U.S. patent application number 12/468563 was filed with the patent office on 2010-11-25 for system and method for providing a multi-dimensional contextual platform for managing a medical practice.
This patent application is currently assigned to Myca Health, Inc.. Invention is credited to Kevin BOUCHARD, Steven FERGUSON, Nathanial B. FINDLAY, Sean KHOZIN, Philippe LAROUCHE, Jay PARKINSON, Martin-Pierre ROY.
Application Number | 20100299155 12/468563 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 43125174 |
Filed Date | 2010-11-25 |
United States Patent
Application |
20100299155 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
FINDLAY; Nathanial B. ; et
al. |
November 25, 2010 |
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING A MULTI-DIMENSIONAL CONTEXTUAL
PLATFORM FOR MANAGING A MEDICAL PRACTICE
Abstract
A system and method is provided for generating a
multi-dimensional contextual platform that may be used to manage,
diagnose, and communicate with patients in a medical practice. In
particular, the system may provide a website that may provide
dynamic, avatar-based interfaces that include a doctor interface
and a patient interface. A doctor may create a subscription with an
operator of the website in order to find new patients and view
patient health records across multiple dimensions. A patient may
create a subscription with the operator to locate a doctor and
maintain open communications with the doctor. Once subscribed, the
doctor and patient may use the website to enhance the overall
healthcare experience by using social networking aspects of the
website to facilitate doctor and patient communication in
real-time.
Inventors: |
FINDLAY; Nathanial B.;
(Quebec, CA) ; PARKINSON; Jay; (Brooklyn, NY)
; KHOZIN; Sean; (New York, NY) ; FERGUSON;
Steven; (Quebec, CA) ; ROY; Martin-Pierre;
(St-Augustin, CA) ; LAROUCHE; Philippe; (Quebec,
CA) ; BOUCHARD; Kevin; (Quebec, CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
PILLSBURY WINTHROP SHAW PITTMAN, LLP
P.O. BOX 10500
MCLEAN
VA
22102
US
|
Assignee: |
Myca Health, Inc.
Quebec
CA
|
Family ID: |
43125174 |
Appl. No.: |
12/468563 |
Filed: |
May 19, 2009 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
705/3 ;
705/2 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G16H 20/10 20180101;
G16H 15/00 20180101; G06Q 10/06 20130101; G16H 40/20 20180101; G16H
50/20 20180101; G06Q 10/10 20130101; G16H 40/67 20180101; G16H
10/60 20180101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/3 ;
705/2 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 50/00 20060101
G06Q050/00 |
Claims
1. A system for providing a multi-dimensional contextual platform
for managing a medical practice, comprising: at least one networked
computing device comprising: (a) a patient interface module
configured to generate a patient interface for interacting with the
system; (b) a doctor interface module configured to: receive at
least one medical record for each patient, and generate an
avatar-based doctor interface for displaying the plurality of
patients and information from the at least one medical record,
wherein the plurality of patients are each depicted as an avatar in
the avatar-based doctor interface; and (c) a social networking
module configured to facilitate online communications between the
patient interface and the avatar-based doctor interface.
2. The system of claim 1, further comprising: a multi-dimensional
database that stores the at least one medical record for each
patient among a plurality of patients, wherein a dimension relates
to an aspect of the at least one medical record.
3. The system of claim 2, wherein the multi-dimensional database
comprises a dimension selected from at least one of: a Medical
Conditions dimension that relates to information that describes
medical conditions suffered by the plurality of patients, a
Medications dimension that relates to information that describes
medications taken by the plurality of patients, Visits dimension
that relates to information that describes visitations between a
doctor and the plurality of patients, a Lab Reports dimension that
relates to information that describes lab report results for the
plurality of patients, or an Imaging Results dimension that relates
to imaging results for the plurality of patients.
4. The system of claim 2, wherein the doctor interface module is
further configured to receive and display at least one patient
event that describes relevant information for a patient.
5. The system of claim 4, wherein the doctor interface module is
further configured to display at least one patient event indicator
that indicates the at least one patient event, wherein the at least
one patient event indicator is displayed adjacent to a respective
avatar representing the at least one patient on the avatar-based
doctor interface.
6. The system of claim 5, wherein the at least one patient event
indicator is displayed by the doctor interface module in
real-time.
7. The system of claim 2, wherein the doctor interface module is
further configured receive a selection of the at least one patient
event indicator and in response, cause the avatar-based doctor
interface to display information for the patient event.
8. The system of claim 1, wherein the patient interface module
comprises a health record module configured to: determine whether
access to the at least one health record is authorized; and
generate a display that includes the at least one health record
when access is authorized.
9. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one health record
comprises a lab result.
10. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one health record
comprises an imaging result.
11. The system of claim 1, wherein the patient interface module
comprises an appointment module configured to: display a schedule
of available appointments of at least one doctor associated with a
patient; receive a selection of at least one available appointment
to schedule with the at least one doctor; and schedule the at least
one available appointment with the at least one doctor.
12. The system of claim 11, wherein the appointment module is
further configured to: display a plurality of methods by which the
at least one available appointment is to be conducted, wherein a
method describes a method of conducting the at least one available
appointment; and receive a selection of a method by which the at
least one available appointment is to be conducted; and generate an
indication for the selected method.
13. The system of claim 12, wherein the plurality of methods
comprise a virtual method by which the at least one available
appointment is to be conducted online.
14. The system of claim 12, wherein the plurality of methods
comprise an in-person method by which the at least one available
appointment is to be conducted in-person.
15. The system of claim 11, wherein the appointment module is
further configured to: receive one or more patient comments related
to an appointment that was conducted with the doctor; and display
the one or more patient comments when displaying the
appointment.
16. The system of claim 1, wherein the patient interface module
further comprises a billing module configured to: generate an
invoice related to patient services, wherein the invoice comprises
one or more itemized charges that describes at least one medical
service that was rendered and wherein the one or more itemized
charges relates to a method by which the at least one service was
rendered.
17. The system of claim 1, wherein the billing module is further
configured to process payment related to the invoice.
18. The system of claim 1, wherein the doctor interface module
further comprises a scheduling module configured to: receive an
appointment request; schedule an appointment in response to the
appointment request; and maintain a plurality of scheduled
appointments, wherein the plurality of scheduled appointments
includes the scheduled appointment.
19. The system of claim 1, wherein the doctor interface module
comprises a prevention module configured to generate a preventative
maintenance display that includes preventative maintenance
information that tracks preventative healthcare of a patient.
20. The system of claim 1, wherein the preventative maintenance
information displayed by the prevention module includes at least
one expected growth chart and at least one actual growth chart.
21. The system of claim 1, wherein the preventative maintenance
information displayed by the prevention module includes a plurality
of checkups to be performed.
22. The system of claim 1, wherein the preventative maintenance
information displayed by the prevention module includes a plurality
of vaccinations to be performed.
23. The system of claim 1, wherein the doctor interface module
comprises a smart grouping module configured to: group the
plurality of patients into one or more groups of patients; and
generate a display that includes the one or more groups of
patients.
24. The system of claim 1, wherein the smart grouping module is
further configured to: group the plurality of patients
automatically based on at least one medical condition that is
commonly suffered among the grouped patients.
25. The system of claim 1, wherein the smart grouping module is
further configured to: group the plurality of patients
automatically based on at least one medication that is commonly
being taken by the grouped patients.
26. The system of claim 1, wherein the smart grouping module is
further configured to: receive a new group definition that
indicates a new patient group; receive an indication of at least
one patient that is to be grouped according to the new group
definition; and add the at least one patient to the new patient
group.
27. The system of claim 1, wherein the doctor interface module
comprises a search module configured to: receive one or more search
terms; execute a search based on the one or more search terms;
generate a result set from the executed search that includes one or
more patients; and cause the avatar-based doctor interface to
highlight respective avatars of the one or more patients of the
result set.
28. The system of claim 26, wherein the search module is further
configured to: execute the search and generate the result set in
real-time as the search terms are received; and highlight the
respective avatars of the one or more patients as the result set is
generated in real-time.
29. The system of claim 1, wherein the social networking module is
further configured to: receive a rating of the doctor, wherein the
rating is includes patient feedback regarding an appointment with
the doctor.
30. The system of claim 1, further comprising an experts module
configured to: receive an indication that a subscribed doctor is to
be added to a team of experts for the patient; and add the
subscribed doctor to the team of experts in response to the
indication, wherein a member of the team of experts has access to
the at least one medical record of the patient.
31. A medical record display device for displaying information from
at least one medical record of a patient, comprising: a cloud view
module comprising one or more processors configured to: receive the
at least one medical record of a patient, wherein the at least one
medical record comprises a plurality of dimensions that each
describe an aspect of a health of the patient, and wherein at least
one dimension comprises a first information element and a second
information element that each represent medical information related
to the at least one dimension; receive a selection to display the
at least one dimension; determine a first location of the first
information element and a second location of the second information
element to be displayed on a user interface; determine a first
level of importance of the first information element relative to
the second information element and a second level of importance of
the second information element relative to the first information
element; and differentially display the first information element
according to the first level of importance and the second
information element according to the second level of
importance.
32. The medical record display device of claim 31, wherein the one
or more processors of the cloud view module are further configured
to: determine a first location of the first information element
according to a first time the first information element appeared in
the at least one medical record of the patient.
33. The medical record display device of claim 31, wherein a first
level of importance of the first information element is determined
according to a first number of interactions between a doctor and
the patient related to the first information element compared to a
second number of interactions between the doctor and the patient
related to the second information element, wherein the first
information element is determined to be relatively more important
than the second information element when the first number is
greater than the second number.
34. The medical record display device of claim 31, wherein a first
level of importance of the first information element is determined
according to a first level of severity of the first information
element relative to a second level of severity of the second
information element, wherein the first information element is
relatively more important than the second information element when
the first level of severity is greater than the second level of
severity.
35. The medical record display device of claim 31, wherein the
first information element is displayed as a first geometric shape
and the second information element is displayed as a second
geometric shape, and wherein the first geometric shape is displayed
as a larger geometric shape relative to the second geometric shape
when the first information element is determined to be more
important than the second information element.
36. The medical record display device of claim 31, wherein the
first information element is displayed as a first color and the
second information element is displayed as a second color, and
wherein the first color is displayed as a different color relative
to the second color when the first information element is
determined to be more important than the second information
element.
37. A medical record display device for displaying at least one
medical record of a patient, comprising: a cloud view module
comprising one or more processors configured to: receive the at
least one medical record of a patient, wherein the at least one
medical record comprises a plurality of dimensions that each
describe an aspect of a health of the patient, and wherein each
dimension comprises at least one information element that
represents medical information related to the respective dimension;
receive a selection to display a dimension; determine a first
location of a dimension indicator that indicates the selected
dimension and a second location of the at least one element to be
displayed, wherein the dimension indicator is displayed as a focal
point about which the at least one element is disposed; and display
the focal point and the at least one element.
38. The medical record display device of claim 37, wherein the
plurality of dimensions is selected from the group consisting of: a
Medical Conditions dimension that describes medical conditions of
the patient, a Visits dimension that describes interactions with
the patient, a Medications dimension that describes medications
taken by the patient, a Lab Results dimension that describes
laboratory results of the patient, or an Imaging Results dimension
that describes imaging results of the patient.
39. The medical record display device of claim 37, wherein the at
least one element comprises one or more properties that describe
the at least one element, and wherein the one or more processors of
the cloud view module are further configured to display the at
least one element at a distance from the dimension indicator
according to the one or more properties.
