System and method for delivering medical examination, diagnosis, and treatment over a network
First Claim
1. A method for delivering medical examination, diagnosis, and treatment services from a physician to a patient over a network, the method comprising:
- a. providing a physician call center enabling any of a first plurality of physician terminals to be in audiovisual communication over the network with any of a second plurality of patient terminals;
b. receiving a call at the physician call center from a patient at one of the patient terminals and routing the call to an available physician at one of the physician terminals, so that the available physician may carry on a two-way conversation with the patient and visually observe the patient; and
c. permitting the available physician to make an assessment whether the patient may be suffering from an acute non-urgent condition, and to conduct an examination of the patient over the network, including by a visual study of the patient, only if the assessment is that the patient may be suffering from an acute non-urgent condition.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for delivering medical examination, diagnosis, and treatment services from a physician to a patient over network is provided. A physician call center enables any of a first plurality of physician terminals to be in audiovisual communication over the network with any of a second plurality of patient terminals. A call is received at the call center from a patient at one of the patient terminals and the call is routed to an available physician at one of the physician terminals. The available physician may carry on a two-way conversation with the patient, visually observe the patient, and make an assessment whether the patient may be suffering from an acute non-urgent condition. The available physician may conduct an examination of the patient over the network, including by visual study of the patient, only if the assessment is that the patient may be suffering from an acute non-urgent condition.
115 Citations
40 Claims
-
1. A method for delivering medical examination, diagnosis, and treatment services from a physician to a patient over a network, the method comprising:
-
a. providing a physician call center enabling any of a first plurality of physician terminals to be in audiovisual communication over the network with any of a second plurality of patient terminals;
b. receiving a call at the physician call center from a patient at one of the patient terminals and routing the call to an available physician at one of the physician terminals, so that the available physician may carry on a two-way conversation with the patient and visually observe the patient; and
c. permitting the available physician to make an assessment whether the patient may be suffering from an acute non-urgent condition, and to conduct an examination of the patient over the network, including by a visual study of the patient, only if the assessment is that the patient may be suffering from an acute non-urgent condition. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
-
-
16. A system for delivering medical examination, diagnosis, and treatment services from a physician to a patient over a network, the system comprising:
-
a. a first plurality of physician terminals, each of the first plurality of physician terminals including a display device;
b. a second plurality of patient terminals in audiovisual communication over a network with any of the first plurality of physician terminals;
c. a physician call center in communication with the patient terminals and the physician terminals, the physician call center routing a call from a patient at one of the patient terminals to an available physician at one of the physician terminals, so that the available physician may carry on a two-way conversation with the patient and visually observe the patient; and
d. a protocol database resident on a digital storage medium, accessible to each of the physician call terminals, the protocol database containing a plurality of protocol segments such that a relevant segment of the protocol may be displayed in real time on the display device of the physician terminal of the available physician for use by the available physician in making an assessment whether the patient may be suffering from an acute non-urgent condition. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
-
-
27. A system for delivering medical examination, diagnosis, and treatment services from a physician to a patient over a network, the system comprising:
-
a. a first plurality of physician terminals, each of the first plurality of physician terminals including a display device;
b. a second plurality of patient terminals in audiovisual communication over a network with any of the first plurality of physician terminals;
c. a physician call center in communication with the patient terminals and the physician terminals, the physician call center routing a call from a patient at one of the patient terminals to an available physician at one of the physician terminals, so that the available physician may carry on a two-way conversation with the patient and visually observe the patient. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
-
-
39. A method for delivering medical examination, diagnosis, and treatment services from a physician to a patient over a network, the method comprising:
-
a. providing a physician call center enabling any of a first plurality of physician terminals to be in audiovisual communication over the network with any of a second plurality of patient terminals;
b. receiving a call at the physician call center from a patient at one of the patient terminals and routing the call to an available physician at one of the physician terminals, so that the available physician may carry on a two-way conversation with the patient and visually observe the patient; and
c permitting the available physician to visually study the patient via a camera having pan, tilt and zoom modes controlled by the available physician, to make an assessment whether the patient may be suffering from an acute non-urgent condition.
-
-
40. A system for delivering medical examination, diagnosis, and treatment services from a physician to a patient over a network, the system comprising:
-
a. a first plurality of physician terminals, each of the first plurality of physician terminals including a display device;
b. a second plurality of patient terminals in audiovisual communication over a network with any of the first plurality of physician terminals, each of the second plurality of patient terminals including a camera having pan, tilt and zoom modes, such modes being controlled from the first plurality of physician terminals; and
c. a physician call center in communication with the patient terminals and the physician terminals, the physician call center routing a call from a patient at one of the patient terminals to an available physician at one of the physician terminals, so that the available physician may carry on a two-way conversation with the patient and visually observe the patient.
-
Specification