System and method for multi-dimensional extension of database information
A system and method for receiving medical or other database information and pregrouping and extending that data include a data enhancement layer configured to generate additional stored dimensions capturing the data and relevant attributes. Data sources such as hospitals, laboratories and others may therefore communicate their clinical data to a central warehousing facility which may assemble and extend the resulting aggregated data for data mining purposes. Varying source format and content may be conditioned and conformed to a consistent physical or logical structure. The source data may be extended and recombined into additional related dimensions, pre-associating meaningful attributes for faster querying and storage. Users running analytics against the resulting medical or other datamarts may therefore access a richer set of related information as well as have their queries and other operations run more efficiently.
1. A method of generating a dimensionally enhanced data grouping, comprising:
a) identifying a plurality of medical records as a first dimension of data,
wherein each medical record comprises a plurality of data fields;
b) storing the first dimension of data in a computer;
c) entering into the computer a plurality of matching criteria, wherein each criterion is user-generated or machine-generated;
d) the computer analyzing the first dimension of data based on the matching criteria to determine a target number of dimensions of data;
e) for each medical record in the first dimension of data, using a computer to:
i) identify data in each data field of the medical record being analyzed;
ii) compare the data in each data field of the medical record being analyzed with data in each field of the other medical records of the first dimension of data;
iii) determine if the comparison of step (ii) above meets at least one of the matching criteria;
iv) linking the two medical records together based on the result of step (iii) above;
v) storing the linked medical records as a single medical record in a second dimension of data;
f) repeating step (e) above on the second dimension of data to create a third dimension of data, and repeating step (e) on subsequently generated dimensions of data until the target number of dimensions of data has been created;
g) storing the generated target number of dimensions of data in the computer;
h) automatically, with the computer, identifying medical records in the stored dimensions of data as of potential interest;
i) automatically, with the computer, generating inferred statements and providing the inferred statements to the user along with the medical records of potential interest as supporting evidence of the inferred statements;
j) presenting the stored dimensions of data to the user and allowing the user to perform queries on the stored dimensions of data;
k) entering new medical records into the computer;
l) identifying the newly entered medical records and the previously generated stored dimensions of data as a newly identified first dimension of data;
m) adjusting the machine-generated target number of dimensions based on the newly identified first dimension of data; and
n) performing steps (d-j) on the newly identified first dimension of data to generate a dimensionally enhanced data grouping.
2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein a set of rules develops relationships between the compared data.
3. A method according to claim 2 , wherein the set of rules comprises a set of user-defined rules.
4. A method according to claim 2 , wherein the set of rules comprises a set of rules based on at least one pre-generation function executed on the plurality of medical records.
5. A method according to claim 1 , wherein a server is configured to generate and store the dimensionally enhanced data grouping.
6. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of medical records comprise data specific to at least one of a patient, a provider, a test result, and an order.