40. The medical record display device of claim 39, wherein the at
least one information element relates to a medication being taken
by the patient and the one or more properties comprises a length of
time the medication has been taken by the patient, and wherein the
distance from the dimension indicator is determined based on the
length of time.
41. An adaptive medical record analysis device for providing an
analysis of a medical record of a patient, comprising: an adaptive
advising module comprising one or more processors configured to:
receive consultation information related to the patient, wherein
the consultation information includes at least one symptom suffered
by the patient; receive diagnostic information that includes
information related to a diagnosis of a plurality of symptoms;
integrate the received consultation information with the received
diagnostic information and correlate the at least one symptom with
the plurality of symptoms; generate decision support information
based on the integration and correlation, wherein the decision
support information includes at least one potential diagnosis of
the at least one symptom; and display the decision support
information.
42. The adaptive analysis device of claim 41, wherein the decision
support information further comprises at least one suggested test
to refine the at least one potential diagnosis, the adaptive
analysis module comprising one or more processors further
configured to: receive at least one result of the at least one
suggested test; and refine the decision support information based
on the received at least one result.
43. The adaptive analysis device of claim 41, the adaptive analysis
module comprising one or more processors further configured to:
receive refining information that includes at least one doctor
input related to the patient; and refine the decision support
information based on the received refining information.
44. The adaptive analysis device of claim 41, the adaptive analysis
module comprising one or more processors further configured to:
generate a treatment plan based on the decision support
information, wherein the treatment plan includes at least one
course of action that addresses the at least one symptom; monitor
an outcome of the treatment plan; and integrate the outcome with
the diagnostic information [for future reference].
45. An account management device that generates a doctor invoice,
comprising: an invoice module comprising one or more processors
configured to: receive fee information that indicates a plurality
of medical services and a plurality of billing factors, wherein
each billing factor describes a fee to be charged for one or more
of the plurality of medical services; receive an indication that at
least one medical service among the plurality of medical services
has been performed; determine an applicable billing factor for the
at least one medical service that was performed; generate at least
one fee for the at least one medical service based on the at least
one medical service that was performed and the applicable billing
factor; and generate an invoice that comprises the at least one
fee.
46. The account management device of claim 45, wherein a first
billing factor describes a first fee to be charged for a first
medical service that is performed and a second billing factor
describes a second fee to be charged for a second medical service,
wherein the first fee is different from the second fee according to
a difference between the first medical service and the second
medical service.
47. The account management device of claim 45, wherein a first
billing factor describes a first fee to be charged based on a first
method of interaction and a second billing factor describes a
second fee to be charged based on a second method of interaction,
wherein the first fee is different from the second fee according to
a difference between the first method of interaction and the second
method of interaction.
48. The account management device of claim 47, wherein the first
method of interaction is selected from at least one of the
following: email, instant messaging, in-office, house call, video
conference, or tele-conference.
49. The account management device of claim 45, wherein a first
billing factor comprises a first weight that is applied to a
particular fee for the at least one medical service based on a
first method of interaction, and a second billing factor that
comprises a second weight that is applied to the particular fee
based on a second method of interaction, wherein the particular fee
is weighted differently based on the first weight and the second
weight such that the generated at least one fee is generated from
the particular fee according to the first weight and the second
weight.
50. The account management device of claim 45, wherein a first
billing factor describes a first fee to be charged based on a first
time increment and a second billing factor describes a second fee
to be charged based on a second time increment, wherein the first
fee is different from the second fee according to a difference
between the first time increment and the second time increment.
51. A subscription management device for facilitating account
management for a doctor and a patient, comprising: a subscription
management module comprising one or more processors configured to:
receive a doctor subscription from at least one doctor; generate a
doctor profile based on the doctor subscription; receive a patient
subscription from at least one patient; generate a patient profile
based on the patient subscription; provide the at least one patient
with the doctor profile for review; receive an indication that the
at least one patient has selected to receive medical care from the
at least one doctor; and transmit the indication to the at least
one doctor.
52. A computer-implemented method for providing a multi-dimensional
contextual platform for managing a medical practice using at least
one networked computing device, the method comprising: (a)
generating, by the at least one networked computing device, a
patient interface for interacting with the system; (b) receiving,
by the at least one networked computing device, at least one
medical record for each patient; (c) generating, by the at least
one networked computing device, an avatar-based doctor interface
for displaying the plurality of patients and information from the
at least one medical record, wherein the plurality of patients are
each depicted as an avatar in the avatar-based doctor interface;
and (d) facilitating, by the at least one networked computing
device, online communications between the patient interface and the
avatar-based doctor interface.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The invention relates to a system and method for providing a
multi-dimensional contextual platform for managing a medical
practice that uses social network tools to enhance communication
between the doctor and patients.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Increasing demands faced by medical professionals can make
the process of seeking and receiving personalized healthcare a
challenge for patients. From a doctor's perspective, managing a
medical practice using existing systems can make treatment,
organization, time management, and communication with patients
difficult. For example, medical records maintained in paper files
are often difficult and cumbersome to store, retrieve, and manage.
Even electronic medical records may be difficult to navigate using
existing systems. Since scheduling programs, health records,
billing programs, and patient communication programs may span
multiple platforms or applications such as calendar systems,
patient database systems, and various email systems. Thus, a doctor
may use unrelated systems for managing appointments, patient
records, communications, and other information.
[0003] From a patient's perspective, a busy doctor often seems
inattentive and communication with a doctor may be limited to
office visits or short phone calls. Patients tend to feel removed
from the healthcare experience because of limited interaction with
their doctors as well as lack of access to their own medical
information.
[0004] These and other drawbacks exist.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] One aspect of the invention relates to a system and method
for providing a multi-dimensional contextual platform for managing,
diagnosing, and communicating with patients in a medical practice.
The system may provide a website that may include dynamic,
avatar-based interfaces, including a doctor interface and a patient
interface. The website may also include a social networking module
to facilitate doctor and patient communication in real-time,
thereby enhancing the overall healthcare experience.
[0006] According to an aspect of the invention, the system may
include a multi-dimensional contextual database for storing a
patient's medical records and other patient information. The
website may incorporate or otherwise use information from the
multi-dimensional contextual database, third party health
repositories, and/or other information sources.
[0007] According to an aspect of the invention, the system may
include a doctor interface module for assisting the doctor in
managing a medical practice. Through various modules associated
with the doctor interface module, the doctor may manage the medical
practice using an integrated interface that may incorporate social
network tools to facilitate online and/or otherwise real-time
communication between the doctor and patients. For example, the
doctor interface module may include an avatar-based user interface
that provides the doctor with a snapshot view of the practice, a
to-do module that enables the doctor to keep track of tasks that
should be performed, a prevention module that facilitates
preventative healthcare maintenance of patients, a scheduling
module to assist in the scheduling and reminding of appointments,
an inbox module that facilitates communication, a smart grouping
module for grouping patients, a search module, a cloud view module
for generating a contextual display of the patient, an adaptive
advising module for generating diagnostic and/or suggested courses
of action, and/or other modules.
[0008] According to an aspect of the invention, the system may
depict patients and doctors as avatars, thereby personalizing
doctor-patient online interactions. An avatar may include a real
(e.g., photo) or virtual representation of a user (e.g., doctor,
patient, and/or other individual or entity interacting with the
system).
[0009] In operation, a doctor may login to the website and the
doctor interface module may present the avatar-based user
interface. According to an aspect of the invention, the
avatar-based user interface may display a number of avatars
representing patients, prospective patients, colleagues, and/or
other individuals or entities relevant to the doctor's practice.
For example, the number of displayed avatars may represent a
portion of patients or all patients in the doctor's practice,
effectively providing a snapshot view of patients under the
doctor's care.
[0010] To highlight recent or otherwise noteworthy information
regarding patients, the avatar-based user interface may display
patient events associated with patients in real-time. Patient
events may include recent or otherwise noteworthy information
related to the patient in which the doctor may be interested.
Patient events may also be time-sensitive. As such, the
avatar-based user interface may display a patient event adjacent to
(or otherwise associated with) an avatar representing the patient
in order to provide the doctor with real-time updates. In this
manner, when interacting with the avatar-based user interface, the
doctor may be notified of patient events as they occur, thereby
enabling the doctor to respond to patient events in real-time.
[0011] Once logged into the website, the doctor may use various
modules that facilitate management of the doctor's practice. For
example, the doctor may use the to-do module to maintain and
display various task items for the doctor, including, for example,
items to be scheduled or performed by the doctor. A doctor or other
user may enter a task item for a patient, which is displayed by the
to-do module. The doctor may click or otherwise select a to-do item
in order to view, change, delete, and/or perform other actions on
the task item.
[0012] According to an aspect of the invention, the doctor may use
the prevention module to manage preventative care of patients. The
prevention module may display information related to preventative
care for a patient such as, among other things, vaccinations,
annual tests, and/or other preventative healthcare information. As
each preventative healthcare item is performed, the doctor or other
user may indicate that the item has been fulfilled, thereby helping
the doctor monitor preventative healthcare for the patient.
[0013] According to an aspect of the invention, the doctor may use
the scheduling module to schedule and display the doctor's
appointments. Appointments may be real (e.g., in-person) or virtual
(e.g., over the phone, via video-conference, web-chat, etc.). In
one implementation, an appointment may be visually depicted for
easy identification. For example, a scheduled phone call
appointment with a patient may be represented by a telephone icon,
while an in-person house call visit with a patient may be
represented by a house icon. In this manner, the scheduling module
may be used by the doctor to efficiently schedule and time-manage
appointments.
[0014] To facilitate enhanced communications, the doctor may use
the inbox module to display and respond to patient communications
in real-time. Patient communications may include, among other
things, general communications from patients, updates from
patients, consultations from other doctors, and notifications
regarding the availability of information.
[0015] General communications from patients may include any email,
chat, SMS, voice, video, and/or other communications from a
patient.
[0016] Updates may include particular messages from patients
regarding progress related to the patient (e.g., efficacy of
medications, whether the patient is feeling better, etc.).
[0017] Consultations may include messages from a specialist who may
have been consulted to give their opinion of the patient. For
example, the specialist may have reviewed the medical record of a
patient and/or examined the patient in order to provide an opinion
for the doctor to consider.
[0018] Notifications may include communications informing the
doctor of the availability of information such as, among other
things, lab results from a laboratory and medical records from
another doctor. For example, a doctor may receive a notification
that lab results for a patient are available. According to an
aspect of the invention, upon reviewing the lab results, the doctor
may approve releasing the lab results for review by the patient,
which may cause the system to notify the patient that the lab
results are available for review. By providing an integrated
interface to various patient communications related to the
patient's medical treatment, the inbox module may provide the
doctor with the ability to make informed decisions based on
information as it becomes available in real-time.
[0019] According to an aspect of the invention, the doctor may use
the smart grouping module to generate and maintain patient groups.
A patient group may be generated manually by the doctor,
automatically by the smart grouping module according to a
dimension, and/or automatically by the smart grouping module
according to a common characteristic shared among patients in the
patient group (such as patients taking the same medication or
having the same medical condition). In this manner, the doctor may
identify and manage patients according to a shared characteristic
among a group of patients.
