Contemporaneous, multi-physician, online consultation system

• US 20080059237A1
• Filed: 08/15/2006
• Published: 03/06/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/15/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Jaxresearch Systems, LLC
• Original Assignee: Jaxresearch Systems, LLC
• Inventors: Dawson, Donald E., Koren, Michael J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,423,383 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/20 for electronic clinical trials or questionnaires
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• 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 computer-implemented system of providing online medical consultation services by a team of medical professionals begins when a user accesses the system website. The user selects the level of consultation services desired and a case submission form is provided to the user requesting information relating to desired medical consultation. The user provides the requested information on case submission form. If additional information is required, it is obtained. When the case is ready for submission, members of the medical professional team are selected for consultation on the case and forwarded the particulars of the submitted case via the Internet. The selected team members review the submitted case particulars and each member provides their medical opinion via Internet. The submitted opinions are recorded and displayed in real time on the system website, to which the user has access. In addition, the submitted opinions to structured questions are compiled to determine if there is a consensus. A graphical representation of the compiled opinions is generated and displayed in real time on the website, as well. This system can provide nearly instant information as to the sum of the opinions of medical experts for a variety of case scenarios and establishes whether, and to what extent, a consensus exists among the consulting medical professionals.

Claims

1. A system of providing online medical consultation services by a team of medical professionals comprising the steps of:

(a) user accesses system website;

(b) user selects level of services desired;

(c) providing user with payment demand based upon the level of services selected;

(d) user submits payment information;

(e) verifying payment information;

(f) providing case submission form to user requesting information relating to desired medical consultation;

(g) user provides information on case submission form;

(h) reviewing information provided on case submission form;

(i) determining if additional information is required to process case and, if so, requesting same from suitable source;

(j) determining if the case is ready for processing;

(k) selecting members of the team for consultation on the case;

(l) forwarding particulars of the submitted case to the selected members via the Internet and e-mail;

(m) selected team members reviewing submitted case particulars and providing opinions via Internet;

(n) recording provided opinions; and

(o) displaying the opinions on website.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

(p) compiling the submitted opinions;

(q) generating a graphical representation of compiled opinions; and

(r) displaying the graphical representation on website.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the step of reviewing information on the provided case submission form comprises the steps of:

(s) parsing the information on the case submission form and comparing same to defined criteria using a software program;

(t) notifying the user if information not acceptable;

(u) permitting the user to revise unacceptable information;

(v) parsing the revised information, and;

(w) storing the information, if acceptable.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising the steps of generating a message to the user via the Internet including instructions for logging into website using user name and password.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the step of generating a message further comprises the steps of:

(x) storing assets consisting of text, graphics, animations, audio and video information relating to the case;

(y) selecting one or more of the stored assets; and

(z) using the selected assets to create the message.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the step of verifying payment information further comprises the step of notifying the user if the payment is not validated.

7. The system of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

(aa) providing the user with a “

view only”

option; and

(ab) providing the user with access to website displaying opinions, if the “

view only”

option selected.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the level of services selected by user determines the extent user can access website with displayed opinions.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the level of services selected by user determines the complexity of the case that user may submit for consultation.

10. The system of claim 1 further comprising the step of selecting the team of medical professions.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the step of selecting the team of medical professionals comprises the steps of:

(ac) selecting potential medical professionals to participate;

(ad) providing each potential medical professional that agrees to participate with website login information;

(ae) sending a welcome message to each medical professional that successfully logs onto the website;

(af) providing a contract for signature to each medical professional that logs in;

(ag) validating the information on the signed contract;

(ah) soliciting information from each medical professional with a validated contract;

(ai) validating the information provided by the medical professional;

(aj) storing the submitted information; and

(ak) confirming approval of the medical professional as member of team.

12. The system of claim 1 further comprising the step of periodically checking website for new case submissions.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein the step of determining if additional information is required to process the case and, if so, requesting same, further comprises the steps of:

(al) reviewing each new case submitted;

(am) if selected level of submitted case permits user interaction, contacting user;

(an) reviewing case with contacted user;

(ao) obtaining additional information from contacted user, if necessary.

14. The system of claim 1 further comprises the steps of:

(ap) generating one or more questions relating to a submitted case;

(aq) generating one or more answers to the questions; and

(ar) storing the questions and answers.

