DETAILED CORRESPONDENCE
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . This final office action on merits is in response to the communication received on 3 March 2026. Amendments to claims 1, 11 are acknowledged and have been carefully considered. Claims 1-20 are pending and considered below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (i.e., a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea) without significantly more.
The claimed limitations, as per system Claim 1, include the steps of:
a system for facilitating collaboration in healthcare comprising:
a. a network; wherein the network includes a plurality of wirelessly connected end nodes;
b. two or more homecare agencies, a plurality of homecare providers and a plurality of patients; wherein each of the two or more homecare agencies has a roster of patients and homecare providers;
c. a plurality of computing devices associated with each of the two or more homecare agencies and the plurality of homecare providers respectively; wherein each of the computing devices is connected to the network;
d. one or more servers; wherein the one or more servers are communicated with the network;
e. a database; wherein the database is stored on the one or more servers;
f. one or more monitoring devices;
wherein each of the one or more monitoring devices are configured to monitor physiological parameters of each of the plurality of patients;
wherein the one or more monitoring devices are connected to the network wirelessly;
wherein the physiological parameters are configured to be received remotely by the plurality of computing devices; and
g. a software application accessible from the plurality of computing devices;
wherein the software application is communicated with the network and synced to the database;
wherein the software application further comprises a matching component programmed to;
generate for each of the plurality of patients, a plurality of potential matches of the plurality homecare providers;
determine the plurality of matches based on a predetermined distance or service zone according to a physical address or zip code, dates, times, geographic locations, requirements of each of the plurality of patients and qualifications of each of the plurality of homecare providers;
determine for each of the two or more homecare agencies, whether the homecare care providers of the potential matches are listed on the roster of each of the two or more homecare agencies or listed on the roster of another homecare agency;
provide a confirmation option to the homecare agency in response to the potential matches being listed on the roster;
provide the homecare agency having the roster and the matched homecare provider access to view the physiological parameters of the patient in response to the confirmation option;
a revenue sharing component programmed to;
provide an accept option or a reject option to the homecare providers listed on the roster of another agency in response to the potential matches listed on the roster of another homecare agency;
identify the accept option or the reject option being selected;
create an engagement record including an agreement of division of revenue between the two homecare agencies in response to identifying the accept option being selected and provide the two homecare agencies and the homecare provider accepting the patient access to view the physiological parameters of the patient.
Independent claim 11 recites/describes identical or nearly identical steps with respect to claim one (and therefore also recite limitations that fall within this subject matter grouping of abstract ideas), and this/these claim(s) is/are therefore determined to recite an abstract idea under the same analysis.
Examiner Note: underlined elements indicate additional elements of the claimed invention identified as performing the steps of the claimed invention.
Under Step One of the analysis under the Mayo framework, claims 1-20 is/are drawn to a system (i.e., a machine/manufacture). As such, claims 1-20 is/are drawn to one of the statutory categories of invention.
Under Step 2A Prong One of the analysis under the Mayo framework the claim(s) are determined to recite(s) the judicial exception of wherein the software application further comprises a matching component; wherein the matching component generates for each of the plurality of patients, a plurality of potential matches of the plurality homecare providers; wherein the potential matches are determined based on a plurality of attributes; wherein the plurality of attributes comprises dates, times, geographic locations, requirements of each of the plurality of patients and qualifications of each of the plurality of homecare providers; wherein the matching component determines for each of the two or more homecare agencies, whether the homecare care providers of the potential matches are listed on the roster of each of the two or more homecare agencies or listed on the roster of another homecare agency; in response to the potential matches being listed on the roster, the matching component provides a confirmation option to the homecare agency; in response to the confirmation option, the matching component provides the homecare agency having the roster and the matched homecare provider access to view the physiological parameters of the patient; in response to the potential matches listed on the roster of another homecare agency, the revenue sharing component provides an accept option or a reject option to the homecare providers listed on the roster of another agency; wherein the revenue sharing component identifies the accept option or the reject option being selected; in response to identifying the accept option being selected, the revenue sharing component creates an engagement record including an agreement of division of revenue between the two homecare agencies and provides the two homecare agencies and the homecare provider accepting the patient access to view the physiological parameters of the patient..
This judicial exception is similar to abstract ideas related to certain methods of organizing human activity such as managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people including social activities, teaching, and following rules or instructions as well certain methods of organizing human activity such as mental processes including concepts performed in the human mind including an observation, evaluation, judgement or opinion.
Under Step 2A Prong Two of the analysis under the Mayo Framework, the judicial exception expressed as the steps of the instant claims is not integrated into a practical application because the claims only recite one additional element, the element of using a processor or computing system including a local registry or memory to perform the steps of the claimed abstract idea. The processor is recited at a high-level of generality (i.e., as a generic processor performing generic computer functions to perform the claimed steps of the invention), and therefore the abstract idea amounts to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. Accordingly, this additional element of performing the inventive steps with a generic computer does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because it does not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. Thus the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without a practical application.
Under step 2B of the Mayo analysis framework the claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the additional limitations of performing the steps with a computer processor, a display module, and a memory storing machine executable instructions represents insignificant data gathering and data processing steps requiring no more than a generic computer to perform generic computer functions that are well-understood, routine and conventional activities previously known to the industry. Applicant’s published written description paragraph [58] recites “homecare system 1 comprises a network 5, two or more homecare agencies 11, a plurality of homecare providers 12 and patients 13, a plurality of computing devices 10 associated with each of the two or more homecare agencies 11 and each of the homecare providers 12 respectively, one or more servers 40, a database 50, and a software application,” written description paragraph [59] recites “computing devices 10 may comprise a plurality of hardware components, including a touch screen 101, a camera 102, a global positioning system receiver (GPS receiver) 103, a microphone 104, and an internal memory 105. The touchscreen 101 enables the users to execute handwritten signatures on the screen for necessary documents. The camera 102 may capture two-dimensional codes on medication or supplies for each of the patients 13 and identify medical data from the two-dimensional codes,” written description paragraph [60] recites “network 5 has a plurality of end nodes wirelessly connected to it. The one or more servers 40 of the homecare system 1 communicates with the network 5 and stores one or more databases 50. The one or more databases 50 stores data related to the two or more homecare agencies 11, the plurality of homecare providers 12, and the patients 13. The database is accessible through the network 5 and is updated by the software application,” written description paragraph [61] recites “software application 30 is downloadable and accessible via the plurality of computing devices 10 to a user as either as a homecare agency 11 or a homecare provider 12, upon the user signing into a user account. The homecare agency 11 and the homecare provider 12 may gain access by signing into their respective user accounts, for example a homecare agency account and a homecare provider account,,” and written description paragraph [62] recites “matching component 31 generates a plurality of potential matches of homecare providers 12 for each of the patients 13 which is determined based on a plurality of attributes. The plurality of attributes comprises dates, times, geographic locations, requirements of each of the patients 13 and qualifications of each of the homecare providers 12. The potential matches of the homecare providers 12 comprise the homecare providers 12 within the roster or not within the roster of each of the two or more homecare agencies.” Thus the claimed inventive steps are performed by generic or general purpose computing systems executing well known and understood instructions and processes which do not comprise significantly more than a known computing system, or comprise improvements to another technological field.
Further, as per MPEP 2106, and TLI Communications LLC v. AV Automotive LLC, 823 F.3d 607, 613, 118 USPQ2d 1744, 1748 (Fed. Cir. 2016) ("It is well-settled that mere recitation of concrete, tangible components is insufficient to confer patent eligibility to an otherwise abstract idea") and as per Intellectual Ventures I LLC v. Capital One Bank (USA), N.A., 792 F.3d 1363, 1366, 115 USPQ2d 1636, 1639 (Fed. Cir. 2015) ("An abstract idea does not become nonabstract by limiting the invention to a particular field of use or technological environment, such as the Internet [or] a computer") simply performing the steps of an abstract idea by a computing apparatus does not make an inventive concept statutorily eligible. Therefore, it is clear from Applicants’ specification that the elements and modules in the claims require no more than a generic computer (e.g., a general-purpose computing device) to perform generic computer functions (e.g., accessing, transmitting/receiving, sorting, and storing data) that are well-understood, routine and conventional activities previously known in the industry. None of the limitations, considered as a whole and as an ordered combination provide eligibility, because the steps of the claims simply instruct the practitioner to implement the abstract idea with routine, conventional activity.
Viewing the additional limitations in combination also shows that they fail to ensure the claims amount to significantly more than the abstract idea. When considered as an ordered combination, the additional components of the claims add nothing that is not already present when considered separately, and thus simply append the abstract idea with words equivalent to “apply it” on a generic computer and/or mere instructions to implement the abstract idea on a generic computer, generally link the abstract idea to a particular technological environment or field of use, and append the abstract idea with insignificant extra solution activity associated with the implementation of the judicial exception, (e.g., mere data gathering).
