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WO2004072871A1 - A method and system for providing targeted content delivery - Google Patents

A method and system for providing targeted content delivery Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2004072871A1
WO2004072871A1 PCT/AU2004/000189 AU2004000189W WO2004072871A1 WO 2004072871 A1 WO2004072871 A1 WO 2004072871A1 AU 2004000189 W AU2004000189 W AU 2004000189W WO 2004072871 A1 WO2004072871 A1 WO 2004072871A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
accordance
information
data
clients
client
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Ceased
Application number
PCT/AU2004/000189
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
William Paisley
Anthony Alam
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
DOCERE Pty Ltd
Original Assignee
DOCERE Pty Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by DOCERE Pty Ltd filed Critical DOCERE Pty Ltd
Publication of WO2004072871A1 publication Critical patent/WO2004072871A1/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Ceased legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G16—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR SPECIFIC APPLICATION FIELDS
    • G16H—HEALTHCARE INFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE HANDLING OR PROCESSING OF MEDICAL OR HEALTHCARE DATA
    • G16H10/00—ICT specially adapted for the handling or processing of patient-related medical or healthcare data
    • G16H10/20—ICT specially adapted for the handling or processing of patient-related medical or healthcare data for electronic clinical trials or questionnaires
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F16/00—Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
    • G06F16/90—Details of database functions independent of the retrieved data types
    • G06F16/95—Retrieval from the web
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
    • G06Q10/10—Office automation; Time management

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a method and system for providing targeted content delivery, and also relates to a method and system for facilitating selection of candidates for experimental trials.
  • the newsletter is generally composed of a number of general articles on current health topics, combined with advertisements for a number of different medical services and products.
  • the newsletter contains useful information, the information may not be relevant to many patients who attend the medical practice. For example, an article on osteoporosis (and associated advertisements for osteoporosis treatments) will be of little relevance to a person in their teenage years. Therefore, such generic newsletters are generally of only marginal value and can only appeal to a niche audience. Furthermore, it is quite common for patient (or client) databases to contain incorrect or duplicate information. This is quite typical in the medical field, as patients are likely to see different health professional (either change from one health professional to another, or see multiple health professional simultaneously) , change their residence, and/or change other contact details such as telephone numbers and email addresses.
  • the present invention provides a system for the categorisation and organisation of data with regard to a client database, comprising, - collection means arranged to collect client data regarding a plurality of clients from a plurality of individual business units, and querying means arranged to apply at least one predetermined criterion to categorise the client data into at least one subset of client data which complies with the criterion.
  • the present invention advantageously provides a system that allows disparate business units within a particular industry, which generally operate independently, to consolidate client information into one central source. This consolidated information may then be used to target particular information or advertisements to particular groups (eg. demographic groups) .
  • the system further comprises collation means arranged to associate targeted information with the at least one subset of client data.
  • the collation means is arranged to categorise portions of information into at least one information category that is able to be matched to the at least one subset of client data.
  • the categorisation of client data into subsets is preferably associated with the categorisation of portions of information.
  • one subset of client data may be females in the age range 18 to 40.
  • the collation means is arranged to provide targeted information by selecting at least one subset of client data, determining an appropriate category for the client data, selecting at least one information category matched to the at least one category of client data, and preparing targeted information by including at least one of the selected portions of information contained within the at least one information category.
  • the targeted information is produced in the form of a newsletter containing the at least one of the selected portions of information.
  • the individual business units are medical practices.
  • the client base is comprised of medical patients.
  • Individual business units may include medical practices, law firms, accountancy firms, other financial service firms, or any industry characterised by relatively small independent business units who service a diverse range of clients.
  • the querying means applies a plurality of criteria to categorise the data into a plurality of subsets of data that comply with the criteria.
  • the at least one predetermined criterion includes the categorisation of clients by age.
  • the at least one predetermined criterion includes the categorisation of clients by gender.
  • the at least one predetermined criterion includes the categorisation of clients by place of residence.
  • the collation means is also arranged to associate clients with a business unit.
  • the collation means is arranged to include information identifying the business unit with the information provided to the client, wherein the information identifying the business unit may foster the belief that the information was provided to the client by the business unit. In this way, targeted information to clients can be associated with the client's business unit.
  • the information may include a logo.
  • the present invention advantageously provides a system which allows individual business units to provide their clients with targeted information, such as personalised newsletters, relevant advertisements, or medical warnings, updates or other content specific to the particular demographic.
  • the system further comprises selection means arranged to select subsets of patient data pertinent to a particular medical trial .
  • the present invention also advantageously allows medical professionals to select appropriate patients for the purposes of a medical trial, and moreover, allows a medical professional to keep track of or in contact with the patient, even if they, say, change doctor or move to a different address .
  • the targeted information includes health care related information.
  • the targeted information includes advertisements .
  • the system further comprises sorting means arranged to cross-reference the data regarding a plurality of clients, and the sorting means is preferably arranged to delete duplicate entries.
  • the system further comprises sorting means arranged to cross-reference the data regarding a plurality of clients, and the sorting means is preferably arranged to delete incorrect entries.
  • the present invention provides a method for the categorisation and organisation of data with regard to a client database, comprising the steps of, collecting data regarding a plurality of clients from a plurality of individual business units, and - applying at least one predetermined criterion to categorise the data regarding a plurality of clients into at least one subset of data which complies with the criterion.
  • the present invention provides a method for conducting a clinical trial, comprising the steps of, collecting patient data regarding a plurality of patients from a plurality of medical practices, applying at least one predetermined criterion to categorise the patient data regarding a plurality of patients into at least one subset of patient data which complies with the criterion, and selecting a subset of patients which are relevant for a particular trial based on the subsets of patient data.
  • the present invention provides a computer program arranged, when loaded on a computing system, to implement the method in accordance with a second aspect of the present invention.
  • the present invention provides a computer readable medium providing a computer program in accordance with a fourth aspect of the present invention.
  • the present invention provides a computer program arranged, when loaded on a computing system, to implement the method in accordance with a third aspect of the present invention.
  • the present invention provides a computer readable medium providing a computer program in accordance with a sixth aspect of the present invention.
  • Figure 1 depicts a schematic diagram that illustrates a system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention
  • Figure 2 is a flow chart which depicts a method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Description of the Preferred Embodiment
  • Figure 1 is a schematic diagram depicting a system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
  • the system includes a computing system 1, which includes a database 2 , and a software module 3.
  • the software module 3 interacts with the computing systems of business units 4a, 4b, 4c, etc., to collect data regarding a plurality of clients.
  • the software module contains a querying means 5, arranged to apply a series of predetermined criteria to sort the data into different subsets of data 6a, 6b, 6c, etc.
  • the subsets relate to patient demographics.
  • the software module also in this embodiment contains sorting means 7 arranged to remove duplicate or incorrect entries .
  • the resultant data may then be passed to a collation means 8, also a part of the software module 3, which is arranged to associate targeted information 9 with the appropriate subsets of data 6a, 6b, 6c, etc.
  • a collation means 8 also a part of the software module 3, which is arranged to associate targeted information 9 with the appropriate subsets of data 6a, 6b, 6c, etc.