[0020] According various aspects of the invention, a doctor may
identify or otherwise select a patient group to be managed. Once a
patient group has been identified or otherwise selected, the doctor
may perform subsequent actions for the selected group. Subsequent
actions may, for example, include sending a group message, sending
the group literature on a health topic, and/or any performing other
actions suitable for a group. In this manner, the smart grouping
module be used to perform actions on a group that would otherwise
be redundantly performed for each patient in the group.
[0021] To identify patients, patient information, or search for
other information associated with the system, the doctor may use
the search module to search for patients by patient group, by
dimension, or individually. The search module may auto-complete
search terms (such as letters, words, numbers, etc.) as the search
terms are being received. According to an aspect of the invention,
the avatar-based user interface may integrate search results such
that patients identified by search results may be dynamically
highlighted in the display. Highlighting may include focusing
avatars of patients in the search results to the foreground while
fading other avatars to the background. Alternatively or
additionally, highlighting may include enlarging, coloring
differently, or otherwise altering the appearance of avatars of
patients in a search results display.
[0022] According to an aspect of the invention, a highlighted
avatar or group of avatars in a set of displayed search results may
be selected for further processing. In other words, further
processing may be performed on an individual avatar or group of
avatars after the individual avatar or group of avatars have been
identified by the search module. For example, clicking on (or
otherwise selecting) a patient group that was identified by the
search module may result in a group action to be performed as
discussed above. Clicking (or otherwise selecting) an avatar may
result in a patient preview display. The patient preview display
may show a preview of the patient's medical record. The doctor may
configure the information that is displayed in the patient
preview.
[0023] Upon viewing a patient preview or otherwise selecting a
particular patient to view, the doctor may use the cloud view
module to interact with a multi-dimensional contextual display of
the patient's health records. The cloud view module may display one
or more focal points of interest for a patient, around which
information related to the focal point may be arranged. Depending
on the focal point and the context in which the focal point is
displayed, information that may be displayed around the focal point
may vary. Thus, the cloud view module may provide various views of
information related to a patient's health while highlighting
important aspects of the patient's health record.
[0024] According to an aspect of the invention, the doctor
interface module may include an adaptive advising module for
adaptively analyzing the medical record of a patient in order to
advise the doctor of potential diagnoses, prognoses, and/or
suggested courses of action for the patient. The adaptive advising
module may continuously integrate diagnostic information in order
to generate diagnoses and/or suggested courses of action. The
diagnostic information may include, among other things, clinical
history, prior doctor examinations of the patient, medications,
test results, and prior patient outcomes. The diagnostic
information may originate from the patient's health record and/or
third party health repositories that include information from
various patients. The adaptive advising module may adapt
suggestions based on input from the doctor refining the
suggestions, and/or based on information that has been added since
a suggestion was made (such as a new test result or efficacy of a
suggested drug). In other words, as the treatment of the patient
progresses, the adaptive advising module may adaptively make
suggestions based on new information. In this manner, the adaptive
advising module may be used to, among other things, help the doctor
diagnose, generate prognoses, and/or treat the patient.
[0025] According to an aspect of the invention, the system may
include a patient interface module that may enhance the overall
healthcare experience for the patient. Through various modules
associated with the patient interface module, the patient may
become more involved with the healthcare experience. For example,
the patient interface module may include a health record module
that provides access to the patient's health records and other
information, an appointment module that helps the patient schedule
and keep appointments with the doctor (and/or specialists), a
billing module that displays the account and billing information
for the patient, a notifications module for notifying the patient
of recent or otherwise noteworthy information, an experts module
for helping the patient track the patient's team of doctors
associated with the patient, and/or other modules.
[0026] According to an aspect of the invention, the patient may use
the health record module to gain access to the patient's health
record and/or other information related to the patient. The
patient's health record may include, among other things, prior
medical history, medications, familial history (including
hereditary/genetic information), lifestyle information, and test
results. The patient may cause utilize the health record module to
perform actions related to the health record. For example, the
patient may view a list of medications that have been taken and/or
are currently being taken by the patient. When a refill is needed,
the patient may submit a refill request to the doctor
electronically. The health record module may therefore be used by
the patient in order to immerse the patient in the healthcare
experience, which may enhance the patient's interaction, with the
doctor.
[0027] To help maintain appointments, the patient may use the
appointment module to create, view, and/or otherwise facilitate
management of appointments. The patient may use the appointment
module to schedule a new appointment, view a schedule of
appointments, cancel or modify an appointment, view past
appointments, and/or perform other actions related to appointments.
By providing an online interface for scheduling appointments,
patient accessibility to the doctor may be enhanced.
[0028] The appointment module may use the social networking module
to enable a user to track appointments and rate a doctor. According
to an aspect of the invention, the appointments module may display
an appointment with related comments and/or messages between the
doctor and the patient. For example, upon completing an
appointment, the doctor may send a message to the patient asking
for updates. The patient may respond to the message with an update.
When displaying the appointment, the appointment module may display
messages associated with the appointment. By providing the patient
with the capability to view historical patient appointment
information, the appointment module may enable the patient to,
among other things, rate their experiences with the doctor and
refresh their memory regarding a particular appointment. For
example, upon recently completing an appointment with a doctor, the
appointment module may use the social networking module to conduct
a survey requesting patient feedback for the doctor, leveraging
social network tools in order to rate doctors in the system.
[0029] According to an aspect of the invention, the patient may use
the billing module to interact with account and billing information
for the patient. The billing module may be used to update personal
information of the patient such as, among other things, contact
information, payment methods, and insurance information.
Alternatively or additionally, the billing module may be used to,
among other things, view billing information (such as itemized
listing of services--such as per message, per web-chat, per office
visit, etc., and their fees), pay doctor fees, and pay system usage
fees. In this manner, the patient may manage aspects of the
patient's account and billing system using an integrated,
real-time, display. According to an aspect of the invention, the
billing module may facilitate a payment plan between a patient and
the patient's doctor (and/or team of doctors). For example, a
patient may pay the doctor on a per-visit basis, which may be
facilitated by the billing module (i.e., the billing module may
accept payments by a patient on behalf of the doctor). Payments may
be processed electronically via credit card transactions, online
payment services such as PAYPAL, and/or other electronic
transactions. Alternatively or additionally, the billing module may
be configured such that certain payments via the billing module are
not expected by the patient but instead paid by the patient
directly to the doctor. In this manner, the system provides
patients with a flexible payment capability.
[0030] According to an aspect of the invention, a patient may use
the notifications module to interact with and view notifications
for the patient. Notifications may include, among other things,
reminders of upcoming appointments, reminders of upcoming
medication refill dates, important notifications from the doctor
(such as the aforementioned patient group notices), various
communications (e-mail, chat, SMS, etc.), referrals, and
aforementioned lab report availability notifications. For example,
the doctor may refer the patient to a specialist in order to get a
second opinion. The referral may include information related to the
specialist. Upon receiving a selection of a specialist, the
notification module may cause various operations to be performed
such as, for example, schedule an appointment with the specialist,
display profile information for the specialist, and display user
ratings for the specialist.
[0031] According to an aspect of the invention, a patient may use
the experts module to view and manage a team of experts for the
patient. The team of experts may include, among other things,
doctors, specialists, and consultants for which the patient has
authorized personal information (pertaining to the patient) to be
shared and/or discussed amongst each member of the team of experts.
One or more members of the team of experts may also be part of the
system such that the patient may communicate and make appointments
with the team of experts.
[0032] According to an aspect of the invention, the patient may use
the experts module to search for experts to add to the team of
experts. A search results display may list each expert alongside
(or otherwise adjacent to) an avatar representing the expert. The
experts module may include expert profile information for review by
the patient, thereby providing the patient with information by
which to determine whether to add the expert to the team of
experts. By adding the expert to the team of experts, the patient
may cause the system to grant to the newly added expert permission
to, among other things, access the health record of the patient,
discuss the patient online with other experts among the team of
experts, and contact the patient directly.
[0033] According to an aspect of the invention, the system may
include an invoice module for managing fees and generating an
invoice that may include differential fee calculations based on one
or more billing factor(s). For example, a doctor may specify fee
information that includes different fees to be charged based on one
or more billing factor(s).
[0034] Billing factors may include, for example, the medical
service performed, a method of interaction between the doctor and
the patient when the doctor performs the medical service, a fee
rate (such as an hourly fee), a fixed fee (such as predefined fees
regardless of time), and/or other billing factors. Medical services
may include, for example, a routine checkup, a consultation for
diagnosing patient symptoms, a follow-up consultation, a lab test
(such as drawing blood, taking x-rays, etc.) and/or any other
medical service provided by the doctor. As previously noted,
methods of interaction may include virtual methods, in-person
methods, or any other methods by which a doctor may interact with a
patient. A doctor may charge a different fee for different medical
services, different methods of interaction, different fee rates,
and/or different fixed fees, which may be managed by invoice
module.
[0035] According to an aspect of the invention, a billing factor
may be used alone or in combination with other billing factors. In
this manner, a doctor may specify various fees to be charged based
on one or more billing factors. The invoice module may use the one
or more billing factors to automatically generate a bill for the
doctor based on the medical service that was performed, the method
of interaction by which the medical service was performed, whether
a fee rate should be applied, and/or whether a fixed fee should be
applied.
[0036] When a billing factor is used alone, invoice module may
generate an invoice based on a single billing factor. For example,
a billing factor may specify a particular fee for a particular
medical service provided by the doctor. In other words, each
medical service may be associated with a particular fee for that
service. Alternatively or additionally, a billing factor may
specify a particular fee based on a method of interaction with the
doctor. Thus, a particular fee may be charged based on the method
of interaction in which the doctor performs a medical service. As
such, the doctor may specify a particular fee for an email and a
different fee for an in-person consultation. Alternatively or
additionally, a billing factor may specify a particular fee based
on a fee rate that is charged according to a time increment. Time
increments may be, for example, by hour, by minute, and/or any
other time increment. By using a fee rate billing factor, a fee may
be calculated according to a billing factor based on the amount of
time the doctor spends interacting with or otherwise performing a
medical service on the patient. Alternatively or additionally, a
billing factor may specify a fixed fee for services provided by the
doctor.
[0037] By using a combination of these features, various parties
benefit. For example, a website operator providing a website
implementing the system may generate various fees from doctors and
patients using the website. A doctor may subscribe to the website
in order to manage existing patients, find new patients, and join
the website's network of doctors who have already subscribed,
thereby expanding the doctor's referral network. A patient may
subscribe to the website in order to find doctors subscribed to the
website and become more actively involved in the overall healthcare
experience. Once found, the patient may pay the doctor for the
doctor's services as well as subscription fees to the website
operator, which may be facilitated by the website. As discussed
above, the patient may pay the doctor for services using a
pay-as-you-go payment method, thereby providing the patient with
flexible payment terms on a per-visit basis. By using the website,
the patient may gain enhanced interaction with the doctor, the
patient's health records and other patient information, thereby
immersing the patient in the overall healthcare experience.
[0038] Other objects and advantages of the invention will be
apparent to those skilled in the art based on the following
drawings and detailed description.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0039] FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary system
for providing a multi-dimensional contextual platform for managing
a medical practice, according to an aspect of the invention.
[0040] FIG. 2 illustrates a screenshot of an exemplary avatar-based
user interface, according to an aspect of the invention.
[0041] FIG. 3 illustrates a screenshot of an exemplary avatar-based
user interface highlighting a group of patients, according to an
aspect of the invention.
[0042] FIG. 4 illustrates a screenshot of an exemplary to-do
display for the doctor, according to an aspect of the
invention.
