Patent Application
20060047552
Not applicable.
This invention relates generally to resource scheduling systems and more specifically to methods and apparatus for scheduling future appointments for medical patients when additional or routine appointments with a physician or the like are desired.
Hereinafter, unless indicated otherwise, the term “physician” will be used in a general sense to refer to any professional that performs a medical procedure/test on a patient including but not limited to doctors, nurses, nurses aides, orderlies, etc. In addition, the phrase “medical facility” will be used hereafter to refer generally to any medical facility at which physicians work including but not limited to hospitals, physician offices, remote/portable offices, clinics, etc.
In addition, it should be appreciated that, while the present invention is described in the context of a medical facility and medical services, the invention is not meant to be so limited. Instead, the invention may be applicable in any of several different industries wherein resources (i.e., physician time, medical equipment, maintenance equipment, etc.) are scheduled for use and where notices are generated periodically to remind a scheduler or a client that periodic procedures or encounters or check-ups should be scheduled to be performed.
People have routine and therefore schedulable medical needs. For example, children usually have checkups with a family physician to make sure physical development is on track, to receive shots, etc. As another example, men in their fifties and thereafter usually participate in routine screenings designed to detect symptoms of certain cancers that generally afflict elder men more than younger men. When routine medical appointments occur, typically routine tests and procedures are performed such as physical examination for unusual symptoms, various imaging procedures, diagnostic tests such as blood work and urine analysis, etc.
In addition to routine medical needs, people often get sick or injured between routinely scheduled visits to a doctor and therefore make unexpected appointments to diagnose unexpected conditions and to prescribe remedies. For instance, assume that a person routinely schedules a physical at the beginning of January and at the beginning of July each year (i.e., every six months). In this case, if the person gets sick in mid-June, the person may schedule an unexpected appointment to see her physician for diagnosis and a remedy.
When an unexpected doctor's visit occurs to address symptoms, the attending physician may order several diagnostic tests and procedures selected to help identify the cause of the ailment. For example, the tests and procedures may include a general physical examination, various imaging procedures, diagnostic tests such as blood work and urine analysis, etc. In addition, in at least some cases, physicians require follow up or recall appointments (hereinafter “recalls”) either with the diagnosing physician or, where symptoms are particularly disconcerting, with one or more specialists and the physician and/or specialist performs additional tests and procedures to diagnose medical conditions.
While routine and unscheduled appointments undeniably have many advantages including identification of physical problems at an early and typically treatable stage, patients are typically interested in keeping the number of appointments with physicians to a minimum for several reasons. First, medical procedures take time. Most people have extremely full schedules and do not want to take time out of their usual routines for medical procedures/tests unless absolutely necessary.
Second, many medical procedures make patients uncomfortable or even cause pain. Because most people try to avoid discomfort and pain, most people seek to limit the number of uncomfortable/painful medical procedures they have to endure.
Third, in many cases patients have to pay at least part if not all of certain medical bills due to insurance cut backs and reductions. Here, out of pocket patient costs can be minimized by reducing the quantity of services received (i.e., reducing the number of physician appointments). For the same reasons, most patients want to avoid having duplicative tests and procedures performed.
Several different tools have been developed to help physicians manage their schedules including software based scheduling systems as well as software based recall systems. With respect to scheduling systems, most medical facilities now employ one or more scheduling interfaces that run scheduling software that enables scheduling employees (hereinafter a “scheduler”) to keep track of physician time and patient appointments. To this end, where several physicians work at a single medical facility, known scheduling software typically includes a graphical time and date table for each facility physician where the table is usually populated with appointments for each physician and indicates open times between appointments during which additional patient appointments can be scheduled.
To schedule an appointment, the scheduler uses the interface (i.e., a mouse, a keyboard, etc.) to select one of the open schedule time slots for the appointment and inputs information about a patient for which the appointment is to be made including, for instance, sex, age, symptoms, what the appointment is for (i.e., blood work, routine checkup, imaging, colonoscopy, vaccinations, etc.) etc. After the patient information is entered, the next time the scheduler views the schedule, the time slot associated with the new appointment is shown in the graphic schedule table as unavailable or taken.
In addition to providing schedule tables and interface tools for populating the tables, at least some scheduling software is equipped to at least suggest scheduling preferences where appropriate. For example, assume both physicians A and B work out of the same facility, that a patient already has a scheduled appointment with physician A to address a first condition and that the patient is now attempting to schedule a second appointment with physician B to address a second condition. In this case, assuming that the second condition is not urgent, when the scheduler attempts to schedule the appointment with physician B, the scheduling software may identify the already existing appointment with physician A and suggest that the second appointment be scheduled during a time slot either just before or just after the appointment with physician A. The scheduler is free to select the suggested time slot or to select any other open time slot for scheduling the second appointment. Assuming that the patient's schedule allows the patient to attend the second appointment during the suggested time slot, that time slot would likely be preferable as the patient could attend two appointments during a single visit to the medical facility. Hereinafter this scheduling feature that suggests optimal scheduling time slots will be referred to as a “grouping” feature.
