U.S. patent application number 14/320241 was filed with the patent office on 2015-01-01 for systems and method for evaluating and selecting a healthcare professional.
The applicant listed for this patent is HEALTHTAP, INC.. Invention is credited to Ron J. Gutman, Geoffrey W. Rutledge.
Application Number | 20150006261 14/320241 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 52116512 |
Filed Date | 2015-01-01 |
United States Patent
Application |
20150006261 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Gutman; Ron J. ; et
al. |
January 1, 2015 |
SYSTEMS AND METHOD FOR EVALUATING AND SELECTING A HEALTHCARE
PROFESSIONAL
Abstract
Systems and methods are provided for evaluating healthcare
professionals by assigning each healthcare professional an overall
value (Reputation Score) based on a healthcare professional's
merits, as well as feedback and endorsement obtained by this
healthcare professional from other healthcare professionals or
patient users. The Reputation Score gives patients a way to
understand each doctor's qualifications, knowledge of medical
practices, and the quality of their engagement with patients or
other medical professions. The patient users therefore can find and
select professionals based on their trusted evaluations. Systems
and methods are further provided which utilize information the
doctor received from other peer doctors and from patients under
many identified topics or area of practice. Such information can be
presented together with other content the doctor rendered or other
evaluating system to show the doctor's credentials. Systems and
methods for soliciting trustworthy answers to health questions in a
time fashioned way and for providing virtual consultations between
a patient and a healthcare professional are further provided
herein.
Inventors: |
Gutman; Ron J.; (Atherton,
CA) ; Rutledge; Geoffrey W.; (Menlo Park,
CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
HEALTHTAP, INC. |
Palo Alto |
CA |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
52116512 |
Appl. No.: |
14/320241 |
Filed: |
June 30, 2014 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
61841145 |
Jun 28, 2013 |
|
|
|
61841174 |
Jun 28, 2013 |
|
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61841151 |
Jun 28, 2013 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
705/7.39 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 3/0482 20130101;
G16H 40/67 20180101; G16H 70/00 20180101; G06F 16/9024 20190101;
G16H 70/20 20180101; G06Q 10/06393 20130101; H04L 67/12 20130101;
G16H 80/00 20180101; G16H 40/20 20180101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/7.39 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 10/06 20060101
G06Q010/06; G06Q 50/22 20060101 G06Q050/22 |
Claims
1. A method for evaluating a professional in a computer-implemented
professional evaluation system having a plurality of users,
comprising: a. receiving, by a computer processor hosted at least
partially on a server and electronically accessible over at least
one network system, profile data for the professional comprising a
plurality of attributes data indicative of professional
qualification and performance; b. determining a value for each said
attribute, by the computer processor, based on the received profile
data; c. computing and storing, by the computer processor, a raw
profile data value, based on the determined value of each attribute
in step b; d. receiving, by the computer processor, feedback data
for the professional, said feedback data being received from one or
more user computer devices; e. determining a value for each
feedback data, by the computer processor, based on the received
feedback data; f. computing and storing, by the computer processor,
a raw feedback data value, based on the determined value of each
feedback data in step e; g. generating, by the computer processor,
an overall value for the professional based on the raw profile data
value and the raw feedback data value.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the attributes indicative of
professional qualification and performance comprise at least one
of: education, training, certification, experience, publication,
editorial positions, academic appointment, referrals, awards,
professional society participation, and hospital affiliation.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein computing the raw feedback data
value is further based on the contemporary nature of the feedback
data.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the overall value for the
professional is generated by converting the raw profile data value
to a converted profile data value based on a first segmented linear
function, converting the raw feedback data value to a converted
feedback data value based on a second segmented linear function,
and summing the converted profile data value and the converted
feedback data value.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the professional comprises a
healthcare professional.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the feedback data comprises data
received from a patient user, said feedback data comprising
information indicating at least one of: being followed by the
patient in a social network, being recommended by the patient,
being added by the patient at the patient's healthcare provider,
being thanked by the patient for an answer to a health-related
question provided by the healthcare professional, sharing an answer
provided by the healthcare professional by email, SMS, push
notification or on a third party social network, requesting by the
patient an appointment with the healthcare professional and
providing an indication by the patient that the healthcare
professional has knowledge relevant to a particular topic.
7. The method of claim 5, wherein the feedback data comprises data
received from another healthcare professional, said feedback data
comprising information indicating at least one of: sending a
message to the healthcare professional, referring the healthcare
professional's answer to other users, referring a question posed by
other users to the healthcare professional, adding the healthcare
professional to said another healthcare provider's own network,
agreeing with answers provided by the healthcare professional, and
recommending the healthcare professional on the network.
8. The method of claim 5, wherein determining the raw feedback data
value comprises giving more weight to feedback data received from
other healthcare professionals than to feedback data received from
patients.
9. A professional evaluation system, comprising: a professional
evaluation application, hosted at least partially on a server and
electronically accessible over at least one network system to at
least one user computer device, wherein the professional evaluation
application is configured to: compute a raw profile data value for
a professional based on received profile data; compute a raw
feedback data value, based on feedback data for the professional
received from said one or more user computer device; and generate
an overall value for the professional based on the raw profile data
value and the raw feedback data value.
10. A computer-implemented method for evaluating a healthcare
professional, the method comprising: a. providing, by the computer
processor, categories of topics or practice areas of expertise
associated with the healthcare professional; b. receiving a
plurality of votes for the healthcare professional from both
credentialed healthcare professional users and patient users, the
votes for the healthcare professional being associated with
respective topics or practice areas; c. computing and processing
the votes from the credentialed healthcare users and from the
patient users separately for each topic or practice area; and d.
presenting the result value of the healthcare professional's votes
from credentialed healthcare users and from the patient users
separately for each topic or practice area.
11. The method of claim 10, further comprising presenting content
showing the healthcare professionals' credentials together with
voting results.
12. A healthcare professional evaluation system, comprising: a
votes processing application, hosted at least partially on a server
and electronically accessible over at least one network system to
at least one healthcare professional user computer device and at
least one patient user computer device, wherein the votes
processing module is configured to: a. provide categories of topics
or practice areas of expertise associated with the healthcare
professional; b. receive a plurality of votes for the healthcare
professional from the at least one healthcare professional user
computer device and the at least one patient user computer device,
the votes for the healthcare professional being associated with
respective topics or practice areas; c. compute and process the
received votes from the healthcare professional users and from the
patient users separately for each topic or practice area; and d.
present the result value of the healthcare professional's votes
received from the healthcare professional users and from the
patient users separately for each topic or practice area.
13. A computer-implemented method for providing answers to
user-submitted questions, comprising the steps of: a. receiving, by
a computer processor, a question from a user computer device; b.
storing the question in a queue of unanswered questions, said queue
of unanswered questions being arranged in reverse chronological
order; c. delegating the question, based on its queue order, to a
professional user having verified credentials related to a subject
area of the questions; d. receiving an answer to the question
provided by the professional user via a professional user computer
device; and e. displaying the answer provided by said verified
professional user together with the question.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the subject area of the
questions comprises health-related information, and the
professional user is a healthcare professional.
15. The method of claim 13, further comprising a step of: after
receiving the question from the user, processing the question and
associating it with the topic tags or Group ID to organize the
questions based on content.
16. The method of claim 13, further comprising a step of presenting
users existing similar or related questions in the system before
users submit their own questions.
17. The method of claim 13, further comprising delegating the
questions exclusively to the qualified healthcare professional with
good standing.
18. The method of claim 13, further comprising: providing profile
information for professional users to users.
19. A system for providing answers to user-submitted questions,
comprising a memory comprising instructions executable by one or
more computer processors coupled to the memory and operable to
execute the instructions, the one or more processors being operable
when executing the instructions to: a. receive, by the one or more
computer processors, a question from a user computer device; b.
store the question in a queue of unanswered questions, said queue
of unanswered questions being arranged in reverse chronological
order; c. delegate the question, based on its queue order, to a
professional user having verified credentials related to a subject
area of the questions; d. receive an answer to the question
provided by the professional user via a professional user computer
device; and e. display the answer provided by the verified
healthcare professional user together with the question.
20. A computer-implemented method for facilitating virtual
consultations between a patient and a healthcare professional,
comprising: a. receiving, by a virtual consultation application
hosted at least partially on a server, a request to initiate a
virtual consultation from a patient using a patient computer
device; b. receiving, by the virtual consultation application,
information input by the patient relating to the patient's reason
for the consultation; c. receiving, by the virtual consultation
application, attachment information provided from the patient
computer device; d. locating a healthcare professional available to
provide a virtual consultation via a healthcare professional
computer device accessing the virtual consultation application; e.
providing, by the virtual consultation application, a
communications interface for virtual consultation between the
patient and the healthcare professional, wherein the communications
interface facilitates at least one of: video, audio and chat
communications.
21. A system for virtual healthcare consultations, comprising: a
virtual consultation application, hosted at least partially on a
server and electronically accessible over at least one network
system to at least one patient computer device and at least one
healthcare professional computer device, wherein the virtual
consultation application is configured to: a. receive a request to
initiate a virtual consultation from a patient using the at least
one patient computer device; b. receive information input by the
patient relating to the patient's reason for the consultation; c.
receive attachment information provided from the patient computer
device; d. locate a healthcare professional available to provide a
virtual consultation via the at least one healthcare professional
computer device accessing the virtual consultation application; and
e. provide a communications interface for virtual consultation
between the patient and the healthcare professional, wherein the
communications interface facilitates at least one of: video, audio
and chat communications.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional
Application No. 61/841,145, filed Jun. 28, 2013, U.S. Provisional
Application No. 61/841,151, filed Jun. 28, 2013 and U.S.
Provisional Application No. 61/841,174, filed Jun. 28, 2013, the
contents of each of which are incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates to evaluating healthcare
professionals in a social network setting. More particularly, the
present invention relates to providing information about healthcare
professionals, assisting patients to select healthcare
professionals to fit their own needs, providing quick and
trustworthy answers to health-related questions, and facilitating
virtual consultations between patients and healthcare professionals
in a social network setting.
BACKGROUND
[0003] Currently, the process of choosing a healthcare professional
is time consuming, inefficient, and filled with uncertainty. When
individuals find themselves in need of medical care, they often
have difficult time finding a doctor with whom they will be
satisfied. Many individuals select their doctors based on: a
referral from a primary care physician, a recommendation from a
friend or relative, or a healthcare provider directory. These
sources do not provide an objective metric for the quality of the
doctor's knowledge as assessed by a broader medical community or
based on publicly available information.
[0004] Further, patients might look for a healthcare provider
directory or some Internet rating website. However, most Internet
rating websites provide collections of comments or ratings from
unidentified sources and the veracity of data remains unknown to
the community. These sources do not provide an objective metric for
the quality of the doctor's knowledge as assessed by a broader
medical community or based on publicly available information.
[0005] There is thus a need to provide a trustworthy system and
method to provide information for evaluating professionals such as
medical professionals based on merits and the medical
professional's performance.
[0006] The Internet is a huge information repository. When
individuals find themselves in need of an answer to a question
within a specialized field of knowledge, such as health question,
they often turn to the Internet. However, the sources of the
answers to such questions provided on the Internet are often not
identified and have dubious credibility. Accordingly, consulting
the Internet with such questions, e.g., using a search engine,
often leaves people more confused, scared and misinformed than they
were before. There is a need to provide methods and systems to help
people find reliable information in specialized fields such as
medical and health-related fields.
[0007] However, seeking reliable answers in certain fields can be
expensive, inefficient and inconvenient. For example, if one wants
an answer for a curious, but not necessarily serious, ailment from
a doctor, it can take weeks to get an appointment with the doctor.
Also it is costly to visit the doctor or emergency room. While
there is no replacement for an in-person visit with a doctor who
knows your medical history, sometimes we may just need quick,
reliable medical information or advice. Thus, there is a need for
new systems and methods of communication and information exchange
between doctors and patients (or investors and bankers; potential
clients and lawyers; students and professors; and so on) beyond
doctor office visits, such that patients can obtain quick, reliable
medical information or advice from trustworthy doctors with very
little cost, if any.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] The following brief summary is not intended to include all
features and aspects of the present invention, nor does it imply
that the invention must include all features and aspects discussed
in this summary. Some embodiments below describe interactions with
doctors, but could apply to any professional providing medical
diagnosis, treatment, advice, support or care.
[0009] The present disclosure, in some embodiments, provides
computer-implemented methods and systems for evaluating healthcare
professionals, comprising: a) receiving, by the computer processor,
a plurality of attributes data indicative of professional
qualification and performance; b) assigning each said attribute, by
the computer processor, a value or a function calculating such a
value based on the variables affecting that said attribute; c)
computing and storing, by the computer processor, the sum of every
result value of each attribute in step b; d) receiving, by the
computer processor, feedback data for the healthcare professional's
engagement with other users; e) assigning each feedback data, by
the computer processor, a value or a function calculating such a
value based on the variables affecting that said feedback data; f)
computing and storing, by the computer processor, the sum of every
result value of each feedback data in step e; g) generating, by the
computer processor, an overall value based on step c and step
f.
[0010] In one embodiment, the attributes indicative of professional
qualification and performance are selected from a group of
considerations comprising: education, training, certification,
experience, publication, editorial positions, academic appointment,
referrals, awards, professional society participation, and hospital
affiliation. More specifically, the attributes indicatives of
professional qualification and performance are selected from a
group of considerations named as Education Factor, Training Factor,
Certification Factor, Experience Factor, Publication Factor,
Editorial Position Factor, Academic Appointment Factor, Referral
Factor, Achievements and Awards Factor, Professional Society
Participation Factor, Hospital Affiliation Factor, and the like.
However, the above listed factors are not exhaustive, and other
factors which contribute to the performance, reputation, or the
practicing skills of the healthcare professional may be
considered.
[0011] In another embodiment, the step of computing and storing the
value of each attribute indicative of professional qualification
and performance and computing the sum value of all attributes is
achieved by a computer processor Profile Data Calculation Module.
This module has already assigned each attribute individual value or
functions to calculate such value based on variables affecting said
attribute. This module will derive a sum of each individual value
calculated under each attribute. Therefore, it is important to note
that the value or the function to calculate such value assigned to
each attribute should not be limited to the examples disclosed
here. Various different points, numeric values or other forms of
value may be assigned to each of the above attributes. Functions
for each attribute may differ, to take into considerations of all
the relevant variables that may affect the said attribute. The
assigned value or the designed functions may differ from the
examples explicitly set forth in this disclosure, and may be any
assigned values or functions that reflect an evaluation of the
healthcare professional's merits and overall standing.
[0012] In another embodiment, the step of computing and storing the
value of each feedback or endorsement and sum the value of all the
feedbacks and endorsements is processed by a computer processor
Feedback Data Calculation Module. In addition, in the Feedback Data
Calculation Module, the sum value of the feedback can be scaled by
the contemporary nature of the feedback or endorsement. In this
module, a value or a function to calculate such value is assigned
to each feedback or endorsement activity. Based on the feedback or
endorsement the healthcare professional received, this module will
calculate a sum or a weighed sum of all the result values under
each feedback or endorsement. Again, the value and function
assigned to each feedback data should not be limited to the
examples disclosed herein. Other such points, numeric value, or
other forms of value or function to calculate such value may be
assigned, and different functions may be formulated for weighting
or otherwise valuing for each feedback data entry, taking into
account any variables which may be relevant to the feedback data
entry. Though the assigned value or the designed functions may be
different than the examples in this disclosure, they reflect an
evaluation of the healthcare professional's merits and overall
standing and thus contemplated by the present disclosure.
[0013] The meaning of the sum of the Feedback Data value is scaled
by the contemporary nature is that if the healthcare professional
has been inactive for some time, the Feedback Data value will
decay. Such decay can be a function of the days since the
healthcare professional has not been active, or can be a function
of the rate of the questions being answered out of the total
questions sent to the healthcare professionals in certain period of
time. A function may scale the sum raw Feedback Data points by the
time consideration/contemporary nature of the data. Other functions
may scale the sum raw Feedback Data Points by different factors or
considerations. Such calculation should not be limited by the
examples presented in this disclosure.
