Method and apparatus for analyzing patient medical records
First Claim
1. An apparatus for generating a medical billing code from a populated form resulting from a patient/clinician encounter, said populated form having locations with marks, each mark having a respective content indicative of either information obtained by the clinician during the encounter about the patient or a physical condition of the patient, said marks being made by the clinician, comprising:
- a detector, comprising at least one processor, adapted to detect marks on said form, within predetermined zones defined thereon; and
an analyzer, comprising the at least one processor, adapted to generate a medical billing code based on said number of zones with marks detected on said form and a predetermined set of rules, wherein said rules are independent on the content of the markings at the respective locations.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A medical form is marked by a clinician during a patient/clinician encounter to generate a record with information related to a current complaint. The form is partitioned into several regions related to patient history, examination and medical decision, respectively. The form is automatically analyzed and using the locations of the marks on the form and a predetermined set of rules, a billing code is generated. The billing code determines the fee to be paid to the clinician or health provider.
20 Citations
15 Claims
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1. An apparatus for generating a medical billing code from a populated form resulting from a patient/clinician encounter, said populated form having locations with marks, each mark having a respective content indicative of either information obtained by the clinician during the encounter about the patient or a physical condition of the patient, said marks being made by the clinician, comprising:
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a detector, comprising at least one processor, adapted to detect marks on said form, within predetermined zones defined thereon; and an analyzer, comprising the at least one processor, adapted to generate a medical billing code based on said number of zones with marks detected on said form and a predetermined set of rules, wherein said rules are independent on the content of the markings at the respective locations. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of generating a billing code for an encounter between a patient and a healthcare provider, wherein during the encounter, the healthcare provider populates a form defining a history zone, an examination zone and a prognosis zone by making entries in several subdivisions within the respective zones, each entry indicating some information or patient condition as determined or obtained by the clinician, said method comprising:
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using at least one processor, analyzing each zone to determine how much effort has the clinician spent in examining the patient during the respective zone, wherein at least in one zone, said analyzing includes counting the number of subdivisions within said one zone that have entries; using the at least one processor, assigning a parameter to each zone based on said analysis, wherein in for at least one of said zone, said step of assigning is dependent on the number of subdivisions within that zone in which there are entries made by the clinician each said parameter being completely independent of any information associated with the entries in the respective zone; using the at least one processor, generating a classification for said encounter indicative of the complexity of the encounter based on the parameters assigned to each zone; and using the at least one processor, assigning a billing code for the encounter based on said classification. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method of generating a billing code for an encounter between a patient and a healthcare provider, wherein during the encounter, the healthcare provider populates a form defining a history zone, an examination zone and a prognosis zone by making entries in the respective zones, each entry indicating some information or patient condition as determined or obtained by the clinician, said method comprising:
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using at least one processor, analyzing each zone to determine how much effort has the clinician spent in examining the patient during the respective zone; using the at least one processor, assigning a parameter to each zone based on said analysis, wherein in for at least one of said zone, said step of assigning includes determining the number of entries made by the clinician in the respective zone, each said parameter being completely independent of any information associated with the entries in the respective zone; using the at least one processor, generating a classification for said encounter indicative of the complexity of the encounter based on the parameters assigned to each zone; and using the at least one processor, assigning a billing code for the encounter based on said classification; wherein said form includes a history zone, an examination zone and a medical decision zone, said history zone and said examination zone are each designated said respective parameter as being one of problem focused, expanded problem focused, detailed and comprehensive; and wherein the parameter for said medical decision zone is designated as being one of straight forward, low complexity, moderate complexity and high complexity indicating the complexity of the diagnosis performed by the healthcare provider.
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Specification