With respect to software based recall systems, while patients and/or physicians may want to schedule regular medical appointments or call backs for a variety of reasons (e.g., routine checkups, as a follow up to a previous examination, etc.), often patients are not in a position to schedule a recall at the time of a previous appointment. For instance, while a woman may have a physical every six months generally at the beginning of January and at the beginning of July, as the woman is leaving a January physical, the woman may not be able to commit to a specific time at the beginning of the following July to attend the next physical due to vacation scheduling or the like and may prefer to wait until a few weeks before the beginning of July to schedule the next physical.
In this and other cases, a recall system is designed to provide reminders to patient's when next appointments should be scheduled. In the above example where the woman's next physical should be some time in early July, a recall system may either prompt a scheduler to send a recall letter to the woman or generate an automatic recall notice to be sent to the woman some time in early June (e.g., four weeks prior to a desired time for the appointment) so that the woman can make the appointment at a suitable time. Here, the process run by the software to generate a recall notice is referred to generally as a “recall procedure” and the date approximating the time at which a recall appointment is to be scheduled is referred to as a “target date”.
Recall procedures are typically scheduled in one of two different ways. First, recall procedures are manually scheduled by a scheduler such as, for instance, when a physician requires a one month follow up visit after placing a patient on a specific drug to address certain symptoms. Second, some systems generate automatic recall procedures for routine periodic appointments thereby reducing the scheduling burden placed on the scheduler. For instance, where typical care requires that all male patients over 60 years of age require a specific cancer screening every six months, the recall system may be programmed to automatically schedule recall procedures with target dates that occur every six months. Here, recall notice can be generated in any of several different forms including a letter, a post card, an e-mail, posting on a personal medical web portal, a voice mail, a personal phone call, etc.
When a recall procedure is scheduled, if an appointment associated therewith is subsequently scheduled, the scheduler has to independently make the association between the scheduled appointment and the recall procedure and has to manually cancel the recall procedure to avoid sending the notice.
While scheduling and recall systems of the above kinds have several advantages, they also have several shortcomings that can lead to duplicative procedures, non-optimal scheduling and patient confusion. For example, assume that a first recall procedure is already scheduled for a patient to generate notice of an appointment that is routinely conducted every six months and that the target date for the recall procedure is a first date. Also assume that the patient is injured two months before a target date and that a physician attending to the patient's injuries requires a recall appointment having a target date two weeks after the first date at which the attending physician intends to perform a general physical on the patient along with some additional medical procedures.
To schedule the required recall procedure, the scheduler uses the recall system to set up a second recall procedure having the target date specified by the attending physician. The end result here is that two recall procedures are scheduled for at least similar and generally contemporaneous appointments. Assuming that all recall notices are sent out one month prior to target dates, in the present example the patient receives a recall notice corresponding to the first recall procedure and a second notice corresponding to the second recall procedure where the notices are spaced two weeks apart.
At the very least the two notices would cause patient confusion. More importantly, the two notices could result in two appointments for similar or, in some cases, the same procedures and tests. This duplicative appointment problem is particularly likely where different physicians are slated to perform the similar procedures. The end result is duplicative medical activities and confusion.
As another example, assume a recall procedure is scheduled and that an appointment associated therewith is scheduled prior to the recall procedure being performed (i.e., prior to the recall notice being generated). If the scheduler fails to identify that the scheduled appointment is related to the scheduled recall procedure, the scheduled recall procedure will be performed and a notice will be sent to the patient. Here, when the patient receives the recall notice after the appointment has already been scheduled, again, confusion will result.
In some cases the patient may not recognize the duplicative nature of the scheduled appointment and the appointment associated with the recall procedure or may assume that the scheduled appointment was cancelled for some reason and may therefore attempt to schedule an appointment pursuant to the recall notice. When making the appointment pursuant to the recall notice, if the scheduler does not recognize the duplicative nature of the scheduled appointment and the appointment being made pursuant to the recall notice, duplicative appointments may result. Similar confusion and duplicative scheduling can result when an appointment is scheduled prior to a recall procedure being scheduled and performed.
As another example, assume that first, second and third recall procedures are currently scheduled for a single patient where the first and second procedures are separated by one week and the second and third procedures are separated by two weeks, that all recall notices are sent out four weeks prior to associated target dates and that the first, second and third notices are to provide notice of appointments that are required to address different conditions (i.e., the appointments are for non-duplicative medical activities). In addition, assume that during days temporally proximate the target date associated with the first recall procedure, when the first recall procedure is performed (e.g., four weeks before the associated target date), there are several instances when three consecutive time slots are open during which the three appointments could be performed consecutively so that the patient would only have to visit the facility once to attend all three appointments.
In this case, first, second and third separate recall notices are sent to the patient where the first notice precedes the second by one week and the second precedes the third by two weeks. Assuming a diligent patient, when the first notice is received, the patient may immediately schedule a first appointment during a first time slot.
When the second notice is received, the patient may call a facility scheduler to schedule a second appointment during a second time slot. Here, assuming that the scheduling system supports a grouping feature (i.e. is programmed to suggest optimal time slots that group new appointments to be scheduled with existing scheduled appointments), when the patient calls to schedule the second appointment, the system may be able to suggest a time slot for the second appointment to the scheduler that is consecutive with the first time slot assuming that a consecutive time slot is still open. However, it may be that none of the time slots that are consecutive with the first time slot remain open and therefore the second appointment may have to be scheduled at a different time and require a second visit to the facility.