Dependent claims 2-10 and 12-20 are directed to the judicial exception as explained above for Claims 1 and 11 and are further directed to limitations directed to the provision of user accounts, implementation of cameras to capture medically related prescription codes, enables the homecare agency to view patient data, facilitating the recruitment of homecare providers, enabling geographic related operations, the scheduling of services provision, and the provision of medical records to homecare providers. These limitations or processes are considered to be executed by the general purpose computing system as explained above, and therefore do not result in the claimed invention being directed to a practical application or comprise significantly more than the identified abstract idea.
Dependent claims 2-10 and 12-20 do not add more to the abstract idea of independent Claims 1 and 11 and therefore are rejected as ineligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. 101 based on a rationale similar to the claims from which they depend.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 4, 6-10, 12, 14 and 16-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of Kogan et al. (20230005607) in view of Bage et al. (20130151274) and Wang (20190122760).
Claim 1: Kogan discloses a system for facilitating collaboration in healthcare comprising:
a. a network; wherein the network includes a plurality of wirelessly connected end nodes ([33 “internet, an intranet, a wired network, a wireless network,”]);
b. two or more homecare agencies, a plurality of homecare providers and a plurality of patients ([14 “patient-care solution that merely uses telehealth is not the same as the real physical data collected in real time during at-home or onsite visits, which is an integral part of the system and the computer-implemented method disclosed herein,” 15 “system and the computer-implemented method create a home-visit appointment schedule according to the risk, among other factors, and attempts to cover visits to the most critical patients first, reducing unnecessary burden on the health system,”]);
wherein each of the two or more homecare agencies has a roster ([70 “part of the health plan commitments, the client input comprises a list of patients from healthcare plans of the client and patients referred by primary care providers (PCP) attached to the healthcare plans,”]) of patients and homecare providers ([18 “input matrix comprises, for example, schedules of the healthcare providers and the onsite care coordinators, patient cohorts, expected minimum daily and maximum monthly volumes of appointments, and success rates of the appointments. The AORPS generates a predictive model for appointments, capitation, and return on investment for delivering patient care based on training data comprising, for example, appointment history, patient history, feedback, and healthcare data,” 20 “appointment optimization and route planning system (AORPS) receives from the patients comprises, for example, age, gender, profession, location, lists of chronic health conditions, medical history, healthcare programs enrolled by the patients such as urgent care on demand, a primary care provider (PCP) program, and/or a chronic conditions management (CCM) program,” 21]); Examiner Note: Examiner under a broadest reasonable interpretation interprets rosters to be the equivalent of lists derived for the purpose of coordinating homecare providers and patients.
c. a plurality of computing devices associated with each of the two or more homecare agencies and the plurality of homecare providers respectively ([31 “system 100 disclosed herein comprises a computing platform 101 with one or more appointment scheduling modules 102, a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) module 103, a mapping module 104, and hardware components typically found in an electronic device including input/output devices, processors, storage units, and communication devices. In an embodiment, the computing platform 01 implements server-side technology supporting web modules and mobile application modules,” 32-35, Fig. 1]); wherein each of the computing devices is connected to the network ([31]);
d. one or more servers; wherein the one or more servers are communicated with the network ([31, 32, 39]);
e. a database; wherein the database is stored on the one or more servers ([34, 39]);
g. a software application accessible from the plurality of computing devices ([22 “circuitry and/or programming comprise one or any combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware configured to execute the methods disclosed herein depending upon the design choices of a system designer,” 64 “computer applications and programs are used for operating the appointment optimization and route planning system (AORPS) 106 disclosed herein. The programs are loaded onto the fixed media drive 113 and into the memory unit 105 of the computing platform 101 via the removable media drive 114 exemplarily illustrated in FIG. 1. In an embodiment, the computer applications and programs are loaded directly on the computing platform 101 via the network,” 30, 31, 49, 65]);
wherein the software application is communicated with the network and synced to the database ([13 “system and the computer-implemented method manage delivery of medical care through a comprehensive, continuous, coordinated, and technologically advanced system delivered to the most complex, costly, and chronically ill patients, extending the reach of an overburdened healthcare delivery system,” 32 “computing equipment is used to implement applications such as media playback applications, a web browser, an electronic mail (email) application, a calendar application, mobile applications, etc., with one or more servers associated with one or more online services. In other embodiments, the computing platform 101 is made up of separate computing devices including servers, desktop computers, mobile computers, hand-held electronic devices, and wearable electronic devices along with attached peripheral devices,”]); Examiner Note: The term “sync” only occurs in independent claims 1 and 11 and there is no implementation of the process described in the written description and therefore Examiner interprets the term to detail the coordination of system processes which coordinates software application and database applications.
wherein the software application further comprises a matching component ([41 “computer-aided interface with algorithms to match user-provided data with standard ontologies of health-related information in real time and to provide input suggestions for symptoms, conditions, drug names, etc., to the patients while the patients input the patient data,” 57 “receiving patient data to match the data with standard ontologies in healthcare, the predictive model predicts related and possible health issues a patient may have based on the inputs of the patient in the patient data and the corresponding matches with standard ontologies that the data reception module 106a makes. Based on the patient data and the corresponding matches with the standard ontologies,”]);
generate for each of the plurality of patients, a plurality of potential matches of the plurality homecare providers ([70 “AORPS 106 captures and organizes social and/or psychosocial determinants of health, religious beliefs, family status, gender, community to which each patient belongs, outstanding traits, insurance plans, insurance plan needs, and other relevant data for clustering similar patients and for matching appropriate healthcare providers and onsite care coordinators to each patient,” 71, 72, 126 “data reception module 106a provides the web interface or the mobile app interface on the appointment scheduling modules 102 as a computer-aided interface with algorithms to match user-provided data with standard ontologies of health-related information in real time and provide input suggestions while receiving input as disclosed in the description,” 132 “output generation module 106c takes into account information from different fronts as optimization factors to intelligently and dynamically optimize aspects of patient care from matching patients to appropriate healthcare personnel to minimizing driving distances with real-time adjustments,”]);
determine the plurality of matches based on a predetermined distance or service zone according to a physical address or zip code ([17 “collates the received patient data to capture information, for example, about the patients' addresses, comorbidities, social and/or psychosocial determinants of health, religious beliefs, family status, gender, communities to which the patients belong, outstanding traits, insurance plans, insurance plan needs, and other relevant data in accordance with standard ontologies of health-related information for delivering relevant patient care, for clustering similar patients, and for matching appropriate healthcare providers and onsite care coordinators to each patient,” 41 “computer-aided interface with algorithms to match user-provided data with standard ontologies of health-related information in real time and to provide input suggestions for symptoms, conditions, drug names, etc., to the patients while the patients input the patient data,” 48 “optimization factors further comprise, for example, addresses of the patients, social and/or psychosocial determinants of health of the patients for clustering patients with similar determinants, religious beliefs, family status, gender, community to which a patient belongs, and outstanding traits for matching appropriate healthcare providers and onsite care coordinators to each patient,” 44, 95-104, 105 “categories of appointments comprises the following attributes: 106 “Weight—Appointment Type Weight (ATW), from 1 to 10,” and 107 Priority—Appointment Type Priority (ATP), 0 to 1]); dates ([60 “output generation module 106c calculates an optimal home-visit plan through a month starting from the current date. To ensure periodic schedule recalculation to match changes, the output generation module 106c recalculates the home-visit plan every day to follow changes in patient needs and healthcare provider and onsite care coordinator availability,”]), times ([18 “appointment optimization and route planning system (AORPS) generates an input matrix based on the client input and the collated patient data, covering a preconfigured period of time, for example, thirty days,” 42 “data reception module 106a allows the patient to specify a preferred time to meet onsite care coordinators and/or healthcare providers in different levels of detail, for example, time of day, day(s) of the week, and in more complex patterns,”]), geographic locations ([16 “a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) module and a mapping module. The mapping module is configured to receive location input from the GNSS module. In an embodiment, the mapping module is a mapping module,” 20 “patient data that the appointment optimization and route planning system (AORPS) receives from the patients comprises, for example, age, gender, profession, location,” 31 “mapping module 104 configured to receive location input from the GNSS module 103. In an embodiment, the appointment scheduling modules 102 and the mapping module 104 are implemented in software that runs on hardware in the computing platform 101. The GNSS module 103 is a satellite navigation device, for example, a global positioning system (GPS) unit. The GNSS module 103 may provide location information to a web mapping service such as Google Maps®, Apple Maps, etc., for determining location, planning routes,”]), requirements of each of the plurality of patients and qualifications of each of the plurality of homecare providers ([16 “AORPS optimizes home-visit appointments and related travel for delivering patient care using algorithms comprising, for example, one or more of decision trees, machine learning models, and regression models,” 17 “administrator of a healthcare company that coordinates with the healthcare providers and the onsite care coordinators for the home-visit appointments. The AORPS receives the registration data and the patient data from the patients and the client input from the client through the appointment scheduling modules via a network, for example, the internet. The AORPS provides a user interface, for example, a web interface or a mobile application (app) interface, on the appointment scheduling modules for the patients and the client to input data depending on an electronic device used by the patients and the client to communicate with the appointment scheduling modules via the network,” 33 “client is, for example, an administrator of a healthcare company that coordinates with healthcare providers and onsite care coordinators for scheduling the home-visit appointments. The AORPS 106 provides a web interface or a mobile application (app) interface as a graphical user interface or other user interface on the appointment scheduling modules 102 for allowing the client to communicate with the appointment scheduling modules,” 39, 40]);