15. The system of claim 10 wherein the step of selecting members of team for consultation on the case comprises the steps of:

(as) sending a survey to each selected member of the team;

(at) reviewing the survey results; and

(au) selecting members for consultation based upon the survey results.

16. The system of claim 10 wherein the step of selecting members of the team for consultation on the case comprises the steps of:

(av) reviewing information about members of the team; and

(aw) selecting members for consultation on the submitted case based upon the reviewed information.

17. The system of claim 10 wherein the step of selecting members of the team for consultation comprises the steps of:

(ax) retrieving a list of approved medical professionals;

(ay) selecting a medical professional from the list;

(az) reviewing the information about the medical professional selected from the list and comparing with defined criteria.

18. The system of claim 1 wherein the step of advising selected team members of the particulars of the case via the Internet comprises the steps of:

(ba) contacting a selected team member to notify that there is a case for consultation;

(bb) providing the contacted member with a link to the website;

(bc) displaying the case particulars on the website; and

(bd) providing a survey for recording opinion by contacted member.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the step of displaying the case particulars includes the step of displaying detailed information about the case on the website

20. The system of claim 18 wherein the step of displaying the case particulars includes the step of displaying photographs relating to the case on the website.

21. The system of claim 18 further comprising the steps of determining if the survey was already answered and determining if the survey quota has already been met.

22. The system of claim 18 further comprising the step of notifying that the selected team member refuses to participate in the consultation.

23. The system of claim 1 further comprising the following steps:

(a) user accesses website;

(b) user selects case;

(c) user views details of case;

(d) user views case questions;

(e) user views displayed opinions from medical professionals; and

(f) user views displayed case comments from medical professionals.

24. The system of claim 1 wherein the step of selected medical professionals reviewing the case and submitting opinions comprises the steps of:

providing the medical professionals with a survey to report opinions regarding submitted case and displaying survey on website.

25. The system of claim 24 wherein the survey is displayed on the website in real time.

26. The system of claim 1 further comprising the step of generating a graphical representation of the survey results and displaying same on the website in real time.

27. The system of claim 1 wherein the opinions are utilized to determine an acceptable standard of health care.

28. The system of claim 27 wherein the determined acceptable standard of health care is used to determine the strength of a medical malpractice claim.

29. The system of claim 1 wherein the opinions are utilized to determine an assessment of newsworthy medical information.

30. The system of claim 1 wherein the opinions are utilized to determine an assessment of government heath policies.

31. The system of claim 1 wherein the opinions are utilized to determine a consensus as to the acceptability of a new drug or medical device.

32. The system of claim 1 wherein the opinions are utilized to determine an assessment of competitive drugs.

33. The system of claim 1 wherein the opinions are utilized to determine an assessment of public health officials.

34. The system of claim 1 wherein the opinions are utilized to determine an assessment of personal physician practices.

35. The system of claim 10 wherein the team of medical professions is selected from a group of physicians, nurses, chiropractors and/or pharmacists.

36. A computer-implemented contemporaneous, multi-physician, medical consultation system for obtaining the medical opinions of qualified, unbiased health care professionals and experts through the Internet that provides information as to the opinions of the medical professions for a variety of case scenarios and establishes whether, and to what extent, a consensus of such opinions exists.

37. The system of claim 36 wherein the opinions are compiled and displayed as a graphical representation indicative of the strength of the consensus thereof.

38. A computer-implemented system of providing online medical consultation services by a team of medical professionals comprising the following steps:

user accesses system website;

user selects the level of consultation services desired;

user is provided with a case submission form requesting information relating to desired medical consultation;

user provides the requested information on the case submission form;

additional information with regard to the case is obtained, if required;

when the case is ready for submission, members of the medical professional team are selected for consultation on the case;

selected members are forwarded the particulars of the submitted case via the Internet;

selected members review the submitted case particulars;

each selected member provides their medical opinion via Internet; and

submitted opinions are recorded and displayed on user accessible system website.

39. The system of claim 38 wherein the submitted opinions are compiled and the compilation of opinions is displayed on the website.

40. The system of claim 39 wherein the compilation of opinions indicates whether, and to what extent, a consensus exists among the selected medical professionals.

41. The system of claim 38 wherein the submitted opinions of the selected medical professionals are displayed in real time.

42. The system of claim 39 wherein a graphical representation of the compiled opinions is generated and displayed in real time.