When the third notice is received, the patient may again call the scheduler to schedule a third appointment during a third time slot. Here, grouping the third appointment with the first and second appointments is much more difficult if not impossible without rescheduling the first and second appointments as the likelihood that a third time slot consecutive with the time slots associated with the first and second appointments is still open would be minimal at best. In many cases the complexity of rescheduling would render that option impractical and the patient would be required to make at least two if not three visits to the facility to attend the three appointments.
As still one other example assume that a first appointment is already scheduled for a first time slot to address a first condition and that a recall procedure to generate a scheduling notice for a second appointment to address a second condition has a target date that is within two weeks of the first time slot. Also assume that when the recall procedure is performed a second time slot that is consecutive with the first time slot is open which would be ideal for the second appointment. Here, if the patient receives a simple notice that the second appointment should be scheduled, the patient may wait a few weeks to schedule the second appointment at which time the second time slot could and, likely would, be filled, thereby resulting in sub-optimal scheduling. Again, the option would be to either accept sub-optimal scheduling or to reschedule the first appointment along with the second appointment.
Thus, it would be advantageous to have a system that could help to eliminate duplicative recall procedures and recall procedures for appointments that have already been scheduled and that could suggest optimal scheduling preferences when several recall procedures have similar target dates or when one or more recall procedures have target dates that are similar to time slots of already scheduled appointments.
Certain aspects commensurate in scope with the originally claimed invention are set forth below. It should be understood that these aspects are presented merely to provide the reader with a brief summary of certain forms the invention might take and that these aspects are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. Indeed, the invention may encompass a variety of aspects that may not be set forth below.
It has been recognized that many of the problems described above can be addressed by comparing recall procedure information prior to performing recall procedures and identifying recall procedures that are either possibly duplicative of other scheduled recall procedures or that are possibly duplicative of scheduled patient/client appointments or matters and then eliminating duplicative recall procedures where appropriate.
It has also been recognized that scheduling confusion can be minimized and scheduling efficiency or optimization can be increased by providing composite recall notices where appropriate that identify temporally proximate recall target dates and scheduled appointment times and provide one or a reduced number of notices to patients where the notice(s) indicates all temporally proximate target dates and appointments. Moreover, it has been recognized that scheduling optimization can further be increased by identifying resource availability prior to transmitting recall notices and suggesting possible time slots for future appointments that need to be scheduled.
Consistent with the above comments, at least some embodiments of the present invention include a method for use with a resource scheduling system that includes a schedule that associates resource time slots with scheduled client matters and associates scheduled recall procedures with schedule times, each scheduled recall procedure for generating at least one recall notice at a corresponding schedule time indicating a possible client matter to be scheduled, each of the scheduled client matters and scheduled recall procedures being a scheduled item, the schedule including scheduled item information associated with each of the scheduled items, the method for facilitating schedule management and comprising the steps of receiving recall information for a possible recall procedure that may be scheduled, comparing the received recall information with at least a subset of the scheduled item information to identify at least one scheduled item that may be related to the possible recall procedure and performing a scheduling process as a function of the at least one identified scheduled item.
In at least some cases the step of comparing includes identifying at least one scheduled item that is associated with scheduled item information that is similar to the received recall information. In some cases the method further includes the step of providing an interface and wherein the step of performing a scheduling process includes indicating the identified scheduled item via the interface. In some cases the step of providing an interface includes providing an input device enabling an interface user to indicate that the possible recall procedure is duplicative with the at least one identified scheduled item. Some embodiments further include the steps of receiving an indication that the possible recall procedure is duplicative with the at least one identified scheduled item and updating the schedule so that a single scheduled item is included in the schedule for the at least one scheduled item and the possible recall procedure.
In some embodiments the step of updating the schedule includes, where the identified scheduled item is a scheduled client matter, one of replacing the scheduled client matter with a recall procedure in the schedule and maintaining the scheduled client matter in the schedule. The step of updating may include, where the identified scheduled item is a scheduled recall procedure, one of replacing the scheduled recall procedure with a recall procedure at a different schedule time and maintaining the scheduled recall procedure in the schedule.
According to another aspect the step of comparing may include identifying a plurality of scheduled items where each identified scheduled item is associated with information that is similar to the received information and wherein the step of performing a scheduling process includes performing a scheduling process as a function of the plurality of identified scheduled items. Here, the method may further include the step of providing an interface and the step of performing a scheduling process may include displaying the identified scheduled items via the interface.
In at least some cases the step of providing an interface includes providing an input device enabling an interface user to indicate that the possible recall procedure is duplicative with at least one identified scheduled item. Some cases further include the step of receiving an indication that the possible recall procedure is duplicative with at least one of the identified scheduled items and updating the schedule so that a single scheduled item is included in the schedule for the at least one of the scheduled items and the possible recall procedure.
In some cases the method further includes the step of identifying probabilities that each of at least a subset of the identified scheduled items is related to the possible recall procedure and wherein the step of performing a scheduling process includes performing a scheduling process that is also a function of the probabilities. Here, the method may further include the step of providing an interface and the step of performing a scheduling process may include displaying at least the subset of the scheduled identified items that are most possibly related via the interface. Also, here, the method may further include the step of providing an interface and the step of performing a scheduling process may include displaying at least a subset of the scheduled items in a manner that visually distinguishes each item in the subset as a function of associated probabilities.