  • the targeted information is an article on osteoporosis, this article may be associated with all clients who are over 65 years of age and female.
  • the software module 3 in this embodiment also contains a selection means 10 arranged to select appropriate subsets of data for the purposes of a medical trial. For example, if a medical trial involving a birth control (oral contraceptive) pill is to be held, the selection means 10 could choose all females in the age range of 18 years to 40 years.
  • the software module in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention implements the methodology in four steps.
  • the first step 11 is the collection of demographic data from other individual (and external) databases held by general medical practitioners.
  • the data collection process is platform independent, to take into account the varying administrative software applications and operating systems used by different surgeries, clinics and medical professionals.
  • the software module achieves this function by utilising web-based technology.
  • the web-based technology may include, but is not limited to,
  • Other technologies may also be employed in the construction of the system, as and when they become available. In general, the following considerations must be applied in choosing a suitable technology. 1. The technology must be capable of maintaining data integrity. 2. The technology must allow for a mechanism which ensures data security. 3. The technology must allow for a mechanism to keep data private (i.e. prevent unauthorised or inadvertent access to the data) .
  • the technology must allow for the conversion of a number of different data formats (i.e. the data filters must be compatible with most commonly available data formats) .
  • the technology must be viable (i.e. the technology must be proven, stable and not too expensive or time consuming to implement) .
  • Example 1 Where a medical practice uses a MicrosoftTM
  • Access-based (or compatible) system For a MicrosoftTM Access-based system, interfacing with the system is straightforward. The data will be downloaded into an embodiment of the present invention using one of the interface options outlined below.
  • Option 1 (the preferred option) : An employee of the medical practice uploads the database or exported file via a secure web page provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The data is then processed in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. This option requires an Internet connection.
  • Option 2 If the system permits, a secure remote access solution (preferably a VPN - virtual private network) is implemented into the system and the processing would take place via this connection.
  • Option 3 a secure remote access solution (preferably a VPN - virtual private network) is implemented into the system and the processing would take place via this connection.
  • the database file is forwarded via diskette or other media to an operator of an embodiment of the present invention, and the operator uploads the data.
  • Example 2 Where a medical practice uses an "export- capable" database system.
  • a medical practice uses a system that is capable of exporting data in a format that is native to an embodiment of the present invention (e.g. Microsoft Excel or a comma-delimited text file) then the exported file can be downloaded using any one of the interface options outlined in example 1.
  • a format that is native to an embodiment of the present invention e.g. Microsoft Excel or a comma-delimited text file
  • Example 3 Where a medical practice uses a non-compatible system.
  • the data collected by the database application includes personal information such as the name of the patient, the address of the patient, the date of birth of the patient and other relevant contact details. However, the data is stripped of any sensitive or private information, such as the medical condition of the patient. Each data element will also contain data regarding the identity of the health professional (or service provider) .
  • the data pertaining to the health professional may include the health professional's name, their address, their contact numbers, their email address, and other unique data such as their MedicareTM provider number. It will be understood that whilst the preceding paragraphs refer to specific categories of data, any appropriate data may be collected for the database, and the choice of appropriate parameters is within the purview of a person skilled in the art.
  • the software module performs the second step 12 of cross- referencing the gathered data by members of family units living in the same location. Patients are also cross- referenced by their doctor and practice address. Concurrently, health professionals are cross- referenced by their practice address and other unique identifying features, such as their MedicareTM provider number.
  • the software module also checks and eliminates duplicate entries by cross-checking patient names, dates of birth, past and present address and links to families or health professionals .
  • the software module eliminates duplicate entries via the following methodology. o Points of reference are utilised for every patient to establish their identity: Name, Date of birth and Medicare number/Social Security number/Health Insurance Membership number/Medicaid number or any other unique identifier.
  • the doctor's billing data contains the most recent address available for every patient.
  • the Medicare number (or Health Insurance membership number, etc.) contains a series of digits that links up to 5 family members. This fact is used to link family groups together.
  • Data is refreshed periodically by uploading the latest data from physicians/clinics administrative databases at selected time intervals, such as weekly or monthly.
  • the software module utilises the following methodology:
  • treating health professional need only be determined for the addressee. Any information provided to the family unit will generally contain all pertinent information for the entire family taking into account their ages and genders .
  • the system then progresses to the third step 13 , which involves the analysis of the data and the categorisation of each patient into at least one of a number of groups or subsets. This is performed by a querying application which may be integral to, or a separate component of, the software module.
  • the patient is categorised by their age (which is determined by their date of birth) and their family unit (which is determined by cross-referencing addresses and/or surnames) .
  • the various subsets may be as follows: Adults are categorised into 4 age categories (18-25, 25- 40, 40-65, >65) and children into 4 ( ⁇ l,l-5, 5-12, 12-18) In other words, all adults are categorised into the following groups:
  • Child are categorised into the following groups: Category Clm ⁇ 1 year, male Category Clf ⁇ 1 year, female Category C2m 1-5 years, male Category C2f 1-5 years, female Category C3m 5-12 years, male Category C3f 5-12 years, female Category C4m 12-18 years, male Category C4f 12-18 years, female
  • the above categories are converted into a barcode which categorises the ages and genders of each adult and child in the household.
  • the treating health professional (or medical centre) of the oldest patient is also assigned a unique barcode.
  • the end result is that each family derives a unique barcode .
  • the collation means 8 also collates and categorises health information or other relevant information in a similar manner. That is, the collation means collates items of health information into appropriate information categories.
  • the information categories are analogous or similar to the categories for patients. In other words, if there is a category for patients who are male and under 1 year of age, then there is a corresponding information category which contains articles relevant to males under 1 year of age. Example categories are given below:
  • targeted information such as advertisements
  • advertisements may also be sorted into associated categories, as follows:
  • the health information or advertisements may be collated and entered into the database in any appropriate manner. For example, they may be uploaded by an operator of the database, or they may be submitted, via a web interface.
  • the health information or advertisements may be collated manually (ie. the operator selects an appropriate category when uploading an article) , or alternatively, the software module may scan for key words in the article, and then automatically assign the article or advertisement to an appropriate category based on the key words .
  • the software module progresses to the fourth step 14 of producing targeted information.
  • the targeted information is produced by associating the collated information with the appropriate group by- employing the following methodology:
  • the software module may merely pass all appropriate information to a separate software application (not shown) which may then use the information to compile the newsletter.
  • the newsletter is either emailed or a mail merge facility would print all addresses for the families, with the family's unique barcode on the Newsletter and the envelope. For example, a family with 2 adults (aged 30 years female, 34 years male) and 3 children (female 5 years, male 8 years and male 11 years) .
  • the newsletter in the present example would contain information for an adult female 25-40 (e.g. an article on cervical cancer), adult male 25-40 (e.g. information on sports injuries) , and children (e.g. dental problems in children and behavioural disorders such as attention deficit disorder) .
  • the header of the Newsletter would select the Physician/Name of Clinic of the oldest family member and would be addressed to that member.
  • the software module can be used to aid medical trials and research.
  • a pharmaceutical company or research facility such as a hospital or University
  • they must firstly recruit subjects.