determine for each of the two or more homecare agencies ([17 “relevant data in accordance with standard ontologies of health-related information for delivering relevant patient care, for clustering similar patients, and for matching appropriate healthcare providers and onsite care coordinators to each patient,” 20 “AORPS matches input from the patients with standard ontologies of health-related information in real time to provide input suggestions to the patients. The AORPS receives the feedback in the training data, one of the factors based on which the AORPS generates the predictive model, from the patients, the client, the healthcare providers, and the onsite care coordinators through the user interface of the appointment scheduling modules via a network,” 50 “output generation module 106c assigns a mode of appointment to each home-visit appointment in the generated appointment schedule based on the optimization factors. The mode of appointment is based on the patient care needs, which is one of the criteria in the optimization factors,”]), whether the homecare care providers of the potential matches are listed on the roster of each of the two or more homecare agencies or listed on the roster of another homecare agency ([43 “information about healthcare providers, onsite care coordinators, appointment types, health plan commitments, and a success rate of operation. The success rate of operation refers to the rate of successful fulfillment of appointments scheduled for home visits. The client input further comprises, for example, dates and times of availability of the healthcare providers and the onsite care coordinators over a preconfigured period of time, for example, the next thirty days,” 120 “computation and ranking engine 220 of the AORPS 106 utilizes a patients pool 222, an on-demand patient pool 224, and the backlog 226 as input and generates a ranked list of appointments, for example, by the single patient appointment weight (SAW), by each group at home or remote, and by neighborhood by day,”]);
provide a confirmation option to the homecare agency in response to the potential matches being listed on the roster ([61 “appointment scheduling modules 102 allow the healthcare providers and the onsite care coordinators to accept any home-visit that is suggested in the appointment schedule and confirmed by the corresponding patient….If a particular patient confirms his or her appointment, the output generation module 106c fixes the appointment during all appointment schedule updates,” 70 “part of the health plan commitments, the client input comprises a list of patients from healthcare plans of the client and patients referred by primary care providers (PCP) attached to the healthcare plans,” 124 “proceeds to optimize the non-yet-confirmed or not-yet-planned appointments for NPR on the level of the entire neighborhood. The appointment scheduling modules 102, in communication with the AORPS 106, sends out updated appointment invitations for all changes that result in the Appointments Matrix due to newly rescheduled appointments,” 127 “communicates with the data reception module 106a through a web or a mobile app interface on the appointment scheduling modules 102 exemplarily illustrated in FIG. 1. Moreover, the data reception module 106a receives confirmation of acceptance or rejection of a scheduled appointment as a patient response 402 that feeds into the aggregation component,”]);
Kogan discloses a wide range of coordination and provision of homecare providers to patients and Kogan does not explicitly disclose, however Bage discloses:
f. one or more monitoring devices ([52 “conjunction with the healthcare application and various wireless (e.g., Bluetooth) or wired patient monitoring devices, can record clinical data that can be stored locally and/or in a central location in a manner that is accessible to a monitoring healthcare provider. The data may alternatively or also be forwarded to a designated monitoring healthcare professional,”]);
wherein each of the one or more monitoring devices are configured to monitor physiological parameters of each of the plurality of patients ([52 “system may include any combination of various patient monitoring devices, such as a scale, a blood pressure cuff, a heart rate monitor, a peak flow meter, an electrocardiogram (EKG) monitor, an oximeter, and other suitable types of monitors for monitoring a patient condition in a home or remote environment,” 57-59, 72, 74]);
wherein the one or more monitoring devices are connected to the network wirelessly ([52, 81]);
wherein the physiological parameters are configured to be received remotely by the plurality of computing devices ([44 “Telemedicine may range from telephonic discussion between two physicians on a particular case to the exchange of patient data and images on computer networks to remote patient examination using video conferencing equipment. Telemedicine has become an integral part of the healthcare system and is set to change the healthcare landscape in the years to come,” 50 “exemplary embodiment of an interactive, computer-based application (e.g., a home or remote healthcare application) can provide a personalized, comprehensive, in-home system to improve the understanding, treatment and compliance with recommended therapies for patients,” 52]); and
provide the homecare agency having the roster and the matched homecare provider access to view the physiological parameters of the patient in response to the confirmation option ([64 “in conjunction with the healthcare application, can also communicate with emergency service, security services, and emergency contacts based on detection of a predetermined events by the physiological and compliance monitoring detection of the patient,” 78 “patient monitoring device 802 is configured to monitor a physiological condition of a patient 810 in a home or home-like environment. The home includes premises in which the patient 810 has established legal residency. The home-like environment includes other types of premises that provide more temporary living quarters to the patient 810, such as the home of a relative, friend, or another person, a nursing home, an assisted-living facility, a group home, a dormitory room, a mobile home, a recreational vehicle,” 81 “communication network 816 after identification of the urgent condition, and 3) periodically send physiological measurements to an authorized party 820, 822 via the communication network,” 82 “home healthcare system 800, the patient monitoring device 802 may include a weight scale, a thermometer, a blood pressure meter, a heart rate monitor, an EKG device, a glucose meter, a peak flow meter, a pulse oximeter, a distance measuring device, a camera, or any suitable monitoring device in any suitable combination,”]);
Therefore it would be obvious for Kogan to operate one or more monitoring devices, wherein each of the one or more monitoring devices are configured to monitor physiological parameters of each of the plurality of patients, wherein the one or more monitoring devices are connected to the network wirelessly, wherein the physiological parameters are configured to be received remotely by the plurality of computing devices, and provide the homecare agency having the roster and the matched homecare provider access to view the physiological parameters of the patient in response to the confirmation option as per the steps of Bage in order to monitor physiological parameters of patients for the purpose of enabling the transmittal of physiological parameters to remote computing devices and thus resulting in optimized provision of medically related care to patients and individuals and thus resulting in better outcomes for patients.
Kogan in view of Bage disclose a range of procedures to match home care providers to residents and as well elements related to physiological parameters and Kogan/Bage do not explicitly disclose, however Wang discloses:
a revenue sharing component programmed to ([57 “Administrator is also responsible for setting permission levels in terms of which PHI billing personnel can view the information. For example, billing personnel may need to see a patients' schedules in order to properly bill batches of services provided to the insurance company,” 59 “Billing personnel are responsible for batching and sending service claims to the insurance company for payment, a portion of which include Caregiver wages. Additionally, some agencies further split Billing personnel into Pre-Billing personnel, who look for any errors in the batches of service claims generated, go over the physical timesheets that the Caregivers hand in, and match them to times verified on an electronic calendar,” 82 “Rules and procedures data can include system price, promotion setting rules and procedures, as well as rules and procedures for indicators, referrals, payments, service requests, system management, system log, system analysis and optimization,” 83 “Rules and procedures data can include system price, promotion setting rules and procedures, as well as rules and procedures for indicators, referrals, payments, service requests, system management, system log, system analysis and optimization, Rules and procedures data can include system price, promotion setting rules and procedures, as well as rules and procedures for indicators, referrals, payments, service requests, system management, system log, system analysis and optimization,” 86 “service request information stored in the database 108 may include, for example, a service request ID, relevant caregiver information, relevant patient information, requested visit location, actual visit location, requested drop-off location, actual drop-off location, visit start time, visit end time, distance, duration time, status, prices, insurance company,”]); Examiner Note: Examiner under a broadest reasonable interpretation interprets the disclosures of Wang with respect to a wide range of methods to implement the provision of payments to service providers and the determination of revenue elements for particular services provided to disclose the revenue sharing between a wide range of system participants.