[0014] In one embodiment, the Profile Data Value and the Feedback
Data Value are functions of their corresponding raw values
respectively and are converted into a smaller range for easy
understanding. For example, in one embodiment, the Profile Data
value is converted into a numeric value range of 50-85. The
Feedback Data value is converted to a range of 0-20. The overall
value (Reputation Score) is converted into a range 50-100 (though a
maximum 99 points of Reputation Score may be set). Such converting
functions can be segmented linear functions of the corresponding
raw data which may be designed to reflect a sharp drop in the first
30 days inactiveness. Other functions may convert the raw scores
into a preferred value format, for example in numeric value or in
percentile. One or more segmented linear functions may assign a
different drop rate for the healthcare professional's inactiveness.
The two components of the Reputation score (i.e., Profile Data
Value and Feedback Data Value) may allocated differing weights
under the teaching of the present disclosure.
[0015] In one embodiment, the present disclosure provides a system
for generating a healthcare professional evaluation system,
comprising a memory comprising instructions executable by one or
more processors; and one or more processors coupled to the memory
and operable to execute the instructions, the one or more
processors being operable when executing the instructions to
perform the steps of: a) receiving, by the computer processor, a
plurality of attributes data indicative of professional
qualification and performance; b) assigning each said attribute, by
the computer processor, a value or a function calculating such a
value based on the variables affecting that said attribute; c)
computing and storing, by the computer processor, the sum of every
result value of each attribute in step b; d) receiving, by the
computer processor, feedback data for the healthcare professional's
engagement with other users; e) assigning each feedback data, by
the computer processor, a value or a function calculating such a
value based on the variables affecting that said feedback data; f)
computing and storing, by the computer processor, the sum of every
result value of each feedback data in step e; g) generating, by the
computer processor, an overall value based on step c and step
f.
[0016] In one embodiment, the present disclosure provides one or
more computer-readable storage media embodying software operable
when executed by one or more computer systems to perform: a)
receiving, by the computer processor, a plurality of attributes
data indicative of professional qualification and performance; b)
assigning each said attribute, by the computer processor, a value
or a function calculating such a value based on the variables
affecting that said attribute; c) computing and storing, by the
computer processor, the sum of every result value of each attribute
in step b; d) receiving, by the computer processor, feedback data
for the healthcare professional's engagement with other users; e)
assigning each feedback data, by the computer processor, a value or
a function calculating such a value based on the variables
affecting that said feedback data; f) computing and storing, by the
computer processor, the sum of every result value of each feedback
data in step e; g) generating, by the computer processor, an
overall value based on step c and step f.
[0017] Such evaluation systems and methods are also applicable to
institutions, other professionals in health industry and in clinic
field, and institutions alike. Further, while some embodiments
provided by the present disclosure are described primarily as
involving healthcare professionals, the systems and methods
provided herein may be advantageously employed for use by other
professionals, including lawyers, teachers, accountants,
contractors or any other service providers. The present disclosure
describes interactions with doctors, but could apply to any
professional providing medical diagnosis, treatment, advice or
care. Further, while the present disclosure is described with
particular respect to doctors, the present disclosure is not
limited for use in any particular profession or area of expertise;
rather, the systems and methods provided herein may be
advantageously employed for use by other professionals or persons
having expertise in any given field. For example, using the systems
and methods provided herein, professionals in various fields may
solicit and/or receive votes indicating skill in a particular
specialty or sub-specialty, including, lawyers, professors,
accountants, contractors, bankers and so on.
[0018] In one embodiment, the present disclosure provides a
computer-implemented method of creating a computer-implemented
method for evaluating a medical professional, the method
comprising: generating, by the computer processor, categories of
topics or practicing area the medical professional has expertise
in; receiving a plurality of votes from both credentialed medical
professional users and patient users under each topic or practicing
area; computing and processing the votes from credentialed
physicians and from the patient users separately under each topic
or practicing area; and presenting the result value of the votes
from credentialed physicians and from the patient users separately
under each topic or practicing area.
[0019] In one embodiment, the computer-implemented method further
comprises presenting content showing the medical professionals'
credentials together with voting results.
[0020] In another embodiment, the present disclosure provides a
system for generating a medical professional evaluation system,
comprising a memory comprising instructions executable by one or
more processors; and one or more processors coupled to the memory
and operable to execute the instructions, the one or more
processors being operable when executing the instructions to:
generating, by the computer processor, categories of topics or
practicing area the medical professional has expertise in;
receiving a plurality of votes from both credentialed medical
professional users and patient users under each topic or practicing
area; computing and processing the votes from credentialed
physicians and from the patient users separately under each topic
or practicing area; and presenting the result value of the votes
from credentialed physicians and from the patient users separately
under each topic or practicing area.
[0021] In another embodiment, the present disclosure provides one
or more computer-readable storage media embodying software operable
when executed by one or more computer systems to perform:
generating, by the computer processor, categories of topics or
practicing area the medical professional has expertise in;
receiving a plurality of votes from both credentialed medical
professional users and patient users under each topic or practicing
area; computing and processing the votes from credentialed
physicians and from the patient users separately under each topic
or practicing area; and presenting the result value of the votes
from credentialed physicians and from the patient users separately
under each topic or practicing area.
[0022] In yet another embodiment, the present disclosure provides
computer-implemented systems and methods for providing quick and
trustworthy answers to health information. In one embodiment, such
computer-implemented system comprises steps of receiving, by the
computer processor, a health related question from the users;
placing the question in a queue where all unanswered questions are
sequenced in reverse chronological order; delegating questions
prioritized by their queue orders to verified healthcare
professional users who are licensed with good standing; and
displaying the answers provided by said verified healthcare
professional users together with the question.
[0023] In one embodiment, the method of providing quick and
trustworthy answers further comprises processing and associating
the question with the topic tags or system ID to organize the
questions based on content.
[0024] In another embodiment, the method of providing quick and
trustworthy answers further comprises a step to present the user
with existing similar questions in the system before the user
submits the question.
[0025] In another embodiment, the method of providing quick and
trustworthy answers further comprises delegating the questions only
to the qualified healthcare professional with good standing.
[0026] In another embodiment, the healthcare professional users'
files are completely transparent and viewable to other users. These
healthcare professional users can be the healthcare professional
users who provide answers or healthcare professional users who
agree with the answers provided by others.
[0027] In another embodiment, the present disclosure provides a
system for generating a system for providing quick and trustworthy
answers to health information. In one embodiment, such
computer-implemented system comprises steps of receiving, by the
computer processor, a health related question from the users;
placing the question in a queue where all unanswered questions are
sequenced in reverse chronological order; delegating questions
prioritized by their queue orders to verified healthcare
professional users who are licensed with good standing; and
displaying the answers provided by said verified healthcare
professional users together with the question.
[0028] In another embodiment, the present invention provides one or
more computer-readable storage media embodying software operable
when executed by one or more computer systems to perform:
receiving, by the computer processor, a health related question
from the users; placing the question in a queue where all
unanswered questions are sequenced in reverse chronological order;
delegating questions prioritized by their queue orders to verified
healthcare professional users who are licensed with good standing;
and displaying the answers provided by said verified healthcare
professional users together with the question.
[0029] In another embodiment, the present disclosure provides a
computer-implemented method for facilitating virtual consultations
between a patient and a healthcare professional, comprising the
steps of: receiving, by a virtual consultation application hosted
at least partially on a server, a request to initiate a virtual
consultation from a patient using a patient computer device;
receiving, by the virtual consultation application, information
input by the patient relating to the patient's reason for the
consultation; receiving, by the virtual consultation application,
attachment information provided from the patient computer device;
locating a healthcare professional available to provide a virtual
consultation via a healthcare professional computer device
accessing the virtual consultation application; and providing, by
the virtual consultation application, a communications interface
for virtual consultation between the patient and the healthcare
professional, wherein the communications interface facilitates at
least one of: video, audio and chat communications.
[0030] In yet another embodiment, the present disclosure provides a
system for virtual healthcare consultations, the system including a
virtual consultation application, hosted at least partially on a
server and electronically accessible over at least one network
system to at least one patient computer device and at least one
healthcare professional computer device. The virtual consultation
application is configured to: receive a request to initiate a
virtual consultation from a patient using the at least one patient
computer device; receive information input by the patient relating
to the patient's reason for the consultation; receive attachment
information provided from the patient computer device; locate a
healthcare professional available to provide a virtual consultation
via the at least one healthcare professional computer device
accessing the virtual consultation application; and provide a
communications interface for virtual consultation between the
patient and the healthcare professional, wherein the communications
interface facilitates at least one of: video, audio and chat
communications.
[0031] In yet another embodiment, the present disclosure provides a
non-transitory computer readable medium containing instructions for
providing a method for facilitating virtual consultations between a
patient and a healthcare professional enabled at least in part on a
processor of a computerized device, wherein a virtual consultation
application is electronically accessible by the processor and is
hosted at least partially on a server and electronically accessible
over at least one network system to at least one patient computer
device and at least one healthcare professional computer device,
the instructions, which when executed by the processor, performing
the steps of: receiving, by the virtual consultation application, a
request to initiate a virtual consultation from a patient using the
at least one patient computer device; receiving, by the virtual
consultation application, information input by the patient relating
to the patient's reason for the consultation; receiving, by the
virtual consultation application, attachment information provided
from the patient computer device; locating a healthcare
professional available to provide a virtual consultation via the at
least one healthcare professional computer device accessing the
virtual consultation application; and providing, by the virtual
consultation application, a communications interface for virtual
consultation between the patient and the healthcare professional,
wherein the communications interface facilitates at least one of:
video, audio and chat communications.
[0032] Other systems, methods, features, and advantages of the
present disclosure will be or become apparent to one with skill in
the art upon examination of the following drawings and detailed
description. It is intended that all such additional systems,
methods, features, and advantages be included within this
description, be within the scope of the present disclosure, and be
protected by the accompanying claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0033] Many aspects of the invention can be better understood with
reference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings
are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon
clearly illustrating the principles of the present invention.
Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate
corresponding parts throughout the several views.
[0034] FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a healthcare
professional evaluation system, in accordance with a first
exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0035] FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for evaluating a
healthcare professional, in accordance with the first exemplary
embodiment of the disclosure.
[0036] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating components of an example of
a system in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present
disclosure.
[0037] FIG. 4 illustrates a Voting Page presented to the users to
vote for a doctor, in accordance with embodiments provided by the
disclosure.
[0038] FIG. 5 illustrates one example of a Voting Result Delivering
Page where certain related content can also be delivered along with
the Voting Result, in accordance with embodiments provided by the
disclosure.
[0039] FIG. 6 is a schematic illustration of a system for providing
answers to user-submitted questions, in accordance with embodiments
of the present disclosure.
[0040] FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a method for providing
answers to user-submitted questions, in accordance with embodiments
of the present disclosure.
[0041] FIG. 8 illustrates a webpage or other graphical user
interface (the "Question Presentation Page") presented to doctors,
in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0042] FIG. 9 illustrates a webpage or other graphical user
interface (the "Answer Presentation Page") which is accessible by
any user of the system, in accordance with embodiments of the
present disclosure.
[0043] FIG. 10 is a schematic illustration of a system for virtual
healthcare consultations, in accordance with embodiments of the
present disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0044] In the following detailed description of the invention,
numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more
thorough understanding of the invention. However, one skilled in
the art may practice the present invention with variation of the
following details. In addition, some well-known features have not
been described in detail in this description to avoid unnecessarily
complicating the description.
[0045] Many embodiments of the disclosure may take the form of
computer-executable instructions, including algorithms executed by
a programmable computer. However, the disclosure can be practiced
with other computer system configurations as well. Certain aspects
of the disclosure can be embodied in a special-purpose computer or
data processor that is specifically programmed, configured or
constructed to perform one or more of the computer-executable
algorithms described below. Accordingly, the term "computer" as
generally used herein refers to any data processor and includes
Internet appliances, hand-held devices (including palm-top
computers, wearable computers, cellular or mobile phones,
multi-processor systems, processor-based or programmable consumer
electronics, network computers, minicomputers) and the like.
[0046] The disclosure also can be practiced in distributed
computing environments, where tasks or modules are performed by
remote processing devices that are linked through a communications
network. Moreover, the disclosure can be practiced in
Internet-based or cloud computing environments, where shared
resources, software and information may be provided to computers
and other devices on demand. In a distributed computing
environment, program modules or subroutines may be located in both
local and remote memory storage devices. Aspects of the disclosure
described below may be stored or distributed on computer-readable
media, including magnetic and optically readable and removable
computer disks, fixed magnetic disks, floppy disk drive, optical
disk drive, magneto-optical disk drive, magnetic tape, hard-disk
drive (HDD), solid state drive (SSD), compact flash or non-volatile
memory, as well as distributed electronically over networks
including the cloud. Data structures and transmissions of data
particular to aspects of the disclosure are also encompassed within
the scope of the disclosure.
[0047] While the present disclosure is described with particular
respect to doctors and/or medical professionals, the present
disclosure is not limited for use in any particular profession or
area of expertise; rather, the systems and methods provided herein
may be advantageously employed for use by other professionals or
persons having particular expertise in any given field. For
example, professionals in various fields may employ the systems and
methods provided herein, including, lawyers, professors,
accountants, contractors, bankers and so on
[0048] The present invention provides systems and methods to
evaluate healthcare professionals by assigning a healthcare
professional an overall value (hereinafter referred to as
"Reputation Score" for convenience and clarity, but such name does
not limit the overall value to a numeric value). The system
providing such a Reputation Score can be called "Healthcare
Professional Evaluation System."
[0049] The Reputation Score has two components: Profile Data Value
and Feedback Data Value. The Profile Data Value is computed based
on information regarding a healthcare professional's merits (for
example, the medical school, publications, years of experience,
etc.). The Feedback Data Value is computed based on the feedback
and endorsement the healthcare professional obtained from other
healthcare professional users and/or patient users (for example,
the answer to a health question provided by this healthcare
professional is endorsed by other healthcare professionals).
[0050] The Reputation Score can be the sum of Profile Data Value
and the Feedback Data Value. The Profile Data Value can be the raw
Profile Data points or a converted value of the Profile Data
points. The Feedback Data can be a weighed value of the raw
Feedback Data points. The Reputation Score positively reflects each
healthcare professional's overall standing based on merits and the
recognition obtained from peers and patients. The Reputation Score
gives patients a way to understand each healthcare professional's
qualifications, knowledge of medical practices, and the quality of
their engagement with patients or other medical professions. The
patient users therefore can find and select professionals based on
their trusted evaluations.
[0051] An important aspect of the present invention is that the
present system or method is used to evaluate a healthcare
professional who is certified or licensed in real life. All the
healthcare professionals are presented in the social network in
their real identity. The professional or practicing records can be
obtained from public domain, as well as can be input by the
healthcare professional himself/herself. Such professional or
practicing records are accessible to all users and can be stored in
the system or the server.
[0052] The Profile Data comprises a plurality of attributes
indicative of professional qualification and performance. After
receiving the Profile Data, the Profile Data Calculation module
(which may include or be facilitated by a computer processor)
recognizes the categories of the above profile data or information
and assigns them to corresponding attributes (for example, the
medical school information will be assigned to the attribute of
Education Factor). The computer either assigns a value based on the
information under certain attributes, or treats the information as
variables of a predesigned function to calculate the value under
certain attributes. Value obtained from all the attributes are
added and the sum value is called Raw Profile Data Value.
[0053] In one embodiment, the attributes chosen to reflect
professional qualification and performance comprise: Education
Factor, Training Factor, Board Certification Factor, Experience
Factor, Publication Factor, Editorial Position Factor, Academic
Appointment Factor, Referral Factor, Achievements and Awards
Factor, Board Discipline Factor, Conference Attendance Factor,
Professional Society Participation Factor, Hospital Affiliation
Factor, and the like. However, the above listed factors are not
exhaustive. Persons skilled in the art can adjust the above factors
by either adding new factors which they believe contribute to the
performance, reputation and the practicing skills of the physician,
or deleting some factors if such factors are considered less
relevant.