  • subjects can only be recruited via general practitioners or hospitals.
  • Other conventional techniques include advertising for subjects in newspapers, but this technique is also extremely limiting in its scope.
  • Subjects are recruited on the basis of age, sex and disease incidence, and in some cases locality is used to recruit patients. Healthy volunteers are often also required, and are age and sex matched for control purposes .
  • the number of patients in the trial is important. A large number of participants makes the trial statistically significant.
  • Recruiting patients is currently time consuming and laborious since they can only be contacted via their treating physician. Compliance is another problem. Patients drop out because of reasons such as the inconvenience of travelling to the site conducting the research, an inability to readily contact researchers to report side effects, etc. In addition, many patients are often lost to follow-up.
  • An embodiment of the present invention ameliorates many of the above-mentioned problems and shortcomings, as it allows a user to recruit patients directly and accurately by age, sex and address.
  • the number of subjects can be vast (as an embodiment of the invention may be implemented on a national basis) .
  • Subjects can be grouped by locality and assigned to research physicians near their residence .
  • an embodiment of the invention can be arranged to allow pathology tests to be downloaded onto a secure website for instant analysis.
  • Clinical measurements and observations can also be entered directly onto the secure website for instant analysis.
  • Patients can report side effects via the secure website 24 hours a day from their home. Long term follow up of these patients is easily facilitated via this system. Therefore, an embodiment of the present invention can be arranged to organise clinical trials with an accuracy and thoroughness not available with conventional methods.
  • a secure web site in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention is built, the database underpinning the web site being arranged to store three types of information:
  • the first two sections namely the patient information and the physician information, is collected by a method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention as described herein.
  • the web site contains a selection means which are arranged to select, from the patient data, a relevant sub-set of patients.
  • the target group for an oral contraceptive may be all females in the age range of 18 to 40 years.
  • the relevant patient is contacted, to gauge their interest in participating in the trial .
  • the contact is via electronic means (such as via email) , or via conventional means (such as via a letter) .
  • the contact may include suitable means which allows the patient to consent or decline the offer to take part in the medical trial.
  • the patient may be directed to a page on the website where they can indicate their consent by filling in an appropriate form.
  • the patient may simply sign a consent form (in the case where the contact is in the form of a letter) .
  • the system selects appropriate supervising medical professionals to supervise the patients during the trial.
  • the system may choose appropriate medical professionals in any number of ways, such as by expertise, proximity to the residential address of the patient, or any other relevant criteria.
  • the system is employed to inform patients that they are required to present themselves at the office of the relevant medical professional . After a patient is "approved” , the system assigns user names and passwords to each patient.
  • the trial is a double blind trial, there will be two drugs which are identical in size shape and taste - Drug A (the contraceptive) and Drug B (placebo) .
  • the system will therefore be arranged to randomise the approved patients into two groups, wherein each patient receives either drug A or B. Subsequently, there may be a "washout period" (e.g. one month) , after which the patients are assigned to receive the other drug.
  • the system is arranged to track these changes automatically.
  • the patients are concurrently monitored by certain clinical measurements that are entered directly into the system by the medical professional .
  • Pathology tests are also transmitted directly into the system. Patients can at any time enter side effects into their relevant section of the website.
  • the patient code number is decoded to reveal the name and the drug being taken by the patient (which is linked to the patient) .
  • Pathology data and clinical measurements are linked to the patient.
  • Standard statistical analytical calculations are applied to all the data from the active group and the results are compared to the control group to ascertain statistical success or otherwise.
  • journal paper can be produced much faster than by conventional methods because all relevant data and results are available in one location, and in an electronic format. As a corollary, other medical professionals may be easily given access to the raw data, to verify results or to conduct different analyses of the available data.
  • the embodiment of the invention utilised for clinical trials may also find application in the collection or dissemination of targeted health information pertinent to defined demographic groups. That is, there may be included an appropriate interface (say, a web-based interface accessible via the Internet) which allows the patient involved in the clinical trial to provide or be provided with ongoing information and analysis regarding the trial. Health information can be collated according to age, sex and address.
  • health information can be collected pertaining to infants and children, adolescents, females (gynaecological) , males, and geriatrics as well as general information relevant to all ages. Information can also be collected pertaining to the type of practitioner that the patient is attending, such as naturopathy, homeopathy osteopathy, etc. Health warnings pertaining to epidemics and illnesses may be disseminated according to locality, age, gender or any other suitable characteristic of a demographic group. Similarly advertisements can be disseminated according to age, sex and address. For example, advertisements for toys, music, clothes, etc., can be collated according to age and sex.
  • the addresses of patients can be utilized as a rough guide to determining the affluence of the persons receiving the advertisements or in determining the extent of the advertising campaign. Therefore, an embodiment of the present invention, whether it be utilised for the dissemination of health information or for the conduct of clinical trials, provides a tool which allows subsets of data (health information/advertisements) to be selectively matched to various characteristics of families or individuals. This allows research scientists, health professionals, advertisers or any relevant group to effectively target subsets of patients and then send appropriate targeted material either via email, television or other electronic format, post or any other suitable delivery system.
  • the embodiment of the present invention and in particular the embodiment utilised for the dissemination of health information, may advantageously be used for marketing purposes. Since information can be tailored to be especially relevant to a particular demographic group, a software module in accordance with an embodiment of the invention may be modified to provide "personalised" newsletters or information.
  • a client will feel that they are receiving personal attention from the health care professional, as any information sent to them will be personally addressed to them, and will contain information that is particularly relevant to their life circumstances.
  • the newsletter may be printed on the letterhead of the medical practice which is associated with the patient. In this way, the patient will believe that the newsletter has been personally produced by the medical practitioner or the medical practice. This belief may also be fostered in other ways.
  • the logo of the medical practice may be printed on the newsletter, or emails sent to the patient may be arranged to appear to come from the email address of the medical practice. Any number of devices may be used to provide the belief that the newsletter is personalised and has been produced locally by the practitioner.
  • the health care practitioner may be provided with other "free" services, such as: • A practice web site with features that are fully developed, updated and maintained by the system, including: o Practice details, such as address, contact telephone numbers, fax numbers, email addresses; o Practice specifics such as speciality of physicians, rosters, vacation details, etc; o After hours care details; o Billing schedules; o Staff biographies; o An online appointment system; o Links to sites of interest; o Fun stuff page for patients and especially children. • A newsletter containing health education information, alerts from health departments, pharmaceutical companies and hospitals, specifically targeted to the ages and sexes of the patients and their families.
  • the physicians name/practice name and logo are on the header.
  • the newsletter can also contain any information that the practitioner particularly desires. o
  • the health professional provides access to their administrative data which contains his patients names, ages, addresses, Medicare numbers, and dates of attendances etc. The access is to be provided on a regular basis so as to enable the database to be updateable.
  • the Internet presence effectively provides a new virtual storefront without all the expenses of rent, staff, etc. and represents the business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
  • the Internet presence permits quick communication with patients to notify them of new products & services available.
  • the Internet presence allows a small practitioner to keep up with larger medical practices.
