METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR RESPONDING TO REQUEST FOR CLINICALINFORMATION

摘要

A hub-spoke patient information service in which a patient's data can be obtained from a network of independent data sources through a centralized se rvice. The hub of the service stores patient identification information and the spokes store the patient's clinical data. In a preferred embodiment, the spokes are independent sources (e.g. each spoke is generally unrelated to o ther spokes) and include hospitals, doctor offices, clinics, insurance compa nies, or other entities that store or track clinical data. Preferably, the d ata sources use a first authentication to properly identify or authentic the service. Once access is granted, the spoke sources are queried for the pati ent's data. In response, each data source provides the type of patient data available from the source. The user is shown the types of data available wit hout generally showing the actual data. The user can then select the specifi c patient data to retrieve from the spoke sources.