[0043] FIG. 5a illustrates a screenshot of an exemplary Medical
Conditions cloud view display, according to an aspect of the
invention.
[0044] FIG. 5b illustrates a screenshot of an exemplary
multi-dimensional cloud view display for an information element,
according to an aspect of the invention.
[0045] FIG. 5c illustrates a screenshot of an exemplary Medications
cloud view display according, to an aspect of the invention.
[0046] FIG. 5d illustrates a screenshot of an exemplary Office
Visits cloud view display, according to an aspect of the
invention.
[0047] FIG. 5e illustrates a screenshot of an exemplary Lab Results
cloud view display, according to an aspect of the invention.
[0048] FIG. 5f illustrates a screenshot of an exemplary Imaging
Results cloud view display, according to an aspect of the
invention.
[0049] FIG. 6 illustrates a flow diagram of an exemplary method for
providing a multi-dimensional contextual platform for facilitating
management of a doctor's practice, according to an aspect of the
invention.
[0050] FIG. 7 illustrates a flow diagram of an exemplary method for
providing adaptive analysis, according to an aspect of the
invention.
[0051] FIG. 8 illustrates a flow diagram of an exemplary method for
automatically generating an invoice based on doctor billing
factors, according to an aspect of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0052] According to an aspect of the invention, FIG. 1 illustrates
a block diagram of an exemplary system 100 for providing a
multi-dimensional contextual platform 120 for managing a medical
practice. The multi-dimensional contextual platform 120 may be used
to, among other things, manage, diagnose, and communicate with
patients in a medical practice. The multi-dimensional contextual
platform 120 may comprise an Internet web site, an intranet site,
or other application hosted, for example, on one or more servers.
According to an aspect of the invention, the multi-dimensional
contextual platform 120 may be accessible over a network 108, via
any wired or wireless communications link, using one or more user
terminals (120). Network 108 may include any one or more of, for
instance, the Internet, an intranet, a PAN (Personal Area Network),
a LAN (Local Area Network), a WAN (Wide Area Network), a SAN
(Storage Area Network), a MAN (Metropolitan Area Network), or other
network. Examples of terminal 120 may include any one or more of,
for instance, a personal computer, portable computer, personal
digital assistant (PDA), workstation, web-enabled mobile phone, WAP
device, web-to-voice device, or other device. Those having skill in
the art will appreciate that the invention described herein may
work with various system configurations.
[0053] The multi-dimensional contextual platform 120 may include
dynamic, avatar-based interfaces, generated by a doctor interface
module 130 and a patient interface module 150. The
multi-dimensional contextual platform 120 may also include a social
networking module 180 to, among other things, facilitate doctor and
patient online communication, which may be in real-time, thereby
enhancing the overall healthcare experience. Online communication
may include, for example, email, instant message, online comments,
voice conference, and video conference.
[0054] According to an aspect of the invention, the system 100 may
include a multi-dimensional contextual database 122 for storing a
patient's medical records and other patient information. The
website may incorporate or otherwise use information from the
multi-dimensional contextual database 122, third party health
repositories 104, and/or other sources of information. A dimension
represents an aspect of the patient's medical record and may
include, among other things, Medical Conditions, Office Visits,
Medications, Test Results, and Imaging Results. Each dimension may
include information elements, which represent information from the
patient's medical record. For example, information elements that
contextually form part of the Medical Conditions dimension may
include particular medical conditions (e.g., asthma, eczema,
headaches, etc.) suffered by the patient. Information elements that
contextually form part of the Medications dimension may include
particular medications being taken by the patient, medications that
the patient has taken, and/or any other medication associated with
the patient.
[0055] According to an aspect of the invention, an information
element may be viewed in multi-dimensional contexts. For example,
when viewed in the context of the Medical Conditions dimension,
asthma may be displayed among other medical conditions suffered by
the patient. When asthma is viewed in the context of the
Medications dimension, which may otherwise display all medications
for the patient, medications being taken for asthma may be
displayed. As a further example, when asthma is viewed in the
context of the "Office Visits" dimension, office visits during
which asthma symptoms were presented may be displayed. Thus, by
providing a multi-dimensional view of information from the health
record of a patient, information from a medical record may be
viewed according to the context in which the information is
presented.
[0056] According to an aspect of the invention, an information
element may be linked to another information element. For example,
an information element "diabetes" may be linked to another
information element "diagnosis" such that the medical condition
diabetes is linked to the diagnosis in which diabetes was made. In
turn, "diagnosis" may be linked to an information element "test
results," for example, such that the test results forming the basis
of the diagnosis may be linked to the diagnosis. In this manner, a
multi-dimensional, contextual database 122 may provide
comprehensive information on which displays and analyses may be
generated and performed.
[0057] According to an aspect of the invention, an information
element may be categorized into an information element category.
For example, lab results relating to blood workups may be
categorized as a "hematology" category. In this manner, information
elements may be viewed in the context of similar information
elements and grouped accordingly, thereby helping the doctor to
organize information from a patient's health record.
[0058] According to an aspect of the invention, the system 100 may
include a doctor interface module 130 for assisting the doctor in
managing a medical practice. The doctor interface module 130 may
include an avatar-based user interface 132, a to-do module 134, a
prevention module 136, a scheduling module 138, an inbox module
140, a smart grouping module 142, a search module 144, a cloud view
module 146, an adaptive advisor 148, and/or other modules.
[0059] According to an aspect of the invention, the
multi-dimensional contextual platform 120 may depict patients and
doctors as avatars, personalizing doctor-patient online
interactions. An avatar may include a real (e.g., photo) or virtual
representation of a user (e.g., doctor, patient, and/or other
individual or entity interacting with the system). Representations
may include, among other things, an image (e.g., photograph,
graphic, etc.), text, color, audio file, and/or any combination of
representations.
[0060] According to an aspect of the invention, the avatar-based
user interface 132 may display a number of avatars representing
patients, prospective patients, colleagues, and/or other
individuals or entities relevant to the doctor's practice. For
example, the number of displayed avatars may represent a portion of
patients or all patients in the doctor's practice, thereby
providing a snapshot view of patients under the doctor's care. The
doctor may use the avatar-based user interface to 132 view and
interact with, among other things, communications from patients,
test results for patients, appointment schedules, smart grouping of
patients, and comprehensive analyses of medical records based on
multiple dimensions of the patient in view of contextual
information. The comprehensive analyses may assist the doctor to
more effectively diagnose, treat, and manage care for each
patient.
[0061] According to an aspect of the invention, the avatar-based
user interface 132 may display patient events associated with
patients in real-time. Patient events may include recent or
otherwise noteworthy information related to the patient in which
the doctor may be interested. A patient event may be displayed
adjacent to (or otherwise associated with) an avatar representing
the patient. Patient events may include, among other things, recent
communications from patients, test results, and upcoming
appointments. According to an aspect of the invention, a patient
event may be indicated using a patient event indicator associated
with a patient's avatar. The patient event indicator may be
depicted using thought bubbles, graphic, text, and/or other display
techniques, or a combination thereof. Alternatively or
additionally, a patient event indicator may include a blinking
avatar. A patient event indicator may include a description of a
patient event, a preview of a patient event, and/or link to a
patient event. For example, when a patient event includes a message
from a patient, the entire message, a portion of the message, or a
link to the message may be indicated by the patient event
indicator. As such, clicking (or otherwise selecting) a patient
event indicator may cause the avatar-based user interface 132 to
retrieve more detailed information for the patient event (such as
retrieving an entire message from a patient). In this manner, the
doctor may be notified of patient events as they occur, thereby
enabling the doctor to respond to patient events in real-time and
facilitating management of the doctor's practice.
[0062] As discussed above, patient events may be displayed (or
posted) in real-time. For example, when an instant message (or
other communication) from a patient is communicated to the doctor
while the doctor is interacting with avatar-based user interface
132, the instant message may appear in a thought bubble adjacent to
the sending patient's avatar in real-time. Similarly, recently
received lab results for a patient, for example, may appear in a
thought bubble adjacent to that patient's avatar. In this manner,
the avatar-based user interface 132 may be used by the doctor to,
among other things, manage his practice using an integrated display
of his patients that highlights patient events in real-time using a
familiar and personalized interface.
[0063] According to an aspect of the invention, the doctor
interface module 130 may include a to-do module 134 for maintaining
and displaying various tasks (or to-do) items for the doctor. To-do
items may include items to be scheduled or performed by the doctor
such as, among other things, schedule a lab test for a patient,
send the patient a message asking how the patient is feeling,
schedule a consultation with another doctor, and/or other tasks.
The to-do module 134 may display a to-do item adjacent to an avatar
representing the user associated with the to-do item. The to-do
item may be selectable such that a selection of a to-do item may
cause the inbox module to schedule and/or perform the to-do item.
For example, if a to-do item includes a reminder to send a message
to a patient, selection of the to-do item may cause the inbox
module 140 to generate or otherwise display an email interface (or
other communication interface such as chat, SMS, etc.). A doctor or
other user may enter a to-do item for a patient, which is displayed
by the to-do module 134, and/or otherwise view and manage to-do
items.
[0064] According to an aspect of the invention, the doctor
interface module 130 may include a prevention module 136 for
helping the doctor manage preventative care for patients. The
prevention module 136 may display preventative maintenance
information related to preventative care for a patient. For
example, the prevention module 136 may display preventative
maintenance information that includes items that should be
performed such as, for example, vaccinations, annual tests, regular
checkups, and other preventative healthcare items. As each
preventative healthcare item is performed, a checkmark (or other
indicator) may convey that the item has been fulfilled, thereby
helping the doctor manage preventative healthcare for patients. As
another example, the prevention module 136 may display one or more
standard growth curves and one or more actual growth curves for a
child patient, including the growth progression of the child
patient in relation to a standard growth curve. In this manner, the
doctor may use the prevention module 136 in order to maintain
preventative healthcare for the patient.
[0065] According to an aspect of the invention, the doctor
interface module 130 may include a scheduling module 138 for
helping to create, maintain, and display the doctor's schedule. A
doctor's schedule may include tasks that have already been
scheduled to be performed on particular dates such as, among other
things, a house call, instant message visit, video visit, and/or
office visit. According to an aspect of the invention, scheduled
tasks may be visually depicted based on the type of task to be
performed to help the doctor identify the scheduled task. Visual
depictions may include, among other things, icons, shapes, colors,
images, text, and/or other visual depictions. For example, a
scheduled phone call with a patient may be represented by a
telephone icon while a house call visit with a patient may be
represented by a house icon.
[0066] According to an aspect of the invention, the scheduling
module 138 may display scheduled tasks using various interfaces
such as, for example, an avatar-based list, a calendar, and a
geographic map. The avatar-based list may display a listing of
scheduled tasks, and an avatar corresponding to each task listing
may be displayed alongside the corresponding listing. The calendar
view may present scheduled tasks in a calendar format, where a date
and/or task may be selectable to view more detailed information
regarding the selected date and/or task.
[0067] According to an aspect of the invention, the scheduling
module 138 may interface and/or integrate with one or more third
party applications 106 in order to display scheduled tasks using a
geographic map. For example, scheduled tasks may be overlaid onto a
geographic map using online mapping applications (e.g., GOOGLE
MAPS, MICROSOFT LIVE, etc.) in order to display a location where
each scheduled task is to be performed. The doctor may use the
mapped tasks, for example, to view a route of house visits, and/or
to get directions. In particular, when overlaying scheduled tasks
onto a geographic map, scheduled tasks may be displayed according
to their type. In this manner, the scheduling module 138 may be
used by a doctor to efficiently time-manage patient visits (or
other interactions) by using various visual interfaces.