  • the website educates patients, communicates with patients in real time, projects a caring attitude, projects a technological superiority over other health professionals and provides monetary gains from commercial sponsorship
  • the system also provides a number of benefits to patients.
  • the website allows more direct communication with the health professional, provides the patient with a better knowledge about the practice and the health professional, and provides the ease and convenience of booking online appointments .
  • the newsletter provides education about topical health issues, notifications of health alerts and the ability to participate in medical trials of new treatments that will benefit society.
  • the patients may be categorised by any appropriate parameter, such as address, gender and/or other distinguishing characteristics.
  • the patients may further be categorised by medical condition. That is, it will be understood that while one of the embodiments described herein may collect non-sensitive patient data, other embodiments, such as the embodiment, may collect more sensitive patient data, including medical histories, if and when allowed by local laws and practices.

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Abstract

The present invention provides a system and method for the categorisation and organisation of data with regard to a client database. The system and method comprises collection areas arranged to collect data regarding a plurality of individual business units, and querying was arranged to apply at least one predetermined criterion to categorise the data into at least one subset of data which complies with the criterion.

Description

A METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING TARGETED CONTENT
DELIVERY
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and system for providing targeted content delivery, and also relates to a method and system for facilitating selection of candidates for experimental trials.
Background of the Invention
It is quite common for organisations and businesses to provide members and/or consumers with advertising material such as leaflets, electronic or paper newsletters, etc.
However, the impact and advertising value of such types of "indirect" advertising is minimal, due to the fact that much of the material is not targeted to specific demographic groups.
For example, some general medical practices provide newsletters as a free service to their patients. The newsletter is generally composed of a number of general articles on current health topics, combined with advertisements for a number of different medical services and products.
Whilst the newsletter contains useful information, the information may not be relevant to many patients who attend the medical practice. For example, an article on osteoporosis (and associated advertisements for osteoporosis treatments) will be of little relevance to a person in their teenage years. Therefore, such generic newsletters are generally of only marginal value and can only appeal to a niche audience. Furthermore, it is quite common for patient (or client) databases to contain incorrect or duplicate information. This is quite typical in the medical field, as patients are likely to see different health professional (either change from one health professional to another, or see multiple health professional simultaneously) , change their residence, and/or change other contact details such as telephone numbers and email addresses. In addition, new patients are added and other patients leave the medical system, family units change over time, and members of the same family may visit different doctors at different locations. Additionally, records may become out of date or duplicated because health professionals also change address, move premises, retire from the profession or join the profession. Lastly, health professional use different medical administrative applications arranged to execute on different operating systems, such that it is often difficult or not practical for health professionals to share records .
If patient records are out of date or duplicated, the effectiveness of any attempt by a sole health professional or a sole clinic/surgery to provide "targeted" information is greatly reduced.
Furthermore, the resources are often not available in small business units such as medical practices to separately target different demographics with different information.
The same situation may occur in other professions or businesses and particularly in professional service industries where the client base is broad and each client has differing needs. Such professions may include legal professionals and accountants.
Summary of the Invention
In a first aspect, the present invention provides a system for the categorisation and organisation of data with regard to a client database, comprising, - collection means arranged to collect client data regarding a plurality of clients from a plurality of individual business units, and querying means arranged to apply at least one predetermined criterion to categorise the client data into at least one subset of client data which complies with the criterion. The present invention advantageously provides a system that allows disparate business units within a particular industry, which generally operate independently, to consolidate client information into one central source. This consolidated information may then be used to target particular information or advertisements to particular groups (eg. demographic groups) . Preferably, the system further comprises collation means arranged to associate targeted information with the at least one subset of client data.
Preferably, the collation means is arranged to categorise portions of information into at least one information category that is able to be matched to the at least one subset of client data.
The categorisation of client data into subsets is preferably associated with the categorisation of portions of information. For example, one subset of client data may be females in the age range 18 to 40. For this subset of client data, there is a corresponding category of information, which may be medical articles for medical problems commonly experienced by women between the ages of 18 to 40. Preferably, the collation means is arranged to provide targeted information by selecting at least one subset of client data, determining an appropriate category for the client data, selecting at least one information category matched to the at least one category of client data, and preparing targeted information by including at least one of the selected portions of information contained within the at least one information category. Preferably, the targeted information is produced in the form of a newsletter containing the at least one of the selected portions of information.
Preferably, the individual business units are medical practices.
Preferably, the client base is comprised of medical patients.
Individual business units may include medical practices, law firms, accountancy firms, other financial service firms, or any industry characterised by relatively small independent business units who service a diverse range of clients.
Preferably, the querying means applies a plurality of criteria to categorise the data into a plurality of subsets of data that comply with the criteria.
Preferably, the at least one predetermined criterion includes the categorisation of clients by age.
Preferably, the at least one predetermined criterion includes the categorisation of clients by gender. Preferably, the at least one predetermined criterion includes the categorisation of clients by place of residence. Preferably, the collation means is also arranged to associate clients with a business unit. Preferably, the collation means is arranged to include information identifying the business unit with the information provided to the client, wherein the information identifying the business unit may foster the belief that the information was provided to the client by the business unit. In this way, targeted information to clients can be associated with the client's business unit. For example, the information may include a logo.
The present invention advantageously provides a system which allows individual business units to provide their clients with targeted information, such as personalised newsletters, relevant advertisements, or medical warnings, updates or other content specific to the particular demographic.
Preferably, where the business units are medical practices, the system further comprises selection means arranged to select subsets of patient data pertinent to a particular medical trial .
The present invention also advantageously allows medical professionals to select appropriate patients for the purposes of a medical trial, and moreover, allows a medical professional to keep track of or in contact with the patient, even if they, say, change doctor or move to a different address .
Preferably, the targeted information includes health care related information. Preferably, the targeted information includes advertisements .
Preferably, the system further comprises sorting means arranged to cross-reference the data regarding a plurality of clients, and the sorting means is preferably arranged to delete duplicate entries.
Preferably, the system further comprises sorting means arranged to cross-reference the data regarding a plurality of clients, and the sorting means is preferably arranged to delete incorrect entries. In a second aspect, the present invention provides a method for the categorisation and organisation of data with regard to a client database, comprising the steps of, collecting data regarding a plurality of clients from a plurality of individual business units, and - applying at least one predetermined criterion to categorise the data regarding a plurality of clients into at least one subset of data which complies with the criterion. In a third aspect, the present invention provides a method for conducting a clinical trial, comprising the steps of, collecting patient data regarding a plurality of patients from a plurality of medical practices, applying at least one predetermined criterion to categorise the patient data regarding a plurality of patients into at least one subset of patient data which complies with the criterion, and selecting a subset of patients which are relevant for a particular trial based on the subsets of patient data. In a fourth aspect, the present invention provides a computer program arranged, when loaded on a computing system, to implement the method in accordance with a second aspect of the present invention.
In a fifth aspect, the present invention provides a computer readable medium providing a computer program in accordance with a fourth aspect of the present invention. In a sixth aspect, the present invention provides a computer program arranged, when loaded on a computing system, to implement the method in accordance with a third aspect of the present invention.
In a seventh aspect, the present invention provides a computer readable medium providing a computer program in accordance with a sixth aspect of the present invention.
