System and method for providing decision support to appointment schedulers in a healthcare setting

• US 20040059714A1
• Filed: 07/31/2003
• Published: 03/25/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Epic Systems Corporation
• Original Assignee: Epic Systems Corporation
• Inventors: Larsen, Steven J., Derose, Marie C., Grover, Sameer
• Granted Patent: US 7,979,294 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063116 Schedule adjustment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1095 Meeting or appointment

Abstract

A method of providing a healthcare provider the ability to schedule an appointment including receiving a patient'"'"'s requested appointment from an appointment scheduler; receiving an initial visit type from the appointment scheduler corresponding to the requested appointment; scheduling the requested appointment when it is determined that the requested appointment corresponds to a basic appointment; and providing the appointment scheduler with a set of decision support tools and responding to the requested appointment, when it is determined that the requested appointment corresponds to a complex appointment.

Claims

1. A method of providing a healthcare provider the ability to schedule an appointment comprising:

receiving a patient'"'"'s requested appointment from an appointment scheduler;

receiving an initial visit type from the appointment scheduler corresponding to the requested appointment;

scheduling the requested appointment when it is determined that the requested appointment corresponds to a basic appointment; and

providing the appointment scheduler with a set of decision support tools and responding to the requested appointment, when it is determined that the requested appointment corresponds to a complex appointment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein responding to the requested appointment comprises responding with one of the following responses:

replacing the initial visit type with a system generated visit type, prohibiting the scheduling of the initial visit type, recommending a new visit type, recommending panels of visit types, recommending a provider, recommending a pool of providers, recommending a pool of resources, selecting a pool of providers, selecting a pool of resources, initiating medical necessity checking.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the appointment scheduler with the set of decision support tools comprises identifying an appropriate form for use by the appointment scheduler to assist in obtaining a set of information corresponding to the requested appointment.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the appropriate form is one of the following forms:

a questionnaire form, a scheduling codes form, or a custom form.

5. The method of claim 3, comprising displaying the appropriate form to the appointment scheduler.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining an additional set of information from the patient.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein obtaining the additional set of information comprises obtaining a plurality of responses to a corresponding plurality of questions, the plurality of questions being listed on a questionnaire form.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein obtaining the additional set of information comprises receiving a scheduling code based on a treatment required for the patient, the scheduling code being listed on a scheduling codes form displayed to the appointment scheduler.

9. The method of claim 8, comprising determining which scheduling code to list on the scheduling codes form, the scheduling code being one of the following types of scheduling codes:

a visit code, a treatment code, or a pre-visit preparation code.

10. A method of providing decision support to an appointment scheduler in a healthcare setting comprising:

identifying the appointment scheduler;

receiving an initial visit type for a requested appointment for a patient;

determining if decision support exists for the initial visit type;

allowing the appointment scheduler to schedule the requested appointment for the patient if decision support does not exist for the initial visit type;

if decision support does exist for the initial visit type;

determining an appropriate form to provide the appointment scheduler to assist in obtaining a set of information corresponding to the requested appointment;

displaying the appropriate form to the appointment scheduler;

obtaining the additional set of information from the patient; and

determining a response to the requested appointment.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein identifying the appointment scheduler comprises retrieving data from a memory corresponding to the appointment scheduler.

12. The method according to claim 10, further comprising identifying the patient and linking the patient to a corresponding electronic medical record.

13. The method according to claim 10, wherein the response to the requested appointment comprises one of the following responses:

replacing the initial visit type with a system generated visit type, prohibiting the scheduling of the initial visit type, recommending a new visit type, recommending panels of visit types, recommending a provider, recommending a pool of providers, recommending a pool of resources, selecting a pool of providers, selecting a pool of resources, initiating medical necessity checking.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the appropriate form is one of the following forms:

a questionnaire form, a scheduling codes form, or a custom form.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein obtaining the additional set of information comprises obtaining a plurality of response to a corresponding plurality of questions, the plurality of questions being listed on a questionnaire form.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein obtaining the additional set of information comprises receiving a scheduling code based on a treatment required for the patient, the scheduling code being listed on a scheduling codes form displayed to the appointment scheduler.

