Electronic appointment scheduling for medical resources

• US 8,364,501 B2
• Filed: 03/29/2010
• Issued: 01/29/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Epic Systems Corporation
• Original Assignee: Epic Systems Corporation
• Inventors: Rana, Sumit, Sannes, Davin, Sidney, Matt, Bellam, Sashi, Anand, Sapan
• Primary Examiner(s): O'Connor, Gerald J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Patel, Neha
• Application Number:
  US12/748,928
• Publication Number:
  US 20100185465A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,037 Days
• Field of Search: 705/2, 705/3
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/20 for electronic clinical trials or questionnaires
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms

Abstract

A computer-implemented system for scheduling patient appointments including a patient interface terminal configured to receive a patient identifier and to display a patient-specific listing of reasons for a medical appointment. The system further includes a computer system adapted for receiving the patient identifier, generating the patient-specific listing of reasons for a medical appointment based on an electronic medical record associated with the patient identifier and a comprehensive listing of reasons stored in a reasons database, receiving a selected reason for a requested medical appointment from the patient interface terminal, and generating and providing one or more specialized appointment scheduling options based on a combination of the selected reason and data from the electronic medical record associated with the patient identifier, the specialized appointment scheduling options including scheduling options for specialized medical resources specifically associated with the combination.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented scheduling system for scheduling patient appointments, comprising:

a) a patient interface terminal configured to receive a patient identifier and to display a patient-specific listing of reasons for a medical appointment; and

b) a computer system adapted for

receiving the patient identifier;

generating the patient-specific listing of reasons for a medical appointment based on a comprehensive listing of reasons stored in a reasons database, wherein each reason for a medical appointment is associated with a default set of medical resources necessary for the medical appointment;

receiving a selection of a reason for a medical appointment;

retrieving data from an electronic medical record associated with the patient identifier;

determining that the default set of medical resources is not advised based on the data from the electronic medical record in combination with the selected reason for a medical appointment by referencing a database of specialized combinations wherein each reason is associated with one or more medical condition typically indicated in the electronic medical record, each combination of reason and medical condition being associated with specialized appointment scheduling options, the specialized appointment scheduling options including scheduling options for specialized medical resources specifically associated with the combination;

identifying one or more specialized medical resources based on the determination;

generating and providing one or more specialized appointment scheduling options for the specialized medical resources specifically associated with the combination, the specialized medical resources being different from the default set of medical resources;

providing instructions for a patient at the patient interface terminal to prepare for the medical appointment based on the selected reason; and

providing a questionnaire at the patient interface terminal to obtain data from the patient prior to the medical appointment based on the selected reason.

2. The scheduling system of claim 1, wherein the medical resources include at least one of a geographic location, a healthcare provider, and medical equipment.

3. The scheduling system of claim 1, wherein the specialized medical resources are different than the medical resources.

4. The scheduling system of claim 1, wherein the medical resource is a geographic location and the scheduling option is for a plurality of appointments, and wherein the scheduling options are generated based on a travel time between geographic locations associated with the plurality of appointments.

5. The scheduling system of claim 1, wherein the patient interface terminal is further configured to present schedule options based on receiving a selected reason for a requested medical appointment, wherein the schedule options presented at the patient terminal indicate schedule options for resources available within the range of times.

6. The scheduling system of claim 5, wherein the patient interface terminal is further configured to receive a range of geographic locations acceptable for the appointment and wherein the schedule options presented indicate schedule options for resources available within the range of geographic locations.

7. The scheduling system of claim 5, wherein the computer system communicates with a database providing data indicating appointment lengths linked to types of healthcare service appointments and wherein the presenting of schedule options indicates schedule options accommodating an appointment of the appointment length linked to the type of healthcare service appointment.

8. The scheduling system of claim 5, wherein the schedule options presented indicate only healthcare providers and resources that can coordinate to provide the healthcare service.

9. The scheduling system of claim 1, wherein the computer system further accepts an input from the patient interface terminal for an appointment selected from the schedule options and submits appointment data to a schedule for the healthcare provider.

10. The scheduling system of claim 1, wherein the computer system further accepts an input from the patient interface terminal for an appointment selected from the schedule options and wherein the computer system provides a reminder notification to the patient interface terminal.

11. The scheduling system of claim 10, wherein the computer system further provides the reminder to the patient based on stored patient preferences.

12. The scheduling system of claim 1, wherein the computer system further receives from the patient interface terminal a notice of appointment cancellation and submits cancellation data to a schedule for the resource.

13. The scheduling system of claim 1, wherein the computer system further receives from the patient interface terminal a notice of appointment cancellation and submits cancellation data to a schedule for the healthcare provider to remove the appointment from the schedule.

14. The scheduling system of claim 1, wherein the computer system further receives from the patient interface terminal a notice of appointment and submits appointment data to a schedule for the healthcare provider, the appointment data indicating schedule resources;

and wherein the computer system further receives information from the healthcare provider modifying the schedule resources.

15. The scheduling system of claim 1, wherein the computer system includes a central database holding schedules for healthcare providers and resources and accesses the central database to identify healthcare providers for the service and to identify resources required for the service to present schedule options according to common schedule openings of healthcare providers and resources.

16. The scheduling system of claim 15, wherein the common schedule openings are of healthcare providers and resources within a predetermined geographic range.

17. The scheduling system of claim 1, wherein the healthcare service requires multiple sequential steps and wherein the computer system identifies healthcare providers and resources for each step of the service.

18. The scheduling system of claim 17, wherein the computer system presents schedule options at the interface terminal based on the multiple identified providers and resources providing different combinations of the multiple providers and resources.

19. The scheduling system of claim 18, wherein the computer system presents a schedule option for the first available appointment.

20. The scheduling system of claim 19, wherein a first step in the multiple sequential steps requires a test and wherein the computer system communicates with a database providing data indicating laboratory test processing delay associated with the test and wherein the presenting of schedule options indicates schedule options accommodating a test processing delay.

21. The scheduling system of claim 19, wherein the steps require resources and/or healthcare providers at different geographic locations and wherein the computer system communicates with a database providing data indicating travel time delay between the geographic locations and wherein the presenting of schedule options indicates schedule options accommodating travel time delay.

22. The scheduling system of claim 1, wherein the selected medical appointment comprises a plurality of steps, each step including a medical resource, and wherein the computer system is adapted to store a log of an order of the steps.

23. The scheduling system of claim 22, wherein the computer systems is adapted to retrieve the log of the order of steps and to cancel each of the steps in the log when a request for a cancellation is received by the computer system.