Detailed Description of the Drawings
Features of the present invention will be presented in the description of an embodiment thereof, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Figure 1 depicts a schematic diagram that illustrates a system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, and Figure 2 is a flow chart which depicts a method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Description of the Preferred Embodiment
An embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to Figure 1, which is a schematic diagram depicting a system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
The system includes a computing system 1, which includes a database 2 , and a software module 3. The software module 3 interacts with the computing systems of business units 4a, 4b, 4c, etc., to collect data regarding a plurality of clients.
The software module contains a querying means 5, arranged to apply a series of predetermined criteria to sort the data into different subsets of data 6a, 6b, 6c, etc. In this example the subsets relate to patient demographics. The software module also in this embodiment contains sorting means 7 arranged to remove duplicate or incorrect entries .
Once the data has been sorted and categorised, the resultant data may then be passed to a collation means 8, also a part of the software module 3, which is arranged to associate targeted information 9 with the appropriate subsets of data 6a, 6b, 6c, etc. For example, if the targeted information is an article on osteoporosis, this article may be associated with all clients who are over 65 years of age and female.
The software module 3 in this embodiment also contains a selection means 10 arranged to select appropriate subsets of data for the purposes of a medical trial. For example, if a medical trial involving a birth control (oral contraceptive) pill is to be held, the selection means 10 could choose all females in the age range of 18 years to 40 years.
It will be understood that whilst the various functions carried out by the present invention are all incorporated into one software module 3 arranged to be executed on a single computing system 1, embodiments of the present invention could be implemented as a series of separate software modules across a series of different computing systems. Such variations and modifications are within the purview of a person skilled in the art. It will also be understood that the computer system may be any suitable computing system arranged to execute such a software module, and may have any appropriate combination of hardware (e.g. CPU, RAM, fixed disks or other storage devices) and software (eg. Operating systems) as required to operate the system. The computer system may be networked or stand-alone. Such variations are within the purview of a person skilled in the art.
The embodiment of the invention will now be described in further detail, with reference to figure 2, in which there is shown a flow chart of a methodology implemented by the software module in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. It will be understood that whilst the embodiment described refers particularly to the health care industry and health care professionals, the invention may be easily adapted to provide a similar service for other professionals, such as legal professionals and financial professionals.
The software module in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention implements the methodology in four steps. The first step 11 is the collection of demographic data from other individual (and external) databases held by general medical practitioners. The data collection process is platform independent, to take into account the varying administrative software applications and operating systems used by different surgeries, clinics and medical professionals. The software module achieves this function by utilising web-based technology.
It will be understood that any suitable web-based technology may be used. For example, the web-based technology may include, but is not limited to,
Java/JavaScript, Visual Basic/VBScript, ASP/.net technologies, Cold Fusion, SQL/MySQL, Perl/PHP, etc. However, other technologies may also be employed in the construction of the system, as and when they become available. In general, the following considerations must be applied in choosing a suitable technology. 1. The technology must be capable of maintaining data integrity. 2. The technology must allow for a mechanism which ensures data security. 3. The technology must allow for a mechanism to keep data private (i.e. prevent unauthorised or inadvertent access to the data) .
4. The technology must allow for the conversion of a number of different data formats (i.e. the data filters must be compatible with most commonly available data formats) .
5. The technology must be viable (i.e. the technology must be proven, stable and not too expensive or time consuming to implement) .
When these considerations are taken into account there are a number of possible scenarios, which are described here as examples only, and should not be construed as limiting.
Example 1 : Where a medical practice uses a Microsoft™
Access-based (or compatible) system. For a Microsoft™ Access-based system, interfacing with the system is straightforward. The data will be downloaded into an embodiment of the present invention using one of the interface options outlined below.
Option 1 (the preferred option) : An employee of the medical practice uploads the database or exported file via a secure web page provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The data is then processed in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. This option requires an Internet connection.
Option 2 : If the system permits, a secure remote access solution (preferably a VPN - virtual private network) is implemented into the system and the processing would take place via this connection. Option 3 :
The database file is forwarded via diskette or other media to an operator of an embodiment of the present invention, and the operator uploads the data. Example 2 : Where a medical practice uses an "export- capable" database system.
Where a medical practice uses a system that is capable of exporting data in a format that is native to an embodiment of the present invention (e.g. Microsoft Excel or a comma-delimited text file) then the exported file can be downloaded using any one of the interface options outlined in example 1.
Example 3 : Where a medical practice uses a non-compatible system.
If the medical practice uses a system that cannot export data or is not compatible with formats supported by an embodiment of the present invention, then it may be necessary to develop a custom interface between the system and an embodiment of the present invention.
The data collected by the database application includes personal information such as the name of the patient, the address of the patient, the date of birth of the patient and other relevant contact details. However, the data is stripped of any sensitive or private information, such as the medical condition of the patient. Each data element will also contain data regarding the identity of the health professional (or service provider) . The data pertaining to the health professional may include the health professional's name, their address, their contact numbers, their email address, and other unique data such as their Medicare™ provider number. It will be understood that whilst the preceding paragraphs refer to specific categories of data, any appropriate data may be collected for the database, and the choice of appropriate parameters is within the purview of a person skilled in the art.
Once the data has been gathered from a plurality of health care clinics, surgeries and medical professionals, the software module performs the second step 12 of cross- referencing the gathered data by members of family units living in the same location. Patients are also cross- referenced by their doctor and practice address. Concurrently, health professionals are cross- referenced by their practice address and other unique identifying features, such as their Medicare™ provider number.
During performance of the second step 12, the software module also checks and eliminates duplicate entries by cross-checking patient names, dates of birth, past and present address and links to families or health professionals .
In particular, the software module eliminates duplicate entries via the following methodology. o Points of reference are utilised for every patient to establish their identity: Name, Date of birth and Medicare number/Social Security number/Health Insurance Membership number/Medicaid number or any other unique identifier.
• The doctor's billing data contains the most recent address available for every patient.
• The Medicare number (or Health Insurance membership number, etc.) contains a series of digits that links up to 5 family members. This fact is used to link family groups together.
• Data is refreshed periodically by uploading the latest data from physicians/clinics administrative databases at selected time intervals, such as weekly or monthly.
The abovementioned methodology is now described in more detail . To establish the correct patient address and treating health professional, the following steps are employed. 1. Select all patients with duplicate names from consolidated data. 2. Select all duplicate dates of birth. This leaves patients with varying addresses and/or health professionals . 3. From each health professional billing data, select the last date that the patient was billed. 4. Select the most current billing date from all the health professionals. The address shown on this physician's billing data should be the current address. All patient centric details such as telephone number etc can also be copied from this health professional data. 5. Delete all other patient address entries. (This however does not establish their current health professional since they may have visited another health professional on a weekend as an emergency) .
6. Go to each health professional and from their billing data select the dates of the last 3 visits (if there are only 1 or 2 visits, discard) .
7. If all 3 visits fall within say the last 9 months, select this as their regular health professional.
8. If all health professional have at least 3 visits recorded in their billing data, select the one with the most recent visit .