17. The method of claim 16, comprising determining which scheduling code to list on the scheduling codes form, the scheduling code being one of the following types of scheduling codes:

a visit code, a treatment code, or a pre-visit preparation code.

18. A system for providing decision support to an appointment scheduler in a healthcare setting comprising:

means for identifying the appointment scheduler;

means for receiving an initial visit type for a requested appointment for a patient;

means for determining if decision support exists for the initial visit type;

means for allowing the appointment scheduler to schedule the requested appointment for the patient if decision support does not exist for the initial visit type;

if decision support does exist for the initial visit type;

means for determining an appropriate form to provide the appointment scheduler to assist in obtaining a set of information corresponding to the requested appointment;

means for displaying the appropriate form to the appointment scheduler;

means for obtaining the additional set of information from the patient; and

means for determining a response to the requested appointment.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the means for identifying the appointment scheduler comprises means for retrieving data from a memory corresponding to the appointment scheduler.

20. The system of claim 18, further comprising means for identifying the patient and means for linking the patient to a corresponding electronic medical record.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the response to the requested appointment comprises one of the following responses:

replacing the initial visit type with a system generated visit type, prohibiting the scheduling of the initial visit type, recommending a new visit type, recommending panels of visit types, recommending a provider, recommending a pool of providers, recommending a pool of resources, selecting a pool of providers, selecting a pool of resources, initiating medical necessity checking.

22. The system of claim 18, wherein the appropriate form is one of the following forms:

a questionnaire form, a scheduling codes form, or a custom form.

23. The system of claim 18, wherein the means for obtaining the additional set of information comprises means for obtaining a plurality of response to a corresponding plurality of questions, the plurality of questions being listed on a questionnaire form.

24. The system of claim 18, wherein the means for obtaining the additional set of information comprises means for receiving a scheduling code based on a treatment required for the patient, the scheduling code being listed on a scheduling codes form displayed to the appointment scheduler.

25. The system of claim 18, comprising means for determining which scheduling code to list on the scheduling codes form, the scheduling code being one of the following types of scheduling codes:

a visit code, a treatment code, or a pre-visit preparation code.

26. An article comprising a machine-accessible medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:

receive a patient'"'"'s requested appointment from an appointment scheduler;

receive an initial visit type from the appointment scheduler corresponding to the requested appointment;

schedule the requested appointment when it is determined that the requested appointment corresponds to a basic appointment;

provide the appointment scheduler with a set of decision support tools when it is determined that the requested appointment corresponds to a complex appointment; and

respond to the requested appointment when it is determined that the requested appointment corresponds to a complex appointment.

27. The article of claim 26, having further instructions that, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to respond to the requested appointment with one of the following responses:

replacing the initial visit type with a system generated visit type, prohibiting the scheduling of the initial visit type, recommending a new visit type, recommending panels of visit types, recommending a provider, recommending a pool of providers, recommending a pool of resources, selecting a pool of providers, selecting a pool of resources, initiating medical necessity checking.

28. The article of claim 26, having further instructions that, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to identify an appropriate form for use by the appointment scheduler to assist in obtaining a set of information corresponding to the requested appointment.

29. The article of claim 28, wherein the appropriate form is one of the following forms:

a questionnaire form, a scheduling codes form, or a custom form.

30. The article of claim 28, having further instructions that, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to display the appropriate form to the appointment scheduler.

31. The article of claim 26, having further instructions that, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to retrieve an additional set of information from the patient.

32. The article of claim 31, having further instructions that, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to obtain a plurality of responses to a corresponding plurality of questions, the plurality of questions being listed on a questionnaire form.

33. The article of claim 31, having further instructions that, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to receive a scheduling code based on a treatment required for the patient, the scheduling code being listed on a scheduling codes form displayed to the appointment scheduler.

34. The article of claim 33, having further instructions that, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to determine which scheduling code to list on the scheduling codes form, the scheduling code being one of the following types of scheduling codes:

a visit code, a treatment code, or a pre-visit preparation code.