provide an accept option ([131 “If a preferred caregiver is available (Yes, Step 414), then computing system 100 sends service request 300 to that preferred caregiver for acceptance (Step 412). If no favorite or preferred caregiver are found to be available (No, Step 414), then computing system 100 identifies whether a regular caregiver is available (Step 416). If a regular caregiver is available (Yes, Step 416), then computing system 100 sends the service request to the regular caregiver for acceptance,” 132]) or a reject option ([134 “patient was not happy with the caregiver, then he/she may add the caregiver to the patient's caregiver blacklist, in which case the patient and caregiver will not be matched together in future service requests,” 135, 138]) to the homecare providers listed on the roster of another agency ([3 “caregivers may work for multiple agencies and attempt to collect payment from the multiple agencies for services allegedly performed on the same day at the same time,” 57 “home healthcare agencies, employees provide services to patients who live at home,” 58 “Caregivers are the agency employees who visit patients' homes to provide care. Different caregivers have different areas of expertise, and levels of proficiency in each area varies. Generally, the higher the proficiency of a Caregiver in a particular field, the higher the pay. As Caregivers sometimes work for multiple agencies in a day or a week, tracking their working hours is imperative,” 59]) in response to the potential matches listed on the roster of another homecare agency ([116 “caregiver may preset various limitations which are meant to limit the scope of service requests that the caregiver would like to provide, and which are taken into consideration when identifying matching caregivers for a patient's service request,” 120 “caregiver priority can be established which includes a certain weight assigned to a caregiver indicative of how well a particular caregiver matches service request 300, the patient's preferences, and the patient favorites list, and/or the feasibility of the caregiver being able to service the request,” 121-123]);
identify the accept option or the reject option being selected ([131-138]);
create an engagement record including an agreement of division of revenue between the two homecare agencies and provides the two homecare agencies ([57, 59 “Billing personnel are responsible for batching and sending service claims to the insurance company for payment, a portion of which include Caregiver wages. Additionally, some agencies further split Billing personnel into Pre-Billing personnel, who look for any errors in the batches of service claims generated, go over the physical timesheets that the Caregivers hand in, and match them to times verified on an electronic calendar,” 75 “systems and methods for home healthcare services as disclosed herein may further include enabling a third-party agent or agency (e.g., an insurance company, etc.) to schedule home healthcare services on behalf of one or more patients directly with caregivers (i.e., independent caregivers, caregivers associated with a dispatch service, etc.) or indirectly with the caregivers through the dispatch service or system,” 82 “Rules and procedures data can include system price, promotion setting rules and procedures, as well as rules and procedures for indicators, referrals, payments, service requests, system management, system log, system analysis and optimization,” 83 “Database 108 can further include administrative data comprising prices and rates, system data such as contact and FAQ information, and registration details regarding patients and caregivers, such as, for example, billing information or other relevant information relating to administering the prescheduling service application,” 84]) in response to identifying the accept option being selected ([131 “If a preferred caregiver is available (Yes, Step 414), then computing system 100 sends service request 300 to that preferred caregiver for acceptance (Step 412). If no favorite or preferred caregiver are found to be available (No, Step 414), then computing system 100 identifies whether a regular caregiver is available (Step 416). If a regular caregiver is available (Yes, Step 416), then computing system 100 sends the service request to the regular caregiver for acceptance,” 132]) and provide the two homecare agencies and the homecare provider accepting the patient access to view the physiological parameters of the patient ([2 “on-demand and prescheduled home health care services in which one or more service requests are received, scheduled on-demand, prescheduled, and/or grouped based on caregiver availability customizable parameters and/or preferences to establish priority and/or compatibility between individual patients and caregivers,” 28 “receiving, by the server, a plurality of preset caregiver preferences or limitations of a plurality of caregivers; receiving, by the server, a plurality of optionally preset patient preferences of a plurality of patients; storing, in a database, the plurality of preset caregiver service zones, the plurality of preset caregiver preferences or limitations, and the plurality of optionally preset patient preferences; receiving, by the server, a plurality of service requests for prescheduling, wherein each service request corresponds to one of the plurality of patients and contains time-location data associated with at least one service location,” 59 “Patients generally stay at home and receive the Caregiver, who arrives at the Patient's home to provide services. Such services may include, for example, housework, resident nurse work (RN), laundry, cleaning, showering, cooking, etc. The type of Caregiver dispatched typically depends on the type(s) and amount of service(s) each patient requires. For example, if the patient requires physical assistance, the particular caregiver's size, strength, or other physical attributes may be considered when assigning the appropriate caregiver,” 70 “diagram of an exemplary computing system 100 and a plurality of peripheral computing devices. A combination of hardware and software operates on a plurality of computing devices,” 74, 75 “systems and methods for home healthcare services as disclosed herein may further include enabling a third-party agent or agency (e.g., an insurance company, etc.) to schedule home healthcare services on behalf of one or more patients directly with caregivers (i.e., independent caregivers, caregivers associated with a dispatch service, etc.) or indirectly with the caregivers through the dispatch service or system,” 82, 96 “location identifier 204 can include a GPS-enabled system or device whose tracking components identify the location of patients who are making service requests and caregivers who are looking to provide service,” 101, 120 “caregiver priority can be established which includes a certain weight assigned to a caregiver indicative of how well a particular caregiver matches service request 300, the patient's preferences, and the patient favorites list, and/or the feasibility of the caregiver being able to service the request given where he/she is expected to be at the time of pick-up,” 128 “storing patient information, caregiver profile information, caregiver location data, and traffic map data in the manner discussed above, computing system 100 is able to quickly eliminate a number of caregivers in database 108, and match a service request to a select list of caregivers who are deemed most compatible with the patient and his/her service request, and based on the caregiver's location or expected location,” 145, 148 “twelfth set may convey the level of familiarity of a caregiver with the patient providing the service request, represented at least through percentage or any other depiction such as tiers, wherein the familiarity is calculated by the overall level of familiarity a caregiver has with a given patient, based on the patient's history, medical needs, general preferences, etc,” 166 “Medical device availability preference enables a patient to make sure that a transport vehicle has certain equipment, such as oxygen tanks or other medical devices,” 179 “duties required by the service request may not include transportation services, but rather may include at-home services for patients, which can comprise any number of duties, such as, but not limited to, cooking, cleaning, laundry, helping patients shower and dress, nursing work, counseling, physical therapy, or any other at-home service the patient needs,”]). Examiner Note: Examiner under a broadest reasonable interpretation interprets the disclosures of Wang with respect to a wide range of viewing of patient parameters and the provision of home related care by professional providers to detail the provision of detailed physiological parameters to specifically detail precise treatments.
Therefore it would be obvious for Kogan to implement a revenue sharing component programmed to: provide an accept option or a reject option to the homecare providers listed on the roster of another agency in response to the potential matches listed on the roster of another homecare agency, identify the accept option or the reject option being selected, create an engagement record including an agreement of division of revenue between the two homecare agencies and provides the two homecare agencies in response to identifying the accept option being selected and provide the two homecare agencies and the homecare provider accepting the patient access to view the physiological parameters of the patient as per the steps of Wang in order to monitor physiological parameters of patients for the purpose of enabling the transmittal of physiological parameters to remote computing devices and thus resulting in optimized provision of medically related care to patients and individuals and thus resulting in better outcomes for patients.
Claims 2 and 12 Kogan in view of Bage and Wang disclose the system as described in claims 1 and 11 and Kogan does not explicitly disclose, however Wang discloses wherein the software application provides user accounts to each of the two or more homecare agencies and the plurality of homecare providers ([49 “Users” or “subscribers” as recited herein can include, for example, one or more caregivers or patients, third parties, third party entities, or other service providers acting on behalf of or for the caregiver or patient, or one or more individuals from such third-party entity or service provider who requests or orders services on behalf of a patient,” 57 “information identifying a patient should only be given to the Caregiver and Coordinator involved in the care of that patient. Additionally, a Caregiver must be careful not to share patient identifying information with anyone. In large agencies, the Administrator may set up teams of Coordinators, usually alphanumerically,” 59]).
Therefore it would be obvious for Kogan wherein the software application provides user accounts to each of the two or more homecare agencies and the plurality of homecare providers as per the steps of Wang in order to monitor physiological parameters of patients for the purpose of enabling the transmittal of physiological parameters to remote computing devices and thus resulting in optimized provision of medically related care to patients and individuals and thus resulting in better outcomes for patients.