[0054] The second component of the Reputation Score is Feedback
Data Value. Raw Feedback Data value is obtained based on the
feedback information of an individual healthcare professional's
engagement with other users of the system (e.g. other healthcare
professionals or patients users). Such feedbacks are quantified by
the computer processor. Such feedbacks may be provided from the
patient users or from peer healthcare professional users. In one
embodiment, the feedback information from the patient users
comprise: being followed by a patient in a social network, being
recommended by a patient user, being added by a patient as the
patient's physician, being thanked by a patient for an answer to a
health related question, or such answer being shared by the patient
with friends by Email, SMS, push notification, or on third party
social network (e.g. Facebook or Twitter), being requested by the
patient to make an appointment (for a doctor office visit), being
voted by a patient for having knowledge relevant to a specific
topic.
[0055] The feedbacks or recognitions obtained from other peer
healthcare professional users may be given more weight and can be
assigned a higher value than for feedback obtained from patients.
For example, if other healthcare professionals send a message to a
healthcare professional, other healthcare professionals refer the
healthcare professional's answer to other users or refer a question
to the healthcare professional, other healthcare professionals add
the healthcare professional to his or her own network, other
healthcare professionals agree with answers created by the
healthcare professional, or other healthcare professionals
recommended the healthcare professional on the network, higher
value points will be allocated to the healthcare professional.
Values derived from the feedback and endorsement stated above are
added together counted toward the Reputation Score as a second
component, Feedback Data value.
[0056] Again, the feedbacks and endorsements listed above are not
exhaustive. Persons skilled in the art can either add more feedback
and endorsement data when they believe such feedback contributes to
the performance, knowledge, credibility or practicing skills of the
healthcare professionals. Or they can delete some of the above
listed feedback data entries for being less relevant.
[0057] The raw Feedback Data Value can be a sum of the values
assigned to each countable activity reflecting the value of the
healthcare professional's engagement. Or such value can be
calculated from functions assigned to the countable activity based
on variables that affect such countable activity. The value or the
function assigned to each feedback are not limited to the examples
provided in the embodiments. Persons skilled in the art can assign
different value to each feedback data entry. Persons skilled in the
art can also design different functions to calculate the value of
each feedback since they may believe certain variables should be
given different weight, or other variables should be added to such
a function to compute the value of the said feedback data. Even
though such modified calculation may result different sum value,
they are nonetheless covered by this invention because these
calculations all reflect similar evaluation/consideration of the
feedback or endorsement on the healthcare professional's engagement
with other healthcare professionals and patients.
[0058] However, the value derived from the feedback data is not
static. It will decrease with inactivity. To avoid a decrease, the
healthcare professional must engage in the activities at a rate
earning more points than the minimum participation points required.
The healthcare professional can also restore value derived from the
feedback by reengagement. Therefore, the second component of the
Reputation Score, the raw feedback data value is scaled by
contemporary nature. It reflects the current feedback of the
healthcare professional's present knowledge.
[0059] Both the Profile Data and the Feedback Data Value can be
converted into a smaller range numeric value for easy
understanding. In one embodiment, the Profile Data is set within
range 50-85, and the Feedback Data value is set within range 0-20.
The conversion functions for Profile Data and Feedback Data can be
different segmented linear functions of their respective raw data.
Thus, the Reputation Score can be calculated to a range 0-100.
However, the system can set a maximum value for the Reputation
Score. For example, in one example, the maximum value of Reputation
Score is 99.
[0060] FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a healthcare
professional evaluation system 100 (which may be referred to
hereinafter as `system 100`), in accordance with a first exemplary
embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 1, the
system includes multiple components such as a web server 106, a
Healthcare professional evaluation application 102, and a data
storage media 104. These components are described below and may be
located on the same device (e.g. a server, mainframe, desktop
Personal Computer (PC), laptop, mobile device (smart phone or
tablet), Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), telephone, mobile phone
kiosk, cable box, and an other device) or may be located on
separate devices connected by a net work (e.g. the internet, or the
cloud infrastructure), with wired and/or wireless segments. Those
skilled in the art will appreciate that there may be more than one
data storage media 104 and healthcare professional evaluation
application 102 running on a device.
[0061] The healthcare professional evaluation application 102 may
be fully or partially hosted on the server 106, and electronically
accessible over at least one network system 108. The network system
108 may include any type of network infrastructure, such as the
Internet, or any other wired, wireless and/or partially wired
network. The server 106, application 102 and network system 108 may
include a variety of hardware and software components to provide
successful functioning of the server 106 and the application 102,
as is well-known within the art. Further, any features,
characteristics, designs and/or functions that are known within the
art may be included with the system 100 to further enhance its
efficiency. The application 102 may include any computer-readable
memory or databases, which may be stored in any computer-readable
medium, and may be accessible by a computer processor. The
application 102 may further include or access computer program
instructions which may cause a processor to perform any algorithms
and/or functions described in this disclosure. The healthcare
professional evaluation application 102 may include or have access
to a Profile Data Calculation Module 103 and a Feedback Data
Calculation Module 105.
[0062] The system may further include one or more patient computer
devices 110 and one or more healthcare professional computer
devices 120. The patient computer devices 110 and healthcare
professional computer devices 120 may be any computerized devices
capable of communicating with the application 102, for example via
a network system 108. The one or more patient computer device 110
may be operated by a patient user of the system 100, and the one or
more healthcare professional computer devices 120 may be operated
by any healthcare professional (or other professional), such as a
primary care physician, medical doctor, nurse, medical staff or
other medical professional, or any representative thereof.
[0063] The data storage media 104 is a computer-readable storage
medium, which may be any device or medium that can store code
and/or data for use by a computer system. This includes, but not
limited to, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, magnetic and
optical storage devices such as disk drives, magnetic tape, CDs
(compact discs), DVDs (digital versatile discs or digital video
discs), or other media capable of storing computer-readable media
now known or later developed. The data storage media 104 may store
healthcare professionals' profile information which may be included
and accessible for display to users within the system 100 as
webpage profiles for the healthcare professionals.
[0064] As shown in FIG. 1, data for the healthcare professional
evaluation system 100 may be provided from public domain, third
party, existing database and stored data on the web server 106.
Users of patient devices 110 and users of healthcare professional
devices 120 may further input data for use by the system 100. After
the Healthcare Professional Evaluation Application 102 receives
these data, it will process such data and produce a value based on
the data. Such value can be numeric, in percentage, or in other
form. Any form may be utilized to present such value.
[0065] FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for evaluating a
healthcare professional, in accordance with the first exemplary
embodiment of the present disclosure. The method may be performed
or facilitated using the Healthcare Professional Evaluation System
100 shown in FIG. 1. The application 102 receives profile data
either from public domain data (which may be referred to herein as
"third party data element") or from the healthcare professional's
own input (e.g., using healthcare professional device 120). The
application 102 receives the feedback or endorsement data regarding
the healthcare professional's activities through patient devices
110, healthcare professional devices 120 (e.g., as input to the
application 102 through the webserver 106).
[0066] The Profile Data of a plurality of attributes indicative of
professional qualification and performance are processed by the
Profile Data Calculation Module 103 (STEP 202). The Profile Data
Value can be a sum value (STEP 204) derived from the factors
related to professional qualification and performance. For example,
factors taken into consideration can include: Education Factor,
Training Factor, Board Certification Factor, Experience Factor,
Publication Factor, Editorial Position Factor, Academic Appointment
Factor, Referral Factor, Achievements and Awards Factor, Board
Discipline Record Factor, Conference Attendance Factor,
Professional Society Participation Factor, Hospital Affiliation
Factor and so on. Different weights and/or values are assigned to
these factors and the sum of all the result values of each factor
constitutes the Raw Profile Data Value. However, these factors are
not an exhaustive list, and many other factors may be considered
when such factors contribute to or are indicative of the
performance or reputation and the practicing skills of the
healthcare professional.
[0067] In addition, the value or the function assigned to each
factor are not limited to the examples presented in the
embodiments. Persons skilled in the art will readily understand
that different values may be assigned to each feedback data and
associated factors or attributes. As such, functions to calculate
the value of each attribute as provided herein may be adjusted such
that different variables or factors are given different weight, or
other variables are added to such a function to compute the said
attribute. Even though such modified calculation may result in a
different sum value, they are nonetheless contemplated by the
present disclosure, as such calculations rely on the evaluation
methods of the healthcare professional's merits as provided
herein.
[0068] In one embodiment, the Education Factor is a function of the
ranking of the medical school the healthcare professional graduated
from. The function can take into consideration the school's
clinical ranking and the research ranking. Every medical school the
healthcare professional has attended contributes to this factor.
The school's clinical ranking and research ranking can be obtained
from public information available via the internet or provided by
third party data, or may exist in a database on the web server 106
or data storage media 104 of the system 100, as long as the ranking
is reputable and is applied consistently to all the healthcare
professionals. However, persons skilled in the art will readily
understand from the present disclosure that other variables which
contribute to the medical school's reputation may be included to
modify the functions presented herein (e.g. the publications of the
school's faculty) and thus affect the result value of the Education
Factor. Also, the healthcare professional's academic performance
during his/her study can be a variable affecting the result value
of the Education Factor as well.
[0069] In one embodiment, the Training Factor is a function of the
ranking of the residency hospital and the degree the healthcare
professional obtained (for example, if the medical profession
obtained a Doctorate in addition to MD or DO or MBBS or DDS or DMD,
more points will be allocated). Again, some other factors can be
taken into consideration and become variables of the function as
long as such factors affect the reputation of the residency program
or the credibility of the degree.
[0070] In one embodiment, the Board Certification Factor is a sum
value of each Board Certificate the healthcare professional has
obtained. Either a fixed value or a function can be assigned to
each Board Certification record. Factors like how long ago the
healthcare professional obtained such certificate can affect the
value of the Board Certification Factor.
[0071] In one embodiment, the Experience Factor is a function of
the years the healthcare professional has been practicing.
Therefore, facts like that the healthcare professional has
suspended his practice for a period of time can be taken into
consideration and be a variable in a function. A maximum value can
be set to avoid overweighing this (or any other) factor.
[0072] In one embodiment, the Publication Factor is a function of
the reputation of the journals or periodicals where the healthcare
professional published his work. The variables included in such a
function can be the ranking of the journals or periodicals and the
numbers of articles the healthcare professional has published. Such
publications can be obtained either from public domain, or input by
the healthcare professional himself. For the healthcare
professional input information, the PubMed identifier or similar
identifier of the publication may be required.
[0073] In one embodiment, the Editorial Position Factor is a
function of the ranking of the Journal where the healthcare
professional serves as an editor and the level of the editorial
position the healthcare professional has been serving. For example,
if a medical professional has been an editor or associate editor of
a PubMed-indexed journal, he will obtain a higher value in
Editorial Position Factor than serving on an advisory board, or be
a reviewer at such a journal.
[0074] In one embodiment, the Academic Appointment Factor is a
function of the level of the academic appointment position the
medical profession has taken and the rank of the institution the
healthcare professional serves his appointment. The higher level,
for example, being a Chair of a Department at a top medical school
will earn the medical professional a much higher value.
[0075] In one embodiment, the Referral Information Factor is a
function of the number of times the healthcare professional is
referred and the qualification of the other healthcare
professionals who referred this healthcare professional. This
information can be obtained from public domain and/or from the
server 106 (e.g., as referral information may be input to the
system 100 by referring healthcare professionals using healthcare
professional devices 120 and accessible by the server 106).
[0076] In one embodiment, the Achievements and Awards Factor is a
function of the credibility of each achievement and award. The
variables can include: how well the award is recognized by peers,
the recency of the award, the number of the awards the healthcare
professional has obtained. Sometimes, a predetermined value can be
assigned to each achievement or award. Therefore, the Achievements
and Awards Factor can simply be a sum value of points assigned to
each award the healthcare professional achieved. For example, if
the healthcare professional has been listed in a selected doctor
directory, a predetermined value will be added toward the
Achievements and Awards Factor. Or if the healthcare professional
has been awarded the best doctor in 2013 in a city or town, a
higher predetermined value may be added toward the Achievements and
Awards Factor.
[0077] In one embodiment, the Professional Society Participation
Factor is a function of the credibility of each society the
healthcare professional has joined. The variables can include: how
reputable the professional society is viewed among peers, the size
of such professional society, and the number of the professional
societies the healthcare professional has joined.
[0078] In one embodiment, the Hospital Affiliation Factor is a
function of the ranking of the hospital and number of the hospitals
the healthcare professional has been affiliated with. Such
hospital's ranking can be found in public domain as long as the
ranking is reputable and consistently applied on each healthcare
professional.
[0079] Other such factors and profile data relevant to attributes
indicative of a healthcare professional's qualifications and
performance may be included in the formulations provided herein for
obtaining a value reflective of a healthcare professional's overall
merits and standing.
[0080] In one embodiment, the Profile Data Calculation Module 103
includes an authentication tool which allows the healthcare
professional to authenticate his/her own profile data, and such
authentication can be reflected in the Profile Data Value. For
example, a multiplier (for example, 1.1-1.8) can be assigned to the
value of each attribute validated or verified by the healthcare
professional himself. Alternatively, certain points can be
allocated to the healthcare professional if the healthcare
professional validates the profile data.
[0081] The Feedback Data derived from feedback or endorsement
reflects recognition and evaluation from peer healthcare
professionals and patients. It also reflects how appreciative the
community has been of their advice. The Feedback Data is processed
by Feedback Data Calculation Module 105 (STEP 208). In one
embodiment, the Feedback Data Value is calculated as follows:
Feedback Data Value=Raw Feedback Data Points*Time Factor.
[0082] The Feedback Data Value indicates the quality, quantity, and
recency of the healthcare professional's engagement with other
healthcare professionals and patients. Raw Feedback Data increases
incrementally with each new unit of engagement that indicates
quality. For example, if the healthcare professional provides an
answer to a question asked by a patient and the patient shows
appreciation (e.g. by sending appreciation message, or by
recommending the answer to other people), points or value will be
allocated to the healthcare professional. Further, if this answer
is recognized by other peer healthcare professional, more points
will be allocated to the answer provider.
[0083] More specifically, a value or a function may be assigned to
each of the feedback data which may then be summed, resulting in a
value for raw Feedback Data Points. For example, the feedback data
may include: the number of times a healthcare professional is
"followed" within the system 100 by other patient users or other
healthcare professional users, the number of recommendations the
healthcare professional obtained from patients or healthcare
professional users, the number of times being added as other
patient users' own healthcare provider (e.g., physician), the
number of office visit appointments the healthcare professional
obtained through the system 100, the number of votes from other
users for knowing a specific topic, the number of thanks from
patient users of the system 100 the healthcare professional
obtained for answering a question or providing some medical issue
related content, the number of times the answer provided by the
healthcare professional is shared by patients or other healthcare
professional users with others outside of the system 100, for
example, by Email or through third party social networks (e.g.
Facebook or Twitter). Answers provided by healthcare professionals
in the system 100 may be shareable with such outside users through
any known technique, including for example, by embedding tools in
the pages displaying answers for emailing, republishing and sharing
via social networks (e.g., "email this answer," share on Facebook,
"Like" on Facebook, "Tweet" the answer on Twitter, etc.).
[0084] However, the recognition obtained from other peer healthcare
professionals (e.g., doctors) may be given a higher value than for
feedback obtained from patients. For example, if other healthcare
professionals send a message to a healthcare professional to ask
questions, other healthcare professionals referred the healthcare
professional's answer to other users or refer a question to the
healthcare professional, other healthcare professionals added the
healthcare professional to their own network (e.g., by "following,"
or adding to their network of healthcare professionals on the
system 100), other healthcare professionals agree with the
healthcare professional's answer, or other healthcare professionals
recommend the healthcare professional on the system 100, a higher
value can be assigned to the healthcare professional. This list is
not exhaustive. Other such feedback or endorsement reflecting the
quality of the healthcare professional's activities may be
considered and included in the computation of Feedback Data
Value.
