ENHANCING REMOTE ENGAGEMENTS

• US 20090089086A1
• Filed: 04/02/2008
• Published: 04/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Well Corporation (Amwell Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: American Well Corporation (Amwell Incorporated)
• Inventors: Schoenberg, Roy
• Granted Patent: US 7,933,783 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• 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

An engagement is brokered between a consumer and a medical service provider; electronic text of a real-time, text-based communication between the medical service provider and the consumer is monitored during the engagement; the electronic text is analyzed for a triggering event related to at least one of medical diagnosis and medical treatment; the triggering event is detected in the electronic text; and medical information is provided to the medical service provider via a user interface in response to the triggering event.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

monitoring electronic text of a real-time, text-based communication between a medical service provider and a consumer;

analyzing the electronic text for a triggering event related to at least one of medical diagnosis and medical treatment;

detecting the triggering event in the electronic text; and

providing medical information to the medical service provider via a user interface in response to the triggering event.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising brokering an engagement between the medical service provider and the consumer.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the triggering event comprises comparing at least a portion of the real-time, text-based communication to a list of medical terms.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the triggering event comprises comparing at least a portion of the real-time, text-based communication to a numerical threshold.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the trigging event comprises comparing at least a portion of the real-time, text-based communication to a criterion defined by the medical service provider.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein providing medical information to the medical service provider comprises retrieving data from a database.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic text represents a secure communication between the medical service provider and the consumer during an engagement.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising querying the consumer for permission to provide the medical information to the medical service provider.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein querying the consumer comprises displaying a pop-up window to the consumer in a user interface associated with the engagement.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein querying the consumer comprises providing a prompt from an interactive voice response system.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising querying the medical service provider for an identification code before providing medical information to the medical service provider.

12. A computer program product residing on a computer readable medium, the computer program product comprising instructions for causing a computer to:

monitor electronic text of a real-time, text-based communication between a medical service provider and a consumer;

analyze the electronic text for a triggering event related to at least one of medical diagnosis and medical treatment;

detect the triggering event in the electronic text; and

provide medical information to the medical service provider via a user interface in response to the triggering event.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, further comprising instructions for causing the computer to broker an engagement between the consumer and the medical service provider.

14. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the instructions to detect the triggering event comprise instructions to compare at least a portion of the real-time, text-based communication to a list of medical terms.

15. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the instructions to detect the triggering event comprise instructions to compare at least a portion of the real-time, text-based communication to a numerical threshold.

16. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the instructions to detect the triggering event comprise instructions to compare at least a portion of the real-time, text-based communication to a criterion defined by the medical service provider.

17. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the instructions to provide the medical information to the medical service provider comprise instructions to retrieve data from a database.

18. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the electronic text represents a secure communication between the medical service provider and the consumer during an engagement.

19. The computer program product of claim 12, further comprising instructions to query the consumer for permission to provide the medical information to the medical service provider.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the instructions to query the consumer comprise instructions to display a pop-up window to the consumer in a user interface associated with the engagement.

21. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the instructions to query the consumer comprise instructions to provide a prompt from an interactive voice response system.

22. The computer program product of claim 12, further comprising instructions to query the medical service provider for an identification code before providing medical information to the medical service provider.

23. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a computer program product residing on a computer readable medium comprising instructions for causing the processor to;

monitor electronic text of a real-time, text-based communication between a medical service provider and a consumer during the engagement;

analyze the electronic text for a triggering event related to at least one of medical diagnosis and medical treatment;

detect the triggering event in the electronic text; and

provide medical information to the medical service provider via a user interface in response to the triggering event.