Contemporaneous, multi-physician, online consultation system

• US 8,423,383 B2
• Filed: 08/15/2006
• Issued: 04/16/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/15/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Jaxresearch Systems, LLC
• Original Assignee: Jaxresearch Systems, LLC
• Inventors: Koren, Michael J., Dawson, Donald E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Morgan, Robert
• Assistant Examiner(s): RAPILLO, KRISTINE K
• Application Number:
  US11/504,467
• Publication Number:
  US 20080059237A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,436 Days
• Field of Search: 705 2- 4
• US Class Current: 705/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/20 for electronic clinical trials or questionnaires
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• 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

The computer-implemented system of providing online medical consultation services by a team of medical professionals begins when a user accesses the system website. The user selects the level of consultation services desired and a case submission form is provided to the user requesting information relating to desired medical consultation. The user provides the requested information on case submission form. If additional information is required, it is obtained. When the case is ready for submission, members of the medical professional team are selected for consultation on the case and forwarded the particulars of the submitted case via the Internet. The selected team members review the submitted case particulars and each member provides their medical opinion via Internet. The submitted opinions are recorded and displayed in real time on the system website, to which the user has access. In addition, the submitted opinions to structured questions are compiled to determine if there is a consensus. A graphical representation of the compiled opinions is generated and displayed in real time on the website, as well. This system can provide nearly instant information as to the sum of the opinions of medical experts for a variety of case scenarios and establishes whether, and to what extent, a consensus exists among the consulting medical professionals.

Claims

1. A method of providing a consultation of medical professionals utilizing a computer-implemented system connected to the internet, integrated with human resources provided by professionals affiliated with the system, to form a consensus of opinions by a panel of medical professionals selected by the system but not provided with financial incentives which could bias their decision making, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) creating a database of potential participating medical professionals, along with information about each the potential participating medical professionals, including the qualifications of the potential participating medical professionals;

(b) user seeking a medical consultation accesses the system;

(c) user submits information to the system regarding the desired medical consultation;

(d) at least one professional affiliated with the system reviews information submitted by the user and structures one or more questions, based upon the user submitted information, for consideration by a panel of potential participating medical professionals selected from the database;

(e) medical professionals qualified to provide response(s) to the structured question(s) are selected by the system to form a panel to provide responses to the structured question(s) based upon information in the database;

(f) the structured question(s) are provided electronically to the medical professionals in the selected panel;

(g) the medical professionals in the selected panel review the structured question(s) and provide responses thereto;

(h) responses from the medical professionals in the selected panel are forwarded electronically to the system; and

(i) system compiles responses, calculates the degree of consensus of the responses, and displays the calculated degree of consensus on a system website accessible to the user.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of at least one professional affiliated with the system administrator gathers additional information in order to structure question(s).

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of at least one professional affiliated with the system administrator interacts with user to gather additional information about the desired consultation of medical professionals.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein user seeking a consultation of medical professionals accesses the system via the internet.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein user seeking a consultation of medical professionals submits information regarding the desired consultation of medical professionals to the system via the internet.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein a case submission form is provided to user seeking a consultation of medical professionals and user submits information regarding the desired consultation of medical professionals to the system using the case submission form.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein user submits information regarding the desired consultation of medical professionals to the system over the internet using the case submission form.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of at least one professional affiliated with the system administrator determines when case is ready for submission to selected panel of participating medical professionals.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of providing the user submitted information to the panel of selected medical professionals.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of providing the user submitted information to the panel of selected medical professionals via the internet.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of selecting a panel of medical professionals for participation in the medical consultation from the database based on the qualifications of the medical professionals in the database.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the database includes information about the potential participating medical professionals in addition to the qualifications of the medical professionals, further comprising the step of selecting a panel of medical professionals for participation in the medical consultation based upon information in the database about the medical professionals in addition to the qualifications of the medical professionals.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of system uses software to select panel of medical professionals for participation in the medical consultation based upon the nature of the consultation and stored information in the database.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of parsing the user submitted information against defined criteria using a software program to determine if user submitted information meets the minimum defined criteria.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of displaying consensus information in real time as responses from medical professionals in the selected panel are received by the system.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of creating a graphical display of the consensus of the responses of the medical professionals and displaying same in real time.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein medical professionals in the selected panel respond using surveys submitted to the system via the internet.

18. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of professionals affiliated with the system periodically check for new user submissions.

19. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of utilizing the responses from the medical professionals in the selected panel to determine an acceptable standard of health care.

20. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of utilizing the responses from the medical professionals in the selected panel to determine an acceptable standard of health care to determine the strength of a medical malpractice claim.

21. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of utilizing the responses from the medical professionals in the selected panel to determine an assessment of newsworthy medical information.

22. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of utilizing the responses from the medical professionals in the selected panel to determine an assessment of government health policies.

23. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of utilizing the responses from the medical professionals in the selected panel to determine a consensus as to the acceptability of a new drug or medical device.

24. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of utilizing the responses from the medical professionals in the selected panel to determine an assessment of competitive drugs.

25. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of utilizing the responses from the medical professionals in the selected panel to determine an assessment of public health officials.

26. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of utilizing the responses from the medical professionals in the selected panel to determine an assessment of personal physician practices.

27. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of selecting the panel of medical professionals from a group of physicians, nurses, chiropractors and/or pharmacists.

28. An online method of providing online medical consultation services utilizing a computer-implemented system connected to the internet to obtain quantitative and qualitative medical opinions from a panel of selected medical professionals, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) creating a database of potential participating medical professionals, along with information about each potential participating medical professional, including the qualifications of the potential participating medical professional;

(b) user seeking a medical consultation accesses the system;

(c) user submits information regarding the desired medical consultation;

(d) system selects a panel of medical professionals qualified to provide desired medical consultation based upon information in the database;

(e) question(s) based on user submitted information and user submitted information are provided to the medical professionals in the selected panel;

(f) medical professionals in the selected panel formulate response(s) to provided question(s) and comments regarding user submitted information;

(g) responses and comments from the medical professionals in the selected panel are forwarded to the system; and

(h) system calculates the degree of consensus of responses to questions, and displays same, along comments from the medical professionals, on a system website accessible to the user.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein user seeking a medical consultation accesses the system via the internet.

30. The method of claim 28 wherein user seeking a medical consultation submits information regarding the desired medical consultation to system via the internet.

31. The method of claim 28 wherein a case submission form is provided to user seeking a medical consultation and user submits information regarding the desired medical consultation to system using the case submission form.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein user submits information regarding the desired medical consultation to system over the internet using the case submission form.

33. The method of claim 28 further comprising the step of determining when case is ready for submission to selected panel of medical professionals.

34. The method of claim 28 further comprising the step of selecting a panel of medical professionals for participation in the medical consultation from the database based on the qualifications of the medical professionals.

35. The method of claim 28 wherein the database including information about the potential participating medical professionals in addition to the qualifications of the medical professionals, further comprising the step of selecting a panel of medical professionals for participation in the medical consultation based upon information in the database about the medical professionals in addition to the qualifications of the medical professionals.

36. The method of claim 28 further comprising the step of system uses software to select panel of medical professionals for participation in the medical consultation based upon the nature of the medical consultation and information about the medical professionals in the database.

37. The method of claim 28 further comprising the steps of creating defined criteria and parsing the user submitted information against the defined criteria using a software program to determine if user submitted information meets minimum defined criteria.

38. The method of claim 28 further comprising the step of displaying consensus information in real time as responses from medical professionals in the selected panel are received by the system.

39. The method of claim 28 wherein medical professionals in the selected panel respond to the system using surveys submitted to the system via the internet.

40. The method of claim 28 further comprising the step of creating a graphical display of the consensus of the responses from the medical professionals in the selected panel and displaying same in real time.

41. The method of claim 28 further comprising the step of at least one professional affiliated with the system periodically checks for new user submissions.