[0085] Updating profile by the healthcare professional can add
value to the feedback data as well. However, this engagement is not
recognition from others. Nonetheless, such an action can be given a
value and count toward the Feedback Data Value to encourage a
healthcare professional to update his file and to improve the
communication between the healthcare professionals and the
patients.
[0086] However, in one of the embodiment, the Raw Feedback Data
will decrease with inactivity. In such a case, the final Feedback
Data may be obtained by multiplying Raw Feedback Data with a Time
Factor. In this way, the Feedback Data can reflect the current
knowledge or responsiveness of the healthcare professional. A rate
of fall can be set and a minimum participation points per day can
be set to make the Feedback Data Value maintainable. If a
healthcare professional keeps inactive for a certain period of
time, the Feedback Data will decrease, which will lead the overall
Reputation Score decrease. In order to avoid a decrease of the
score, the healthcare professional must engage activities within
the system 100 with other peer healthcare professional and patient
users at a rate earning more points than the minimum participation
points required for each day.
[0087] If the healthcare professional user remains current on the
system 100, then all previous content decays at a steady slow rate
that is more than offset by ongoing activity. When the healthcare
professional user becomes inactive, a more rapid, reversible decay
in the value occurs-this decay is reversed when the physician
re-engaged and generates more points through activity on the site.
The time decay for inactivity can be set for a sudden drop for the
first short period of time, then less value will be lost gradually
over the following longer period of time. The physician can restore
the score by re-engagement.
[0088] After the Profile Data Calculation Module 103 and Feedback
Data Calculation Module 105 compute the Profile Data Value and the
Feedback Data Value (Raw Feedback Data Value*Time Factor), an
overall value, also referred to as Reputation Score, is obtained
(STEP 212). If any data entry changes, the system/computer
processor will detect the change and recalculate the Reputation
Score from the beginning (STEPS 216, 220). Before the next change
is detected, the Reputation Score is assigned to the healthcare
professional (STEP 214).
[0089] Those skilled in the art, having benefit of this detailed
description, will appreciate that there will be many other uses for
the physician evaluation system, and that the evaluation system may
be applied to evaluate either other medical entities or other
professional services (e.g. medical institutions, lawyers, and so
forth.)
DEFINITIONS
[0090] The term "social network" is used herein to refer to any
computing system that allows users to communicate or otherwise
interact with each other. The healthcare professional evaluation
system 100 provided herein is a social network. For example, such
network can provide a platform for the communication and
interaction between patient users and healthcare professionals. The
patient users can ask questions and obtain answers from qualified
healthcare professionals. The healthcare professionals can ask
questions as well and obtain answers from other peer qualified
healthcare professionals. The patient users can upload their
personal health information documents and share them with
designated healthcare professionals. The patient can also make
doctor visit appointments with designated healthcare professionals
through the system 100. In addition, the interaction between the
patient users and the healthcare professionals can be in any form
carried out by the system 100. For example, the patient users can
send "thank you" note for answers provided by the healthcare
professionals, the healthcare professionals can show "agree" to
answers provided by other peer healthcare professionals. The ways
of communication and interaction are not limited to the examples
explicitly listed in the present disclosure.
[0091] The term "profile" is used herein to refer to a user's
profile containing pages and/or information visible to the public
generally, information that is visible only to the user herself,
information visible only to users specified by the user,
information visible as specified by the user, and information that
may not be visible to other users. In one embodiment, in healthcare
professionals' profiles, the information regarding professional and
practicing records are open to all users. The users can learn a
healthcare professional's expertise and experience by viewing the
content in the healthcare professional's profile. In a healthcare
professional's profile, a user can find not only the registration
and license information, but also information like the expertise,
the geographic location, the publication, and even the answers to
health related questions the healthcare professional has provided
before. To the contrary, a patient user's profile can choose to be
private and not viewable to other users. Only with the permission
from the patient user, a healthcare professional can access the
patient user's health information or the medical documents the
patient uploaded.
[0092] Other factors or variables not specifically cited or
referenced in the present disclosure may also be included in the
functions provided herein without limiting the scope of the claimed
invention. Accordingly, other factors or variables may be further
used to be part of the function to evaluate the healthcare
professionals. It should further be noted that the present
disclosure contemplates that weights indicated in association with
the various factors or variables may also be adjusted as additional
factors are added or as necessary to provide a more accurate
evaluation.
[0093] The term "patient," "patient user" or the like is used
herein in a broad meaning to refer to any person or any entity
seeking health information utilizing the systems provided herein.
The patient can ask questions regarding any aspect of healthcare.
Any patient can be the user of a social network.
[0094] The term "healthcare professional" is used herein to refer
to any medical practitioner providing healthcare services of any
kind, or any kind of services appurtenant to healthcare. The
healthcare professionals include any doctor, group practice, and/or
any professional providing or capable of providing healthcare
services While the present disclosure presents exemplary
embodiments with specific reference to "healthcare professionals"
and "patients," the present invention is not so limited; the
systems and methods herein may be employed by various other
professionals and potential users/clients, including
lawyers/clients, teachers/students, accountants/clients,
contractors or any other service providers and recipients
thereof.
[0095] The term "doctor" is used herein in its broadest meaning to
refer to any medical practitioner or healthcare professional
providing healthcare services of any kind, or any kind of services
appurtenant to healthcare. The plural form of doctors includes any
doctor, group practice, any professional other than a physician
providing or capable of providing healthcare services. Such a
doctor can be a dentist, an optometrist, a therapist, a
chiropractor, and anyone else who provides healthcare services to
the user within the medical field.
[0096] The term "overall value" is used herein to refer to a value
generated by a computer processor based on the healthcare
professional's professional achievements, qualifications and
performance (i.e. Profile Data), and feedback and endorsement (i.e.
Feedback Data) the healthcare professional received in the system
100. For convenience, sometimes the overall value is also called
"Reputation Score" without limiting the scope or meaning of the
overall value to any specific formality. The overall value can be
presented in numeric value, or in other preferred form, such as
percentile, letters, words, symbols, icons or the like. The overall
value can be based on a sum of the raw value of Profile Data and
the raw value of Feedback Data. The overall value can also be
converted to a smaller numeric value (or any other form) for
presentation to users and ease of understanding. The overall value
can be a segmented function to the raw value of Profile Data and of
Feedback or Endorsement Data, separately or collectively.
[0097] The term "Feedback Data Value" is used herein to refer to a
weighed sum value of all countable feedback or endorsement data
(see FIG. 2, STEP 208). The accumulation is based on the feedback
or the endorsement the healthcare professional received in the
system 100. The Feedback Data Value decays slowly in the absence of
new contributions.
[0098] The term "attributes indicative of professional
qualification and performance" is used herein to refer any
consideration that contributes to the healthcare professional's
performance in the healthcare field and is included in Profile
Data. It may include, but is not limited to, board certification,
education, practicing experience, publications, referral
information, training, editorial positions, academic appointments,
awards, professional society participation, board discipline
record, the involvement in malpractice litigation, affiliation to a
hospital, and other achievements and awards considerations. This
term is not limited to the attributes listed above or in the
embodiments. Persons skilled in the art will readily understand
that other such considerations may contribute to the healthcare
professional's qualification and professional performance and thus
may be included in Profile Data.
[0099] The term "third party" is used herein to include a patient,
an insurance company, a healthcare organization, a professional
organization, a government, and any organization that collects or
provides access to healthcare-related information.
[0100] The scope of the invention is not limited to any of these
definitions or to specific examples mentioned therein, but is
intended to include the most general concepts embodied by these and
other terms.
Example
Evaluating a Healthcare Provider by Providing a Reputation
Score
[0101] This example illustrates systems and methods to evaluate a
healthcare provider (e.g., a doctor) by assigning the healthcare
provider a Reputation Score (in numeric value) based on the
healthcare provider's professional achievements and the engagement
recognized by patients and other peer healthcare providers.
However, the following embodiment is only an exemplified
application of the present invention, the described systems and
methods below are completely applicable to other professionals
and/or service providers. The Reputation Score represents a
healthcare provider's overall standing, based on merits and
feedback from other healthcare providers and patient users. The
Reputation Score has two components: Profile Data Value and
Feedback Data Value. The Reputation Score can be calculated as
follows:
Reputation Score=Profile Data Value+Feedback Data Value
[0102] The above Reputation Score can be obtained by either summing
the raw Profile Data Value and raw Feedback Data Value. Or, the
Reputation Score can be a sum of weighed Profile Data Value and
weighted Feedback Data Value. The weighted Profile Data Value and
weighted Feedback Data Value can each be obtained through a
segmented linear function of the corresponding raw Profile Data
Value and raw Feedback Data Value respectively. In this example,
the segmented linear function is designed to give the initial
contributions (i.e., initial activity/interaction in the system 100
by healthcare professionals) more weight to encourage the
healthcare professionals' engagement. Once the Reputation Score
reaches a certain predetermined level (e.g., a score of "70" out of
a possible 99), the healthcare professional must increasingly
engage in activities on the system 100 in order to gain successive
points of the Reputation Score.
I. Conversion of Raw Profile Data Points to Profile Data Value and
the Raw Feedback Data Points to Feedback Data Value
[0103] In this example, the Reputation Score is set to be in a
range of 50-100 for easy understanding when provided to users.
Within this rage, the Profile Data Value is set to contribute about
50-85 points, and the Feedback Data Value is set to contribute
about 0-20 points. The functions for converting both Profile Data
Value and the Feedback Data Value are not pure linear functions,
but segmented linear functions. These converting functions are
designed in a way that the initial accumulation of the points takes
less effort than later phases. This approach will encourage the
initial involvement of the healthcare professional users. However,
as described below, when the Profile Data Value and Feedback Data
Value are close to their full value, more efforts and contribution
needed to bring the healthcare professional users to be among the
best healthcare professional users (e.g. having the highest
Reputation Score).
[0104] The Reputation Score may be limited by a maximum value. For
example, the sum of the raw Profile Data Points and the raw
Feedback Points may have a value which would produce a
corresponding converted Reputation Score that would exceed the
maximum Reputation Score; however, if such maximum Reputation Score
value is set, the following formula can be used to set up the
maximum of the Reputation Score (e.g., limiting the Reputation
Score to a maximum of 99 points):
Reputation Score=Min(Profile Data Value+Feedback Data Value,99)
[0105] The above mentioned functions converting the raw values to
the weighted values are not pure linear functions, but segmented
linear functions, such that in each successive segment,
proportionate increases in converted value (i.e. Profile Data Value
or Feedback Data Value) require successively greater increases in
raw values (i.e. raw Profile Data Value and raw Feedback Data
Value). For example, a first linear segment may correspond with a
range of converted value from 55 to 60 and may require an increase
of raw values (x) to produce an increase of one point converted
value (e.g., from 55 to 56, 56 to 57, and so on up to 60). In a
second linear segment (e.g., corresponding with a range of
converted value from 60 to 70), increasing one point of converted
value (e.g., from 60 to 61, 61 to 62, and so on up to 70) may
require some multiple of x (A*x, where A>1), such as one and
one-half times the increase of raw values (1.5.times.) as required
within the first segment. Similarly, increasing one point of
converted value in a third linear segment (e.g., corresponding with
a range of converted value from 70 to 80) may require an even
greater multiple of x (B*x, where B>A), such as three times the
increase of raw values (3.times.) as required within the first
segment. Any number of linear segments, each corresponding to
ranges of converted values, may be included.
[0106] Thus, the initial contributions (e.g., as supplied by a
healthcare professional's initial interactivity within the system
100) may be weighted highest. For example, to obtain the first
points of the converted Reputation Score (e.g., starting from 50
and increasing to 55), the healthcare profession may needs only a
small increase (e.g., 150 points) in raw score. The first few
answers provided by the healthcare profession in the system 100
causes a rapid climb in Reputation Score. The climb in later
segments (e.g., from 70 to 90) of the Reputation Score may require
a modest effort by the healthcare professional to engage in
activity on the system 100 (e.g., calibrated to about a month of
substantial engagement). The highest scores (e.g., scores above 90)
become progressively more difficult to achieve, and may require
significant effort over a prolonged period of time in engaging in
activity on the system 100--a rise in converted Reputation Score
from 95 to 99, for example, may require an increase of 800,000
points of the Raw Reputation Score.
[0107] The Raw Profile Data Points and the Raw Feedback Data Points
may be converted separately into Profile Data Value and Feedback
Data Value. Then the converted scores are added together to obtain
the Reputation Score.
II: Calculation of Raw Profile Data Value
[0108] Since much of the healthcare professionals' qualification
information is public, the Profile Data can be obtained from the
public domain (also called "third party" data element). Such
information can be accessed and/or stored in the system 100 and to
be used match with the Profile Data information input by the
healthcare professional. The Raw Profile Data Value is a sum of
values calculated under each attribute indicative of professional
qualification and performance. For example, such attributes can
include: Education Factor, Training Factor, Board Certification
Factor, Experience Factor, Publication Factor, Editorial Position
Factor, Academic Appointment Factor, Referral Factor, Achievements
and Awards Factor, Professional Society Participation Factor,
Hospital Affiliation Factor. Different values and functions
calculating such values are assigned to these factors and the sum
of these points constitute the Raw Profile Data Score.
[0109] However, the above listed factors is not a exhaustive list,
many other factors may be considered when such factors contribute
to the performance or reputation and the practicing skills of the
healthcare professional, for example, board discipline record,
conference attendance and other such factors. A numeric value can
be given to some of the above factors and be added to the Raw
Profile Data Value. Persons skilled in the art can assign different
numeric values to each of the above factors to obtain a different
sum value, but reflects similar evaluation/consideration of the
healthcare professional's merits.
[0110] In addition, different functions may be implemented to
calculate the value of each attribute, as it may be desirable to
include certain variables and weight them differently. Even though
such modified calculation may result different sum value, they are
nonetheless covered by this invention because these calculations
all reflect similar evaluation/consideration of the healthcare
professional's merits.
[0111] A healthcare professional may verify the Profile Data in the
system 100, for example, by signing into the healthcare
professional's account in the system 100 using healthcare
professional computer device 120. By verifying the third party
element information, the healthcare professional can obtain an
increased value or weight (e.g., 10%) assigned to each third party
data element that has been verified as valid by himself:
Raw Profile Data Score (for a doctor registered in the
network)=(1.1)*Raw Profile Data Score generated by the system
before verification
[0112] The overall Raw Profile Data Value is a sum of the points
calculated and added by the computer processor under each of the
following parameters:
Raw Profile Data Score=f(Education Factor)+f(Training
Factor)+f(Board Certification Factor)+f(Experience
Factor)+f(Publication Factor)+f(Editorial Position
Factor)+f(Academic Appointment Factor)+f(Referral
Factor)+f(Achievements and Awards Factor)+f(Professional Society
Participation Factor)+f(Hospital Affiliation Factor).
1. The Education Factor:
[0113] In this example, the Education Factor is a function of the
clinical ranking and the research ranking of the medical school the
healthcare professional graduated from. Every medical school the
healthcare professional has attended will contribute to this
factor. The school's clinical ranking and research ranking can be
obtained from internet, third party, or existing database on the
web server 106 of the system 100, as long as the ranking is
reputable and is applied consistently to all the healthcare
professionals. The Education Factor can be calculated by the
following formula:
Education Factor=[(A-clinical rank)*B+(A-research
rank)*C].sub.School 1+ . . . +[(A-clinical rank)*B+(A-research
rank)*C].sub.School n
[0114] where, [0115] A=the number of ranked schools, or may be set
to any fixed value, [0116] B=a fixed weighting factor for the
clinical ranking component of the Education Factor, and [0117] C=a
weight factor for the research ranking component of the Education
Factor.
[0118] A maximum number of points can be set to adjust the weight
of the Education factor, or any other factor, in the overall
Profile Data Value.
2. Training Factor:
[0119] In this example, the Training Factor is obtained by
assigning value to each residency, fellowship and degree that the
doctor completed. The Training Factor is determined by the
following formula:
Training Factor=completion of a residency(x points)+completion of a
fellowship(y points)+completion a Doctorate in addition to MD or DO
or MBBS or DDS or DMD(z points).