To establish a family unit, the software module utilises the following methodology:
1. Select all patients with identical first 9 digits of their Medicare number. Link these into a family unit.
2. Establish the current address for the family. By querying the billing data for each patient, then selecting the most current date from all family members you will get the most recent address for the family. 3. For families with more than 5 members: select all identical surnames with identical addresses. These will have different Medicare numbers. Establish the current address for each of these utilising the billing data. If the address corresponds with the previous determined family address then add these names to the family unit. 4. From the above family cohort, select the oldest date of birth. This name corresponds to the addressee of the Newsletter.
Note that the treating health professional need only be determined for the addressee. Any information provided to the family unit will generally contain all pertinent information for the entire family taking into account their ages and genders .
The system then progresses to the third step 13 , which involves the analysis of the data and the categorisation of each patient into at least one of a number of groups or subsets. This is performed by a querying application which may be integral to, or a separate component of, the software module. In the present embodiment, the patient is categorised by their age (which is determined by their date of birth) and their family unit (which is determined by cross-referencing addresses and/or surnames) .
For example, the various subsets may be as follows: Adults are categorised into 4 age categories (18-25, 25- 40, 40-65, >65) and children into 4 (<l,l-5, 5-12, 12-18) In other words, all adults are categorised into the following groups:
Category Aim Adult 18-25 years, male Category Alf Adult 18-25 years, female Category A2m Adult 25-40, male Category A2f Adult 25-40, female
Category A3m Adult 40-65, male
Category A3f Adult 40-65, female
Category A4m Adult >65, male
Category A4f Adult >65, female
Children are categorised into the following groups: Category Clm <1 year, male Category Clf <1 year, female Category C2m 1-5 years, male Category C2f 1-5 years, female Category C3m 5-12 years, male Category C3f 5-12 years, female Category C4m 12-18 years, male Category C4f 12-18 years, female
The above categories are converted into a barcode which categorises the ages and genders of each adult and child in the household. The treating health professional (or medical centre) of the oldest patient is also assigned a unique barcode. The end result is that each family derives a unique barcode .
Thus a family of 2 adults 18-25 with a male child < 1 year and a female 5-12 years might be assigned a code such as :
AlmAlfClmC2f In a similar manner, the collation means 8 also collates and categorises health information or other relevant information in a similar manner. That is, the collation means collates items of health information into appropriate information categories. The information categories are analogous or similar to the categories for patients. In other words, if there is a category for patients who are male and under 1 year of age, then there is a corresponding information category which contains articles relevant to males under 1 year of age. Example categories are given below:
Category him Health info for males < 1 year
Category h2m Health info for males 1-5 years Category h3m Health info for males 5-12 years Category h4m Health info for males 12-18 years Category h5m Health info for males 18-25 years Category h6m Health info for males 25-40 years Category h7m Health info for males 40-65 years Category h8m Health info for males > 65 years Category hlf Health info for females < 1 years Category h2f Health info for females 1-5 years Category h3f Health info for females 5-12 years Category h4f Health info for females 12-18 years Category h5f Health info for females 18-25 years Category h6f Health info for females 25-40 years Category h7f Health info for females 40-65 years Category h8f Health info for females > 65 years Category hi5 Health info for all ages Category hi6 Health info for both genders Category hl7 Health info by address/location Category hi8 Health info by physician speciality
In addition, other targeted information, such as advertisements, may also be sorted into associated categories, as follows:
Category aim Males < 1 year
Category a2m Males 1-5 years Category a3m Males 5-12 years CCaatteeggoorryy aa44mm Males 12-18 years Category a5m Males 18-25 Category a6m Males 25-40 Category a7m Males 40-65 Category a8m Males > 65 Category alf Females < 1 year Category a2f Females 1-5 years Category a3f Females 5-12 years Category a4f Females 12-18 years Category a5f Females 18-25 Category a6f Females 25-40 Category a7f Females 40-65 Category aδf Females > 65 Category al Children < 1 year Category a2 Children 1-5 years CCaatteeggoorryy aa33 Children 5-12 years Category a4 Children 12-18 years Category al5 All ages and genders Category al6 By address
It will be understood that the health information or advertisements may be collated and entered into the database in any appropriate manner. For example, they may be uploaded by an operator of the database, or they may be submitted, via a web interface. The health information or advertisements may be collated manually (ie. the operator selects an appropriate category when uploading an article) , or alternatively, the software module may scan for key words in the article, and then automatically assign the article or advertisement to an appropriate category based on the key words .
Once the appropriate information categories are determined, then the software module progresses to the fourth step 14 of producing targeted information. The targeted information is produced by associating the collated information with the appropriate group by- employing the following methodology:
1. Assign the appropriate categories of health information and advertisements to the age and gender groups of the patients in the families (matching the barcode for this family - 2 adults 18-25 with a male child < 1 year and a female 5-12 years) .
2. The information is compiled into an appropriate format, such as a Newsletter. In other words categories h6m, h6f, him, h3f, aim, a3f, a5m and a5f are assigned to this family's newsletter. Newsletters will therefore vary in their content and in their advertisements. It will be understood that the compiling function may be carried out by the software module
3. Alternatively, the software module may merely pass all appropriate information to a separate software application (not shown) which may then use the information to compile the newsletter.
4. The newsletter is either emailed or a mail merge facility would print all addresses for the families, with the family's unique barcode on the Newsletter and the envelope. For example, a family with 2 adults (aged 30 years female, 34 years male) and 3 children (female 5 years, male 8 years and male 11 years) . The newsletter in the present example would contain information for an adult female 25-40 (e.g. an article on cervical cancer), adult male 25-40 (e.g. information on sports injuries) , and children (e.g. dental problems in children and behavioural disorders such as attention deficit disorder) . There would also be advertisements for say, dolls or Nintendo™ Games for the children and lingerie or finance for the adults. The header of the Newsletter would select the Physician/Name of Clinic of the oldest family member and would be addressed to that member.
The abovementioned embodiment of the present invention may also find other application in related fields.
Firstly, the software module can be used to aid medical trials and research. At present, when a pharmaceutical company or research facility (such as a hospital or University) wishes to conduct a trial of therapeutics to test a drug or drug combination, they must firstly recruit subjects. Generally, such patients can only be recruited via general practitioners or hospitals. Other conventional techniques include advertising for subjects in newspapers, but this technique is also extremely limiting in its scope. Subjects are recruited on the basis of age, sex and disease incidence, and in some cases locality is used to recruit patients. Healthy volunteers are often also required, and are age and sex matched for control purposes . Furthermore, the number of patients in the trial is important. A large number of participants makes the trial statistically significant. Recruiting patients is currently time consuming and laborious since they can only be contacted via their treating physician. Compliance is another problem. Patients drop out because of reasons such as the inconvenience of travelling to the site conducting the research, an inability to readily contact researchers to report side effects, etc. In addition, many patients are often lost to follow-up.
An embodiment of the present invention ameliorates many of the above-mentioned problems and shortcomings, as it allows a user to recruit patients directly and accurately by age, sex and address. The number of subjects can be vast (as an embodiment of the invention may be implemented on a national basis) . Subjects can be grouped by locality and assigned to research physicians near their residence .