Claims 4 and 14: Kogan in view of Bage and Wang disclose the system as described in claims 3 and 13 above and Kogan does not explicitly disclose, however Wang discloses wherein the matching component provides the homecare agency having the roster and the matched homecare provider access to view the medical data of the patient ([120 “Computing system 100 can generate a compatible set of caregivers 320 and dispatch matrix 322 from service request 300, patient information 302, caregiver profiles 310, and/or caregiver location data 324 by using a processing function in which different variables having different priorities are processed,” 121 “two of the compatible caregivers 320 who are both familiar with a given patient, the route of service request 300 and who have no service limitations which interfere with service request 300 may be assigned the same weighted priority for these factors,” 171 “combining the service areas of a caregiver and a replacement caregiver, computing system 100 could potentially generate and display for a coordinator the scope of where a caregiver and the caregiver's replacement caregivers could provide service. In addition to personal location limitations, a caregiver may preset personal time limitations relating to his/her work shift,” 184]); and
wherein the revenue sharing component ([57, 59, 82, 83, 86]) provides the two homecare agencies and the homecare provider accepting the patient access to view the medical data of the patient ([166 “Preset preferences for a patient stored and dynamically updated in database 108 can include, but are not limited to, preferences related to type of caregiver (i.e., favorite, preferred or blacklisted), care experience, physical attributes, ability to perform certain tasks, visit locations, drop-off locations, gender, language spoken, service accessibility, medical device availability….Medical device availability preference enables a patient to make sure that a transport vehicle has certain equipment, such as oxygen tanks or other medical devices,” 179 “duties required by the service request may not include transportation services, but rather may include at-home services for patients, which can comprise any number of duties, such as, but not limited to, cooking, cleaning, laundry, helping patients shower and dress, nursing work, counseling, physical therapy, or any other at-home service the patient needs,” 181]).
Therefore it would be obvious for Kogan wherein the matching component provides the homecare agency having the roster and the matched homecare provider access to view the medical data of the patient and wherein the revenue sharing component provides the two homecare agencies and the homecare provider accepting the patient access to view the medical data of the patient per the steps of Wang in order to monitor physiological parameters of patients for the purpose of enabling the transmittal of physiological parameters to remote computing devices and thus resulting in optimized provision of medically related care to patients and individuals and thus resulting in better outcomes for patients.
Claims 6 and 16: Kogan in view of Bage and Wang disclose the system as described in claims 5 and 15 above and Kogan does not explicitly disclose, however Wang discloses wherein the recruiting component identifies whether each of the two or more homecare agencies accepts or rejects the applications ([122 “receipt of the batch or group of service requests sent to the caregiver by the system, each caregiver may accept or reject service requests at his/her discretion. However, a caregiver's preferences (i.e., favorite list, blacklist, location served, etc.) may be modified based on the caregiver's decisions in accepting or rejecting certain service requests,” 125 “Caregivers may be given two options: accept or reject. If a caregiver accepts the service request, then the service request may show “Accepted” in the status column of the service requests list. If a caregiver rejects the service request, then the service request may show “Rejected” in the status column,”]);
in response to identifying accepting the application ([122, 125]), the recruiting component generates required documents to each of the homecare providers ([130 “determines whether its details match a record of any previous service requests stored in database 108 (Step 404), such as, for example, a matching patient name, a visit location, and/or a drop-off location. If no match is found (No, Step 404), then the service request 300 is sent to dispatch for new processing,” 131, 132, 139 “Computing system 100 can provide information to a coordinator showing which service requests remain unassigned. Such information can be presented using a map display with labels which identify the service request or the patient number. On this same display, a coordinator might see caregivers near the locations of unassigned service requests,” 141 “indicators can show availability and how long the period of availability may last, or whether it is indefinite availability. Such indicators can be removed if the caregiver goes off-duty or is currently carrying out a service request. Alternatively, such indicators may be provided to identify whether a patient's service request has been assigned to a caregiver,” 178 “electronically by the patient or third-party vendor using vendor device 126 through a web interface, and/or manually by a coordinator using coordinator device 136 after receiving the service request(s) and associated schedules by phone, text message, email, or paper copy. Alternatively, the system may employ interactive voice recognition (IVR) technology and/or voice-to-text technology to automatically receive service requests via traditional telephone systems,”]).
Therefore it would be obvious for Kogan wherein the recruiting component identifies whether each of the two or more homecare agencies accepts or rejects the applications and in response to identifying accepting the application, the recruiting component generates required documents to each of the homecare providers as per the steps of Wang in order to monitor physiological parameters of patients for the purpose of enabling the transmittal of physiological parameters to remote computing devices and thus resulting in optimized provision of medically related care to patients and individuals and thus resulting in better outcomes for patients.
Claims 7 and 17: Kogan in view of Bage and Wang disclose the system as described in claims 1 and 11 above and Kogan does not explicitly disclose, however Wang discloses:
wherein the software application further comprises a mapping component ([78 “user on a mobile device (e.g., smartphone, tablet, etc.) or stationary device (e.g., desktop computer, landline telephone, etc.), may be provided with information relevant to their service request (e.g., electronic map displays, indicators which display travel times, routes, pricing information, profile information, settings information, level of familiarity, etc.),”]);
wherein the mapping component provides an interactive map ([170 “caregiver may set limitations for geographic zones through an interactive map on a caregiver interface of the relevant one of caregiver devices 132D1 . . . 132Dn. A caregiver may click on a zip code on a map to determine a location where he/she does or does not want to provide service. Such caregiver limitations regarding selection of a geographic location may be required in embodiments where service requests are batched and distributed to caregivers in groups as discussed below,”]); and
wherein the mapping component denotes the geographic locations of each of the plurality of patients and the potential matches ([127 “exemplary embodiments discussed herein allow for an efficient dispatch system that can use different defined geographic regions as a factor when scheduling service requests. These regions may be defined by country to smaller divisions such as state, county or borough, neighborhood, and even zip code. The system can be configured to identify where service requests take place, particularly the start locations and end locations, as these relate to the times at which the service requests are scheduled, and can group them by region,”]).
Therefore it would be obvious for Kogan wherein the software application further comprises a mapping component, wherein the mapping component provides an interactive map, and wherein the mapping component denotes the geographic locations of each of the plurality of patients and the potential matches as per the steps of Wang in order to monitor physiological parameters of patients for the purpose of enabling the transmittal of physiological parameters to remote computing devices and thus resulting in optimized provision of medically related care to patients and individuals and thus resulting in better outcomes for patients.
Claims 8 and 18: Kogan in view of Bage and Wang disclose the system as described in claims 1 and 11 above and Kogan does not explicitly disclose, however Wang discloses wherein the software application further comprises a referring component configured to create and manage profile of each of the plurality of patients ([83 “Database 108 can also include data in the caregiver's profile that may include such information as a caregiver's favorite list and blacklist, limitations related to zip codes, time, location, and price, as well as service data and records…..Patient data can comprise patients' profiles including personal data, patients' favorite caregiver lists, patients' caregiver blacklist, patients' preferences, service requests data, and records. One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that database 108 can sync dynamically so that whenever changes or updates in data blocks are made,”]).
Therefore it would be obvious for Kogan wherein the software application further comprises a referring component configured to create and manage profile of each of the plurality of patients as per the steps of Wang in order to monitor physiological parameters of patients for the purpose of enabling the transmittal of physiological parameters to remote computing devices and thus resulting in optimized provision of medically related care to patients and individuals and thus resulting in better outcomes for patients.
Claims 9 and 19: Kogan in view of Bage and Wang disclose the system as described in claims 1 and 11 above and Kogan does not explicitly disclose, however Wang discloses:
wherein the software application further comprises a scheduling component ([2 “systems and methods for dispatching/scheduling home health care services, and more particularly, to systems and methods for on-demand and prescheduled home health care services in which one or more service requests are received, scheduled on-demand, prescheduled, and/or grouped based on caregiver availability and customizable parameters,” 51-54, 75]);
wherein the scheduling component is configured to provide each of the two or more homecare agencies and the homecare providers to create a number of visits for each of the plurality of patients and input frequency of the visits ([60 “parameters of service requests of Patients may include a number of hours or units of time needed, an authorization level, a certification level, one or more work items, a type of care, a visit start time, a visit location, and/or a visit end time,” 86 “service request information stored in the database 108 may include, for example, a service request ID, relevant caregiver information, relevant patient information, requested visit location, actual visit location, requested drop-off location, actual drop-off location, visit start time, visit end time, distance, duration time, status, prices, insurance company,” 94 “input a service request which includes service details such as pick-up and drop-off locations as well as desired pick-up and visit end times,”]).