In some cases the step of displaying each item in the subset in a visually distinguishing manner includes expressing the probabilities in relative percentages. In some cases the probabilities are determined as a function of the comparison of the received information and the information associated with the scheduled items.
The step of receiving recall information may include receiving a time associated with the possible recall procedure and the probabilities may be determined at least in part as a function of a comparison of the received time and at least one of the time slots associated with the scheduled client matters and the times associated with the scheduled recall procedures.
In some embodiments the step of comparing includes identifying a single scheduled item and the step of performing a scheduling procedure includes associating the received information with the single scheduled item and automatically updating the schedule so that a single schedule item is included in the schedule for the identified scheduled item and the possible recall procedure pair.
Some embodiments further include the step of providing a scheduling interface, the step of receiving including receiving the recall information via the interface, the step of performing a scheduling process including, when a scheduled item is identified, presenting a query via the interface requesting an interface user to indicate if the possible recall procedure may be duplicative with the identified scheduled item.
In some cases the scheduling process further includes receiving an indication via the interface. Here, where the received indication indicates that the possible recall procedure is duplicative, the method may include allowing only one instance of the possible recall procedure and the scheduled item in the schedule and, where the received indication indicates that the possible recall procedure is other than duplicative, facilitating scheduling of the possible recall procedure in addition to the scheduled item.
When the identified scheduled item is a scheduled recall procedure, the step of facilitating scheduling of the possible recall procedure in addition to the scheduled item may include combining the possible recall procedure and the identified scheduled recall procedure so that a single notice is generated for both the identified and possible recall procedures. Here, the step of combining may include generating a single notice that identifies both a possible client matter associated with the identified scheduled recall procedure and a possible client matter associated with the possible recall procedure.
In some embodiments the step of receiving recall information includes providing a rule set for automatically generating recall notices as a function of client characteristics (e.g., age, sex, previous procedures, medical history, family history, genetics, etc.), comparing client information to the rule set and generating recall information as a function of the comparison. In some embodiments the step of receiving recall information includes receiving a schedule time for the possible recall procedure, the step of comparing the received recall information including identifying scheduled client matters and recall procedures having time slots and times, respectively, that are within a time period of the received schedule time. Here, the step of performing a scheduling process may include combining the possible recall procedure with temporally proximate recall procedures. The step of performing a scheduling process may also includes generating a recall notice that, in addition to indicating possible client matters for each of the recall procedures, also identifies at least one temporally proximate scheduled client matter.
In some cases the step of performing at least a portion of a scheduling process includes providing a notice identifying the at least one identified item and wherein the notice is provided as one of an electronic message, a printed message and a voice message.
In some cases the received information corresponds to a first client and the first client is related to at least a second client (i.e., mother—child relationship), the step of comparing the received recall information with at least a subset of the scheduled item information to identify at least one scheduled item that may be related to the possible recall procedure including comparing the received information to scheduled item information for each of the first and second clients.
The method may further include providing an interface wherein the step of performing a scheduling process includes presenting at least a subset of the identified scheduled client matters and scheduled recall procedures via the interface.
Other embodiments of the invention include a method for use with a resource scheduling system that includes a schedule that associates resource time slots with scheduled client matters and associates scheduled recall procedures with schedule times, each scheduled recall procedure for generating at least one recall notice for an associated possible client matter at a corresponding schedule time, the schedule including scheduled recall procedure information associated with each of the scheduled recall procedures, the method for facilitating schedule management and comprising the steps of receiving scheduling information for a client matter to be scheduled, comparing the received scheduling information with at least a subset of the scheduled recall procedure information to identify at least one scheduled recall procedure that may be related to the client matter to be scheduled and performing a scheduling process as a function of the at least one identified scheduled recall procedure.
Still other embodiments include a method for use with a resource scheduling system that includes a schedule that associates resource time slots with scheduled client matters and associates scheduled recall procedures with schedule times, each scheduled recall procedure for generating at least one recall notice for an associated possible client matter at a corresponding schedule time, each of the scheduled client matters and scheduled recall procedures being a scheduled item, the schedule including scheduled item information associated with each of the scheduled items, the method for facilitating schedule management and comprising the steps of for a specific recall procedure, comparing item information with item information associated with the at least a subset of the scheduled items to identify other scheduled items that may be related to the specific recall procedure and performing a scheduling process as a function of any identified other schedule items.
In some cases a specific time is associated with the specific recall procedure and the step of comparing may include comparing the item information for the specific recall procedure with item information associated with other schedule items that are temporally proximate the specific recall procedure. Here, temporally proximate may include other scheduled items within two weeks of the specific time. Here, temporally proximate may also include other scheduled items within two days of the specific time.
The method may further include the step of providing an interface and the step of performing a scheduling process may include providing a list of the identified scheduled items via the interface. The steps of comparing and performing may be performed when item information for the specific recall procedure is initially created. In the alternative when a specific time is associated with the specific recall procedure and the steps of comparing and performing may be performed when the specific time occurs. In other cases, the steps of comparing and performing may be performed on each of the scheduled recall procedures periodically in batch.
