Exam scheduling with customer configured notifications

• US 9,672,477 B1
• Filed: 11/21/2007
• Issued: 06/06/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Merative US LP
• Original Assignee: DR Systems Incorporated (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Reicher, Murray A., Sloyer, Carol G., Rashidy, Tarek El
• Primary Examiner(s): MISIASZEK, AMBER ALTSCHUL
• Application Number:
  US11/944,000
• Time in Patent Office: 3,485 Days
• Field of Search: 705 2- 3
• CPC Class Codes: A61K 2300/00 Mixtures or combinations of active ingredients, wherein at least one active ingredient is fully defined in groups A61K31/00 - A61K41/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1095 Meeting or appointment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/22 Social work or social welfare, e.g. community support activities or counselling services
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 70/60 relating to pathologies

Abstract

An exam scheduling device comprises a notification module configured to determine notifications for display to a scheduler in the process of scheduling an exam for a patient. The notifications presented to a particular scheduler may be selected based on one or more exam parameters associated with a patient, for example. Thus, only those notifications that are relevant to the exam parameters associated with a particular patient'"'"'s exam are presented to the scheduler, and the scheduler is required to respond to only those notifications that a scheduling administrator has determined require a response.

Claims

1. A computerized method of scheduling a patient for a medical exam, the method comprising:

by computing system comprising one or more computing devices;

generating a dynamically updateable graphical user interface configured to display information to a user, receive inputs from the user, and update the information displayed to the user in response to the inputs received from the user;

providing, in the user interface, one or more patient information input fields;

receiving, via the one or more patient information input fields, patient information comprising data identifying a patient;

determining, based at least in part on information related to the patient, one or more facilities associated with the patient;

providing, in the user interface, a listing of the one or more facilities associated with the patient;

receiving, via the user interface, a selection of a facility of the one or more facilities associated with the patient;

determining, based at least in part on the information related to the specific patient and information related to the facility, one or more exam modalities;

providing, in the user interface, a listing of the one or more exam modalities in a popup list;

receiving, via the user interface, a selection of an exam modality of the one or more exam modalities;

determining, based at least in part on the information related to facility and information related to the exam modality, one or more medical procedures;

providing, in the user interface, a listing of the one or more medical procedures;

receiving, via the user interface, a selection of a medical procedure of the one or more medical procedures, wherein information related to the medical procedure, the information related to the exam modality, the information related to the facility, and the information related to the patient collectively comprise exam parameters associated with a medical exam to be scheduled for the patient;

selecting, from a notification data structure and based at least in part on one or more exam parameters, one or more notifications for display to the user, wherein;

the notification data structure includes at least;

indications of exam parameters, notification texts, and notification types, and

associations between exam parameters and respective notification text and notification types;

at least one of the one or more notifications comprises a hard question that requires a response from the user before scheduling of the medical exam may be completed; and

at least one of the one or more notifications comprises a warning that requires an acknowledgement from the user before scheduling of the medical exam may be completed;

providing, in the user interface, the one or more notifications including the hard question and the warning;

automatically determining whether the hard question has received a response from the user;

automatically determining whether the warning has received an acknowledgement from the user; and

in response to determining that the hard question did not receive a response from the user or the warning did not receive an acknowledgement from the user, automatically preventing completion of the exam scheduling.

2. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the exam parameters comprise indications of at least one of:

an exam modality, a medical procedure, a facility, an insurance type, a medical history, a patient age or age category, patient demographics, or a language.

3. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the user comprises at least one of:

the patient, a relative of the patient, a clerical worker, or a scheduling agent.

4. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more notifications comprises a soft question that does not require a response or acknowledgement from the user in order to complete scheduling of the medical exam.

5. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more notifications comprises an informational notification that does not require a response or acknowledgement from the user in order to complete scheduling of the medical exam.