Health clinic broker

• US 8,271,295 B1
• Filed: 07/23/2008
• Issued: 09/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Miller, Deborah L., Persson, Carl J., Wilson, Thomas H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cobanoglu, Dilek B
• Application Number:
  US12/178,608
• Time in Patent Office: 1,518 Days
• Field of Search: 705/2, 705/7, 705/8, 705/3, 705/7.19, 340/531, 709/204, 706/52
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1095 Meeting or appointment
• 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 health clinic broker system is provided. The system comprises at least one computer system and a health clinic broker application that, when executed on the at least one computer system, receives a plurality of health care service requests containing information about a health care need, at least some of the requests seeking to set an appointment for health care. The system also receives a plurality of health care service offerings and provides at least one recommendation for the appointment for health care based on matching the health care service offerings with the health care service request.

Claims

1. An automated method of setting of appointments for health care services, comprising:

receiving, by a computer, a health care service request from a first health care service requester, the health care service request including a description of symptom;

determining, by the computer, an urgency of the health care service request based on the description of symptoms;

performing by the computer a pre-diagnosis interaction with the first health care service requester, wherein the pre-diagnosis interaction comprises;

querying a second set of information from the first health care service requester,

receiving at least one response comprising the second set of information from the first health care service requester, wherein the second set of information includes at least one of a duration of the symptom, a trend in the symptom, and an acuity of the symptom, analyzing by the computer the at least one response provided by the first health care service requester,

applying weights to the at least one response, and

consulting at least one diagnostic database;

identifying, by the computer, candidate health care service appointments based on searching a database of health care service offerings using a location filter, the preferences received, the urgency of the health care service request, and the at least one response;

communicating, by the computer, to the health service requester appointment choices for health care service offerings;

receiving, by the computer, a choice of appointment;

confirming, by the computer, the chosen appointment;

monitoring, by the computer, a plurality of health care resources across time slots and facilities;

identifying, by the computer, an opportunity to change one or more appointments to more efficiently use the health care resources;

determining by the computer a second health care service requester to offer an incentive to based on historical information about the willingness, inclination, or propensity of the second health care service requester to change a previously booked appointment and the types of incentives used to induce the second health care service requester to accept an appointment change;

determining, by the computer, a financial incentive to tender to the second health care requester as an inducement to change an appointment of the second health care requester based on the historical information, the value of the financial incentive related to the benefit presented by the opportunity to change the appointment, wherein the financial incentive comprises at least one of a waiver of a co-payment and a reduction of a co-payment; and

communicating, by the computer, to the second health care requester, the financial incentive to change the appointment based on load balancing across time slots and facilities and further based on adjusting an overbooked condition of a health care service provider.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the health care service request is received electronically via an internet using one of a simple mail transport protocol and a hypertext transfer protocol.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the candidate health care service appointments based on searching the database of health care service offerings is further based on comparing the preferred appointment time with an availability schedule of the health care service offerings and comparing a location of an office associated with the health care service offerings with a location preference.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the comparing the location of the office associated with the health care service offerings with a location preference is based on a maximum radius preference.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the identifying the candidate health care service appointments is based on identifying candidates that match a maximum number of preferences and the location filter.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein confirming the choice of appointment comprises sending notification to a health care provider and a patient associated with the health care request.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the financial incentive to change the appointment is associated with changing at least one of a provider facility location, a time, and a date of the health care service appointment.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the opportunity to change the appointment is based on analyzing a patient profile to estimate willingness to accept the financial incentive to change the schedule of the health care service appointment and wherein communicating the financial incentive to change the appointment comprises sending a message containing information about the financial incentive to a patient associated with the appointment.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the financial incentive further comprises at least one of a coupon and a discount.