Therefore it would be obvious for Kogan wherein the software application further comprises a scheduling component and wherein the scheduling component is configured to provide each of the two or more homecare agencies and the homecare providers to create a number of visits for each of the plurality of patients and input frequency of the visits as per the steps of Wang in order to monitor physiological parameters of patients for the purpose of enabling the transmittal of physiological parameters to remote computing devices and thus resulting in optimized provision of medically related care to patients and individuals and thus resulting in better outcomes for patients.
Claims 10 and 20: Kogan in view of Bage and Wang disclose the system as described in claims 1 and 11 above and Kogan does not explicitly disclose however Wang discloses wherein the software application further comprises a medical record component configured to provide each of the two or more homecare agencies and the plurality of homecare providers to view, upload or edit medical records of each of the plurality of patients ([129 “process starts with computing system 100 downloading or otherwise receiving service requests 300 (Step 400) which may have been uploaded by a vendor and/or submitted by a patient,” 130 “Computing system 100 then determines whether its details match a record of any previous service requests stored in database 108 (Step 404), such as, for example, a matching patient name, a visit location, and/or a drop-off location….matching records are found (Yes, Step 404) or after new service request records have been processed (Steps 406/408), computing system 100 searches the records in database 108 to determine whether a favorite caregiver of a patient for a service request is available to carry out the service request,” 152 “indicators indicate activity relative to their user type, category and subcategory. Since the system stores service request records in the database of the system, it is able to quantify when they were made or carried out by using timestamps and where they were carried out by request details. These records regarding the time or other numbers, however, may be scaled up or down, where a patient may divide the time frame of relevance, such as one or more days, one or more months or one or more years,”]).
Therefore it would be obvious for Kogan wherein the software application further comprises a medical record component configured to provide each of the two or more homecare agencies and the plurality of homecare providers to view, upload or edit medical records of each of the plurality of patients as per the steps of Wang in order to monitor physiological parameters of patients for the purpose of enabling the transmittal of physiological parameters to remote computing devices and thus resulting in optimized provision of medically related care to patients and individuals and thus resulting in better outcomes for patients.
Claim(s) 3 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of Kogan et al. (20230005607) in view of Bage et al. (20130151274) and Wang (20190122760) and in further view of Carroll et al. (20120150563).
Claims 3 and 13: Kogan in view of Bage and Wang disclose the system as described in claims 1 and 11 above and Kogan does not explicitly disclose, however Carroll discloses wherein each of the computing devices further comprises a camera; wherein the camera is configured to capture two-dimensional codes on medication or supplies for each of the plurality of patients and identify medical data from the two-dimensional codes ([35 “Prescription details and/or an image of the prescription may be listed under the unique identifier and stored in a database for access by the pharmacy staff member by inputting the unique identifier into the system, for example the pharmacy staff member may scan in a barcode that is on a presented prescription….prescriptions may be printed, and may include a unique identifier, such as a barcode, QR code, symbol, alpha numeric code, or other suitable unique identifier,” 39 “prescription with a unique identifier may be searched and verified by a pharmacy staff member by inputting the unique identifier and retrieving the prescription information as written and uploaded by the healthcare provider, as an example the pharmacy may scan in a barcode present on a prescription presented at the pharmacy,” 40 “receipt or claim check with the unique identifier is printed out, brought up via a patient's mobile device (such as a smart phone, tablet, pad, or the like), or otherwise made available to be presented at the pharmacy for verification, or is otherwise electronically associated with the prescription for verification by the pharmacy. In the case of mobile devices the patient, in one example, would register and login to the system,”]).
Therefore it would be obvious for Kogan wherein each of the computing devices further comprises a camera; wherein the camera is configured to capture two-dimensional codes on medication or supplies for each of the plurality of patients and identify medical data from the two-dimensional codes as per the steps of Carroll in order to monitor physiological parameters of patients for the purpose of enabling the transmittal of physiological parameters to remote computing devices and thus resulting in optimized provision of medically related care to patients and individuals and thus resulting in better outcomes for patients.
Claim(s) 5 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of Kogan et al. (20230005607) in view of Bage et al. (20130151274) and Wang (20190122760) and in further view of Bala et al. (20220351846).
Claims 5 and 15: Kogan in view of Bogle and Wang disclose the system as described in claims 1 and 11 above and Kogan does not explicitly disclose however Bala discloses wherein the software application further comprises a recruiting component ([29 “analysis of the risk of caregiver retention and provides guidance to users (e.g. human resource managers and managers in general) on the potential root cause behind a change in retention. The system allows a determination if a caregiver is highly retainable or at high-risk to leave. The system provides analysis that outputs key factors for retention,”]);
wherein the recruiting component displays the homecare agencies providing homecare services in a predetermined area for each of the homecare providers ([37, 38 “determine the geographical location and time of events through use of information about the cellular or wireless network 150 to which it is connected. For example, is standard electronic visit verification processes used to capture electronic visit verification data. Alternatively, the current geographical location of the computing devices 120 and 122 may be determined by directly querying the software stack providing the network 150 connection,” 46 “data may be further subdivided according to any type of data stored in the patient profiles, such as by geographic area (e.g., neighborhood, city) over by time period (e.g., weekly, monthly, or yearly). Data from such profiles including relevant information from the database 144 may be used for input factors for determining caregiver retention,” 70]); and
wherein the recruiting component transmits applications from each of the homecare providers to each of the homecare agencies ([46 “application server 130 may create profiles for health care providers such as the health care provider 114. A health care provider profile may include identifying information about the health care provider, such as the office location, qualifications and certifications,” 47 “database servers 140 and 144 store patient and provider data related data such as profiles, medication events, patient medical history (e.g., electronic medical records). Patient and provider data are encrypted for security and is at least password protected and otherwise secured to meet all Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requirements,” 56 “machine learning module 132 in FIG. 1 provides predictions based on input data for retention of a caregiver such as the caregiver 110. The training module 134 is provided for collecting training data to determine the weights and importance of different input factors as will be explained below,” 57, 61]).
Therefore it would be obvious for Kogan wherein the software application further comprises a recruiting component, wherein the recruiting component displays the homecare agencies providing homecare services in a predetermined area for each of the homecare providers, and wherein the recruiting component transmits applications from each of the homecare providers to each of the homecare agencies as per the steps of Bala in order to monitor physiological parameters of patients for the purpose of enabling the transmittal of physiological parameters to remote computing devices and thus resulting in optimized provision of medically related care to patients and individuals and thus resulting in better outcomes for patients.
Claim(s) 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of Kogan et al. (20230005607) in view of Bage et al. (20130151274), Wang (20190122760) and in further view of Vengco (20130325505).
