Inventors:
Richard Blake - Lakeside CA, US
Stephen Kenney - San Diego CA, US
Christopher McKewon - San Diego CA, US
William O'Riordan - La Jolla CA, US
International Classification:
G06F017/60, G06F007/00, G06F017/30
Abstract:
Patient medical information is processed for storage and retrieval subject to anonymity constraints. The patient medical information is divided into a first information portion including information identifying a patient and information identifying a physician of the patient, and a second information portion including clinical and demographic information for the patient and the information identifying the physician. A unique code associated with the patient, but which does not identify the patient, is obtained when the first and second information portions are processed. The unique code is appended to the first and second information portions. The first information portion is then stored in a first information storage facility with other first information portions for other patients, and the second information portion is stored in a second information storage facility, separate from the first information storage facility, with second information portions for other patients. The anonymity constraints include the ability to mine the second information storage facility for clinical and demographic information useful for evaluating protocols for clinical trials and assembling candidate groups for the clinical trials without revealing the identities of the patients. Search results are made available to physicians who are identified in the results. Those physicians may then recruit their patients for participation in clinical trials.