[0068] According to an aspect of the invention, the doctor
interface module 130 may include an inbox module 140 for displaying
patient communications in real-time. Patient communications may
include, among other things, general emails from patients, updates
from patients, consultations from other doctors, and notifications
regarding the availability of information.
[0069] General emails from patients may include any email from a
patient.
[0070] Updates may include messages from patients regarding
progress related to the patient (e.g., efficacy of medications,
whether the patient is feeling better, etc.).
[0071] Consultations may include messages from a specialist who may
have been consulted to give their opinion of the patient. For
example, a specialist may have reviewed the medical record of the
patient and/or examined the patient in order to provide an opinion
for the doctor to consider.
[0072] Notifications may include communications informing the
doctor of the availability of information such as, among other
things, lab results from a laboratory and medical records from
another doctor. For example, a doctor may receive a notification
that lab results for a patient are available. According to an
aspect of the invention, upon reviewing the lab results, the doctor
may approve the release of the lab results for review by the
patient, which may cause the system to notify the patient that the
lab results are available for review. By providing an integrated
interface to various patient communications related to the
patient's medical treatment, the inbox module 140 may enable the
doctor to make informed decisions based on information as it
becomes available in real-time.
[0073] According to an aspect of the invention, the doctor
interface module 130 may include a smart grouping module 142 that
generates and maintains patient groups. A new patient group
definition, which describes a patient group, may be generated
manually by the doctor, automatically by the smart grouping module
according to a dimension, and/or automatically by the smart
grouping module 142 according to a common characteristic shared
among patients in the patient group (e.g., patients taking the same
medication or having the same medical condition). In this manner,
the doctor may identify and manage patients according to one or
more shared characteristic(s) that are common among a group of
patients.
[0074] According to an aspect of the invention, the smart grouping
module 142 may add patients to a smart group based on the method in
which the smart group was created. For example, the doctor may
identify a patient as being at-risk of, or suffering from, diabetes
and add the patient to the diabetes group by dragging an avatar
representing the patient to a folder representing the diabetes
group, or by otherwise indicating that the patient belongs to the
diabetes patient group. Alternatively or additionally, the smart
grouping module 142 may automatically place the patient in the
diabetes patient group based on an indication in the patient's
medical record that the patient suffers from diabetes. Thus, the
smart grouping module 142 may be used to easily add patients to
various patient groups, which enables the doctor to interact with
patients on a group level.
[0075] According to an aspect of the invention, a doctor may
identify or otherwise select a patient group to be managed. Once a
patient group has been identified or otherwise selected, the doctor
may perform subsequent actions for the selected group. Subsequent
actions may include sending a group message, sending the members of
the group literature on a health topic, and/or perform other action
suitable for a group. For example, the doctor may select a
"LIPITOR" patient group, and send a group message that a cheaper
generic version of the drug is currently available. In another
example, the doctor may select the "diabetes" group and send the
group medical literature that includes relevant information for
diabetes sufferers. In this manner, the smart grouping module 142
may be used to perform actions on a group of patients that would
otherwise be redundantly performed for each patient in the group on
an individual basis.
[0076] According to an aspect of the invention, the
multi-dimensional contextual platform 120 may include a search
module 144 for enabling searching for patients by patient group, by
dimension, or individually. The search module 144 may auto-complete
search terms (such as letters, words, numbers, etc.) as the search
terms are being received. According to an aspect of the invention,
the avatar-based user interface 132 may integrate search results
into the display, where patients identified by search results may
be dynamically highlighted. Highlighting may include, for example,
focusing avatars of patients in the search results to the
foreground while fading other avatars to the background.
Alternatively or additionally, highlighting may include enlarging,
coloring differently, or otherwise altering the appearance of
avatars of patients in the search results but not other
avatars.
[0077] For example, a doctor may search a Medical Conditions
dimension by entering search terms. As the doctor enters search
terms that are recognized (such as "diabet"), the search module 144
may auto-complete the entered search terms to the recognized term
(such as "diabetes"). Once recognized, the avatar-based user
interface 132 may focus the avatars representing patients in the
diabetes patient group to the foreground while fading avatars not
in the diabetes patient group to the background. In another
example, a doctor may search names of patients by entering at least
a portion of a name of the patient of interest. Patients whose
names matches the search terms may be focused to the foreground
while patients with non-matching names are faded to the background.
The process may be dynamic such that as search terms are added
(e.g., the doctor inputting letters), search results may be
filtered such that highlighted patients who are no longer in the
search result are faded to the background. For example, by entering
"John" all patients named "John" may be highlighted, while adding
"John A" moves patients whose last name does not begin with "A" to
the background. In this manner, the search module 144 may enable a
doctor to dynamically find and highlight particular patients using
a familiar avatar format. A doctor may search for and dynamically
view results of search terms to find a patient, group of patients,
and/or other information in the system.
[0078] According to an aspect of the invention, a highlighted
avatar or group of avatars in the search result may be selected for
further processing. In other words, further processing may be
performed on an individual avatar or group of avatars after the
individual avatar or group of avatars have been identified by the
search module. For example, clicking (or otherwise selecting) an
avatar may result in the generation of a patient preview display.
The patient preview display may show a preview of the patient's
medical record. The doctor may configure the information that is
displayed in the patient preview. Clicking on (or otherwise
selecting) a patient group may result in a group action to be
performed as discussed above.
[0079] According to an aspect of the invention, clicking (or
otherwise selecting) an avatar may cause the doctor interface
module 130 to generate a patient view for displaying the medical
record of the patient. The patient view may be accessed by clicking
(or otherwise selecting) an avatar representing the patient, by
executing a search using terms that identify the patient (e.g., the
patient's name, unique system identifier for the patient, or other
identifying criteria), by selecting a link from the patient
preview, and/or by otherwise identifying a patient of interest. The
patient view may be used to interact with various dimensions of the
health records of a patient, view analyses of the medical record,
and communicate with the patient.
[0080] According to an aspect of the invention, the doctor
interface module 130 may include a cloud view module 146 for
displaying one or more focal points of interest of a patient,
around which information related to the focal point may be
arranged. The cloud view module 146 may display a focal point at
any position in the display (such as, for example, at the center of
the display). A focal point may include a dimension of a patient's
medical record around which information elements are arranged. For
example, when viewing the "medications" dimension of a patient,
"medications" may be a focal point around which the drug LIPITOR
and/or other medications associated with the patient are arranged.
Alternatively or additionally, a focal point may be an information
element around which dimensions and/or other information elements
are arranged. For example, when displaying the information element
LIPITOR, the cloud view module 146 may display LIPITOR as a focal
point, around which dimensions related to LIPITOR are arranged.
Dimensions may include Office Visits during which LIPITOR was
prescribed (or discussed), Medical Conditions that LIPITOR
addresses and/or any other dimensions associated with LIPITOR. In
another example, LIPITOR may be a focal point around which other
information elements are arranged, such as a particular Lab Result
information element that is associated with the actual diagnosis of
the medical condition that led to prescribing LIPITOR. Thus, the
cloud view module 146 may be used to focus on particular aspects of
the patient's health record in multi-dimensional contexts while
highlighting important aspects of the patient's health record.
[0081] According to an aspect of the invention, the cloud view
module 146 may display dimensions and information elements using
graphical elements including, for example, geometric shapes, text,
colors, images, other graphical visualizations, and/or other
graphical elements. For example, an information element may be
depicted as a circle with text that describes the information
element displayed adjacent to, within, or on the circle.
[0082] According to an aspect of the invention, the cloud view
module 146 may vary the size, color, shape, and/or spatial
arrangement of a dimension and/or information element using display
rules. The display rules may be based on information element
properties, which may include information from the medical record
of the patient related to an information element such as, for
example, severity of a medical condition, frequency that a
medication is administered, and number of office visits within a
given time period. For example, a rule may be created that may
cause the cloud view module to color an information element
"eczema" red (or alter appearance in another manner) when a patient
suffers from a severe form of eczema. Alternatively or
additionally, a rule may be created that causes the cloud view
module to vary the spatial arrangement of the information element
along first and second axes of the cloud view depending on the
properties of the information element. For example, the cloud view
module 146 may vary a distance from a focal point to an information
element based on a display rule. In this manner, the cloud view may
be used to graphically emphasize various properties of information
elements for each dimension of a patient's medical record, which
may be used to treat and manage the patient accordingly.
[0083] According to an aspect of the invention, the doctor
interface module 130 may include an adaptive advising module 148
for adaptively analyzing the medical record of a patient in order
to advise the doctor of potential diagnoses, prognoses, and/or
suggested courses of action for a patient. The adaptive advising
module 148 may continuously integrate diagnostic information in
order to generate diagnoses and/or suggested courses of action. The
diagnostic information may include, among other things, clinical
history, prior doctor examinations of the patient, medications,
test results, and prior patient outcomes. The diagnostic
information may originate from the patient's health record and/or
third party health repositories 104 that include information from
various patients. The adaptive advising module 148 may adapt
suggestions based on input from the doctor refining the suggestions
and/or based on information that has been added since a suggestion
was made (such as a new test result or efficacy of a suggested
drug). In other words, as the treatment of the patient progresses,
the adaptive advising module 148 may also adaptively make
suggestions based on new information. In this manner, the adaptive
advising module 148 may be used to help the doctor diagnose,
generate prognoses, and/or treat the patient.
[0084] According to an aspect of the invention, the
multi-dimensional contextual platform 120 may include a patient
interface module 150 for enhancing patient interaction with the
doctor, with the patient's health records, and with other
information. The patient interface module 150 may provide the
patient with enhanced accessibility to the doctor via
instant-messaging (chat), SMS, e-mail, voice conferencing, video
conferencing, web forms, and/or other communications techniques.
The patient may use the patient interface module 150 in order to,
among other things, receive reminders regarding treatment (e.g.,
prescription refills, upcoming doctor appointments, etc.), view
billing information, view test results, and locate specialists. The
patient interface module 150 may include a health record module
152, an appointment module 154, a billing module 156, a
notifications module 158, an experts module 160, and/or other
modules.
[0085] According to an aspect of the invention, the health record
module 152 may provide the patient with access to the patient's
health record and/or other information related to the patient. The
patient's health record may include, but is not limited to, prior
medical history, medications, familial history (including
hereditary/genetic information), lifestyle information, and test
results. A patient may use the health record module 152 to perform
actions related to the health record. For example, a patient may
view a list of medications that have been taken previously, and/or
are currently being taken by the patient. When a refill is needed,
the patient may submit a refill request to the doctor
electronically. Upon receiving notification that the request has
been fulfilled, the notification module 158 (discussed further
below) may transmit a message to the patient that the medication
has been filled and is awaiting patient pickup at a pharmacy that
is associated with the patient. Alternatively or additionally, the
doctor may fill the prescription using an online pharmacy, for
example, in response to the refill request.
[0086] According to an aspect of the invention, when a test result
is available, the patient may view the test result, which may
include explanatory notes, for example, made by the doctor. As
previously noted, the doctor may approve release of the test result
to the patient before the health record module 152 displays the
test result to the patient. In other words, the health record
module 152 may be configured to display a health record to the
patient when the patient is authorized (by the doctor, for example)
to view the health record. The health record module may therefore
be used by the patient in order to immerse the patient in the
healthcare experience, which may enhance the patient's interaction
with the doctor.
