METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MANAGING PHYSICIAN REFERRALS
First Claim
1. An online physician referral apparatus comprising:
- a computer apparatus for managing and storing a central managed database of physician profiles and scheduling information for physicians belonging to different provider groups, the database containing both physician profile data (PPD) and available appointment times for the physicians, wherein the PPD includes the physician'"'"'s specialty, location and insurance or payment information; and
an online portal, accessible by computer to referring physicians over a network, for computer implemented filtering of the PPD and available appointment times on behalf of a patient of the referring physician, the portal including a user interface enabling the referring physician to select and book on-line a referral appointment on behalf of the patient with one of the physicians based on a filtered combination of the available appointment times and PPD.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Method and apparatus for managing the physician referral process, whereby a referring physician (e.g., a primary care provider) refers a patient to another physician (e.g., a specialist) for a particular medical procedure, analysis or care. An aggregator provides systems and methods available to physicians and their administrative staff (herein collectively referred to as physicians or doctors) to: book appointments on behalf of their patients online through a doctor directory and calendar function; filter available doctors by specialty, subspecialty, procedure, insurance participation and/or hospital network; transfer a patient'"'"'s personal information, medical history and pre-selected insurance forms from one doctor'"'"'s office to another'"'"'s, electronically; transfer and upload relevant forms and paperwork via fax from one doctor'"'"'s office to another; track referrals historically (over time) on a by-doctor or by-patient basis; facilitate referrals to and from doctors in a certain network or group.
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Citations
35 Claims
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1. An online physician referral apparatus comprising:
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a computer apparatus for managing and storing a central managed database of physician profiles and scheduling information for physicians belonging to different provider groups, the database containing both physician profile data (PPD) and available appointment times for the physicians, wherein the PPD includes the physician'"'"'s specialty, location and insurance or payment information; and an online portal, accessible by computer to referring physicians over a network, for computer implemented filtering of the PPD and available appointment times on behalf of a patient of the referring physician, the portal including a user interface enabling the referring physician to select and book on-line a referral appointment on behalf of the patient with one of the physicians based on a filtered combination of the available appointment times and PPD. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method for online booking of physician referrals comprising:
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a referring physician accessing an online portal to a central managed database of physician profile data (PPD) and available appointment times for physicians belonging to different provider groups, the PPD including the physician'"'"'s specialty, location and insurance or payment information; the referring physician performing the following steps via the portal; filtering the PPD and available appointment times on behalf of a patient of the referring physician and selecting, on behalf of the patient, a referral appointment with one of the physicians based on a filtered combination of the available appointment times and PPD; entering identification information for the patient; and booking the selected appointment for the identified patient. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A method for online booking of physician referrals comprising:
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a referring physician accessing an online portal to a central managed database of physician profile data (PPD) and available appointment times for physicians belonging to different provider groups, the PPD including the physician'"'"'s specialty, location and insurance or payment information; the referring physician performing the following steps via the portal; filtering the PPD on behalf of a patient of the referring physician to select, on behalf of the patient, one of the physicians based on the PPD; entering identification information for the patient; and notifying the selected physician electronically to arrange for a referral appointment. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27)
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28. A system for managing patient referrals comprising:
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an online portal, accessible by computer to a referring physician over a network, providing access to a central managed database of physician profile data (PPD) and available appointment times for physicians belonging to different provider groups; the portal including a user interface enabling the referring physician to filter the PPD and available appointment times and select, on behalf of a patient of the referring physician one of the physicians for a referral appointment; the portal providing one or more communication channels for communication between the referring physician and one or more of the patient and the selected physician for; initiating and tracking toward completion the referral appointment of the patient with the selected physician; and transferring of patient information.
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29. A network based scheduling system, the system comprising:
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an aggregator managed database containing information relevant to referring physicians who periodically need to schedule referral appointments with other physicians; a set of parameters associated with each of a plurality of physicians accepting referral appointments having available appointment times; a central controller managing a referral appointment schedule for the aggregator, wherein the central controller operates via a network to; receive scheduling information via the network from the physicians accepting referral appointments; supply available appointment times via the network to the referring physicians, with the supplied available appointment times determined by input received from the referring physician on behalf of a patient of the referring physician; wherein the controller supplies an available appointment calendar via the network to the referring physician of the available appointment times, and wherein the referring physician can schedule an appointment via the network by selecting a desired appointment time. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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Specification