[0120] The values assigned to the various components of this factor
(e.g., x, y and z) may be adjusted to give different weight to
different degrees and obtain a value similarly reflected the
training the healthcare professional obtained.
3. Board Certification Factor:
[0121] The Board Certification Factor can be a sum value of each
Board Certificate the healthcare professional has obtained. Either
a fixed value or a function can be assigned to each Board
Certification record. Factors like how long ago the healthcare
professional obtained such certificate can affect the value of the
Board Certification Factor. In one example, if the healthcare
professional obtained Board Certification from American Board of
Medical Specialties (ABMS) or American Optometric Association (AOA)
specialty, a specific number of points will be allocated. With
specialty certification, for each additional certification,
additional points will be given.
4. Experience Factor:
[0122] In this example, the Experience Factor is determined by
years since the healthcare professional graduated from medical
school, or by years of active practice. The formula is as
follows:
Experience Factor=Annual experience points*years since
graduation
[0123] This factor can be assigned a maximum value to adjust its
weight counting toward Personal Profile Data.
5. Publication Factor:
[0124] In this example, the Publication Factor is determined as
follows:
Publication Factor=u points*number of Peer-reviewed publications+v
points*number of additional publication
[0125] A maximum value may be set for the Publication Factor. When
the publication is entered by the healthcare professional, a PMID
may be required (PubMed identifier or PubMed unique identifier).
The system 100 will update the publications of the healthcare
professional by frequently obtaining updates from public accessible
publication database.
6. Editorial Position Factor:
[0126] If a healthcare professional has been an editor or associate
editor of a PubMed-indexed journal, a number of points are
allocated. Further points may be allocated for being an advisory
board of a PubMed-indexed journal and for being a reviewer of a
PubMed-indexed journal.
7. Academic Appointments Factor:
[0127] If a healthcare professional has been an instructor at a
medical school, a number of points may be allocated. Points may
further be allocated for being a faculty at a medical school and
for being a chair of Department at medical school.
8. Referral Factor:
[0128] The Referral Information Factor is a function of the number
of times the healthcare professional is referred and the
qualification or reputation of the other healthcare professionals
who referred the healthcare professional in real life. Or certain
points can be given to each referral, and a sum of the points will
be the value for this Referral Factor. This information can be
obtained from public domain or from the server 106.
[0129] This Referral Factor is different than the referral a
healthcare professional obtained within the system 100, for
example, under the Feedback data. Those referral data are
calculated under the Feedback data because the referral a
healthcare professional user obtained is within the social network
system, e.g. other healthcare professional users referring
healthcare professional to other patients to answer their
questions.
9. Achievements and Awards Factor:
[0130] In this example, points will be given if the healthcare
professional has obtained some recognition or awards. For example,
if he appears on a selected doctor directory, a certain number of
points will be allocated. If the directory is more reputational or
prestigious (for example, the US News doctor ranking, the
American's top doctors list), a higher score can be given.
10. Professional Society Participation Factor:
[0131] The Professional Society Participation Factor can be a
function of the credibility of each society the healthcare
professional has joined. The variables can be how reputable the
professional society is viewed among peers, the size of such
professional society, and the number of the professional societies
the healthcare professional has joined. Also a fixed value can be
assigned to each organization the healthcare professional
participates in. For example, if the healthcare professional is a
member of a doctor society, a number of points will be assigned.
For each of additional member status, further points will be
given
11. Hospital Affiliation
[0132] Based on the public information or the healthcare
professional's input, if a healthcare professional affiliates with
a best/top hospital (e.g. rank within top 17), a number of points
will be allocated. If a healthcare professional is affiliated with
a great hospital (e.g. rank 1-100), points may be assigned. For
rest listed hospitals on certain ranking a healthcare professional
affiliated, a less number of points may be assigned. For an
unlisted hospital or no affiliation to any hospital, 0 points is
given. The above mentioned ranking system can be any public
accessible and reputable ranking system, as long as such use is
consistent.
III. Calculation of Raw Feedback Data Value
[0133] The Raw Feedback Data Value indicates the quality, quantity,
and recency of the healthcare professional's engagement in the
system 100. Raw Feedback Data Value increases incrementally with
each new unit of engagement that indicates quality. For example, if
the healthcare professional provides an answer to a question
provided by a patient and the patient shows appreciation (e.g. by
sending appreciation message, or by recommending the answer to
other people), points will be allocated to the healthcare
professional. Further, if this answer is recognized by other peer
healthcare professionals, more points will be allocated to the
answer provider healthcare professional.
[0134] In this example, not all activities the healthcare
professional users engage in are accountable. Only activities
related to the quality of the engagement are counted toward Raw
Feedback Data Value. For example, when the patient users followed a
healthcare professional, recommended a healthcare professional,
added a healthcare professional as his physician or healthcare
provider, requested an appointment with the healthcare
professional, voted for the healthcare professional for knowing a
specific topic, thanked the healthcare professional for an answer,
or shared the answer with friends either by Email, or on third
party social network (e.g. Facebook or Twitter), certain points
will be allocated to the answer providing healthcare
professional.
[0135] Further, the recognition obtained from other peer healthcare
professionals will be given higher value. For example, if other
healthcare professionals send a message to a healthcare
professional, other healthcare professionals referred the
healthcare professional's answer to other users or refer a question
to the healthcare professional, other healthcare professionals
added the healthcare professional to their own network within the
system 100, other healthcare professionals agreed with the
healthcare professional's answer, or other healthcare professionals
recommended the healthcare professional on the system 100, higher
value points will be allocated to the healthcare professional.
[0136] Updating a healthcare professional's profile may cause an
increase of points in the raw Feedback Data Value. This is mainly a
measure to encourage a healthcare professional to update his file
and improve the communication between the healthcare professionals
and the patients.
[0137] The following table provides a list of accountable
activities or events, each of which are associated with items to
count for counting occurrences of such activities or events and are
further associated with some amount of points to be allocated for
each occurrence:
TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Accountable actions and events toward the
raw Feedback Data Points, each associated with some amount of
allocated points. Action or Event Items to count Being shared on by
Email and # shares by users of this doc's on other third party
social content network Being thanked on a general # thanks received
from users question for answers Being followed by a patient #
followers (users) Users recommend a doc to # recommendations for
this other users doc, from users, sent to other users Being added
to a user's network # users who added doc to their network Being
thanked with a note # thankyou notes received Other doctors send a
message # messages received by doc to this doctor, from other
experts Being thanked on a private # thanks received for private
message message responses Vote received for knowing a # votes for
knowing a specific specific topic (users) topic received from users
Other doctors refer a question # questions received by this for
answering to this doctor doctor as referrals from experts Being
added as a patient's # users listing this doctor as doctor their
physician Being requested for an doctor # doctor appointment
requests appointment through network received Vote received for
knowing a # votes for knowing a specific specific topic (experts)
topic received from experts Doc completes the profile Key profile
fields completed (minimum set required) (About description,
specialty selected, contact information filled out, special areas
of expertise/interest) Doctor completes the profile Uploaded photo
present on and adds a photo profile Being agreed with # Agrees
received for items of content (tips, answers, guides) authored by
the doctor Being added to another # other doctors who added this
doctor's network doctor to their networks Being recommended by #
recommendations for this another doctor on the social doctor, from
other doctors network
[0138] As shown in Table 1, even though many activities can count
toward raw Feedback Data Points, activities like simply commenting
on an answer without agreeing with the answer may not accumulate
points for the healthcare professional.
[0139] However, the Raw Feedback Data Value will decrease with
inactivity. In comparison, the Profile Data Value is mostly stable
(changes only happen when the healthcare professional has a new
publication, or win a new award, etc., which will not happen on
daily basis). Therefore, Raw Feedback Data Value will cause the
frequent changes of the Reputation Score value. Such decrease
associated to inactivity under Feedback data value can be designed
to be a continuous decay of total points that must be kept up with
or the Raw Feedback Data Value will fall (slowly).
[0140] If the healthcare professional cannot keep up with the
minimum participation score per day, the healthcare professional
user account will be treated inactive. In this situation, the Time
Factor will start playing roles to affect the Feedback Data Value.
More specifically, the Feedback Data Value can be computed by the
following formula:
Feedback Data Value=Raw Feedback Data Points*TimeFactor.
Time Factor:
[0141] Time Factor reflects the activeness of a healthcare
professional user of the system 100. When a healthcare professional
becomes inactive on the system 100, a rapid, reversible decay in
the score occurs. This decay will be reversed when the healthcare
professional re-engages and generates more points through activity
on the system 100. The time decay for inactivity may produce a
significant drop over some initial period of inactivity (e.g.,
inactivity over the first 30 days may result in losing 50% of the
Feedback Data value), then loses another value (e.g., 40%) over
another period (e.g., the next 11 months), reaching and remaining
at 0.1 after one year of inactivity.
[0142] In addition, a multiplier may be associated with the status
of a healthcare professional, and can be assigned to the healthcare
professional and contribute to the raw Feedback Data calculation.
For example, if a healthcare professional is listed in a selected
directory (e.g., a doctor directory, etc.), he can be assigned to
have a 1.4 multiplier and the accumulation of the raw Feedback Data
Points will be faster. In this situation, the healthcare
professional's Feedback Data Value could be calculated as
follows:
Feedback Data Value=Raw Feedback Data Points*Time Factor*Status
Multiplier
[0143] As described above, when the healthcare professional becomes
inactive, a rapid, reversible decay in the Feedback Data Value
occurs. However, this decay is reversed when the healthcare
professional re-engaged and generates more points through activity
on the system 100. The healthcare professional can restore the
Feedback or Endorsement Score by re-engagement. Upon re-engagement,
the Raw Feedback or Endorsement Score returns to the previous value
diminished only by the decay of points equal to some unrecoverable
amount of decay representing a required minimum participation per
day times number of days since last activity, for example:
Recovered Raw Feedback Data Value=Raw Feedback Data Value before
the decay (the inactivity)-minimum participation
required/day*number of days since last activity
[0144] While the Reputation Score is discussed herein primarily
with respect to a numerical value, the Reputation Score may
alternatively be represented by a symbol, such as stars. In an
embodiment, the Reputation Score ranges from 0 to 5 stars,
reflecting the peer-recognition that the healthcare professional
has received within the system 100, as well as relevant public and
other information, as described above, which may include: agrees,
votes and recommendations from other healthcare professionals;
years of experience; quality of healthcare professions who refer
them; education information; board certifications; other
professional accomplishments; and thanks, votes and recommendations
from patient users. The number of stars (or other symbol) to be
given to a particular healthcare professional may be based on a
numerical result (e.g., as discussed above), with ranges of
numerical values being associated with the number of stars to be
given (e.g., 0-20=0 stars; 21-40=2 stars; 41-60=3 stars; 61-80=4
stars; 81-100=5 stars).
Referrals or Votes Provided to Healthcare Professionals
[0145] In further embodiments, the present disclosure provides
systems and methods to allow expert users (e.g., "professionals" or
the like) to identify areas of interest and expertise for purposes
of identifying themselves to third parties as having knowledge and
interest in these topics, and for interacting with a system that
provides them with an opportunity to display their expertise and
express their interest through creating content (including in the
form of answering questions) on these topics.
[0146] FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of a healthcare
professional evaluation system 30 (which may be referred to
hereinafter as `system 30`), in accordance with embodiments
provided by the present disclosure. The system 30 includes one or
more user computer devices 310 (described herein as "patient
computer devices"), one or more healthcare professional user
computer devices 314 (described herein as "doctor computer
devices"), a web server 300 and data storage media 304. A user end
308 (e.g. web browser displayable on a computer device) provides
user interface, through which the users can cast votes or search
and access content they are interested in, as well as search
doctors. The web server 300 is electronically accessible through at
least one network system 306 to multiple computer devices (e.g.,
patient user computer devices 310, healthcare professional user
devices 314). The network system 306 may include any type of
network infrastructure, such as the Internet, or any other wired,
wireless and/or partially wired network.
[0147] The server 300 may be or include any database capable of
storing and/or providing access to information, such as an
electronic database, a computer and/or computerized server,
database server or generally any network host capable of storing
data and connected to any type of data network. Further, the server
300 may include or be a part of a distributed network or cloud
computing environment. Any type of electronic and/or computerized
device that is capable of storing information may be included as
the server 300, and is considered within the scope of this
disclosure. The server 300 may include computer-readable storage
media, and a processor for processing data and executing
algorithms, including any of the processes and algorithms set forth
in this disclosure.
[0148] Web server 300 hosts, fully or partially, or otherwise
accesses multiple application logic components (e.g. a Votes
Processing Module 302). As is understood by persons skilled in the
relevant art, modules shown in FIG. 3 may represent sets of
executable software instructions as well as the corresponding
hardware (e.g., memory and processor) for executing the
instructions. The server 300, votes processing module 302, and
network system 306 may include a variety of hardware and software
components to provide successful functioning of the server 300 and
the module 302, as is well-known within the art. Further, any
features, characteristics, designs and/or functions that are known
within the art may be included with the system 10 to further
enhance its efficiency.
[0149] The system 30 may further include one or more patient
computer devices 310 and one or more doctor computer devices 314.
The patient computer devices 310 and doctor computer devices 314
may be any computerized devices capable of communicating with the
server 300, for example via a network system 306. The one or more
patient computer devices 310 may be operated by a patient user
(which may be any user who votes using the system 30 or otherwise
seeks information related to professional users of the system 30,
and need not be an active patient of any treating physician or
medical caregiver) of the system 30, and the one or more doctor
computer devices 314 may be operated by any doctor user of the
system 30 (which may be any user who may be evaluated using the
system 30, and may include any healthcare professional, such as a
primary care physician, medical doctor, nurse, medical staff or
other medical professional, or any representative thereof).
[0150] The data storage media 304 is a computer-readable storage
medium, which may be any device or medium that can store code
and/or data embodying or used by any one or more of the methods or
functions described herein. This includes, but not limited to,
volatile memory, non-volatile memory including by way of example
semiconductor memory devices, e.g., Erasable Programmable Read-Only
Memory (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory
(EEPROM), and flash memory devices, magnetic storage such as
internal hard disks and removable disks and optical storage devices
such as disk drives, magnetic tape, CDs (compact discs), DVDs
(digital versatile discs or digital video discs), or other media
capable of storing computer-readable media now known or later
developed. The data storage media 304 may be included in, or
electronically accessible by, the web server 300.
[0151] While the computer-readable medium is shown in some
embodiments to be a single medium, the term "computer-readable
medium" may include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a
centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and
servers) that store the one or more instructions or data
structures. The term "computer-readable medium" shall also be taken
to include any tangible medium that is capable of storing, encoding
or carrying instructions for execution by the computer and that
cause the computer to perform any one or more of the methodologies
of the present invention, or that is capable of storing, encoding
or carrying data structures used by or associated with such
instructions.
Set Topics or Practicing Areas for Users to Cast Vote on
[0152] The topics or practicing areas for voting on can be
identified by the doctor himself. The doctor can either identify
his practicing area or an area of interest where he has done some
research or had a publication in the related area. If the doctor
did not identify the above area during the registration process,
the system 30 can also establish such list of topic or practicing
area based on the doctor's specialty and peer reviewed
publications. In one embodiment, the users (e.g., patient users)
also have an option to add a new area to vote for the doctor. Such
options can be shown in the last box and the voters may fill in new
content identifying a new topic or practicing area (as shown in
FIG. 4).
[0153] However, when the system 30 generates such list for the
users to vote, there may be some practices or topics which are
related, but described in a different term. The system 30 has a
processing module 302 to organize such different inputs, merge
related topics and provide topics which are distinctive from each
other.
Differentiate the Votes from Doctors and Votes from Patients
[0154] It is important to differentiate the votes from licensed
medical professionals and regular patient users, as each type of
user may have more informed or otherwise relevant input. For
example, patient votes may be particularly relevant with respect to
a doctor's bedside manner evaluation. However, when it comes to
evaluating the practicing skills of a doctor, patients might lack
professional knowledge to provide more objective evaluations.