[0087] To help a patient maintain appointments, the patient may use
the appointment module 154 to create, display, and/or otherwise
facilitate management of appointments. The patient may use the
appointment module 154 to schedule a new appointment, view a
schedule of appointments, cancel or modify an appointment, view
past appointments, and/or perform other actions related to
appointments. When creating or otherwise scheduling a new
appointment, a patient may view available appointment times and/or
enter various information related to the new appointment. For
example, appointment module 154 may provide an input for specifying
one or more reason(s) for the appointment, which may be noted on
the new appointment, thereby apprising the doctor of the reason(s)
for scheduling the appointment. Alternatively or additionally,
appointment module 154 may provide a selectable list of methods by
which the new appointment is to be conducted. System 100 provides
various methods by which the patient may interact with the doctor.
As such, a patient may schedule an appointment by specifying one or
more method(s) of interaction. Methods of interaction may include
virtual methods, in-person methods, or any other method by which a
doctor may interact with the patient. For example, a patient may
wish to schedule an appointment to interact with the doctor by a
virtual method such as via online communication (e.g., email,
instant message, comments, voice conference, video conference,
etc.) and/or via in-person method (e.g., telephone, house call,
in-office, etc.). As such, appointment module 154 may display a
list of methods by which the new appointment is to be scheduled,
thereby providing the patient with a flexible method to schedule an
appointment to interact with the doctor. By providing an online
interface for scheduling appointments, patient accessibility to the
doctor may be enhanced.
[0088] According to an aspect of the invention, the appointment
module 154 may display a listing of appointments for a patient. The
patient may view both upcoming and past appointments. Each
appointment may include an avatar of the doctor with whom the
appointment has been (or was) made. The appointment module 154 may
include information for each appointment such as, among other
things, the reason for the visit, diagnosis, medications
administered, video/audio replays (if available), and other
information related to the appointment. In particular, when the
appointment is a video conference appointment, the appointment
module 154 may display a video file of the video conference
appointment.
[0089] The appointment module 154 may utilize social networking
module 128 by enabling a user to track appointments and rate a
doctor. According to an aspect of the invention, the appointments
module 154 may display an appointment with related comments and/or
messages between the doctor and the patient. For example, upon
completing an appointment, the doctor may send a message to the
patient asking for follow-up updates. The patient may respond to
the message with an update. When displaying the appointment, the
appointment module 154 may display messages associated with the
appointment. By providing the patient with the ability to view
historical patient appointments, the appointment module may enable
the patient to, among other things, rate their experiences with the
doctor and refresh their memory regarding a particular appointment.
For example, upon recently completing an appointment with a doctor,
the appointment module 154 may interface with the social networking
module 180 to conduct a survey requesting patient feedback for the
doctor, thereby leveraging social networking tools in order to rate
doctors in the system.
[0090] According to an aspect of the invention, the patient
interface module 150 may include billing module 156 for displaying
billing and account information for the patient. Billing module 156
may be used to update personal information of the patient such as,
for example, contact information, payment methods, and insurance
information. Alternatively or additionally, billing module 156 may
be used to, among other things, view billing information that may
include an itemized listing of charges from services, pay doctor
fees, and pay system usage fees. The itemized charges may provide
information related to the method by which each service was
performed such as per email message, per instant message, per
office visit, etc., and their associated fees. In other words, each
fee for each service may vary based on the method in which the
patient interacted with the doctor. As previously noted, charges
may vary based on the method of interaction. In this manner, the
patient may manage aspects of the patient's account and billing
system using an integrated, real-time, display.
[0091] According to an aspect of the invention, the billing module
156 may facilitate a pay-as-you-go plan between a patient and the
patient's doctor (and/or team of doctors). For example, a patient
may pay the doctor on a per-visit basis, which may be facilitated
by the billing module. Payments may be processed electronically via
credit card transactions, online payment services such as PAYPAL,
and/or other electronic transactions. Alternatively or
additionally, payments may be processed by the doctor dealing
directly with the patient. In this manner, the system provides
patients with a flexible payment capability.
[0092] According to an aspect of the invention, the patient may use
the notifications module 158 to interact with and view
notifications for the patient. Notifications may include, for
example, reminders of upcoming appointments, reminders of upcoming
medication refill dates, important notifications from the doctor
(such as the aforementioned patient group notices), various
communications, referrals, and aforementioned lab report
availability notifications. For example, the doctor may refer the
patient to a specialist in order to get a second opinion. The
referral may include information related to the specialist. Upon
receiving a selection of the specialist, the notification module
158 may cause various operations to be performed such as, for
example, scheduling an appointment with the specialist, displaying
profile information for the specialist, and displaying user ratings
for the specialist.
[0093] According to an aspect of the invention, the patient
interface module 150 may include an experts module 160 for
displaying and managing a team of experts for the patient. The team
of experts may include, for example, doctors, specialists, and
consultants for which the patient has authorized access to his/her
information, which may then be shared and/or discussed amongst each
member of the team of experts. One or more members of the team of
experts may also be registered with the system 100 such that the
patient may communicate and make appointments with each expert.
Each expert may be listed alongside (or adjacent to) an avatar that
represents the expert. The experts module may include profile
information such as, among other things, medical school,
specialties, and location, when listing the expert.
[0094] According to an aspect of the invention, the experts module
160 may be used to search for additional experts not yet part of
the team of experts defined for the patient. Search results may a
display of each expert alongside (or otherwise adjacent to) an
avatar representing the expert. The experts module 160 may include
an expert information profile for review by the patient, thereby
providing the patient with information by which to determine
whether to add the expert to the team of experts. By adding the
expert to the team of experts, the patient may cause the system 100
to grant to the newly added expert permission to, among other
things, access the health record of the patient, discuss the
patient online with other experts among the team of experts, and
contact the patient.
[0095] According to an aspect of the invention, system 100 may
include a subscription management module 124 that manages
subscriptions of doctors and patients. For example, a website
operator may implement system 100 as a website to which doctors and
patients subscribe in order to facilitate patient care. A doctor
may use subscription management module 124 to subscribe to the
website in order to manage existing patients, find new patients,
and join the website's network of doctors who have already
subscribed, thereby expanding the doctor's referral network. A
patient may use subscription management module 124 to subscribe to
the website in order to find doctors subscribed to the website and
become more actively involved in the overall healthcare experience.
The website may use or otherwise integrate social networking module
128 in order to provide social network tools. For example, the
website may provide the patient with access to ratings of doctors
from other patients subscribed to the system, ratings from other
doctors subscribed to the system, and/or other individuals or
entities that provide ratings for the doctor. In this manner, the
patient may make informed decisions when selecting a doctor to
receive medical care.
[0096] The website operator may also benefit. By using the
subscription management module 124, the website operator may manage
subscriptions and various fees associated with website usage. For
example, the website operator may receive subscription fees from
doctors and patients, website usage fees from doctors and patients,
licensing fees from doctors (e.g., related to advertising,
marketing, technology license fees, etc.), and/or other fees.
[0097] Once a patient has been matched to or otherwise has selected
a doctor, the patient may use the website in order to schedule an
appointment with the selected doctor and receive medical services
from the doctor. The patient may pay the doctor for the doctor's
services, which may be facilitated by the website (i.e., the
website may accept payment from the patient on behalf of the
doctor) and/or may be paid by the patient to the doctor directly.
As discussed above, the patient may pay the doctor for services
using a pay-as-you-go payment method, thereby providing the patient
with flexible payment terms on a per-visit basis. According to an
aspect of the invention, patient subscription may benefit the
patient by, for example, providing reduced fees from subscribed
doctors to subscribed patients. For example, the subscription
management module 124 may indicate that the patient is a subscribed
member, thereby indicating that the patient is to receive a
discounted fee relative to another patient who is not subscribed to
the website.
[0098] According to an aspect of the invention, subscription
management module 124 may generate one or more profile(s) for
subscribed doctors, subscribed patients, and/or any other user or
entity associated with the website. For example, a doctor may
provide doctor profile information such as, for example,
information related to the doctor's practice, the doctor's
background information, fee information, and/or other information.
Subscription management module 124 may generate a doctor profile of
the doctor that includes the doctor profile information. A patient
may also provide patient profile information such as, for example,
personal information, reasons for seeking medical care, and/or
other information. Accordingly, subscription management module 124
may generate a patient profile of the patient.
[0099] According to an aspect of the invention, system 100 may
include an invoice module 126 for managing fees and generating an
invoice that may include differential fee calculations based on one
or more billing factor(s). For example, a doctor may specify fee
information that includes different fees to be charged based on one
or more billing factor(s).
[0100] Billing factors may include, for example, the medical
service performed, a method of interaction between the doctor and
the patient when the doctor performs the medical service, a fee
rate (such as an hourly fee), a fixed fee (such as predefined fees
regardless of time), and/or other billing factors. Medical services
may include, for example, a routine checkup, a consultation for
diagnosing patient symptoms, a follow-up consultation, a lab test
(such as drawing blood, taking x-rays, etc.) and/or any other
medical service provided by the doctor. As previously noted,
methods of interaction may include virtual methods, in-person
methods, or any other methods by which a doctor may interact with a
patient. A doctor may charge a different fee for different medical
services, different methods of interaction, different fee rates,
and/or different fixed fees, which may be managed by invoice module
126.
[0101] According to an aspect of the invention, a billing factor
may be used alone or in combination with other billing factors.
[0102] When a billing factor is used alone, invoice module 126 may
generate an invoice based on a single billing factor. For example,
a billing factor may specify a particular fee for a particular
medical service provided by the doctor. In other words, each
medical service may be associated with a particular fee for that
service. Alternatively or additionally, a billing factor may
specify a particular fee based on a method of interaction with the
doctor. Thus, a particular fee may be charged based on the method
of interaction in which the doctor performs a medical service. For
example, the doctor may specify a particular fee for an email and a
different fee for an in-person consultation. Alternatively or
additionally, a billing factor may specify a particular fee based
on a fee rate that is charged according to a time increment. Time
increments may be, for example, by hour, by minute, and/or any
other time increment. By using a fee rate billing factor, a fee may
be calculated according to an amount of time the doctor spends
interacting with or otherwise performing a medical service on the
patient. Alternatively or additionally, a billing factor may
specify a fixed fee for services provided by the doctor.
[0103] When a billing factor is combined with one or more other
billing factors, invoice module 126 may use two or more billing
factors to generate a fee. For example, a billing factor associated
with a medical service may be combined with a billing factor
associated with a method of interaction with the doctor. In a
particular example, a billing factor associated with a follow-up
consultation may be combined with a billing factor associated with
an email such that a doctor may charge a fee based on both a
medical service performed and a method by which the doctor
interacts with the patient. In this manner, the doctor may (for
example) charge a different fee for a follow-up consultation by
email as opposed to a follow-up consultation in-person.
[0104] Other combinations of billing factors are contemplated.
Furthermore, it should be understood that a billing factor may
combine two or more billing factors. In other words, a billing
factor may have the effect of two or more billing factors that are
combined. For example, a billing factor may be associated with a
fee for a follow-up consultation by email and another billing
factor may be associated with another fee for a follow-up
consultation in-person.