Claim 11: Kogan discloses a system for facilitating collaboration in healthcare comprising:
a. a network; wherein the network includes a plurality of wirelessly connected end nodes ([33]);
b. two or more homecare agencies, a plurality of homecare providers and a plurality of patients ([14, 15]);
wherein each of the two or more homecare agencies has a roster of patients and homecare providers ([18, 20, 21, 70]);
c. a plurality of computing devices associated with each of the two or more homecare agencies and the plurality of homecare providers respectively; wherein each of the computing devices is connected to the network ([31-35, Fig. 1]);
d. one or more servers; wherein the one or more servers are communicated with the network ([31, 32, 39]);
e. a database; wherein the database is stored on the one or more servers ([34, 39]);
g. a software application accessible from the plurality of computing devices; wherein the software application is communicated with the network and synced to the database ([13, 22, 30-32, 49, 64, 65]);
wherein the software application provides user accounts to each of the two or more homecare agencies and the plurality of homecare providers ([41, 69]);
wherein the software application further comprises a matching component ([41, 57]);
generate for each of the plurality of patients, a plurality of potential matches of the plurality homecare providers ([70-72, 126, 132]);
wherein the potential matches are determined based on a plurality of attributes ([17, 41, 48, 95-105]);
determine the plurality of matches based on a predetermined distance or service zone according to a physical address or zip code ([17 “collates the received patient data to capture information, for example, about the patients' addresses, comorbidities, social and/or psychosocial determinants of health, religious beliefs, family status, gender, communities to which the patients belong, outstanding traits, insurance plans, insurance plan needs, and other relevant data in accordance with standard ontologies of health-related information for delivering relevant patient care, for clustering similar patients, and for matching appropriate healthcare providers and onsite care coordinators to each patient,” 41 “computer-aided interface with algorithms to match user-provided data with standard ontologies of health-related information in real time and to provide input suggestions for symptoms, conditions, drug names, etc., to the patients while the patients input the patient data,” 48 “optimization factors further comprise, for example, addresses of the patients, social and/or psychosocial determinants of health of the patients for clustering patients with similar determinants, religious beliefs, family status, gender, community to which a patient belongs, and outstanding traits for matching appropriate healthcare providers and onsite care coordinators to each patient,” 44, 95-104, 105 “categories of appointments comprises the following attributes: 106 “Weight—Appointment Type Weight (ATW), from 1 to 10,” and 107 Priority—Appointment Type Priority (ATP), 0 to 1]); dates ([60 “output generation module 106c calculates an optimal home-visit plan through a month starting from the current date. To ensure periodic schedule recalculation to match changes, the output generation module 106c recalculates the home-visit plan every day to follow changes in patient needs and healthcare provider and onsite care coordinator availability,”]), times ([18 “appointment optimization and route planning system (AORPS) generates an input matrix based on the client input and the collated patient data, covering a preconfigured period of time, for example, thirty days,” 42 “data reception module 106a allows the patient to specify a preferred time to meet onsite care coordinators and/or healthcare providers in different levels of detail, for example, time of day, day(s) of the week, and in more complex patterns,”]), geographic locations ([16 “a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) module and a mapping module. The mapping module is configured to receive location input from the GNSS module. In an embodiment, the mapping module is a mapping module,” 20 “patient data that the appointment optimization and route planning system (AORPS) receives from the patients comprises, for example, age, gender, profession, location,” 31 “mapping module 104 configured to receive location input from the GNSS module 103. In an embodiment, the appointment scheduling modules 102 and the mapping module 104 are implemented in software that runs on hardware in the computing platform 101. The GNSS module 103 is a satellite navigation device, for example, a global positioning system (GPS) unit. The GNSS module 103 may provide location information to a web mapping service such as Google Maps®, Apple Maps, etc., for determining location, planning routes,”]), requirements of each of the plurality of patients and qualifications of each of the plurality of homecare providers ([16 “AORPS optimizes home-visit appointments and related travel for delivering patient care using algorithms comprising, for example, one or more of decision trees, machine learning models, and regression models,” 17 “administrator of a healthcare company that coordinates with the healthcare providers and the onsite care coordinators for the home-visit appointments. The AORPS receives the registration data and the patient data from the patients and the client input from the client through the appointment scheduling modules via a network, for example, the internet. The AORPS provides a user interface, for example, a web interface or a mobile application (app) interface, on the appointment scheduling modules for the patients and the client to input data depending on an electronic device used by the patients and the client to communicate with the appointment scheduling modules via the network,” 33 “client is, for example, an administrator of a healthcare company that coordinates with healthcare providers and onsite care coordinators for scheduling the home-visit appointments. The AORPS 106 provides a web interface or a mobile application (app) interface as a graphical user interface or other user interface on the appointment scheduling modules 102 for allowing the client to communicate with the appointment scheduling modules,” 39, 40]);
determine for each of the homecare agencies, whether the homecare care providers of the potential matches are with the roster of each of the homecare agencies or listed on the roster of another homecare agency ([17, 20, 43, 50, 120]);
provide a confirmation option to the homecare agency in response to the potential matches within the roster ([61, 70, 124, 127]);
Kogan does not explicitly disclose however Bage discloses:
f. one or more monitoring devices ([52]);
wherein each of the one or more monitoring devices are configured to monitor physiological parameters of each of the plurality of patients ([52, 57-58, 72, 74]);
wherein the one or more monitoring devices are connected to the network wirelessly ([52, 81]); wherein the physiological parameters are received by the plurality of computing devices ([64, 78, 81, 82]); and
provide the homecare agency having the roster and the matched homecare provider access to view the physiological parameters of the patient in response to the confirmation option (78, 81, 82]);
Therefore it would be obvious for Kogan wherein one or more monitoring devices and wherein each of the one or more monitoring devices are configured to monitor physiological parameters of each of the plurality of patients, and wherein the one or more monitoring devices are connected to the network wirelessly, wherein the physiological parameters are received by the plurality of computing devices and in response to the confirmation option, the matching component provides the homecare agency having the roster and the matched homecare provider access to view the physiological parameters of the patient as per the steps of Bage in order to monitor physiological parameters of patients for the purpose of enabling the transmittal of physiological parameters to remote computing devices and thus resulting in optimized provision of medically related care to patients and individuals and thus resulting in better outcomes for patients.
Kogan does not explicitly disclose however Wang discloses:
create an engagement record including an agreement of division of revenue between the two homecare agencies and provides the two homecare agencies ([57, 59 “Billing personnel are responsible for batching and sending service claims to the insurance company for payment, a portion of which include Caregiver wages. Additionally, some agencies further split Billing personnel into Pre-Billing personnel, who look for any errors in the batches of service claims generated, go over the physical timesheets that the Caregivers hand in, and match them to times verified on an electronic calendar,” 82, 83, 86, 75 “systems and methods for home healthcare services as disclosed herein may further include enabling a third-party agent or agency (e.g., an insurance company, etc.) to schedule home healthcare services on behalf of one or more patients directly with caregivers (i.e., independent caregivers, caregivers associated with a dispatch service, etc.) or indirectly with the caregivers through the dispatch service or system,” 82 “Rules and procedures data can include system price, promotion setting rules and procedures, as well as rules and procedures for indicators, referrals, payments, service requests, system management, system log, system analysis and optimization,” 83 “Database 108 can further include administrative data comprising prices and rates, system data such as contact and FAQ information, and registration details regarding patients and caregivers, such as, for example, billing information or other relevant information relating to administering the prescheduling service application,” 84, 131 “If a preferred caregiver is available (Yes, Step 414), then computing system 100 sends service request 300 to that preferred caregiver for acceptance (Step 412). If no favorite or preferred caregiver are found to be available (No, Step 414), then computing system 100 identifies whether a regular caregiver is available (Step 416). If a regular caregiver is available (Yes, Step 416), then computing system 100 sends the service request to the regular caregiver for acceptance,” 132]) and provide the homecare agencies and the homecare provider collaborating access to view the physiological parameters of the patient ([2 “on-demand and prescheduled home health care services in which one or more service requests are received, scheduled on-demand, prescheduled, and/or grouped based on caregiver availability customizable parameters and/or preferences to establish priority and/or compatibility between individual patients and caregivers,” 28 “receiving, by the server, a plurality of preset caregiver preferences or limitations of a plurality of caregivers; receiving, by the server, a plurality of optionally preset patient preferences of a plurality of patients; storing, in a database, the plurality of preset caregiver service zones, the plurality of preset caregiver preferences or limitations, and the plurality of optionally preset patient preferences; receiving, by the server, a plurality of service requests for prescheduling, wherein each service request corresponds to one of the plurality of patients and contains time-location data associated with at least one service location,” 59 “Patients generally stay at home and receive the Caregiver, who arrives at the Patient's home to provide services. Such services may include, for example, housework, resident nurse work (RN), laundry, cleaning, showering, cooking, etc. The type of Caregiver dispatched typically depends on the type(s) and amount of service(s) each patient requires. For example, if the patient requires physical assistance, the particular caregiver's size, strength, or other physical attributes may be considered when assigning the appropriate caregiver,” 70 “diagram of an exemplary computing system 100 and a plurality of peripheral computing devices. A combination of hardware and software operates on a plurality of computing devices,” 74, 75 “systems and methods for home healthcare services as disclosed herein may further include enabling a third-party agent or agency (e.g., an insurance company, etc.) to schedule home healthcare services on behalf of one or more patients directly with caregivers (i.e., independent caregivers, caregivers associated with a dispatch service, etc.) or indirectly with the caregivers through the dispatch service or system,” 82, 96 “location identifier 204 can include a GPS-enabled system or device whose tracking components identify the location of patients who are making service requests and caregivers who are looking to provide service,” 101, 120 “caregiver priority can be established which includes a certain weight assigned to a caregiver indicative of how well a particular caregiver matches service request 300, the patient's preferences, and the patient favorites list, and/or the feasibility of the caregiver being able to service the request given where he/she is expected to be at the time of pick-up,” 128 “storing patient information, caregiver profile information, caregiver location data, and traffic map data in the manner discussed above, computing system 100 is able to quickly eliminate a number of caregivers in database 108, and match a service request to a select list of caregivers who are deemed most compatible with the patient and his/her service request, and based on the caregiver's location or expected location,” 145, 148 “twelfth set may convey the level of familiarity of a caregiver with the patient providing the service request, represented at least through percentage or any other depiction such as tiers, wherein the familiarity is calculated by the overall level of familiarity a caregiver has with a given patient, based on the patient's history, medical needs, general preferences, etc,” 166 “Medical device availability preference enables a patient to make sure that a transport vehicle has certain equipment, such as oxygen tanks or other medical devices,” 179 “duties required by the service request may not include transportation services, but rather may include at-home services for patients, which can comprise any number of duties, such as, but not limited to, cooking, cleaning, laundry, helping patients shower and dress, nursing work, counseling, physical therapy, or any other at-home service the patient needs]).