[0155] To that end, an authentication module may be included within
the system 30 to verify the users who identify themselves as
healthcare professionals. The authentication module may be included
in or otherwise accessible to the Votes Process Module 302 and may
include or access a database (e.g., stored in data storage media
304) having a directory of medical professionals in U.S. and other
data related to professional performance of each licensed medical
professional. When medical professionals register or sign in the
system, the authentication module generally requires the user to
verify the existing information in the system and provide more
information related to his professional performance. However, to
guarantee the accuracy and currency of the medical professionals'
qualification, all medical professionals are screened for
credentials based on the public information released by impartial
third party or public registered information, for example, each
state's licensing board. Such information may be stored in the
system 30 (e.g., in data storage media 304), and may be frequently
updated in responding to the newly released public information.
When a medical professional is verified by the system 30 to be
currently qualified to practice, the system 30 will allow the
medical professional to cast votes or agree on other medical
professionals' answers.
Voting User Interface
[0156] FIG. 4 illustrates one example embodiment of the Voting
Screen the users may interact with. This page can be accessible
through a graphitic user interface element. In the center of this
page, the medical professional's name and specialty is clearly
identified. Under the doctor's name, there are multiple boxes
listing the topics or practicing areas that the users can cast
votes on. These voting topics or practicing areas are decided by
either the doctors themselves or by the system 30 based on the
doctor's publication and other related information (e.g. specialty
board certificate).
[0157] However, a vote from patient users is calculated separately
from a vote casted by credentialed doctors. The votes from patient
voters are categorized as bedside manner votes under each topic or
practicing area (shown in FIG. 5, Section 1). The votes from
patients do not provide resources of where these votes are
collected from. However, for the votes from credentialed doctors,
the system 30 not only provides the number of total votes, but also
provides an access for the users (both doctors and patients) to
find out which doctors casted votes for the present doctor (e.g.,
the doctor being displayed to the user). This not only provides
transparency of the voting process, but also improves the
credibility of the voting results. For example, if a doctor is
voted by many doctors in the same field or practicing area, the
patient will find such voting demonstrated the reputation of the
doctor in the pertinent field. Also when the voting source is
transparent, the comments will tend to be more objective.
[0158] The basis for the voting can be either from the real life
experience, for example, doctor visit, or from reading the content
generated by the doctor, for example, the answers provided by the
doctor and solicited by the patients on a social network. In either
situation, such rating is based on actual knowledge of the doctor's
practicing skills and knowledge.
Presentation of Votes
[0159] The votes casted by the users are processed by the Votes
Processing Module 302 before being presented in the Voting Result
Presentation Page. FIG. 5 illustrates an example embodiment of the
Voting Result Presentation Page. Section 1 presents the topics or
the practicing areas that a doctor obtained votes upon. For
instance, in this example, the doctor obtained votes on topics of
Hip Pain, Vaccinations, Diabetes, ACL Injuries and Bee Stings. As
stated before, the votes from doctors and from the patients are
calculated separately. For example, under the topic Hip Pain, the
present doctor received 50 doctor votes and 50 member votes (votes
from non-healthcare professional users). Such divided source of
votes helps users appreciate the recognition the doctor received
among peers, at the same time also acknowledge the communication
skills the doctor has with patients.
[0160] Second, the identities of all of the 50 doctors casting
votes for the present doctor are transparent to the users. For
example, the user can simply click the 50 doctor votes and learn
who voted for the present doctor under the Hip Pain topic.
[0161] Third, the votes are calculated locally, statewide and
nationally (e.g. nationwide, state wide, or locally). If the doctor
obtains top number of votes locally (for example, within top 10 in
a local area), such information will be provided in that specific
category of specialty of practicing area (e.g. FIG. 5, Section 1,
below "Diabetes"). If the doctor has top number of voting
nationally (for example, with in top 20 national wide), such
information will also be presented under that category (e.g. FIG.
5, Section 1, below "Vaccinations"). This is helpful for the
patients who are looking for a local doctor that he can make a
doctor visit and do follow up examination. A national top voting of
a doctor may help a patient make decisions in seek specific medical
service when he/she have a very complicated disease or health
issue.
[0162] Section 3 shows related areas of expertise and other topics
that a doctor is known for, but did not receive votes in these
practicing areas yet. Section 4 shows the basic information about a
doctor including First and Last name, specialty, Board
Certification, DocScore (can be a external doctor evaluation system
showing the doctor's professional reputation or skills), Photo, and
graphical user interface elements for connecting with this
doctor.
[0163] Last, such voting result can be presented together with
other content provided by the doctor, for example, the answers,
tips or posts the doctor provided before, the license information
or publication list the doctor has, or network information the
doctor has connection with (Section 5). Further, the voting results
may be presented together with other statistics of the present
doctor, for example, the statistics of how many "doctor agrees" the
doctor received when he provided answers to the questions posted by
the users, how many thanks the doctor received from the patient
users when he provided such answers, or the number of doctor and
patient followers they have (Section 2). Also how responsive the
doctor is may also be presented (responsiveness). Such evaluation
can be based on the percentage of the questions the doctor answered
out of the number of questions being given by the system.
[0164] The system 30 can also provide a measure to evaluate the
quality of the content the doctor rendered. For example they system
will give the doctor medals when certain content received many
"thanks" from the patients, e.g. a brown medal for over 5 thanks, a
silver medal for over 10 "thanks," and a gold medal for over 15
"thanks" (the bottom section of Section 2).
[0165] Such collected information based on different source
provides a user a comprehensive understanding of the present
doctor's performance and practicing skills, where the patients have
more source to learn about the present doctor and decide whether he
will follow up with the doctor further, for example, ask one to one
question or make a doctor visit appointment.
[0166] In addition, such voting result can be presented also with
other ranking or rating results based on different approach or
basis. For example, there could be another separate system evaluate
the doctor solely based on the merits of the doctor (e.g. where he
obtains education, what publications he have), and presented
together with the votes. Therefore, the users have an understanding
of how the doctor is evaluated by the patients, as well as by the
peer doctors.
Providing Answers to User-Submitted Questions
[0167] In further embodiments, the present disclosure provides
systems and methods for providing trustworthy answers to health
questions (or questions in any other field of knowledge) in an
efficient and timely manner. Various aspects of the inventive
methods and systems provided herein aims at increasing the
reliability of the answers to health (or other) questions and
reducing the response time. The present invention enables any
patient (or other users) to solicit answers for health (or other)
questions in a social network setting. Moreover, users may search
and view existing questions (as well as related answers) related to
desired topics or areas of practice.
[0168] In accordance with embodiments provided herein, the answers
are delivered solely by professionals having verified
qualifications (e.g., licensed doctors) and in good standing within
their respective profession. These answers are also curated by
other qualified professionals (e.g., doctors). Other professionals
(e.g., doctors) can show they agree with the answers and thus
affect the credibility of the answer. The more "agrees" an answer
obtains, the more prioritized (i.e. higher ranking) the answer is
presented to users in a list of answers. In addition, the answer
will be provided promptly. In one embodiment, the answer will be
supplied within 24 hours.
[0169] FIG. 6 is a schematic illustration of a system for providing
answers to user-submitted questions 60 (which may be referred to
hereinafter as `system 60`), in accordance with embodiments
provided by the present disclosure. The system 60 includes one or
more user computer devices 610 (described herein as "patient
computer devices"), one or more professional user computer devices
614 (described herein as "doctor computer devices"), a web server
600 and data storage media 620. The web server 600 is
electronically accessible via at least one network system 630 to
multiple user ends (e.g., patient user end having one or more
patient computer devices 610; doctor user end having one or more
doctor computer devices 614). The network system 630 may include
any type of network infrastructure, such as the Internet, or any
other wired, wireless and/or partially wired network.
[0170] The server 600 may be or include any database capable of
storing and/or providing access to information, such as an
electronic database, a computer and/or computerized server,
database server or generally any network host capable of storing
data and connected to any type of data network. Further, the server
600 may include or be a part of a distributed network or cloud
computing environment. Any type of electronic and/or computerized
device that is capable of storing information may be included as
the server 600, and is considered within the scope of this
disclosure. The server 600 may include computer-readable storage
media, and a processor for processing data and executing
algorithms, including any of the processes and algorithms set forth
in this disclosure.
[0171] Web server 600 hosts, fully or partially, or otherwise
accesses multiple application logic components (e.g. a Queue
Management Module 602, Question Processing Module 604, Content
Recommendation Module 606 and Authentication Module 608). As is
understood by persons skilled in the relevant art, modules shown in
FIG. 6 may represent sets of executable software instructions as
well as the corresponding hardware (e.g., memory and processor) for
executing the instructions. The server 600, modules 602, 604, 606,
608, and network system 630 may include a variety of hardware and
software components to provide successful functioning of the server
600 and the modules 602, 604, 606, 608, as is well-known within the
art. Further, any features, characteristics, designs and/or
functions that are known within the art may be included with the
system 60 to further enhance its efficiency.
[0172] The system 60 may further include one or more patient
computer devices 610 and one or more doctor computer devices 614.
The patient computer devices 610 and doctor computer devices 614
may be any computerized devices capable of communicating with the
server 600, for example via a network system 630. The one or more
patient computer devices 610 may be operated by a patient user
(which may be any user seeking health-related information, and need
not be an active patient of any treating physician or medical
caregiver) of the system 60, and the one or more doctor computer
devices 614 may be operated by any doctor user of the system 60
(which may be any user to whom access to provide answers to pending
questions has been granted, and may include any healthcare
professional, such as a primary care physician, medical doctor,
nurse, medical staff or other medical professional, or any
representative thereof).
[0173] The data storage media 620 is a computer-readable storage
medium, which may be any device or medium that can store code
and/or data embodying or used by any one or more of the methods or
functions described herein. This includes, but not limited to,
volatile memory, non-volatile memory including by way of example
semiconductor memory devices, e.g., Erasable Programmable Read-Only
Memory (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory
(EEPROM), and flash memory devices, magnetic storage such as
internal hard disks and removable disks and optical storage devices
such as disk drives, magnetic tape, CDs (compact discs), DVDs
(digital versatile discs or digital video discs), or other media
capable of storing computer-readable media now known or later
developed. The data storage media 620 may be included in, or
electronically accessible by, the web server 600.
[0174] While the computer-readable medium is shown in some
embodiments to be a single medium, the term "computer-readable
medium" may include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a
centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and
servers) that store the one or more instructions or data
structures. The term "computer-readable medium" shall also be taken
to include any tangible medium that is capable of storing, encoding
or carrying instructions for execution by the computer and that
cause the computer to perform any one or more of the methodologies
of the present invention, or that is capable of storing, encoding
or carrying data structures used by or associated with such
instructions.
Authentication of the Doctors' Credentials
[0175] In the system 60, answers are provided exclusively by
licensed doctors with good standing. The good standing status
requires that no sanctions or disciplinary restrictions are in
effect against the doctor. Neither can the doctor be a defending
party in any open malpractice suit. The term "doctor" is used
herein in a broader meaning to refer to any medical practitioner or
healthcare professional providing healthcare services of any kind,
or any kind of services appurtenant to healthcare. Further, while
the present disclosure is described for exemplary purposes with
respect to doctors and patients, the present invention is not
limited for use in any particular profession or area of expertise.
Rather, the systems and methods provided herein are applicable to
users (i.e. those submitting questions) and professionals or
persons having particular expertise (i.e. those providing answers)
in any given field.
[0176] Users without a license to practice medicine or doctor users
without good standing status do not have access to answer the
questions presented by users of the system 60. Thus, it is
important to verify the identities of those users who claim they
are doctors with good standing. To this end, the system 60 includes
an authentication module 608 to verify the users who identify
themselves as doctors licensed to practice medicine in certain
jurisdiction and in good standing in that jurisdiction.
[0177] The authentication module 608 includes or has access to a
database (e.g., stored in data storage media 120) including
directories of doctors and other data related to professional
performance of each licensed doctors. When a doctor registers or
signs in the system 60, the authentication module 608 may require
the doctor user to verify the existing information in the system 60
and provide further information related to his professional
performance. However, to guarantee the accuracy and currency of the
doctors' qualification, all doctors are screened by the
authentication module 608 for credentials based on information
released by impartial third parties or public registered
information, for example, each state's licensing board (shown in
FIG. 7, Step 216). Such information is stored in the system 60, and
is frequently updated to include newly released public
information.
[0178] If the doctor passes the screening and is validated by the
authentication module 608 to answer questions, the authentication
module 608 will grant the doctor access through the system 60 to
provide answers to pending questions. Such grant of access to the
questions is revocable and conditioned on the current good standing
status of the doctor. If the doctor's good standing status changes
and does not satisfy the requirement anymore, the system will block
the doctor's access to pending questions and such blocking will
remain in place until the good standing status is resumed.
[0179] In addition, some or all of the doctor's information related
to merits, practicing skills, and professional performance may be
transparent to all the users (i.e. patient users and doctor users).
The doctor's identity (e.g., name, photo, location, specialty
and/or any other identifying information) will be presented next to
the answer he provided. Through clicking the doctor's profile
photo, the users can access the doctor's profile and learn more
about the doctor's skills and credentials. The complete
transparency fosters the trust between doctors and patients using
the system 60 and encourages the interaction among the doctors and
the patients. Further, when a doctor agrees with an answer already
provided by another doctor user in the system 60, his identity will
also be shown next to the answer. The users can similarly learn
more about the doctors who agreed with the answer and what are
their professional credentials.
[0180] Registered users (e.g., patient and doctor users) of the
system 60 have profiles, which are well-known in social networks
and related fields. The profiles may be a profile containing pages
and/or information visible to the public generally, information
that is visible only to the user herself, information visible only
to particular users specified by the user, information visible as
specified by the user, and information that may not be visible to
other users. The doctors' profiles are generally visible to all of
the users of the system 60. All users can view the doctors'
profiles and can find out the doctors' credentials.
Question Processing Module
[0181] When a user inputs a question or key words (e.g., using an
input box provided by the system 60 and displayed in a graphical
user interface of the user's computer device 610) to solicit
answers, the string content in the input box will be processed by
the Question Processing Module 606 (FIG. 7, Step 202) and key words
will be extracted. Techniques for identifying and extracting key
words are known within the relevant field, and any such techniques
may be utilized for key word extraction by the Question Processing
Module 606. The key words are then associated by the Question
Processing Module 606 with single or multiple predefined topic tags
which may be stored, for example, in a database in data storage
media 620. Such topic tags may include collections of disease
names, treatment methods, diagnosis, surgical procedures, hot
topics, areas of practice and the like. The topic tags can be
associated with closely related terms either by meaning or
formality, such that the topic tags applied to variable forms of
terms referring to the same topic. For example, the topic tags may
be associated with misspellings, singular and plural forms and
different expression of the same term. Thus, closely related terms
regarding a specific topic can be organized together by topic tags.
The system 60 has stored a great accumulation of these topic tags
and these topic tags are further organized by Group ID.
[0182] The Group IDs are the next higher level of organized
subjects than the topic tags and may be stored in a database in
data storage media 620 and associated with relevant topic tags. In
one embodiment, the Group IDs may be disease names, with each Group
ID being associated with a collection of topic tags related to
symptoms, conditions, side effects, treatment, procedures and
medications for the disease. Such a higher level organization of
information is important for functions providing related content in
various situations, as the related content can be extracted from
the pool of content sharing the same group IDs.
[0183] The association relationships between a question, topic tags
and Group ID are stored (e.g., in data storage media 620) together
with the question and their answers. The questions are organized by
the topic tags and the Group ID and will be extracted by the
Question Processing Module 606 from the database based on the
patient user's request (e.g. presenting similar questions before
the user proceed to post the question). For example, when a user
wants to search some specific content, he can just input a key word
and the Question Processing Module 606 will recognize that key word
and match it up with the existing tags and extract related
questions and answers from the database and display the related
content. If there are no close existing tags, the system 60 can
provide content sharing the same Group IDs with the requested
content.