Other embodiments include a method for use with a resource scheduling system that includes a resource schedule that associates schedule times for the resource with scheduled client matters and associates scheduled recall procedures with schedule times, each scheduled recall procedure for generating at least one recall notice for an associated possible client matter at a corresponding schedule time, each of the scheduled client matters and scheduled recall procedures being a scheduled item, the method for facilitating schedule management and comprising the steps of for a specific recall procedure associated with a specific time, identifying other scheduled items that are associated with times that are temporally proximate the specific time and generating at least one recall procedure notice as a function of the identified scheduled items.
When at least one of the identified scheduled items is a recall procedure in addition to the specific recall procedure, the step of generating a notice may include generating a single notice for both of the specific recall procedure and the identified recall procedure. The method may also include limiting the schedule to include only one of the specific and identified recall procedures. When at least one of the identified scheduled items is a scheduled client matter, the step of generating a notice may include generating a notice that indicates that a possible client matter associated with the specific recall procedure is temporally proximate an existing scheduled client matter.
Some embodiments include a method for use with a resource scheduling system that includes a schedule that associates resource time slots with scheduled client matters and associates scheduled recall procedures with schedule times, each scheduled recall procedure for generating at least one recall notice for an associated possible client matter at a corresponding schedule time, the schedule including scheduled recall procedure information associated with each of the scheduled recall procedures, the method for facilitating schedule management and comprising the steps of, for a specific client matter, comparing item information with item information associated with the at least a subset of scheduled recall procedures to identify recall procedures that may be related to the specific client matter and performing a scheduling process as a function of any identified scheduled recall procedures.
At least some embodiments of the invention include a method for use with a recall system that processes recall procedures, each recall procedure generating at least one recall notice for an associated possible client matter at a corresponding schedule time, the method for use with an electronic network including at least one interface and comprising the steps of transmitting at least one recall notice to the interface, examining the recall notice via the interface, using the interface to indicate that a matter associated with the recall procedure has likely been completed and performing a scheduling function in response to the indication that the matter associated with the recall procedure has been completed. Here, the scheduling function may include obtaining authorization via the interface to obtain a confirmation record regarding the completed matter. In some cases the scheduling function includes storing an indication that the matter associated with the recall procedure has been completed. In some cases the step of using the interface includes providing information regarding the completed matter associated with the recall procedure.
Apparatus are also contemplated for performing the methods described above and in this specification generally wherein an exemplary apparatus includes a processor for performing the methods, a database for storing data and programs required by the processor, an interface/input device and a display/output device. Networked apparatus and components are also contemplated.
These and other objects, advantages and aspects of the invention will become apparent from the following description. In the description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and in which there is shown a preferred embodiment of the invention. Such embodiment does not necessarily represent the full scope of the invention and reference is made therefore, to the claims herein for interpreting the scope of the invention.
The invention will hereafter be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals denote like elements, and:
One or more specific embodiments of the present invention will be described below. It should be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation, as in any engineering or design project, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve the developers' specific goals, such as compliance with system-related and business related constraints, which may vary from one implementation to another. Moreover, it should be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking of design, fabrication, and manufacture for those of ordinary skill having the benefit of this disclosure.
Hereinafter, unless indicated otherwise, the present inventions will be described in the context of Saint Mary's Hospital, an exemplary medical facility, at which a plurality of physicians work. In addition, hereafter, the inventions will be described in the context of a simplified information system that keeps track of physician schedules and recall procedures for specific patients of the medical facility in order to simplify this explanation. Nevertheless, it should be appreciated that the inventions are intended to be used with simple as well as much more complex information systems. For example, while the inventions are described herein in the context of a system including a single scheduling server, it is contemplated that more than one server may maintain physician schedules and may be linked via the internet or the like. Similarly, while the information system is described in context of a single medical facility, it should be appreciated that the system may be employed where a plurality of related medical facilities cooperate to provide services and where the scheduling functions are provided across related facilities. As another example, while the simplified system is described as including a single scheduling interface and a single patient interface hereafter, it should be appreciated that many different interfaces may be employed for scheduling and that a large number of patient interfaces are contemplated.
Referring now to the drawings wherein like reference numerals correspond to similar elements throughout the several views and, more specifically, referring to
Server 12 includes one or more high speed processors that run various programs to carry out methods that are consistent with the present invention. To this end, server 12 is linked via a computer network represented by lines in
As the label implies scheduling software is run by server 12 to maintain schedules for physicians that work at the facility associated with system 10. To this end, the scheduling software keeps track of a calendar for each one of the facility physicians and allows a scheduler (i.e., a facility employee charged with maintaining the physician's schedules) to modify the schedule thereby adding appointments to the schedule and removing appointments from the schedule when appropriate.
Referring also to
In addition to the doctor designation and the table described above, window 24 includes various interfacing or input tools that can be used by the scheduler to perform scheduling functions. To this end, a mouse controlled arrow or pointing cursor 26 (hereinafter “cursor”) is illustrated which can be used (i.e., moved over an icon to select while a controlling mouse is double clicked) to select one of the status designations in the table to either receive additional information about a closed time slot or to select one of the open time slots for scheduling an appointment. In addition, schedule scrolling arrows 27 and 29 are provided that allow the scheduler to scroll through other days, weeks and months of Dr. Peters' schedule. Other tools for scrolling through physician's schedules or for searching for specific information in physician schedules are contemplated and are not described here in the interest of simplifying this explanation. In addition to cursor 26 and scrolling arrows 27 and 29, a CREATE RECALL icon 25 is illustrated which can be selected via cursor 26 to manually create a recall procedure as described above and described in greater detail below.
