SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING MEDICAL FACILITY PROCEDURES AND RECORDS

• US 20060143041A1
• Filed: 12/23/2004
• Published: 06/29/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Merative US LP
• Original Assignee: Merge Healthcare Incorporated (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Tipirneni, Kishore
• Granted Patent: US 8,069,060 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 80/00 ICT specially adapted for facilitating communication between medical practitioners or patients, e.g. for collaborative diagnosis, therapy or health monitoring

Abstract

The invention facilitates the efficient administration of medical offices and patient records including visual coordination of room, patient, and task status indicators. The invention also enables improved document review and transcription management.

Claims

1. A medical facilities management system comprising:

at least one system user interface;

a server hosting a medical office management application coupled to said at least one system user interface, wherein said office management application is configured to facilitate color coding of examination room identifiers displayed on said at least one system user interface according to a at least one task associated with a patient assigned to an examination room.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said room identifiers are coded according to whether said at least one task is at least one of assigned, scheduled, begun, performed, suspended, completed, or reported by at least one of medical care providers, medical staff, office staff and medical technicians.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said office management application is further configured to facilitate color coding of examination room identifiers according to examination room status of at least one of vacant, occupied, patient checked-in, patient checked-out, physician occupied, in need of cleaning, and out-of-use.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said office management application is further configured to facilitate color coding of examination room identifiers according to an identity of at least one of a care provider, assistant, technician, medical staff member, and office staff member assigned to at least one of a room, task, and patient associated with said examination room.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein said office management application is further configured to facilitate color coding by automatically updating said color coding to reflect a second scheduled task upon completion of a first scheduled task.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein said medical office management application is a web-based application.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one user interface is at least one of a desktop computer, laptop computer, tablet PC, handheld device, and a cellular phone.

8. A computer-implemented method for facilitating the management of a medical facility comprising:

displaying at least one room identifier on a networked user interface; and

coordinating a color of said at least one room identifier according to at least one of room occupancy, care provider identity, patient condition, patient medical alerts, scheduled tasks, and completed tasks.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising updating said color of at least one of room identifier to reflect a second ordered task upon completion of a first task.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising coding room identifiers differently on different user terminals to convey user specific information.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising:

automatically recording associated charges for at least one of said scheduled tasks and said completed tasks for billing.

12. A computer-implemented method to facilitate management of medical records comprising:

associating an electronic document with an electronic patient chart;

submitting said electronic document for first physician review; and

automatically restricting another submission of said electronic document for second physician review upon detection of first physician review of said electronic document.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising automatically updating a review status indicator for said electronic document associated with said electronic patient chart upon detection of first physician review of said electronic document.

14. A computer-implemented method for facilitating management of medical records and documents comprising:

compiling multiple patient transcripts into a single document file;

inputting said document file into a computer system; and

separating said patient transcripts within said computer system according to at least one of predetermined character sets, patient specific information, and patient identifiers to obtain separated patient transcripts.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, further comprising automatically associating said separated patient transcripts with a corresponding patient record.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein said step of separating said patient transcripts is facilitated by detecting patient specific information in at least one of transcription headers, footers, titles, and metadata.

17. A computer-implemented method for facilitating management of medical records and documents comprising:

storing patient records in at least one database and in at least one file format; and

exporting at least a portion of said patient records to a single file of a uniform format.