Providing Answers in a Timely Manner
[0184] It is important that the answers to health questions be
provided in a timely and efficient manner. Questions related to
health care often need to be answered quickly. Some actions might
need to be taken promptly regarding certain health concerns. The
patient often would significantly benefit from a quick answer, and
an untimely answer may be of little or no use. A quick answer also
helps reduce the anxiety caused by some suspicious symptoms. The
system 60 prevents, or significantly reduces the likelihood of,
questions from sitting in the system 60 for long periods of time
without being answered. In an embodiment, all the questions will be
answered within 24 hours from being posed by users in the system
60. To assure the questions are answered promptly, the system 60:
[0185] a. Reduces traffic by presenting similar questions and
answers to the user before the user proceeds to post a new
question; [0186] b. Organizes questions in a reverse chronological
order where the oldest question in the system is placed on the top
of the question list presented to the doctors; [0187] c. Sends
questions to doctors who are specialists in areas relevant to the
questions, and improve the efficiency of the system; [0188] d.
Provides similar unanswered questions to the doctor after the
doctor provides an answer to a question; [0189] e. Gives the
doctors awards or credits for answering additional questions or
questions that are needed to be answered urgently. [0190] f.
Messages the patient user to give him/her the choice to modify the
question if the question has not been answered for a long time.
1. Reduce Traffic by Presenting Similar Questions to the User
Before the User Posts a New Question.
[0191] The system 60 can guarantee questions being answered within
a short period of time, e.g. 24 hours. One way the system 60 can
efficiently and promptly provide answers promptly is by avoiding
processing (i.e., sending to doctors) questions that have already
been answered in the system 60. In one embodiment, the users
(mainly patient users) will be presented with a list of questions
which are identified by the system 60 (e.g., by the Question
Processing Module 606) that are either similar or related to the
question the user just posted.
[0192] The related questions may have been previously answered and
stored in the system 60 (e.g., in Data Storage Media 620) together
with associated topic tags and Group IDs, assigned by the Question
Processing Module 606. Their related answers are tagged and
categorized separately as well. The previously answered questions
that are displayed to the user are selected based on relevancy. The
relevancy is determined by the system 60 (e.g., by the Question
Processing Module 606) through analyzing the topic tags associated
with existing questions stored in the system 60 and those
associated with the present question. The more topic tags a
previously answered question and the present question have in
common, the higher the degree of relevancy the system 60 will
determine to exist between the previous question and the present
question.
[0193] In addition, each answer may be assigned an Answer Score.
Answer Score reflects the confidence in the content of the answer.
The Answer Score may be based on a variety of factors, including:
a. the reputation of the author; b. "agrees" the answer obtained
from other doctor users; c. "thanks" the answer received from
patient users; d. number of times that the answer has been shared
with other users; e. the length of the answer (the longer answer
has more details and will be given higher score). Such an Answer
Score can be a function of any combination of the above factors.
The factors can be given different weights in computing the Answer
Score. The Answer Score may be generated by the Question Processing
Module 606, or by a separate tool contained within the system
60.
[0194] The list of related previous questions will be presented to
the user (e.g., displayed on the patient computer device 610) in a
ranked order based on both the relevancy of the topic tags and the
value of the Answer Score. A highly related question having an
associated answer with a high Answer Score will be ranked highly,
and thus shown on top of a Related Questions Presentation Page.
However, the user makes the final decision as to whether the
proposed question is already sufficiently answered or not. In one
embodiment, after being presented with existing related questions
and/or their associated answers on the Related Questions
Presentation Page, some users might decide that their questions
already have been answered and stored within the system 60, and
they will not proceed to post the question. In this way, some
amount of traffic, data storage and redundancy will be reduced.
However, if the user decides his question has not been answered,
the system 60 will allow the user to proceed to post his/her new
question.
[0195] In general, the user can post questions for any doctor to
answer. However, to increase efficiency, in one embodiment, the
system 60 sorts the questions and sends the questions to doctors
who claim specialty in related area or practice. The system 60 can
also allow the user to designate a specific doctor to answer the
question.
2. Organize Questions in a Reverse Chronological Order where the
Oldest Question in the System is Placed on the Top of the Question
List--Queue Management
[0196] The Queue Management Module 602 (FIG. 6) operates to
organize the to-be-answered questions in the system based 60 on the
time the question is submitted. Therefore, the longer the question
sits unanswered in the system 60, the higher priority will be
assigned to this question to be processed (i.e. answered) by the
system 60. In addition, Queue Management Module 602 also operates
to select to-be-answered questions and present them to individual
doctor users. With the organization by the Queue Management Module
602, the doctor users will not see a very long list of unanswered
questions (e.g., a list of all pending unanswered questions).
Rather, the doctor will see only those questions selected for the
doctor by the Queue Management Module 602 (e.g., based on the
doctor's specialty, location or other relevancy consideration) on
the Question Presentation page (shown in FIG. 8).
[0197] The Queue Management Module 602 compiles the to-be-answered
questions list based the following considerations: a. Time of
submission: the oldest questions are given priority to be presented
on the Question Presentation Page; b. The patient user's special
request for a fast answer: upon a user's request to process the
question faster, this question will be marked and automatically
moved up to or near the top of the list; c. Relations to the
specialty the doctor claimed: Queue Management Module 602 will send
questions to the doctor within his specialty by default; d. The
geographic location of the doctor: the Queue Management Module 602
will automatically send the questions to doctors who has closer
geographic location to the patient user who posted the question; e.
Whether the doctor has provided similar content or answers to
similar questions before: the Queue Management Module 602 will send
to the doctor questions that he has shown knowledge on.
3. Send Questions to Doctors Who are Specialized in the Area or
Practice the Questions Related and Reduce the Responding Time
[0198] The doctor can specify fields that he/she has expertise or
feels more comfortable answering questions in. If the doctor user
does not claim a specialty, the system 60 will assign a specialty
tag to the doctor based on his/her licensing information and
publications. The specialty tag may be associated with the doctor,
for example, in the doctor's profile which may be stored in a
database in or accessible to the system 60. Such specialty tag
allows the Queue Management Module 602 to only send the doctor
questions related to his specialty and let the doctor answer
questions he feels more comfortable with. However, such specialty
screening is optional and the doctor has a choice at the Question
Presentation Page to view either the questions solely from his own
specialty or from all fields.
4. Show the Doctors Similar Questions after the Doctor Answered
Related Questions
[0199] In addition, after a doctor answers one question, a list of
similar unanswered questions can be presented to the doctor in a
pushed message (e.g., the Queue Management Module 602 may push such
questions to the doctor's user device 614). Such a list of similar
questions obtained through the same sorting and organizing
techniques as described with respect to presenting a Related
Questions Presentation Page to the users.
5. Provide Awards or Credits to Doctors for Answering High Priority
or Additional Questions.
[0200] An award system may be established to encourage the doctors
to answer more questions, especially when the unanswered questions
in the system 60 are backlogged. As shown in FIG. 8 (section 2),
the doctors are provided an opportunity to gain an award or credits
(e.g., bonus double daily participation points) by answering one
more questions. Further, bonus points may be allocated to doctor
users for answering high priority or urgent questions in the system
60. Such bonus points may be utilized to increase a doctor's status
or ranking in the system 60, or may be provided to a doctor
evaluation system or recommendation system which may utilize the
doctor points as a factor in evaluating, ranking or recommending
doctors. The system 60 may be integrated with or otherwise
communicatively coupled with such an evaluation or recommendation
system, thereby providing benefit to the doctors who answer
questions on the system 60 by facilitating an increased status or
ranking.
6. Message the Patient User to Give him/her the Choice to Modify
the Question if the Question has not been Answered for a Long
Time.
[0201] In one embodiment, the system 60 monitors questions in view
of a time limit within which questions should be answered. Such
time limit can be decided based on the traffic volume of the
server. When a question is not answered within this time limit, the
system 60 will send a message to the question posting user to
remind him/her that his/her questions are still not answered. The
system 60 can also give the user a choice to modify the questions
and try again.
Answer Presentation Page
[0202] After a question is answered, the answer will be processed
by the system and presented to the patient user on the Answer
Presentation Page (e.g., when the user logs into the system 60
using a patient device 610) (shown in FIG. 9). The Answer
Presentation Page is also accessible by other users by searching
key words. In addition, the system 60 can also present related
contents to the question on the Answer Presentation Page. For
example, top doctors in related practicing area, related health
tips, related medication information, and so on may be presented to
the user on the Answer Presentation Page.
[0203] FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a method for providing
answers to user-submitted questions, in accordance with the first
exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown at Step
200, a user can post a question through the user interface provided
on the patient device 610. At Step 202, the questions are received
and processed by the Question Processing Module 606 after it is
input by the user and the key words are extracted from the input
content. The key words are then matched with topic tags which are
previously generated and stored in the system 60. If one or
multiple matches are established, such tags will be then assigned
to the question and the association relationship will be stored in
the data storage media. Such association can be based on content
match between the keywords and the tags because the input question
in the box is received as a string which is a system recognizable
formality.
[0204] These topic tags can recognize misspellings, singular and
plural forms and different expression of the same term. Thus the
topic tags organize and correctly categorize the questions under
the same topic tags even though the key words from the questions
may be misspelled or expressed in a different term.
[0205] For example, a patient user inputs a question: "what can be
the cause of chest pain and short of breath?" The system 60 then
extracts the keywords "cause," "chest pain" and "short of breath"
from the question and matches them with the existing tags. "Chest
pain" and "short of breath" themselves can be existing topic tags.
Or another topic tag such as "heart attack" can be assigned to this
question because chest pain and shortness of breath are typical
symptoms of heart attack. If the user misspelled "chest pain," the
system can 60 still recognize it and associate the question with
the right topic tag, "chest pain." In addition, the system 60 can
also associate the medical term "myocardial infarction" with the
topic tag "heart attack" where the former is a medical term of
"heart attack" used by the doctors. Further, the system 60 might
also associate the question with topic tags like "pericarditis,"
"hypertrophic cardiomyopathy," or "mitral valve prolapse," because
chest pain is a common and possible symptom for these diseases as
well.
[0206] After the first level of labeling, the question can be
further assigned to a Group ID, for example, "cardiovascular
disease." And this "cardiovascular disease" Group ID may include
content, questions and answers related to the symptoms, treatments,
procedures, medication, health tips, diet suggestions and the like
for cardiovascular disease.
[0207] Therefore, in the above example, the topic tags "cause,"
"chest pain", "short of breath," "heart attack," "pericarditis,"
"hypertrophic cardiomyopathy," and "mitral valve prolapse" can be
assigned to the provided question. At the same time, this question
is also assigned a Group ID, "cardiovascular disease." The topic
tags used in the examples herein are not exhaustive, and persons
skilled in the relevant field will readily understand that other
such topic tags may be applied to sort questions by topics and thus
associate and organize related questions together.
[0208] The Group IDs are important for rendering similar or related
content on the Answer Presentation Page. Since the content rendered
related to the questions are all belonging to the same Group
IDs.
[0209] After the system 60 processes the question, it will proceed
to send the question to doctors and solicit answers. However,
before sending the question to doctors, the system 60 takes some
measures to efficiently process and generate answers to the
questions. First, in order to speed answer delivery, unnecessary
traffic should be avoided, e.g. avoid processing questions which
have been answered before or in which similar issues have been
addressed. Therefore, the system 60 provides users (mainly patient
users) an opportunity for a second thought before posting the
question. This step includes presenting the patient users with a
list of questions which are identified by the system 60 (e.g. by
the Question Processing Module 606) that are either similar or
related to the question the user just posted (FIG. 7, Step 204).
These existing related questions are stored in the system 60 (e.g.,
in Data Storage Media 620) together with their associated tags and
topics. The Question Processing Module 606 organizes these existing
questions based on the multiple tags associated with them assigned
by the system 60.
[0210] The delivery of the similar questions (and their answers)
requires the system 60 derive a list of existing questions that are
most related to the question posted. Such relevancy is computed by
the system 60 through analyzing and matching the tags between the
existing questions and the present question. The list of related
previous questions will be presented in a descending order of
relevancy. For example, the similar questions and answers that have
exactly the same tags with the posted question will be presented
first. Then the similarity of the tags will be analyzed and the
existing questions sharing most closely related tags will be
presented second. If a question cannot be matched with similar
questions based on the relevancy of the tags, the content within
the same Group ID as the input question will be presented to the
user.
[0211] After being presented with previous questions, the user has
an option to make the final decision to decide whether his or her
question has been answered or not. In this embodiment, after
reviewing the presented existing answers, some users might decide
that their questions already have been addressed and they will not
proceed to post the question. In this way, at least certain amount
of unnecessary traffic will be reduced and the system 60 saves time
and space to provide answers to questions that have not yet been
answered. However, if the user decides his question has not been
answered, the system will allow the user to proceed to post his/her
own question.
[0212] After the question is posted by the user and processed and
tagged by the system 60, it will be placed in a queue in reverse
chronological order by Queue Management Module 602 (Step 206). Then
the Queue Management Module 602 will selectively send questions to
doctors based on information about the doctors stored in or
accessible to the system 60 (e.g., doctor profile data). Such
selective presentation of the questions to the doctors allows for
more efficient and higher quality answers to the questions, as the
questions provided are tailored to the doctor's interests and
specialties (e.g. sending doctor the questions asked by the
patients from the same city or community) and the doctors can
answer the question more efficiently and willingly. The questions
are only presented to, and accessible by, doctors who are licensed
and in good standing (Step 208). Credential information can be
obtained at step 216 and the doctor's good standing can be
authenticated, at step 218. At Step 210, the questions will be
presented to the doctors on a Question Presentation Page (shown in
FIG. 8).
[0213] FIG. 8 is an illustration of a webpage or other graphical
user interface (the "Question Presentation Page"), which may be
presented to doctors using the system 60. The Question Presentation
Page includes a text input box 801 which may be utilized by a
doctor user to input text, not only to provide answers, but also to
post a question on their own behalf, or alternatively, enter
keywords to search for questions, topics, users, or other content.
Under the text input box 801, there is a frame (section 3)
soliciting health tips (meaning short, doctor-written notes in
areas like beauty, diet, exercise or parenting, which may be
provided to users when logged into the system 60, or may be
delivered by text message or e-mail) from the doctors. Questions to
be answered are listed below the text box (Section 4). Options to
provide additional answers to the questions already answered and to
indicate agreement with already-provided answers may also provided
on the Question Presentation Page (Section 5).
[0214] Section 4 of the Question Presentation Page exemplifies how
questions are presented to the doctors. Even though there is only
one question shown in Section 4 of the Question Presentation Page,
there may be more than one such unanswered questions presented to
the doctors in Section 4. Such a list of unanswered questions can
be questions only related to the doctor's specialty (claimed by
himself/herself or assigned by the system), or related to different
specialties. The system 10 can have a default setting to send the
questions to a doctor only within the doctor's specialty.
[0215] The questions presented to the doctors are sorted and
provided by Queue Management Module 602 and are ordered based on
the following considerations:
a. Time of submission: if a question was sitting in the system 60
for a long time, it is more likely to be sent to the doctor and
more likely shows up on the top of the list of the questions on the
Question Presentation Page. b. The patient user's special request
for a fast answer: the system 60 can set an option for the user to
request for a fast answer. Upon such a request, this question will
be tagged and automatically be processed first and placed on the
top of the question queue presented on the Question Presentation
Page. c. Relation to the specialty the doctor claimed: As stated
before, the doctor can identify his specialty or the system 60 can
assign him a specialty. If the doctor does not specify whether he
wants to receive the question within his own specialty only, the
system 60 will send questions to the doctor within in his specialty
by default. However, the doctor can choose to answer questions
outside of his specialty. In a situation where a question has been
sitting for a long time in the system 60, the doctor may be offered
an award for providing an answer. d. The geographic location of the
doctor: As shown in FIG. 8, the doctor can see the geographic
location of the user who solicits the answer. In addition, the
system 60 (i.e. the Queue Management Module 602) will preferably
send the questions to doctors who have closer geographic location
to the patient user who posted the question. This function will
endorse the communications between the patient and the doctor users
in the same geographical area, which will create opportunities for
the patient to find a doctor he/she likes within the same or close
community. Similarly, doctors can develop future business through
such communication. e. whether the doctor has previously provided
similar content or answers to similar questions: Since all the
question and answers are tagged in the system 60, the answers and
health tips the doctor provided can be recorded in the system 60.