42. The method of claim 28 further comprising the step of utilizing the responses from the medical professionals in the selected panel to determine an acceptable standard of health care.

43. The method of claim 28 further comprising the step of utilizing the responses from the medical professionals in the selected panel to determine an acceptable standard of health care to determine the strength of a medical malpractice claim.

44. The method of claim 28 further comprising the step of utilizing the responses from the medical professionals in the selected panel to determine an assessment of newsworthy medical information.

45. The method of claim 28 further comprising the step of utilizing the responses from the medical professionals in the selected panel to determine an assessment of government health policies.

46. The method of claim 28 further comprising the step of utilizing the responses from the medical professionals in the selected panel to determine a consensus as to the acceptability of a new drug or medical device.

47. The method of claim 28 further comprising the step of utilizing the responses from the medical professionals in the selected panel to determine an assessment of competitive drugs.

48. The method of claim 28 further comprising the step of utilizing the responses from the medical professionals in the selected panel to determine an assessment of public health officials.

49. The method of claim 28 further comprising the step of utilizing the responses from the medical professionals in the selected panel to determine an assessment of personal physician practices.

50. The method of claim 28 further comprising the step of selecting the panel of medical professionals from a group of physicians, nurses, chiropractors and/or pharmacists.

51. A computer-implemented system for providing medical consultation services connected to the internet, integrated with human resources provided by professionals affiliated with the system, to form a consensus of opinions by a panel of medical professionals selected by the system but not provided with financial incentives which could bias their decision making, the system comprising:

(a) means for creating a database of potential participating medical professionals, along with information about each the potential participating medical professionals, including the qualifications of the potential participating medical professionals;

(b) means for user seeking medical consultation services to accesses the system;

(c) means for user to electronically submit information to the system regarding the desired medical consultation services such that at least one professional affiliated with the system can review the information submitted by the user and structure one or more questions, based upon the user submitted information, for consideration by a panel of selected medical professionals;

(d) means for selecting a panel of medical professionals qualified to provide response(s) to the structured question(s) based upon information in the database;

(e) means for providing the structured question(s) to the medical professionals in the selected panel such that medical professionals in the selected panel can review the structured question(s) and create responses thereto;

(f) means for electronically forwarding the responses from the medical professionals in the selected panel to the system;

(g) means for compiling the responses forwarded to the system by the medical professionals in the selected panel;

(h) means for calculating the degree of consensus of the responses; and

(i) means for displaying the calculated consensus on a system website accessible to the user.

52. The system of claim 51 further comprising means for professional(s) affiliated with the system to gather additional information in order to structure question(s).

53. The system of claim 51 further comprising means for professional(s) affiliated with the system to interact with user to gather additional information about the desired medical consultation.

54. The system of claim 51 wherein said means for user seeking medical consultation services to accesses the system comprises the internet.

55. The system of claim 51 wherein said means for user seeking medical consultation services to submit information regarding the desired medical consultation to the system comprises the internet.

56. The system of claim 51 further comprising a case submission form and means for providing said case submission form to user seeking medical consultation services.

57. The system of claim 56 further comprising means for user to submit said case submission form to the system.

58. The system of claim 57 wherein means for user to submit said case submission form to the system comprises the internet.

59. The system of claim 51 wherein profession(s) affiliated with the system determine when case is ready for submission to selected panel of medical professionals.

60. The system of claim 51 further comprising means for submitting the user submitted information to the panel of selected medical professionals.

61. The system of claim 60 wherein said means for providing the user submitted information to the panel of selected medical professionals comprises the internet.

62. The system of claim 51 further comprising means for selecting a panel of medical professionals for participation in the medical consultation from the database based on the qualifications of the medical professionals in the database.

63. The system of claim 51 wherein said database including information about potential participating medical professions in addition to the qualifications of the medical professionals, further comprising means for selecting a panel of medical professionals for participation in the medical consultation based upon information in the database about the medical professionals in addition to the qualifications of the medical professionals.

