A California company has put a bigger moat around its section of the personal electronic records business.
MMR Global Inc., Los Angeles (OTC.BB: MMRF.OB), says the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has sent the company a "notice of allowance" for an online medical records system patent.
The office also has sent the company a second notice of allowance that could expand the company's ability to control personal health record, document imaging and filing technology. The second notice covers matters such as methods for thefiling, management, navigation and accessing of medical data in a disaster or other emergency. The patent claims also cover dental records, children's health records, and veterinary health records for pets.
Health care providers can use MMRGlobal technology to feed information into the system using faxes and telephone calls as well as e-mails and electronic file uploads.
The company says its MyMedicalRecords system for consumers now has about 700,000 users.
A notice of allowance is a document that indicates that the patent office has decided that a patent is a genuinely new invention and intends to grants the applicant a patent.
In January 2011, MMRGlobal Chairman Robert Lorsch said the company filed the personal health record patent applications 5 years ago, "to ensure that there would be a significant barrier to entry to competitors offering electronic medical records, personal health record services and other similar services to those the company provides."
MMRGlobal also develops medical record systems aimed at doctors and other medical professionals.
The company will be participating in a test project that shows how a hospital can transmit information about the progress of a patient undergoing surgery wirelessly into the patient's personal health record, the company says.
MMRGlobal provides personal health record services for insurers and employers as well as to providers and consumers, the company says.
NOT FOR REPRINT
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.