Referring still to
Here, it should be appreciated that much more appointment detail may be specified by a scheduler using the specifying fields illustrated and other specifying fields and that a simplified scheduling window has been described in the interest of simplifying this explanation. In addition, in at least some embodiments, pull-down menus may be provided for each of the specifying fields to help the scheduler correctly specify patient identifying numbers, appointment types, etc. In
In addition to the physician designation and the specifying fields, cursor selectable CLEAR, CANCEL and ENTER icons 232, 234 and 236, respectively, are provided near the bottom of window 220. CLEAR icon 232 can be used to clear all of the information in the specifying fields above. CANCEL icon 234 can be used to cancel the current scheduling activity and return to the previous schedule window (e.g., see again
Referring again to
Referring once again to
As the label implies, a target date is simply a date that approximates the time at which a recall appointment should be scheduled. For instance, where the target date is Jul. 5, 2004, it may be suitable or appropriate for the recall appointment to be scheduled within a target range of five days prior to five days after the target date (i.e., June 30-July 10). The duration of the target range may vary as a function of the type of appointment being schedule, the time between the date on which a recall procedure is performed and the target date and other factors.
Referring still to
Referring once again to
Referring yet again to
Referring now to
Appointment date/time slot column 36 lists a separate date and time slot for each one of the appointments in column 30. For example, appointment number 00055 in column 30 is associated with the date Jul. 4, 2004 and the 10 AM time slot. Physician column 38 identifies which facility physician is scheduled to attend an associated appointment in column 30. For example, Dr. Peters is scheduled to attend appointment number 00055 in column 30.
Referring now to
Patient ID number column 42 lists a separate patient ID number for each one of the recall numbers in column 40. For example, patient ID number 09-994847 is associated with recall number 00027 in column 40. Patient ID numbers in column 42 may be associated with more than one recall number in column 40. For example, patient ID number 09-994847 is associated with each of recall numbers 00027, 00425 and 00427 in column 40 which means that there are at least three outstanding recall procedures already scheduled for the patient associated with ID number 09-994847.
Medical activities column 44, like the medical activities column 34 in database 18, lists at least one and, in most cases, a plurality of medical activities associated with each one of the recall numbers in column 40. For example, a “full physical” activity is associated with recall number 00027 in column 40 while a colonoscopy is listed as the activity in column 44 for the recall number 00425 in column 40.
Recall procedure date column 46 lists a separate date for each one of the recall numbers in column 40 on which the associated recall procedure is to be performed. Here, performance of a recall procedure means that server 12 (see again
Target date column 48 indicates the target date for the recall appointment to be scheduled. In the example here it is assumed that the target date is always four weeks after the recall procedure date. Thus, the target date in column 48 for recall number 00027 is Jul. 1, 2004, thirty days after the recall procedure date of Jun. 1, 2004 in column 46.
Hereinafter, various methods that are consistent with various aspects of the present invention are described in the context of the system described above. To this end, referring first to
Referring to
At block 58, server 12 accesses the recall database 16 (see
The comparison at block 58 may take any of several different forms and may be cursory or very detailed, depending upon designer preference. For example, the comparison at block 58 may simply look for other scheduled items corresponding to a patient ID number that matches the ID number specified via the recall creation window 150 (see again
The purpose of the comparison at block 58 is to identify already scheduled items that may be duplicative with the newly specified recall procedure that the scheduler is attempting to create. In this regard, what constitutes a possible duplicative relationship can have different thresholds and is generally considered a matter of designer choice. For instance, if information specified for a new recall procedure is identical to information associated with a previously scheduled recall procedure except that the target dates are six weeks apart, server 12 may be programmed to not identify the scheduled procedure as possibly duplicative whereas if the target dates are two weeks apart the scheduled procedure may be flagged as possibly duplicative. Many different “thresholding rules” for identifying possibly related or duplicative scheduled items are contemplated and would be codified in the recall software stored in database 15.