[0105] According to an aspect of the invention, a billing factor
may provide a weight such that when combining two or more billing
factors, one billing factor may be a weight that adjusts a fee
associated with another billing factor. The weight may be expressed
as a ratio, a fraction, a percentage, and/or any other weight. For
example, a billing factor associated with the method of interaction
may provide a weight. An email method of interaction may provide a
weight (such as 0.2) while an in-person method of interaction may
provide another weight (such as 1.0). Each weight may be used to
calculate a fee based on a billing factor associated with a medical
service (such as a follow-up consultation). In this example, the
weights may be applied to the fee by multiplying the weight with
the fee to generate a weighted fee. In this manner, invoice module
126 may generate different fees based on different weights.
[0106] According to an aspect of the invention, invoice module 126
may receive information related to a doctor's interaction with
patients and automatically generate an invoice. For example, a
doctor may request to generate an invoice for a patient, in
response to which invoice module 126 may query or otherwise receive
interactions between the doctor and the patient since the last time
an invoice was generated or other appropriate time. For example,
invoice module 126 may receive an indication that an in-person
diagnostic consultation to address patient symptoms and an email
follow-up consultation occurred for the requested invoice. Invoice
module 126 may apply the doctor's billing factors in order to
generate fees according to the billing factors. As such, by using
billing factors, for example, invoice module 126 may automatically
generate an invoice for the doctor based on the medical service
that was performed, the method of interaction by which the medical
service was performed, whether a fee rate should be applied, and/or
whether a fixed fee should be applied. It should be understood that
an invoice may be generated by invoice module 126 by request, at
predefined intervals, and/or any other appropriate time.
[0107] According to an aspect of the invention, billing factors may
be predefined by a doctor or otherwise suggested by the system
using default billing factors. Billing factors may be part of or
otherwise be derived from a doctor profile for the doctor
(discussed herein elsewhere).
[0108] FIG. 2 illustrates a screenshot of an exemplary avatar-based
user interface 132, according to an aspect of the invention. It
should be understood that the screenshots described in detail
below, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing figures, are
exemplary and may differ in appearance, content, and configuration.
Further, and as may be described herein, the terms "button,"
"pull-down menu," "tab, "click-box," "check-box," "hypertext link,"
and "hot link," are each particular non-limiting examples of a
generic "selection portion" which may comprise any known
navigational tool that enables users to select, access, display, or
navigate through the various views, portions, or modules of the
multi-dimensional contextual platform 120. The selection portions
may be accessed using any known input device associated with
terminal 120 such as, for example, a keyboard, keypad, computer
mouse, light stylus instrument, or finger or other body part (in a
touch-screen implementation). While a selection portion may be
described and illustrated as a button in one implementation, it
could comprise a different selection portion (e.g., a check-box) in
an alternative implementation. These selection portions may be
present in addition to the various navigational tools that may be
unique to, or associated with, a web browser that may, in certain
implementations for example, be used to access the
multi-dimensional contextual platform 120.
[0109] Avatar-based user interface 132 may display a toolbar 180,
avatars 202-240 representing all or a portion of patients in a
doctor's practice, one or more patient event indicators (250, 260,
270), and/or other display items. Toolbar 180 may provide one or
more links to various modules associated with doctor interface
module 130. In other words, the doctor may use toolbar 180 to
access one or more features enabled by one or more of the to-do
module 134, prevention module 136, scheduling module 138, inbox
module 140, smart group module 142, search module 144, cloud view
module 146, adaptive advising module 148, and/or other modules.
[0110] The number of avatars displayed may vary as appropriate.
Therefore, the number of avatars displayed in FIG. 2 is exemplary
only. Avatars 204, 216, and 234 may represent patients that are
each associated with a patient event, respectively indicated by
patient event indicators 250, 260, and 270. Although illustrated in
FIG. 2 as thought bubbles, patient event indicators 250, 260, and
270 may be any shape, graphic, text, etc. As previously noted,
patient events may include communications from patients, lab
results, or other information related to the patient. For example,
a patient represented by avatar 204 may have sent the doctor an
instant message, which is indicated by patient event indicator 250.
The doctor may click or otherwise select patient event indicator
250 to open an instant message conversation with the patient. The
patient represented by avatar 216 may have an appointment with the
doctor in 15 minutes (for example), which is indicated by patient
event indicator 260. The doctor may click (or otherwise select)
patient event indicator 260 to view the appointment with the
patient using the scheduling module 138, for example. The patient
represented by avatar 234 may have lab results that are recently
made available, indicated by the patient event indicator 270. The
doctor may click (or otherwise select) patient event indicator 270
to view the lab results. The avatar-based user interface 132 may be
used to provide a snapshot display of patients under the doctor's
care, incorporating patient events in real-time.
[0111] FIG. 3 illustrates a screenshot of an exemplary avatar-based
user interface 132 highlighting a group of patients (e.g., the
avatars illustrated in FIG. 2), according to an aspect of the
invention. For example, avatars 206, 214, 224, and 238 as
illustrated are highlighted by enlarging them and bringing them to
the foreground. Avatars 206, 214, 224, and 238 may represent
patients belonging to the patient group "diabetes." Upon searching
for or otherwise selecting the "diabetes" group, a doctor may cause
the avatar-based user interface 132 to highlight avatars 206, 214,
224, and 238. As discussed, highlighting may include other
techniques to vary the appearance of the highlighted avatars.
[0112] FIG. 4 illustrates a screenshot of an exemplary display
generated by scheduling module 136 for a doctor, according to an
aspect of the invention. In this exemplary illustration, the
scheduling module 136 may interface with (or otherwise use) one or
more third party applications 106 to generate a map of exemplary
appointments 402, 404, and 406. As previously discussed, an
appointment may be represented according to a type of appointment.
For example, appointments 402 and 406 may represent house calls
requiring a doctor to visit the patients at the patients' homes. As
such, the scheduling module 136 may represent appointments 402 and
406 as house icons. Appointment 404 may represent a scheduled
telephone call with a patient such that the appointment 404 is
depicted as a telephone icon. The representations (here, icons) of
appointments 402, 404, and 406 may selected by the doctor to get
detailed information for the appointment. Details may include the
patient name, reasons for the appointment, patient's address,
directions, and/or other information related to the patient or
appointment. In the illustrated example, a map indicating a route
of the house appointments 402 and 406 may be generated. The map may
include directions such that the doctor may plan a route of
scheduled appointments as necessary.
[0113] FIG. 5a illustrates a screenshot of an exemplary Medical
Conditions cloud view 500 displaying the Medical Conditions
dimension of the medical record of a patient, according to an
aspect of the invention. The Medical Conditions cloud view 500 may
display information elements (502, 504, 506, 508, 510, 512, 514,
and 516) related to, among other things, health problems,
conditions, and diagnoses. For example, information element 502 may
represent asthma suffered by the patient and information element
504 may represent eczema suffered by the patient. As discussed
above, an information element may have information element
properties that result (through the use of display rules) in the
display of the information element to be varied. In other words,
various information element properties may be used to determine a
level of importance (and/or relevance) of one information element
relative to another information element. In this example, asthma
and eczema information elements 512 and 514 may each have
associated information element properties, which may include, for
example, a number of interactions (e.g., by virtual or in-person
methods described above) with the doctor in which the patient
presented symptoms. For example, if the patient presented asthma
symptoms ten times as opposed to eczema symptoms four times, the
cloud view module may display information element 512 representing
asthma as a larger circle, for example, in the Medical Conditions
cloud view 500 as compared to information element 514 representing
eczema. In other words, asthma may be determined to be more
important then eczema for a patient based on a number of
interaction with the doctor in which the patient presented
symptoms, thereby causing the display of asthma and eczema
information elements to differ relative to one another.
[0114] Alternatively or additionally, information element
properties may relate to respective severities of information
elements 512 and 514. For example, the patient may be diagnosed
with a moderate case of asthma while the patient may suffer from a
severe case of eczema. In this example, asthma may be colored
yellow (or any other color, shape, graphic, and/or visual indicator
to indicate a level of severity) while eczema is colored red (or
any other color, shape, graphic, and/or visual indicator to
indicate a level of severity). These and/or any techniques
described herein may be combined to vary the display of information
elements, thereby enriching the display with information that is
readily ascertainable by the doctor.
[0115] FIG. 5b illustrates a screenshot of an exemplary
multi-dimensional contextual view 520, according to an aspect of
the invention. FIG. 5b illustrates an exemplary detailed view of
information element 502 (which represents asthma) when a user
clicks or otherwise selects information element 502 illustrated in
FIG. 5a. The multi-dimensional cloud view 520 may display
information element 502 at a focal point in the display, around
which various dimensions 522, 524, 526, and 528 may be displayed.
Alternatively or additionally, multi-dimensional cloud view 520 may
display notes 530 that maintains doctor's annotations regarding the
particular patient and/or information element 502. In this manner,
information relevant to information element 502 may be viewed
across multiple dimensions. For example, dimension 522 may include
lab results 523a and 523b associated with the patient's asthma
condition. Dimension 524 may include imaging results 525a, b, c,
and d, which may be images (e.g., chest X-rays) taken in response
to the patient's asthma condition. Dimension 526 may include
medications used to treat the patient's asthma. Dimension 528 may
include grouped visitations by year, during which the patient
presented symptoms of asthma. Thus, multi-dimensional cloud view
520 may display information element 502 across multiple
dimensions.
[0116] FIG. 5c illustrates a screenshot of an exemplary Medications
cloud view 530 for displaying the Medications dimension of a
patient's health record, according to an aspect of the invention.
Information elements 534, 536, 538, 540, and 542 may represent
drugs in the Medications dimension 532 of the patient and may be
graphically depicted and/or spatially arranged about a focal point
based on their properties. Information elements 534, 536, 538, 540,
and 542 may be depicted as circles that are colored and/or blinking
based on their properties. A drug to which the patient is allergic,
for example, may be displayed as a blinking red circle while a drug
that was stopped due to adverse side effects may be displayed as a
blue circle. Other visual indications may be used.
[0117] As discussed above, information elements 534, 536, 538, 540,
and 542 may be spatially arranged based on their properties. In
particular, information element 534 may represent a drug being
taken for 10 weeks by the patient while information element 536 may
represent a drug being taken by the patient for two weeks.
Accordingly, the distance from the focal point "Medications" to the
information element 534 may be larger than the distance for
information element 536. According to an aspect of the invention,
the distance to the focal point may be displayed as a line that is
drawn according to properties of the drug. For example, a solid
line 535 may indicate that the drug represented by information
element 522 is regularly taken by the patient while a dashed line
537 may indicate that the drug represented by information element
524 is taken by the patient as needed. In this manner, the doctor
is given a snapshot display of important medications in the medical
record of the patient.
[0118] FIG. 5d illustrates a block diagram of a screenshot of an
exemplary Office Visits cloud view 540 display for an Office Visits
dimension of a patient, according to an aspect of the invention. As
previously noted, visitations may include real or virtual visits.
Visitations may be grouped by a time period, such as a year, month,
week, and/or other time period. According to an aspect of the
invention, the time period group may be displayed as an information
element in Office Visits dimension cloud view. For example,
information elements 544, 546, 548, 550, 552, 554, and 554 may
respectively represent visitations grouped by the years 2003, 2004,
2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. The size of the information elements
544, 546, 548, 550, 552, 554, and 554 may vary with the number of
visitations by the patient during the respective year.
Alternatively or additionally, information elements representing
the year group, for example, may be colored differently based on
information element properties for the year. For example, a circle
representing a first year may be colored red to indicate that
asthma was predominantly presented by the patient in the first year
while a second year may be colored blue to indicate that eczema was
predominantly presented by the patient in the second year. Other
visual indicators may be used.
