface terminology ontology concepts are mapped to further interface terminology ontology elements using a structured relationship defined by a reference code set mapped to the interface terminology elements, the reference code set comprising a plurality of entries with corresponding codes.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the building step comprises building a query comprising a plurality of inclusion criteria, wherein the query is structured using Boolean logic.