64. The system of claim 51 further comprising software for selecting a panel of medical professionals for participation in the medical consultation based upon the nature of the medical consultation and stored information in the database.

65. The system of claim 51 further comprising means for creating minimum defined criteria and software for parsing the user submitted information against said minimum defined criteria to determine if user submitted information meets said minimum defined criteria.

66. The system of claim 51 further comprising means for displaying consensus information in real time as responses from medical professionals in the selected panel are received by the system.

67. The system of claim 51 further comprising means for creating a graphical display of the consensus of the responses of the medical professionals and for displaying same in real time.

68. The system of claim 51 wherein said means for medical professionals in the selected panel to forward responses comprises surveys submitted to the system via the internet.

69. The system of claim 51 wherein professional(s) affiliated with the system periodically check for new user submissions.

70. The system of claim 51 wherein the panel of medical professionals is selected from a group of physicians, nurses, chiropractors and/or pharmacists.

71. An online system for providing online medical consultation services including quantitative and qualitative medical opinions from a panel of selected medical professionals, the system comprising:

(a) creating a database of potential participating medical professionals, along with information about each the potential participating medical professionals, including the qualifications of the potential participating medical professionals;

(b) means for a user seeking medical consultation services to access the system;

(c) means for user to electronically submit information to the system regarding the desired medical consultation services;

(d) means for selecting a panel of medical professionals qualified to provide the desired medical consultation services based upon information in the database;

(e) means for electronically providing question(s) based on the user submitted information, and the user submitted information, to the medical professionals in the selected panel such that the medical professionals in the selected panel formulate response(s) to provided question(s) and comments regarding user submitted information;

(f) means for electronically forwarding the responses and comments from the medical professionals in the selected panel to the system;

(g) means for calculating the degree of consensus of forwarded responses to questions;

(h) means for displaying said calculated consensus on a system website accessible to user; and

(i) means for displaying said comments forwarded from the medical professionals on a system website accessible to the user.

72. The system of claim 71 wherein said means for user seeking medical consultation services to accesses the system comprises the internet.

73. The system of claim 71 wherein said means for user seeking medical consultation services to submit information regarding the desired medical consultation services to system comprises the internet.

74. The system of claim 71 further comprising a case submission form and means for providing said case submission form to the user seeking medical consultation services.

75. The system of claim 74 further comprising means for the user to submit said case submission form to the system.

76. The system of claim 75 wherein said means for submitting said case submission form to the system comprises the internet.

77. The system of claim 71 further comprising means for determining when case is ready for submission to selected panel of medical professionals.

78. The system of claim 71 further comprising means for selecting a panel of medical professionals for participation in the medical consultation from said database based on the qualifications of the medical professionals.

79. The system of claim 71 wherein said database includes information about the potential participating medical professionals in addition to the qualifications of the medical professionals, further comprising means for selecting a panel of medical professionals for participation in the medical consultation based upon information in said database about the medical professionals in addition to the qualifications of the medical professionals.

80. The system of claim 71 further comprising software for selecting a panel of medical professionals for participation in the medical consultation based upon the nature of the medical consultation and information about the medical professionals in said database.

81. The system of claim 71 further comprising means for creating minimum defined criteria and means for parsing the user submitted information against the said minimum defined criteria to determine if user submitted information meets minimum defined criteria.

82. The system of claim 71 wherein said means for calculating the degree of consensus calculates the degree of consensus in real time, as responses from medical professionals in the selected panel are received by the system.

83. The system of claim 71 further comprising a survey and wherein medical professionals in the selected panel respond to the system using said survey.

84. The system of claim 83 wherein said survey is submitted to the system via the internet.

85. The system of claim 71 further comprising means for creating a graphical display of said calculated consensus of the responses from the medical professionals in the selected panel.

86. The system of claim 85 further comprising means for displaying said graphical display in real time.

87. The system of claim 71 further wherein the system is periodically checked for new user submissions.

88. The system of claim 71 further comprising means for selecting the panel of medical professionals from a group of physicians, nurses, chiropractors and/or pharmacists.