[0119] The information element may be selectable such that clicking
on or otherwise selecting a particular year may cause the cloud
view module to display detail, such as months, for the particular
year. For example, information element 552 is shown after selection
by a doctor to view details for visitations during the year 2007.
Clicking on (or otherwise selecting) a particular month may cause
days in the selected month to appear and selecting a particular
day, for example, may cause the office visits module to display
information related to a visitation that occurred on the particular
day. By viewing a particular day, information across multiple
dimensions of the patient's medical record associated with the
selected office visit may be displayed. For example, medications
prescribed during the selected visit with the doctor, conditions
presented during the visit with the doctor, lab results discussed
during the visit with the doctor, and/or other multi-dimensional
information related to the selected visit with the doctor may be
presented.
[0120] According to an aspect of the invention, the cloud view
module 146 may cause the display to zoom in and out. When zooming
out, for example, more information elements may be displayed. In
the context of the Office Visits dimension, zooming out may display
an increasing number of years of visitations for the patient. In
this manner, the doctor may use the Office Visits dimension cloud
view to graphically view prior visitations across multiple
dimensions.
[0121] FIG. 5e illustrates a screenshot of an exemplary Lab Results
cloud view 560 for displaying the Lab Results dimension 562 of a
patient's medical record, according to an aspect of the invention.
As discussed above, information elements may represent categories.
In the Lab Results dimension 562, for example, information element
564 may represent the category "hematology," which may include
information elements 565 related to blood cell test results (e.g.,
red blood cell count, white blood cell count, etc.). Information
element 570 may represent the category "metabolic," which may
include information elements 571 related to metabolic activity test
results (e.g., thyroid activity). When displaying the Lab Results
cloud view, the cloud view module 146 may display "Lab Results" as
a focal point 562, around which information element categories 564,
566, 568, 570, 572, and 574 (among other things) are arranged. A
distance from an information element category 564, 566, 568, 570,
572, and 574 to the focal point 562 may vary based on the date in
which a lab test categorized in the information element category
was performed and/or received (e.g., the latest date of a test
result in the hematology category). The cloud view module 146 may
vary the size of an information element category based on a number
of test results included in the information element category. For
example, when the medical record of a patient includes more test
results for the hematology category than for the metabolic
category, information element 564 may be displayed as a larger
circle than information element 570 on the Lab Results cloud view.
Alternatively or additionally, the cloud view module 146 may vary
the color of an information element category based on a number of
critical values of information elements within the information
element category. For example, the information element 564 may be
colored red when five or more lab results in the hematology
category are considered abnormal.
[0122] According to an aspect of the invention, the doctor may
"tag" a particular information element and/or information element
category. The cloud view engine may highlight the tagged
information element whenever the lab results dimension is viewed.
Alternatively or additionally, the tag may facilitate searching for
(or otherwise selecting) the tag in order to view tagged content.
For example, a doctor may tag a particular test result as "abnormal
WBC" such that subsequent searches for the tag reveals patients
having an abnormal WBC test result. In this manner, the cloud view
module may be used to graphically review various lab results in a
patient's medical record, highlighted by category.
[0123] FIG. 5f illustrates a block diagram of a screenshot of an
exemplary Imaging Results cloud view 580 for displaying an Imaging
Results dimension 582 of the patient's medical record, according to
an aspect of the invention. Like the Lab Results dimension 562,
information elements 584, 586, 588, 590, and 592 in the Imaging
Results dimension 582 may be categorized and displayed according to
a type of imaging result. As such, the doctor may interact with and
view Imaging Results dimension 582 in a similar manner.
[0124] According to an aspect of the invention, FIG. 6 illustrates
a flow diagram of an exemplary process 600 for providing a
multi-dimensional contextual platform for facilitating management
of a doctor's practice. The various processing operations depicted
in the flow diagram of FIG. 6 (and in the other drawing figures)
are described in greater detail herein. The described operations
for a flow diagram may be accomplished using some or all of the
system components described in detail above and, in some
implementations, various operations may be performed in different
sequences. In other implementations, additional operations may be
performed along with some or all of the operations shown in the
depicted flow diagrams. In yet other implementations, one or more
operations may be performed simultaneously. Accordingly, the
operations as illustrated (and described in greater detail below)
are exemplary in nature and, as such, should not be viewed as
limiting.
[0125] In one implementation, a doctor may subscribe to the service
in an operation 602. Subscription by the doctor may include various
fees such as subscription fees, licensing fees, and/or other fees.
Upon subscription, the doctor may register and create doctor
profile information. Doctor profile information may include, among
other things, education history, background, specialty, personal
information, office hours and location, an avatar, and/or other
information related to the doctor. In an operation 604, a patient
seeking to find one or more doctors may subscribe. Upon
subscription, the patient may register and create patient profile
information. Patient subscription may solicit various fees from a
patient such as subscription fees, usage fees, and/or other fees.
Patient profile information may include, among other things, prior
and/or current medical conditions, personal information, home
address, doctor preferences, specialties needed, an avatar for the
patient, and/or other patient profile information. In an operation
606, the subscribed patient may find or otherwise identify a
subscribed doctor. In an operation 608, the subscribed patient may
send the subscribed doctor an appointment request. In an operation
610, the patient and the doctor may schedule an appointment and the
patient may be billed by the doctor for visitations.
[0126] According to an aspect of the invention, FIG. 7 illustrates
a flow diagram of an exemplary process 700 for providing diagnostic
decision suggestions. In one implementation, consultation
information may be received in an operation 702. The consultation
information may include information from a visitation with the
doctor, patient symptoms, or other information related to the
patient. In an operation 704, consultation information may be
integrated with diagnostic information, which may include, among
other things, clinical history, prior doctor examinations of the
patient, medications, test results, and prior patient outcomes. The
diagnostic information may originate from the patient's health
record and/or third party medical repositories that include
information from various patients. Integrating consultation
information with diagnostic information may include correlating
data from the consultation information and the diagnostic
information. For example, patient symptoms derived from the
consultation information may be correlated with known symptoms
associated with various disease states from the diagnostic
information.
[0127] Based on the integration, decision support information may
be generated and displayed in an operation 706. Decision support
information may include contextual information providing
information to support decision-making (such as suggest to run one
or more lab, imaging, or otherwise further diagnostic tests to
refine diagnosis and/or suggest potential diagnoses). For example,
consultation information for a patient may include information that
the patient has presented shortness of breath that suggest that the
patient suffers from asthma. These symptoms may be correlated with
data from the diagnostic information that indicates shortness of
breath is a symptom of asthma. The diagnostic information may
include other information that may be helpful to determine that the
patient suffers from asthma such as, for example, results from
imaging the patient's chest and peak flow readings. Accordingly,
the decision support information may include contextual information
that suggests taking an image of the patient's chest and obtaining
peak flow numbers for the patient.
[0128] If in an operation 708 no refining information is received
in operation 708, then processing may proceed to operation 712
where a treatment plan may be generated. If in an operation 708,
refining information is received (such as, for example, a doctor
inputting additional information related to results of the chest
imaging and peak flow numbers of the preceding example), processing
may proceed to an operation 710, where the refining information may
be integrated with the consultation information and the diagnostic
information and processing may proceed to operation 712. For
example, the chest imaging results and peak flow numbers may be
integrated to give a more complete diagnosis in the decision
support information. The treatment plan may include one or more
treatments directed to treat the patient according to one or more
of the potential diagnoses of the decision support information. The
treatments may include suggested drug therapy, surgical procedure,
and/or other treatment options. In an operation 714, the patient
outcome may be monitored by receiving updates to the patient's
health condition. For example, the patient outcome may include an
indication from the doctor that the patient has responded well to a
particular drug therapy that addresses asthma. In an operation 716,
the patient outcome may be added to the diagnostic information for
the patient to adaptively improve future analyses. For example,
other patients with peak flow numbers may respond similarly well to
the drug therapy. Alternatively or additionally, the current
patient's treatment plan may be modified according to the monitored
patient outcome. For example, if the patient did not respond well
to the particular drug therapy, a new treatment plan may be
adaptively regenerated, taking into account the failed drug therapy
(and as such, suggest a new drug therapy or otherwise different
course of action).
[0129] According to an aspect of the invention, FIG. 8 illustrates
a flow diagram of an exemplary process 800 for automatically
generating an invoice based on doctor billing factors. In one
implementation, a request to generate an invoice may be received in
an operation 802. In an operation 804, one or more billing factors
for the doctor may be received. Billing factors may include factors
that affect fees and may include, for example, the medical service
performed, a method of interaction between the doctor and the
patient when the doctor performs the medical service, a fee rate
(such as an hourly fee), a fixed fee (such as predefined fees
regardless of time), and/or other billing factors. In an operation
806, information indicating medical services performed by the
doctor on the patient, and/or methods by which the doctor
interacted with the patient may be received. In other words,
services by which a fee is to be generated may be received. For
each medical service and/or method by which the doctor interacted
with the patient, a fee may be determined in an operation 808. In
this manner, the doctor may charge different fees according to
billing factors such as, for example, the medical service that was
performed, the method by which the doctor interacted with the
patient when performing the medical service, and/or according to
other billing factors. In an operation 810, an invoice may be
automatically generated based on the determined fees.
[0130] The multi-dimensional contextual platform 120 may comprise
an Internet web site, an intranet site, or other application
hosted, for example, on one or more servers. According to an aspect
of the invention, the multi-dimensional contextual platform 120 may
be accessible over a network 108, via any wired or wireless
communications link, using one or more user terminals (120).
Network 108 may include any one or more of, for instance, the
Internet, an intranet, a PAN (Personal Area Network), a LAN (Local
Area Network), a WAN (Wide Area Network), a SAN (Storage Area
Network), a MAN (Metropolitan Area Network), or other network.
Examples of terminal 120 may include any one or more of, for
instance, a personal computer, portable computer, personal digital
assistant (PDA), workstation, web-enabled mobile phone, WAP device,
web-to-voice device, or other device. Those having skill in the art
will appreciate that the invention described herein may work with
various system configurations.
[0131] In addition, implementations of the invention may be made in
hardware, firmware, software, or any suitable combination thereof.
Aspects of the invention may also be implemented as instructions
stored on a machine-readable medium, which may be read and executed
by one or more processors. A machine-readable medium may include
any mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form
readable by a machine (e.g., a computing device). For example, a
machine-readable storage medium may include read only memory,
random access memory, magnetic disk storage media, optical storage
media, flash memory devices, and others, and a machine-readable
transmission media may include forms of propagated signals, such as
carrier waves, infrared signals, digital signals, and others.
Further, firmware, software, routines, or instructions may be
described herein in terms of specific exemplary aspects and
implementations of the invention, and performing certain actions.
However, it will be apparent that such descriptions are merely for
convenience and that such actions in fact result from computing
devices, processors, controllers, or other devices executing the
firmware, software, routines, or instructions.
[0132] Aspects and implementations described herein as including a
particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every aspect
or implementation may not necessarily include the particular
feature, structure, or characteristic. Further, when a particular
feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection
with an aspect or implementation, it will be understood that such
feature, structure, or characteristic may be included in connection
with other aspects or implementations, whether or not explicitly
described. Thus, various changes and modifications may be made to
the provided description without departing from the scope or spirit
of the invention. As such, the specification and drawings should be
regarded as exemplary only, and the scope of the invention to be
determined solely by the appended claims.
* * * * *