Method and apparatus for matching consumer of health care services to health care service provider
First Claim
1. A system to match a consumer of health care services to a health care service provider over a communications network, the system comprising:
- at least one computer terminal associated with the consumer for allowing the consumer access to the communications network;
a network server coupled to the communications network, the server comprising a computer program having;
a service provider data base identifying a plurality of health care service providers and a plurality of medical service associated health care service products offered by the service providers;
a first software portion forreceiving a diagnosis provided by at least one of a consumer and an alternative diagnosis determiner andautomatically determining at least one treatment option based on the received diagnosis provided by the consumer or determined by the alternative diagnosis determiner; and
a second software portion forallowing the consumer to select a treatment from the at least one treatment option andautomatically determining at least one appropriate service provider for the selected treatment, based on the selected treatment and further based on a treatment preference, the treatment preference comprising at least one of;
geographical location of the provider,insurance plan participation,cost,provider experience with the at least one treatment option andprovider outcome with respect to the at least one treatment option.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system to match a consumer of health care services to a health care service provider over a communications network, the system comprising at least one computer terminal associated with the consumer for allowing the consumer access to the communications network, a network server coupled to the communications network, the server comprising a computer program having, a service provider data base identifying a plurality of health care service providers and associated health care service products offered by the service providers, a first methodology for determining an appropriate treatment based on a diagnosis provided by the consumer or determined by an alternative diagnosis determiner, and a second methodology for determining at least one appropriate service provider based on a treatment preference comprising at least one of geographical location of the provider, insurance plan participation, cost, provider experience with the treatment and provider outcome with respect to the treatment.
40 Citations
48 Claims
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1. A system to match a consumer of health care services to a health care service provider over a communications network, the system comprising:
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at least one computer terminal associated with the consumer for allowing the consumer access to the communications network; a network server coupled to the communications network, the server comprising a computer program having; a service provider data base identifying a plurality of health care service providers and a plurality of medical service associated health care service products offered by the service providers; a first software portion for receiving a diagnosis provided by at least one of a consumer and an alternative diagnosis determiner and automatically determining at least one treatment option based on the received diagnosis provided by the consumer or determined by the alternative diagnosis determiner; and a second software portion for allowing the consumer to select a treatment from the at least one treatment option and automatically determining at least one appropriate service provider for the selected treatment, based on the selected treatment and further based on a treatment preference, the treatment preference comprising at least one of; geographical location of the provider, insurance plan participation, cost, provider experience with the at least one treatment option and provider outcome with respect to the at least one treatment option. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method to match a consumer of health care services to a health care service provider over a communications network, the method comprising:
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allowing the consumer to access the communications network to connect to a network server coupled to the communications network, the server comprising a computer program having a service provider data base identifying a plurality of health care service providers and a plurality of medical service associated health care service products offered by the service providers; receiving a diagnosis provided by at least one of a consumer and an alternative diagnosis determiner; automatically determining with the computer program at least one treatment option based on the received diagnosis provided by the consumer or determined by the alternative diagnosis determiner; allowing the consumer to select a treatment from the at least one treatment option; and automatically determining with the computer program at least one appropriate service provider for the selected treatment, based on the selected treatment and further based on a treatment preference, the treatment preference comprising at least one of geographical location of the provider, insurance plan participation, cost, provider experience with the at least one treatment option, and provider outcome with respect to the at least one treatment option. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. A computer readable storage medium for a program for operating a system to match a consumer of health care services to a health care service provider over a communication network coupling at least one computer terminal associated with the consumer for allowing the consumer access to the computer network and a network server, the computer readable storage medium comprising a computer program comprising:
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a service provider data base identifying a plurality of health care service providers and a plurality of medical service associated health care service products offered by the service providers; a first software portion for receiving a diagnosis provided by at least one of a consumer and an alternative diagnosis determiner and automatically determining at least one treatment option based on the received diagnosis provided by the consumer or determined by the alternative diagnosis determiner; and a second software portion for allowing the consumer to select a treatment from the at least one treatment option, and automatically determining at least one appropriate service provider for the selected treatment, based on the selected treatment and further based on a treatment preference, the treatment preference comprising at least one of; geographical location of the provider, insurance plan participation, cost, provider experience with the at least one treatment option and provider outcome with respect to the at least one treatment option. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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Specification