Medical Listener

• US 20110196699A1
• Filed: 04/15/2011
• Published: 08/11/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Well Corporation (Amwell Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: American Well Corporation (Amwell Incorporated)
• Inventors: Schoenberg, Roy
• Granted Patent: US 8,515,776 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• 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

An engagement is brokered between a consumer and a medical service provider; electronic text of a real-time, text-based communication between the medical service provider and the consumer is monitored during the engagement; the electronic text is analyzed for a triggering event related to at least one of medical diagnosis and medical treatment; the triggering event is detected in the electronic text; and medical information is provided to the medical service provider via a user interface in response to the triggering event.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

establishing, by a computer system over a computer network, a real-time, text-based communication channel between a computer system used by a service provider and a computer system used by a consumer;

receiving, by the computer system that established the communication channel over the computer network through the real-time, text-based communication channel, one or more text units from a real-time, text-based communication between the service provider and the consumer;

analyzing, by the computer system that established the communication channel, the one or more text units for a triggering event related to a health care topic;

detecting the triggering event in the one or more text units; and

providing, by the computer system that established the communication channel over the computer network through the real-time, text-based communication channel, information related to the health care topic to the computer system used by the service provider during the real-time, text-based communication.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising brokering an engagement between the service provider and the consumer.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the triggering event comprises comparing at least a portion of the real-time, text-based communication to a list of medical terms.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the triggering event comprises comparing at least a portion of the real-time, text-based communication to a numerical threshold.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the trigging event comprises comparing at least a portion of the real-time, text-based communication to a criterion defined by the service provider.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein providing information related to the health care topic to the service provider comprises retrieving data from a database.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication channel comprises a secure communication channel.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising querying the consumer for permission to provide the information related to the health care topic to the service provider.

24. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from an external computer system, the information related to the health care topic.

25. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending, to the computer system used by the consumer, a first graphical user interface that when rendered on a display of the computer system used by the consumer depicts a visual representation of an input box for input of real-time, text-based communication information by the consumer; and

sending, to the computer system used by the provider, a second graphical user interface that when rendered on a display of the computer system used by the provider depicts a visual representation of an input box for input of real-time, text-based communication information by the provider.

26. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the provider comprises a first provider, and wherein the method further comprises:

transferring to a computer system used by a second provider the information related to the health care topic.

27. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the health-care topic comprises one or more of a medical diagnosis, a medical treatment, information related to a pharmaceutical, a recommendation for medical services, a medical journal, information about medical services that are near the patient, information about the patient'"'"'s health care coverage, and a portion of medical history information associated with the consumer.

9-11. -11. (canceled)

12. A computer program product residing on a computer readable medium, the computer program product comprising instructions for causing a computer to perform one or more operations comprising:

establishing, over a computer network, a real-time, text-based communication channel between a computer system used by a service provider and a computer system used by a consumer;

receiving, over the computer network through the real-time, text-based communication channel, one or more text units from a real-time, text-based communication between the service provider and the consumer;

analyzing the one or more text units for a triggering event related to a health care topic;

detecting the triggering event in the one or more text units; and

providing, over the computer network through the real-time, text-based communication channel, information related to the health care topic to the computer system used by the medical service provider during the real-time, text-based communication.

14. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein detecting the triggering event comprises comparing at least a portion of the real-time, text-based communication to a list of medical terms.

15. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein detecting the triggering event comprises comparing at least a portion of the real-time, text-based communication to a numerical threshold.

16. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein detecting the triggering event comprises comparing at least a portion of the real-time, text-based communication to a criterion defined by the medical service provider.

18. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the communication channel comprises a secure communication channel.

19. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the one or more operations further comprise:

querying the consumer for permission to provide the information related to the health care topic to the service provider.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein querying comprises displaying a pop-up window to the consumer in a user interface associated with the consultation.

13. (canceled)

17. (canceled)

21-22. -22. (canceled)

23. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a computer program product residing on a computer readable medium comprising instructions for causing the processor to perform one or more operations comprising;

establishing, over a computer network, a real-time, text-based communication channel between a computer system used by a service provider and a computer system used by a consumer;

receiving, over the computer network through the real-time, text-based communication channel, one or more text units from a real-time, text-based communication between the service provider and the consumer;

analyzing the one or more text units for a triggering event related to a health care topic;

detecting the triggering event in the one or more text units; and

providing, over the computer network through the real-time, text-based communication channel, information related to the health care topic to the computer system used by the service provider during the real-time, text-based communication.