Method and apparatus for facilitating delivery of medical services
First Claim
1. A method of enhancing the quality and efficiency of the clinician-patient encounter, the method dependent upon differentiation of two types of data resulting from the clinician-patient encounter, the method comprising:
- obtaining descriptive data to enable a clinician to determine a diagnosis;
determining a diagnosis;
entering the diagnosis into an electronic system wherein entry of the descriptive data in an electronic format is not a prerequisite for entering a diagnosis;
automatically determining a proposed plan of action consistent with the diagnosis, the proposed plan of action including one or more elements;
electronically displaying the proposed plan of action composed of functional data;
if the proposed plan of action is acceptable to the clinician, accepting the plan of action; and
if the proposed plan of action is not acceptable to the clinician, altering or adding to the one or more elements until in order to make them acceptable for the care of a specific patient, wherein the method differentiates between descriptive data and functional data, the descriptive data regarding the patient'"'"'s history, symptoms and physical examination findings being used by the clinician to form the diagnosis, but only function data being required to be entered into the electronic system to determine a plan of action.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic system facilitates the clinician-patient encounter and serves as a single point of integration for all electronic health care information systems. A physician selects a diagnosis, which is converted from the physician'"'"'s preferred terminology to a standard ICD diagnosis. The system then proposes a preferred treatment appropriate to the selected diagnosis. The physician can change any items of the proposed treatment plan, with changes being checked against payor rules, prior patient information and selected authorities'"'"' guidelines. If a diagnosis or treatment element is not authorized by the payor for the selected diagnosis, the system notifies the physician, allowing changes or offering electronic request for payor authorization. Additionally, the system may indicate those diagnoses for which payor allows said elements, allowing the physician to choose a diagnosis that is consistent with the patient'"'"'s symptoms and supports the desired treatment. Upon accepting a diagnostic and treatment plan, the plan elements are preferably carried out automatically. For example, payor authorizations are requested as necessary, prescriptions are transmitted to the patient'"'"'s preferred pharmacy, laboratory tests are ordered, and tests, referrals, and appointments are scheduled electronically.
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Citations
45 Claims
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1. A method of enhancing the quality and efficiency of the clinician-patient encounter, the method dependent upon differentiation of two types of data resulting from the clinician-patient encounter, the method comprising:
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obtaining descriptive data to enable a clinician to determine a diagnosis;
determining a diagnosis;
entering the diagnosis into an electronic system wherein entry of the descriptive data in an electronic format is not a prerequisite for entering a diagnosis;
automatically determining a proposed plan of action consistent with the diagnosis, the proposed plan of action including one or more elements;
electronically displaying the proposed plan of action composed of functional data;
if the proposed plan of action is acceptable to the clinician, accepting the plan of action; and
if the proposed plan of action is not acceptable to the clinician, altering or adding to the one or more elements until in order to make them acceptable for the care of a specific patient, wherein the method differentiates between descriptive data and functional data, the descriptive data regarding the patient'"'"'s history, symptoms and physical examination findings being used by the clinician to form the diagnosis, but only function data being required to be entered into the electronic system to determine a plan of action. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 14)
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5. A system enhancing the quality and efficiency of the clinician-patient encounter, comprising:
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an output device for displaying to a clinician, health-related information, including diagnostic and care plan information;
an input device for entering diagnostic and care plan information;
a memory for storing a computer program;
a processor for executing the computer program, the computer program enhancing the quality and efficiency the clinician-patient encounter by;
accepting from the clinician a diagnosis entered through the input device;
automatically displaying care plan elements consistent with the diagnosis, the care plan elements being arranged in a specific order designated by the clinician and/or an authority;
accepting from the clinician a selection of one or more alternate or additional care plan elements; and
following review and acceptance by the clinician and/or authoritative electronic systems, automatically initiating at least one aspect of the selected care plan elements. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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27. A method for providing guidance to a clinician for determining a diagnosis and selecting treatments based on authoritative guidelines without constraining the independent practice of medicine by the clinician, comprising:
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determining a patient'"'"'s symptoms;
entering a working diagnosis into an electronic device in data communications with a database associating payor authorized diagnostic and treatment procedures with diagnoses;
automatically generating from the information in the database a diagnostic and treatment procedure action list corresponding to the working diagnosis; and
selecting one or more treatments from the list or entering a treatment not on the list.
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39. A system for the collecting, integrating, and communicating information related to providing health care, the system linking the clinician with medical records, payor guidelines, reference information, and service providers, comprising:
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an office computer in data communications with one or more computer networks;
a handheld or other portable computing device including an input device and a display device for use by a clinician during a patient encounter, the handheld portable computing device in data communication with the computer network;
a memory in data communication with the handheld computing device and storing a program that assists the Encounter by;
retrieving patient history information from a database accessible from one of the one or more computer networks and causing the patient history to be displayed on the handheld portable computing device;
prompting the clinician to input a diagnosis, displaying treatment options consistent with the diagnosis, the treatment options being arranged in an order of preference corresponding to the likelihood of selection by the clinician;
selecting a treatment; and
communicating over the computer network to initiate at least a part of the treatment by a health care provider.
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44. A method of increasing the efficiency of the clinician-patient provision of medical service, comprising:
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presenting to a clinician a list of diagnoses;
selecting a diagnosis;
presenting to the clinician a list of actions consistent with the diagnosis;
selecting one or more actions from the list of actions; and
automatically implementing at least one action from the list.
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45. A method for assisting a clinician in efficiently and accurately converging to a final diagnosis from a working diagnosis in consideration of a payor or other authority'"'"'s acceptable guidelines, the method using a graphical user interface that:
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presents working diagnoses for selection by a clinician;
selecting a working diagnosis;
displaying for selection by a clinician of a list of one or more Care Plan elements corresponding to the working diagnosis, the care plan elements being determined from payor or other authority'"'"'s acceptable guideline;
selecting one or more care plan elements from the list or entering a care plan element not on the list;
if a care plan element not on the list is entered, determining whether the care plan element is in accordance with the payor or authority guidelines for the entered diagnosis;
if not, displaying one or more diagnoses that are in accordance with the payor or authority guidelines for the entered care plan element; and
selecting a diagnosis that is in accordance with the patient'"'"'s symptoms and that supports the entered care plan.
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Specification