If a doctor provides some health related content or answers under
certain topic tags, the system 60 will treat the doctor as being
knowledgeable in this special topic or subject (e.g., by
associating the doctor with particular topic tags). Thus, the
system 60 may send the doctor questions closely related to what he
has shown knowledge on.
[0216] After processing the questions, the Queue Management Module
602 will select certain question and send them to specific doctors
based on the above consideration. These questions also are
presented in a specific sequence or arrangement as a result of
weighing some or all of the above considerations. This can be
achieved by assigning a value, or a function to calculate such a
value, to each consideration. As such, each question may obtain a
sum value of the points computed under each consideration and the
sum value determines the sequence of the questions presented to the
doctor.
[0217] In addition, the system 60 may show the time the question
was provided (top left corner in Section 4) so the doctor knows how
old the question is. Also as shown in FIG. 9, there are also
options for the doctor to refer the question to another doctor if
he/she believes the other doctor is a specialist and is a better
candidate to answer the question. This function helps direct the
question to the doctor with right specialty and reduces the
responding time.
[0218] Section 5 of FIG. 8 also shows questions that are already
answered by other doctors. The doctor can either provide another
answer in Section 5 or he can agree with the existing answers. This
will help evaluate credibility of an answer provided by a
doctor.
[0219] After a question is answered by one or many doctors, the
answers will be sent back to the server 600 and stored, e.g., in
data storage media 620. The system 60 will process these answers
and assign topic tags and a Group ID to each answer, as described
herein. After being processed and categorized, the answers will be
presented to users on a Answer Presentation Page (Step 212).
[0220] FIG. 9 illustrates a webpage or other graphical user
interface (the "Answer Presentation Page") which is accessible by
any user of the system 60. As shown in FIG. 9, there are two
answers provided by qualified doctors (Sections 2 and 3). This is
only an exemplified way to show how the answers are presented. Each
question may have many answers provided by the doctors. The
sequence of how the answers are presented may be based on an Answer
Score.
[0221] The Answer Score is a numeric or other value the system 60
assigns to each answer to reflect a level of confidence in the
content of the answer. The Answer score is obtained based on: a.
the reputation of the author of the answer; b. "agrees" the answer
obtained from other doctor users; c. "thanks" the answer received
from the patient users; d. times that the answer has been shared by
users; e. the length of the answer (the longer answer has more
details and will be given higher score). Such an Answer Score can
be result value of a function of the above variables. Above
variables can be given different weight toward computing such an
Answer Score.
[0222] In addition, the answers provided by the doctor users are
separately associated with topic tags based on the content of the
answer and such topic tags are presented together with the answer
(FIG. 9, Section 2 and Section 3, bottom line of boxes). This is
similar to the process of tagging the questions. The system 60 will
extract key words from the answers and process and match them with
topic tags. After associating topic tags with the answer and
recording such association in the system 60 (e.g., by storing the
answer and associations with topic tags in data storage media 620),
the system 60 is able to extract the answer when such answer are
requested related to the topic tag. For example, in the step of
presenting similar questions to the user before the user proceeds
to post the question, not only the question is searched, but
answers matching the topic tags are also searched and presented to
the users. A related question with an associated answer having a
high Answer Score will be more likely to be presented (or to be
ranked higher or otherwise given priority in the sequence of
presented answers) to the user on the Answer Presentation Page.
[0223] Further, the answers are presented along with the identity
of the doctors who provided the answer. As shown in Section 2 and
Section 3 of the Answer Presentation Page, the doctor's name and
picture are presented along with the doctor's answer to the
proposed question. In addition, a direct link to access the
doctor's profile on the system 60 is provided to allow the patient
learn the doctor's credentials. Further, if the patient user is
satisfied with the doctor's answer and wants to follow up, ask more
questions or make an appointment for a doctor visit, the system 60
provides the patient access to do so.
[0224] There is also a showing of the "agrees" (i.e. an indication
of agreement which may be provided, for example, by clicking a
button labeled "agree") the doctor's answer received from other
doctors. On top right corner of Section 2 in FIG. 9, it shows how
many doctors have agreed with the answer and these "agreeing"
doctors' identities are also provided to the user. By clicking any
of the "agreeing" doctor's profile picture listed in the top right
corner in Section 2 and Section 3 of FIG. 9, the user can learn
more about each of "agreeing" doctors' identity and credibility in
medical practice.
[0225] As shown in FIG. 9, Section 2 and Section 3, a "Thank"
graphical user interface element is provided and the patient user
can click it to express appreciation to the doctor who delivers the
answer. The number of "Thanks" the doctor receives is counted by
the system 60. On one hand, such "thanks" count can be a factor
used by the system 60 to evaluate the doctor's performance. If a
doctor receives more thanks, the system 60 generates a more
favorable evaluation of the doctor. On the other hand, such
"thanks" can also contribute to evaluate the quality of the answer.
As stated above, the more thanks the answer receives, the higher
Answer Score the answer will receive which will move the answer up
in the showing queue (i.e. the answer will be ranked higher, thus
causing the answer to be provided higher priority in the sequence
of answers displayed to users).
[0226] In Section 1 of FIG. 9, next to the question, the user is
also given an option to "follow" the question. By following a
question, a user may be automatically notified by the system 60 of
the updates related to this specific question. For example, if new
answers are provided under this question, the user will be
automatically notified of these new answers. Such notifications can
be provided to users through the system 60, for example, by
displaying the notification on a patient user device 610 when
logged into the system 60, or may be provided by email, text or any
other such electronic notification technologies.
[0227] Other than the answers to the question on the Answer
Presentation Page, there are also other related content rendered to
help the user acquire a comprehensive understanding of the
pertinent issue (FIG. 7, step 214). For example, the top doctors in
related practicing area (Section 4), related questions (Section 5),
and related topics (Section 6) may be presented on the Answer
Presentation Page. The Content Recommendation Module 604 will
accomplish this task.
[0228] The list of top doctors presented on the Answer Presentation
Page is provided based on matching the doctors' specialty with the
topic tags. Further, doctors can be evaluated by their professional
performance and the recognition the doctor received from other
users. Any doctor evaluation or ranking system may be accessed by
the Content Recommendation Module for obtaining relevant evaluation
information. The top doctors (e.g., as determined based on
evaluation or ranking information) having a matching specialty will
be presented on the Answer Presentation Page.
[0229] The related questions and related topics are provided by the
Content Recommendation Module 604 which matches the topic tags
associated with the content (i.e. the content of information stored
in data storage media 620, such as questions/answers, GroupIDs,
topics, etc.) with topic tags associated with the questions. The
more similar topic tags shared by the content and the questions,
the more possibility the content will be presented on the Answer
Presentation Page. In the situation that a question does not have
content sharing matching tags, content under the same identifiable
Group ID can be presented.
Virtual Consultations
[0230] In further embodiments, the present disclosure provides
systems and methods for virtual consultations between a patient and
a healthcare professional.
[0231] FIG. 10 is a schematic illustration of a system for virtual
healthcare consultation 1000 (which may be referred to hereinafter
as `system 1000`), in accordance with embodiments provided by the
present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 10, the system 1000 includes a
virtual consultation application 1002 hosted at least partially on
a web server 1006, and data storage media 1004. These components
are described below and may be located on the same device (e.g. a
server, mainframe, desktop Personal Computer (PC), laptop, mobile
device (smart phone or tablet), Personal Digital Assistant (PDA),
telephone, mobile phone kiosk, cable box, and another device) or
may be located on separate devices connected by a net work (e.g.
the internet, or the cloud infrastructure), with wired and/or
wireless segments.
[0232] The virtual consultation application 1002 may be fully or
partially hosted on the server 1006, and electronically accessible
over at least one network system 1008. The network system 1008 may
include any type of network infrastructure, such as the Internet,
or any other wired, wireless and/or partially wired network. The
server 1006, application 1002 and network system 1008 may include a
variety of hardware and software components to provide successful
functioning of the server 1006 and the application 1002, as is
well-known within the art. Further, any features, characteristics,
designs and/or functions that are known within the art may be
included with the system 1000 to further enhance its efficiency.
The application 1002 may include any computer-readable memory or
databases, which may be stored in any computer-readable medium, and
may be accessible by a computer processor. The application 1002 may
further include or access computer program instructions which may
cause a processor to perform any algorithms and/or functions
described in this disclosure. The virtual consultation application
1002 may include or have access to one or more virtual consultation
databases which may be stored, for example, in data storage media
1004.
[0233] The system may further include one or more patient computer
devices 1010 and one or more healthcare professional computer
devices 1020. The patient computer devices 1010 and healthcare
professional computer devices 1020 may be any computerized devices
capable of communicating with the application 1002, for example via
a network system 1008. The one or more patient computer device 1010
may be operated by a patient user of the system 1000, and the one
or more healthcare professional computer devices 1020 may be
operated by any healthcare professional (or other professional),
such as a primary care physician, medical doctor, nurse, medical
staff or other medical professional, or any representative
thereof.
[0234] The data storage media 1004 is a computer-readable storage
medium, which may be any device or medium that can store code
and/or data for use by a computer system. This includes, but not
limited to, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, magnetic and
optical storage devices such as disk drives, magnetic tape, CDs
(compact discs), DVDs (digital versatile discs or digital video
discs), or other media capable of storing computer-readable media
now known or later developed. The data storage media 1004 may store
virtual consultation related information, including, for example,
profile information for healthcare professionals available for
virtual consultation, as well as profile and/or health-related
information for patient users of the system.
[0235] The virtual consultation application 1002 provides an
interface for live video, voice and/or chat, as well as email-based
inbox consultations between patients (using patient computer device
1010) and a healthcare professionals (using healthcare professional
computer device 1020).
[0236] Patients may initiate a virtual consultation with a
healthcare professional user of the system 1000 by logging into or
otherwise accessing the virtual consultation application 1002 using
a patient computer device 1010. The application 1002 may request
the patient to input information in response to questions or other
prompts in order to acquire background information and/or
documentation for use by a healthcare professional during the
virtual consultation. For example, the application 1002 may first
request that the user provide input information describing the
reason for the virtual consultation. The patient may then enter
information (e.g., using a keyboard or other input device) to
describe the problem or questions for which he is seeking
consultation with a healthcare professional.
[0237] The application 1002 may further provide the patient with an
interface through which to attach a file, for use by a healthcare
professional during the virtual consultation. For patient computer
devices 1010 having an integrated or associated camera, photos may
be taken or selected from the device 1010 photo gallery and then
attached for use during the virtual consultation. Other files which
may be available on the patient computer device 1010 (e.g.,
health-related records or other documents) may be selected by the
patient and uploaded for attachment and use during the virtual
consultation.
[0238] After receiving the reason for the patient's visit and/or
any user-selected attachments, the application 1002 may allow the
patient user to select whether a live consultation or an "inbox" or
email-based consultation is desired. Selecting a live consultation
initiates a live virtual consultation via video, voice and/or chat
with a healthcare professional using a healthcare professional
computer device 1014. Healthcare professionals (e.g., physicians)
may be online and actively available for virtual consultations
through the application 1002, or may be scheduled to be available
on an "on-call" basis.
[0239] When the patient user submits a request for a live virtual
consultation, the application 1002 may attempt to connect the
patient with a healthcare professional based on the patient's input
reason for the consultation (e.g., by selecting a healthcare
professional having particular expertise or training in the field
of the patient's problems or questions), the order of the patient
with respect to other patients requesting a virtual consultation,
whether the patient is a priority user of the system (e.g., a
subscribing or paying user--there may be different tiers of
subscription, for example) and/or any combination of such
considerations. Further, the patient may select a particular
healthcare professional with which to conduct a virtual
consultation, in which case the patient may be notified when the
healthcare professional will be available for consultation, and the
application 1002 may further provide a scheduling tool to schedule
the virtual consultation at a later time should that healthcare
professional not be available at the time of the patient's
request.
[0240] While the patient waits for the application 1002 to match
the patient with a healthcare professional (e.g., by contacting the
healthcare professional through computer device 1014 using an
electronic message, prompt or the like), the application 1002 may
display to the user information related to the patient's input
reason for the virtual consultation. For example, the application
may access information stored in data storage media 1004 to find
answers to related questions or problems.
[0241] Once a healthcare professional has been contacted and
accepted the request for a virtual consultation, the application
1002 provides an interface for the live consultation to take place
between the patient (using patient computer device 1010) and the
healthcare professional (using healthcare professional computer
device 1014). The interface may include a video feed of the patient
and/or healthcare professional (e.g., from a camera accessible by
the patient device 1010 and/or healthcare professional device
1014), audio feed (e.g., from a microphone accessible by the
patient device 1010 and/or healthcare professional device 1014)
and/or a chat interface for text-based chat communication between
the patient and the healthcare professional. Further, the interface
provided by the application 1002 allows the healthcare professional
to receive the attachments provided by the patient via the patient
computer device 1010.
[0242] During the virtual consultation, the application 1002 may
provide the healthcare professional with various tools for
documenting and performing the consultation. For example, the
application 1002 may provide in the virtual consultation interface
a tool for entering the healthcare professional's notes and/or
observations to be appended to a medical chart for the patient.
Further, the application 1002 may provide an electronic
prescription tool for facilitating or enabling the communication of
prescription information from the healthcare professional to the
patient, pharmacy information for looking up and displaying nearby
pharmacies, a referral tool for referring the patient to other
healthcare professional users of the system 1000 as well as to
healthcare professionals who are not users of the system 1000. Any
such information provided and/or produced during the virtual
consultation may be stored and associated with the patient and/or
healthcare professional within the system 1000, e.g., in data
storage media 1004.
[0243] Records of the virtual consultations provided through the
system 1000 may be stored and may further be made available to
other healthcare professionals (e.g., healthcare professional users
of the system 1000) for peer review. Reviewing healthcare
professionals may rate various aspects of the virtual consultation,
such as the appropriateness of medical treatment, clarity and
actionability of patient instructions and thoroughness and quality
of documentation. Such reviews may be utilized to rate the
healthcare professional users of the system 1000.
[0244] Healthcare professionals may be compensated through the
application 1002 for providing virtual consultations. Compensation
may be based on a per consultation basis, a time-available basis or
the like. Similarly, patient users may pay for virtual
consultations through the system 1000 on a per consultation basis,
on a subscription basis (e.g., subscribing users may receive some
preset number of virtual consultations per month or other
time-period) or the like.
[0245] The systems and methods provided herein may be integrated or
otherwise incorporated into a single platform for delivering
healthcare services to users. For example, the healthcare
professional evaluation systems (e.g., as shown and described with
respect to FIGS. 1 and 3), the system for providing answers to
user-submitted questions (e.g., as shown and described with respect
to FIG. 6) and/or the system for facilitating virtual consultations
may be integrated into a single platform accessible to patients and
healthcare professionals (e.g., utilizing patient computer devices
and healthcare professional computer devices), thus enabling a
variety of functionalities and delivery of healthcare services
through a single portal, accessible to users through the
Internet.
[0246] While the invention has been described with respect to a
limited number of embodiments, it is not intended to be exhaustive
or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Persons
skilled in the art, having benefit of this disclosure, can
appreciate that many modifications and variations are possible in
light of the above disclosure. For example, the systems and methods
provided herein may be advantageously employed for use by other
professionals or persons having particular expertise in any given
field, including, lawyers, professors, accountants, contractors,
bankers and so on. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should
be limited only by the following claims.
[0247] Many other variations and modifications may be made to the
above-described embodiments of the disclosure without departing
substantially from the spirit and principles of the disclosure. All
such modifications and variations are intended to be included
herein within the scope of the present disclosure and protected by
the following claims.
* * * * *