Moreover, an embodiment of the invention can be arranged to allow pathology tests to be downloaded onto a secure website for instant analysis. Clinical measurements and observations can also be entered directly onto the secure website for instant analysis. Patients can report side effects via the secure website 24 hours a day from their home. Long term follow up of these patients is easily facilitated via this system. Therefore, an embodiment of the present invention can be arranged to organise clinical trials with an accuracy and thoroughness not available with conventional methods.
Significantly, entire medical trials can be conducted on-line rapidly, with patient numbers that are statistically significant. Moreover, results can be analysed rapidly, benefiting the population as a whole.
An example of a use of the system in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention, where the system is used to conduct a medical trial, would comprise the following steps:
1. A secure web site in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention is built, the database underpinning the web site being arranged to store three types of information:
- patient information and data,
- physician information and data, and - pathology (and other clinical measurements) data. The first two sections, namely the patient information and the physician information, is collected by a method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention as described herein.
2. The web site contains a selection means which are arranged to select, from the patient data, a relevant sub-set of patients. For example, as mentioned above, the target group for an oral contraceptive may be all females in the age range of 18 to 40 years.
3. The relevant patient is contacted, to gauge their interest in participating in the trial . The contact is via electronic means (such as via email) , or via conventional means (such as via a letter) . The contact may include suitable means which allows the patient to consent or decline the offer to take part in the medical trial. For example, in the case of electronic contact, the patient may be directed to a page on the website where they can indicate their consent by filling in an appropriate form. Alternatively, the patient may simply sign a consent form (in the case where the contact is in the form of a letter) .
4. The system then selects appropriate supervising medical professionals to supervise the patients during the trial. The system may choose appropriate medical professionals in any number of ways, such as by expertise, proximity to the residential address of the patient, or any other relevant criteria.
5. If patients are required to appear for a physical examination, the system is employed to inform patients that they are required to present themselves at the office of the relevant medical professional . After a patient is "approved" , the system assigns user names and passwords to each patient.
6. If the trial is a double blind trial, there will be two drugs which are identical in size shape and taste - Drug A (the contraceptive) and Drug B (placebo) . The system will therefore be arranged to randomise the approved patients into two groups, wherein each patient receives either drug A or B. Subsequently, there may be a "washout period" (e.g. one month) , after which the patients are assigned to receive the other drug. The system is arranged to track these changes automatically.
7. The patients are concurrently monitored by certain clinical measurements that are entered directly into the system by the medical professional . Pathology tests are also transmitted directly into the system. Patients can at any time enter side effects into their relevant section of the website.
8. As the medical professional enters data, the patient code number is decoded to reveal the name and the drug being taken by the patient (which is linked to the patient) . Pathology data and clinical measurements are linked to the patient. These steps are completed in real-time .
9. Standard statistical analytical calculations are applied to all the data from the active group and the results are compared to the control group to ascertain statistical success or otherwise.
Such a system provides a number of advantages over conventional clinical trials. Firstly, all patient data is located on the same system, and analysis of the data may be carried out in realtime, so a patient can be contacted rapidly if there is a negative trend.
Secondly, patients can continue to access the site to report side effects for years after the trial (if necessary) . Thirdly, a journal paper can be produced much faster than by conventional methods because all relevant data and results are available in one location, and in an electronic format. As a corollary, other medical professionals may be easily given access to the raw data, to verify results or to conduct different analyses of the available data.
In addition, the embodiment of the invention utilised for clinical trials may also find application in the collection or dissemination of targeted health information pertinent to defined demographic groups. That is, there may be included an appropriate interface (say, a web-based interface accessible via the Internet) which allows the patient involved in the clinical trial to provide or be provided with ongoing information and analysis regarding the trial. Health information can be collated according to age, sex and address.
For example, health information can be collected pertaining to infants and children, adolescents, females (gynaecological) , males, and geriatrics as well as general information relevant to all ages. Information can also be collected pertaining to the type of practitioner that the patient is attending, such as naturopathy, homeopathy osteopathy, etc. Health warnings pertaining to epidemics and illnesses may be disseminated according to locality, age, gender or any other suitable characteristic of a demographic group. Similarly advertisements can be disseminated according to age, sex and address. For example, advertisements for toys, music, clothes, etc., can be collated according to age and sex. The addresses of patients can be utilized as a rough guide to determining the affluence of the persons receiving the advertisements or in determining the extent of the advertising campaign. Therefore, an embodiment of the present invention, whether it be utilised for the dissemination of health information or for the conduct of clinical trials, provides a tool which allows subsets of data (health information/advertisements) to be selectively matched to various characteristics of families or individuals. This allows research scientists, health professionals, advertisers or any relevant group to effectively target subsets of patients and then send appropriate targeted material either via email, television or other electronic format, post or any other suitable delivery system.
The embodiment of the present invention, and in particular the embodiment utilised for the dissemination of health information, may advantageously be used for marketing purposes. Since information can be tailored to be especially relevant to a particular demographic group, a software module in accordance with an embodiment of the invention may be modified to provide "personalised" newsletters or information.
In this manner, a client (patient) will feel that they are receiving personal attention from the health care professional, as any information sent to them will be personally addressed to them, and will contain information that is particularly relevant to their life circumstances.
In addition, the newsletter may be printed on the letterhead of the medical practice which is associated with the patient. In this way, the patient will believe that the newsletter has been personally produced by the medical practitioner or the medical practice. This belief may also be fostered in other ways. For example, the logo of the medical practice may be printed on the newsletter, or emails sent to the patient may be arranged to appear to come from the email address of the medical practice. Any number of devices may be used to provide the belief that the newsletter is personalised and has been produced locally by the practitioner.
This will also benefit the health care practitioner, as such a process will foster client (patient) loyalty. In return, the health care practitioner may be provided with other "free" services, such as: • A practice web site with features that are fully developed, updated and maintained by the system, including: o Practice details, such as address, contact telephone numbers, fax numbers, email addresses; o Practice specifics such as speciality of physicians, rosters, vacation details, etc; o After hours care details; o Billing schedules; o Staff biographies; o An online appointment system; o Links to sites of interest; o Fun stuff page for patients and especially children. • A newsletter containing health education information, alerts from health departments, pharmaceutical companies and hospitals, specifically targeted to the ages and sexes of the patients and their families. The physicians name/practice name and logo are on the header. The newsletter can also contain any information that the practitioner particularly desires. o Commercial sponsorship in the form of advertisements, contained in the Newsletter. A percentage of this revenue will be paid to the health professional in proportion to the number of their patients receiving the Newsletter. In return for the above, the health professional provides access to their administrative data which contains his patients names, ages, addresses, Medicare numbers, and dates of attendances etc. The access is to be provided on a regular basis so as to enable the database to be updateable.
This provides the practitioner with a number of advantages, namely: - A web site that is a cheaper alternative to traditional forms of advertising (e.g. in the Yellow Pages or in magazines) .
- An Internet presence allows the practitioner to promote their expertise/services to the entire world.
- The Internet presence effectively provides a new virtual storefront without all the expenses of rent, staff, etc. and represents the business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. - The Internet presence permits quick communication with patients to notify them of new products & services available.