Hereinafter, in the context of
Referring still to
At block 62, server 12 displays the identified scheduled items via interface 14 and provides input tools that allow the scheduler to cancel the newly specified recall procedure or to accept and schedule the newly specified recall procedure. For example, referring once again to
Referring now to
Referring still to
Referring again to
Referring once again to
Where two or more scheduled items are identified at blocks 58 and 60, in at least some embodiments, it is contemplated that server 12 may be programmed to compare the newly specified recall information associated with the recall procedure being created with the scheduled item information to identify some measure of probability that the newly specified recall procedure is related to each of the identified scheduled items. For example, referring again to
Referring now to
Consistent with the description above and in at least some cases, server 12 will run the recall engine stored in program database 15 to automatically create and schedule new recall procedures. Where new recall procedures are automatically scheduled by server 12, it is contemplated that, in at least some embodiments, a method similar to that described above with respect to
While the invention is described above as one wherein new/possible/attempted recall procedures are compared to scheduled appointments and scheduled recall procedures as the new/possible/attempted recall procedures are created, it should be appreciated that, in at least some embodiments, comparison of attempted recall procedure information to schedule item information will be performed at other than the times at which the attempted recall procedures are specified. For example, in at least some cases, instead of performing a comparison when a recall procedure is created or specified, all recall procedures may initially be created and scheduled and the comparison may only occur later when a recall procedure is actually performed to generate a notice. As another example, whenever scheduling of a recall procedure is manually or automatically attempted, the procedure may be scheduled and comparison of all scheduled items may occur in batch at some subsequent time. For instance, at 2 AM every morning when server 12 is typically unburdened with other scheduling tasks, server 12 may perform a comparison process to identify possibly duplicative scheduled recall procedures and scheduled appointments. In this case, any possibly related procedures and/or scheduled appointments may be identified and placed in a queue for consideration by a scheduler when interface 14 (see again
When the scheduler next activates interface 14 (e.g., at the beginning of an 8 AM shift), server 12 may automatically present recall warnings one at a time via interface 14 in a manner similar to the warning illustrated in
In a particularly advantageous case, manually attempted recall procedures are compared to scheduled items as procedure scheduling is attempted while automatically generated recall procedures are compared to scheduled items in batch or at least presented to the scheduler for consideration in batch. Here, by considering possibly related scheduled items as procedures are manually specified, the scheduler will already have a context (i.e., the attempted scheduling of a recall procedure) in which to consider the results of the comparison. By considering possibly related scheduled items in batch that are automatically identified, the scheduler's normal scheduling routines will not be interrupted intermittently throughout the day.
In at least some embodiments of the present invention it is contemplated that, when more than one scheduled item is identified during a comparison with information associated with a specific recall procedure, server 12 may allow the scheduler to allow or maintain any subset of the specific procedure and the identified scheduled items or indeed to cancel all of the items. Thus, for instance, where two recall procedures are scheduled and are possibly related, this concept allows a scheduler to remove either one of the two scheduled recall procedure from the schedule or to cancel both of the recall procedures. Similarly, where a recall procedure is scheduled and a related appointment is scheduled, this procedure allows the scheduler to remove either the recall procedure or the possibly related scheduled appointment from the schedule or to cancel both.
Referring now to
Referring to
At block 108, server 12 compares the specific recall procedure information with scheduled item information for the other scheduled items (e.g., for at least a subset of the other scheduled recall procedures and the scheduled appointments). At block 110, where the specific recall procedure is not likely related to any of the other scheduled items, control passes to block 116 where the specific recall procedure is performed to generate a suitable hard copy or electronic recall notice. However, at block 110, when the specific recall procedure is possibly related to one of the other scheduled items (i.e., is possibly related to one of the other scheduled recall procedures or one of the scheduled appointments), control passes down to block 112. At block 112, server 12 displays the identified scheduled items via interface 14 and enables cancellation of one or more of the specific recall procedures and the other displayed scheduled items.
In this regard,
Referring again to
In addition to searching the scheduled database and the recall database to identify scheduled appointments and scheduled recall procedures that may be related to recall procedures being created or that are about to be performed, the invention also contemplates that server 12 may be programmed to compare new appointments as those appointments are being created or scheduled to scheduled recall procedures so that the scheduled recall procedures can be removed from the schedule if they are related (i.e., are duplicative) to the newly created appointments. To this end, an exemplary method 350 is illustrated in
At block 360, where the new appointment is possibly related to one of the scheduled recall procedures, control passes to block 362 where server 12 displays the identified recall procedures via interface 14 and enables cancellation or maintenance of the identified recall procedures. At block 364, where the scheduler indicates that all of the identified recall procedures should be maintained (e.g., via selection of a MAINTAIN RECALL icon or the like), control passes to block 368. If, however, at decision block 364, the scheduler indicates that a subset of the identified recall procedures should be canceled (e.g., via a window similar to the window illustrated in
According to another aspect of the present invention, it is contemplated that server 12 may analyze scheduled recall procedures and appointments and, where appropriate, combine recall procedures so that, instead of sending out multiple notices for multiple appointments to be scheduled, a smaller number of notices may be sent out so that patients receiving the notices have more information when they attempt to schedule appointments in an efficient manner. In addition, it is contemplated that server 12 may, when a notice is sent to a patient, indicate existing scheduled appointments so that, if possible, the patient can attempt to schedule other appointments temporally proximate the already scheduled appointments. In this regard, referring to
Here, referring to
It will also be assumed here that subprocess 80 is performed as recall procedures are manually created or attempted. Nevertheless, it should be recognized that subprocess 80 could be performed during automatic recall procedure generation or during a periodic batch processing.
Referring to
At block 90, server 12 determines whether or not any identified scheduled item is a scheduled patient matter. Where none of the scheduled items are patient matters, control passes back to block 54 in
Referring now to
In some embodiments, it is contemplated that, prior to an electronic recall notice being generated and transmitted to a patient, server 12 may be programmed to check physician schedules to identify suitable time slots that could be used to accommodate appointments associated with the notices. To this end, when a recall procedure time occurs targeting a date one month from the recall procedure time, server 12 may access physician schedules, identify the appropriate physician to facilitate medical activities associated with the recall appointment and then analyze the appropriate schedules to identify time slots that could accommodate the recall appointments. Once an appropriate schedule time slot has been identified, the recall notice may be supplemented to suggest the currently open time slot or slots to the patient. In addition, icons for electronically accepting or rejecting suggested time slots may be provided on the electronic notice whereby, if one of the icons is selected, either the appointment is scheduled in the suggested time slot or the time slot is foregone for the time being by the patient.