Therefore it would be obvious for Kogan in response to identifying the homecare provider selected, the revenue sharing component creates an engagement record including an agreement of division of revenue between the two homecare agencies and provide the homecare agencies and the homecare provider collaborating access to view the physiological parameters of the patient as per the steps of Wang in order to monitor physiological parameters of patients for the purpose of enabling the transmittal of physiological parameters to remote computing devices and thus resulting in optimized provision of medically related care to patients and individuals and thus resulting in better outcomes for patients.
Examiner Note: The above limitations are elements as contained in Claim 1 and as explained above, are rejected under the combination of Kogan in view of Wang and Bage as explained above.
The combination of Kogan in view of Bage and Wang discloses a wide range of methods to provide timely homecare with respect to a variety of methods and Kogan/Bage/Wang does not explicitly disclose however Vengco discloses:
a revenue sharing component; programmed to: ([34 “leasing, licensing, etc., the HIE 100 can generate revenue for data access and storage, for example. The system 100 allows an EMR to be licensed/leased to physicians who do not have an EMR. Thus, physicians may use only minimal information technology (IT) administration to access the EMR,” 36 “Using EMR application services via the HIE 100, an RHIO can generate revenue streams, for example. Alternatively and/or in addition, use of population-based data from the HIE 100 may be used to create revenue streams for the RHIO,” 50 “use of population-based data to create revenue streams for a healthcare organization,” 68, 69]);
provide each of the two or more homecare agencies ([106, 107 “patient portal provides a single online channel of communication to increase patient engagement by extending a provider workflow into a patient's home. As a result, improved patient engagement and access to information helps to reduce care cost, increase care quality, and increase access to care,”]) to list each of the plurality of patients within the roster on a collaborative platform and enable each of the two or more homecare agencies to submit a proposal ([61 “disparate systems across communities, aggregating data and images to enable safer, quicker, more informed decisions at a point of care. With transparency to each corner of the health system, HIE sets the table for the wide adoption of improved care processes,” 62, 63 “users can collect and analyze data to identify high-risk patients, personalize care plans, coordinate care team workflow, and make programmatic improvements, for example. Care management can be provided by one or more applications associated with the system intelligence and information exchange platform,” 64, 65 “care management system helps produce an evolving care plan to support population health management, for example. As a patient's data enters the system from multiple sources over time, the care plan evolves to address the current health status of the patient. Caregivers can access a centralized care plan via HIE with an ability to develop and revise appropriately to the patient's changing health profile. Thus, a holistic approach may be taken to the patient's care rather than a sum of individual plans developed by individual providers,” 66-68, Fig. 4]);
wherein the proposal comprises the potential matches of the homecare providers and corresponding rates ([87 “reduce clinical resource costs, increase service line margins, improve quality outcomes, and support accountable care, population health management, meaningful use, clinical integration, physician quality reporting, pay-for-performance, value-based purchasing, and other quality and/or cost containment initiatives, for example. Clinical performance management includes service line trend analysis, individual physician scorecard, resource utilization/cost analysis, patient satisfaction score, core measure analysis, physician cost and quality benchmarking, patient demographic analysis, and/or cost/margin analysis,” 109 “clinical performance manager helps reduce clinical resource costs, increase service line margins, improve quality outcomes, and support accountable care, population health management, meaningful use, clinical integration, physician quality reporting, pay-for-performance, value-based purchasing, and/or other quality and cost containment initiative,”]);
identify the homecare provider selected to collaborate ([38 “certain embodiments, the HIE 100 provides a financial sustainability to a healthcare organization, such as an RHIO. Using EMR application services via the HIE 100, an RHIO can generate revenue streams, for example. Alternatively and/or in addition, use of population-based data from the HIE 100 may be used to create revenue streams for the RHIO,” 45 “record locator service (RLS) may also be used to facilitate sharing of information between organizations,” 53 “accountable care of a patient and patient population in conjunction with accountable care organizations/integrated healthcare organizations, etc. Certain examples provide healthcare models to promote accountability and improved outcomes for the health of a defined population. Certain examples facilitate population health management by helping to engage a defined group of patients and providers across a continuum of care,” 55, 61, 68, 69,]) ;
Therefore it would be obvious for Kogan to operate a revenue sharing component; provide each of the two or more homecare agencies to list each of the plurality of patients within the roster on a collaborative platform and enable each of the two or more homecare agencies to submit a proposal, wherein the proposal comprises the potential matches of the homecare providers and corresponding rates, and identify the homecare provider selected to collaborate as per the steps of Vengco in order to monitor physiological parameters of patients for the purpose of enabling the transmittal of physiological parameters to remote computing devices and thus resulting in optimized provision of medically related care to patients and individuals and thus resulting in better outcomes for patients.
Response to Arguments
Applicants arguments and amendments, see Remarks/Amendments submitted 3 March 2026 with respect to the rejection of claims 1-20 have been carefully considered and are addressed below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
Applicants amended the instant claims to include more precise technological processing elements however the proposed amendments do not result in the determination that the rejection under 35 USC 101 2019 PEG Revised Step 2A Prongs One and Two and requirements of MPEP 2106 that the instant invention is directed to a practical application. Therefore the Examiner maintains that the rejection of all pending claims under 35 USC 101 is maintained and the claims are further determined to be directed to a judicial exception but not directed to any practical application of technology improvement.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Applicants argue that the currently in place combination of references does not teach the instant invention and specifically point out that cited to reference Wang does not teach the limitation “provide the homecare agency having the roster and matched homecare provider access to view the physiological parameters of the patient in response to the confirmation option,” and point out that the parameters as disclosed by Wang are customizable parameters as related to caregivers, preferred caregivers, language fluency, vehicle type, handicap accessible, and experience level with cooking and cleaning. Applicants take the position that the disclosed parameters of Wang do not apply to the claimed subject matter and therefore the rejection with respect to Wang should be withdrawn.
Examiner respectfully disagrees and replies that as detailed above with respect to cited to reference Wang it is clear the reference discloses a wide range of medically related operations for the purpose of providing a wide range of services to patients. For instance, paragraph [179] disclose a wide range of provision of services including nursing work and a wide range of patient related services such as recited “duties required by the service request may not include transportation services, but rather may include at-home services for patients, which can comprise any number of duties, such as, but not limited to, cooking, cleaning, laundry, helping patients shower and dress, nursing work, counseling, physical therapy, or any other at-home service the patient needs.” As well Wang discloses a wide range of the provision of services to patients including the scheduling of homecare services, the implementation of rules and procedures as related to a wide variety of services. As well Wang discloses the provision of services as related to the identification of preferred caregivers as recited, [131] “If a preferred caregiver is available (Yes, Step 414), then computing system 100 sends service request 300 to that preferred caregiver for acceptance (Step 412). If no favorite or preferred caregiver are found to be available (No, Step 414), then computing system 100 identifies whether a regular caregiver is available (Step 416). If a regular caregiver is available (Yes, Step 416), then computing system 100 sends the service request to the regular caregiver for acceptance,” and the association of the services with respect to the provision of detailed patient care. As well as cited to above, Wang discloses a wide range of the provision of home related health services and thus the Examiner maintains the rejection and the independent claims are rejected under the requirements of 35 USC 103.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant' s disclosure. Please see attached References Cited form 892.
See Nath et al. (20230143289) for disclosures related to the allocation of health resources and enhancing coverage based on patient locations including the allocation of patients with respect to geo-fence locations. See at least paras [14]-[31].
See Pierrilus (20230048236) for disclosures related to the secure storage and management of patient healthcare information and the allocation of the stored information to the providing healthcare professionals. See at least paras. [24]-[61].
See Kogan et al. (WO2022272005) for disclosures related to the implementation of an appointment optimization and route planning system for the optimization of homecare visits and the associated deliverance of patient care. See at least paras. [32]-[60].
See Bonutti et al. (20190065970) for disclosure related to the optimization of patient services management with the use of artificial intelligence and a variety of related procedures to optimize the delivery of health related processes. See at least paras. [47]-[89].
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to David Stoltenberg whose telephone number is (571) 270-3472.
The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 8:30AM to 5:00PM EST. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner' s supervisor, Kambiz Abdi, can be reached on (571) 272-6702. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571)-273-8300, or the examiner' s direct fax phone number is (571) 270 4472.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published application may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center at (866) 217-9197 (toll free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call (800) 786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or (571) 272-1000.
/DAVID J STOLTENBERG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3685
Prosecution Insights