The Internet presence allows a small practitioner to keep up with larger medical practices. In addition, the website educates patients, communicates with patients in real time, projects a caring attitude, projects a technological superiority over other health professionals and provides monetary gains from commercial sponsorship The system also provides a number of benefits to patients.
The website allows more direct communication with the health professional, provides the patient with a better knowledge about the practice and the health professional, and provides the ease and convenience of booking online appointments .
The newsletter provides education about topical health issues, notifications of health alerts and the ability to participate in medical trials of new treatments that will benefit society.
Whilst the preceding description has referred to the categorisation of patients by age and gender, it will be understood that the patients may be categorised by any appropriate parameter, such as address, gender and/or other distinguishing characteristics. In certain instances, such as when the embodiment of the invention is utilised in a medical trial, the patients may further be categorised by medical condition. That is, it will be understood that while one of the embodiments described herein may collect non-sensitive patient data, other embodiments, such as the embodiment, may collect more sensitive patient data, including medical histories, if and when allowed by local laws and practices.
Furthermore, whilst the embodiment of the invention described herein has made reference to the targeting of health information or the selection of patients for a clinical trial, it will be understood that other embodiments of the invention could find application in analogous professions, such as the legal profession. For example, in the legal profession, clients may be divided by their business type (e.g. manufacturing, financial services, etc.) or by their location, or their requirements (e.g. Intellectual Property services, Commercial services, etc.). Correspondingly, newsletters may be composed which are customised to their particular needs and their particular business. Such variations are within the purview of a person skilled in the art.
Modifications and variations as would be apparent to a skilled addressee are deemed to be within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

THE CLAIMS DEFINING THE INVENTION ARE AS FOLLOWS:
1. A system for the categorisation and organisation of data with regard to a client database, comprising, - collection means arranged to collect data regarding a plurality of clients from a plurality of individual business units, and querying means arranged to apply at least one predetermined criterion to categorise the data into at least one subset of data which complies with the criterion.
2. A system in accordance with claim 1, further comprising collation means arranged to associate targeted information with the at least one subset of client data.
3.A system in accordance with claim 2, wherein the collation means is arranged to categorise portions of information into at least one information category that is able to be matched to the at least one subset of client
Clcl.ll.cl .
4. A system in accordance with claim 3, wherein the collation means is arranged to provide targeted information by selecting at least one subset of client data, determining an appropriate category for the client data, selecting at least one information category matched to the at least one category of client data, and preparing targeted information by including at least one of the selected portions of information contained within the at least one information category.
5. A system in accordance with claim 4 , wherein the targeted information is produced in the form of a newsletter containing the at least one of the selected portions of information.
6. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the individual business units are medical practices.
7. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the client data is comprised of medical patients.
8. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the querying means applies a plurality of criteria to categorise the data into a plurality of subsets of data which comply with the criteria.
9. A system in accordance with claim 8, wherein the at least one predetermined rule includes the categorisation of clients by age.
10. A system in accordance with claim 8, wherein the at least one predetermined rule includes the categorisation of clients by gender.
11. A system in accordance with claim 8, wherein the at least one predetermined rule includes the categorisation of clients by place of residence.
12. A system in accordance with claim 2 , wherein the collation means is also arranged to associate clients with their business unit.
13. A system in accordance with claim 12 , wherein the collation means is arranged to include information identifying the business unit with the information provided to the client, wherein the information identifying the business unit fosters the belief that the information was provided to the client by the business unit .
14. A system in accordance with claim 13 , further comprising selection means arranged to select subsets of patient data pertinent to a particular medical trial.
15. A system in accordance with claim 5, wherein the targeted information is comprised of health care related information.
16. A system in accordance with claim 5, wherein the targeted information is comprised of advertisements.
17. A system in accordance with claim 1, further comprising sorting means arranged to cross-reference the data regarding a plurality of clients, wherein duplicate entries are deleted.
18. A system in accordance with claim 1, further comprising sorting means arranged to cross-reference the data regarding a plurality of clients, wherein incorrect entries are deleted.
19. A method for the categorisation and organisation of data with regard to a client database, comprising the steps of, collecting data regarding a plurality of clients from a plurality of individual business units, and applying at least one predetermined criterion to categorise the data regarding a plurality of clients into at least one subset of data which complies with the criterion.
20. A method in accordance with claim 19, comprising the further step of associating targeted information with the at least one subset of data.
21. A method in accordance with claim 20, whereby the step of collating includes categorising portions of information into at least one information category that is able to be matched to the at least one subset of client data.
22. A method in accordance with claim 21, whereby the step of collating includes providing targeted information by selecting at least one subset of client data, determining an appropriate category for the client data, selecting at least one information category matched to the at least one category of client data, and preparing targeted information by including at least one of the selected portions of information contained within the at least one information category.
23. A method in accordance with claim 22, comprising the further step of producing the targeted information in the form of a newsletter containing the at least one of the selected portions of information.
24. A method in accordance with claim 19, wherein the individual business units are medical practices.
25. A method in accordance with claim 19, wherein the client base includes medical patients.
26. A method in accordance with claim 19, wherein a plurality of criteria is applied to categorise the data into a plurality of subsets of data which comply with the criteria.
27. A method in accordance with claim 19, wherein the at least one predetermined rule includes the categorisation of clients by age.
28. A method in accordance with claim 19, wherein the at least one predetermined rule includes the categorisation of clients by gender.
29. A method in accordance with claim 19, wherein the at least one predetermined rule includes the categorisation of clients by place of residence.
30. A method in accordance with claim 19, wherein the step of associating targeted information further includes the step of associating clients with a business unit.
31. A method in accordance with claim 30, further comprising the step of including information identifying the business unit with the information provided to the client, wherein the information identifying the business unit fosters the belief that the information was provided to the client by the business unit.
32. A method in accordance with claim 23, comprising the further step of selecting subsets of patient data pertinent to a particular medical trial.
33. A method in accordance with claim 23, wherein the targeted information includes health care related information.
34. A method in accordance with claim 23, wherein the targeted information includes advertisements.
35. A method in accordance with claim 19, comprising the further step of cross-referencing the data regarding a plurality of clients, wherein duplicate entries are deleted.
36. A method in accordance with claim 19, further comprising comprising the step of cross-referencing the data regarding a plurality of clients, wherein incorrect entries are deleted.
37. A method for conducting a clinical trial, comprising the steps of, collecting patient data regarding a plurality of patients from a plurality of medical practices, - applying at least one predetermined criterion to categorise the patient data regarding a plurality of patients into at least one subset of patient data which complies with the criterion, and selecting a subset of patients which are relevant for a particular trial based on the subsets of patient data.
38. A computer program arranged, when loaded on a computing system, to implement the method of claim 19.
39. A computer readable medium providing a computer program in accordance with claim 38.
40. A computer program arranged, when loaded on a computing system, to implement the method of claim 37.
41. computer readable medium providing a computer program in accordance with claim 40.
PCT/AU2004/000189 2003-02-14 2004-02-16 A method and system for providing targeted content delivery Ceased WO2004072871A1 (en)

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