Similarly, where a composite recall notice (i.e., a notice including information corresponding to at least first and second different recall appointments or to at least one recall appointment and one already scheduled appointment) is to be generated by server 12, server 12 may search physician schedules to identify optimal sets of time slots, if they exist, for all of the scheduled appointments and recall appointments associated with the composite notice. Thus, for instance, where one appointment has already been scheduled and two other appointments need to be scheduled and are to be indicated via the recall notice, server 12 can, if possible, identify two time slots temporally proximate the time slot corresponding to the already scheduled appointment and suggest those time slots as appropriate or optimal for scheduling the other two appointments.
An exemplary recall notice window 210 that may be electronically provided to a patient and that indicates optimal scheduling time slots for the appointments to be scheduled is illustrated in
In at least some embodiments it is contemplated that, when an electronic recall notice is received by a patient or client, the notice may allow the client to indicate that the procedure or potential appointment associated with the notice has already been completed. Here, where a client indicates that a procedure has already been completed, when the indication is received by server 12, server 12 may be programmed to do any of several different things. First, server 12 may simply store the indication that the procedure has been completed and then delete the recall procedure from the recall data base 16.
Second, server 12 may be programmed to obtain information regarding completion of the procedure from the client such as, for instance, when the procedure was completed, who completed the procedure, where the procedure was completed, the results of the procedure if there were any, etc. Where additional information about a completed procedure is sought and provided, server 12 may store that information for subsequent purposes such as, for instance, purposes associated with a physician that ordered the procedure associated with the recall. Here, server 12 may provide the additional information to the physician that ordered the recall associated with the notice via an e-mail or the like or may simply archive that information for access by the physician.
Third, server 12 may be programmed to attempt to obtain a formal record of the completed procedure. In this regard, when a client indicates that a procedure has been completed, server 12 may request authorization from the client to obtain a formal record from the entity that carried out the procedure. Where the server 12 receives a formal record or receives information about a completed procedure from a client, server 12 may be programmed to compare the record or received information to the procedure associated with the original notice to independently determine whether or not the completed procedure meets the requirements of the recall procedure. Where the completed procedure meets the requirements of the recall procedure, server 12 may be programmed to confirm that the completed procedure met the requirements. In the alternative, where the completed procedure does not meet the requirements of the recall procedure, server 12 may be programmed to generate a new recall notice indicating that the recall procedure is still required.
Referring now to
While the invention may be susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way of example in the drawings and have been described in detail herein. However, it should be understood that the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular forms disclosed. For example, while both the recall duplicity identifying and notice combining concepts are described as being performed in a single method, it should be appreciated that each of those concepts could be implemented separately. In addition, while the inventions are described in the context of a medical facility, it should be appreciated that the concepts may also be applied in other industries and environments where notices of appointments, encounters, maintenance, procedures, etc., for various resources to be scheduled are generated.
Moreover, while possible related recall procedures and scheduled items are identified and presented to a scheduler for determining if any of the procedures or items should be cancelled in the above examples, in at least some cases it is contemplated that server 12 may automatically cancel certain highly probably duplicative recall procedures without presenting the cancel option to the scheduler.
Furthermore, while the embodiment described above where probabilities of relatedness are determined includes presenting identified items along with percentages, it should be appreciated that probabilities may be expressed in other formats. For instance, identified scheduled items may be arranged in an ordered list with the most probably related item at the top and the least probably related item at the bottom.
In addition, in some embodiments, recall procedures may only be compared to other scheduled recall procedures instead of also being compared to scheduled client/patient appointments to identify possibly related items.
Moreover, while the concepts described above are in the context of a system that generates recalls on a client by client basis, it should be appreciated that, in at least some cases, the server 12 may be programmed to streamline notice generation even more by generating notices that consider the schedules of, and appointments to be scheduled for, related persons/clients. In this regard, for instance, where a family includes a father, a mother and three children, server 12 may be programmed to, whenever a notice is to be generated for any person in the family, check scheduled items and items to be scheduled for every person in the family and to suggest scheduling times that may be optimal where two or more appointments have proximate target dates and/or times. Thus, for instance, if the mother is already scheduled for an appointment on Jun. 5, 2004 and a target date for a recall for one of the children is on Jun. 10, 2004, the system may generate a recall notice for the child that also indicates the mother's currently scheduled appointment time on Jun. 5, 2004 so that, if possible, optimal times can be scheduled for all of the related persons. Moreover, in the present example, if the mother's scheduled appointment is for 10:00 AM on Jun. 5, 2004 and a suitable schedule opening exists at 10:30 AM on Jun. 5, 2004, the recall may suggest the 10:30 AM time slot as a possible time for scheduling the child's appointment.
Thus, the invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the following appended claims. To apprise the public of the scope of this invention, the following claims are made:
This patent is related to provisional patent application 60/603,866 that is titled “Smart Appointment Recall Method and Apparatus” and that was filed on Aug. 24, 2004.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60603866 | Aug 2004 | US |
