Portable patient data processing system and method

Abstract

A system and method for processing patient data permits physicians and other medical staff personnel to record, accurately and precisely, historical patient care information. An objective measure of a physician's rendered level of care, as described by a clinical status code, is automatically generated. Data elements used in the determination of the generated clinical status code include a level of history of the patient, a level of examination of the patient, a decision-making process of the physician treating the patient, and a "time influence factor." The quantity and quality of care information for a particular patient is enhanced allowing future care decisions for that patient to be based on a more complete medical history. Enhanced care information can be used in outcome studies to track the efficacy of specific treatment protocols. Archiving of patient information is done in a manner which allows reconstruction of the qualitative aspects of provided medical services. The medical care data can be recorded, saved, and transferred from a portable system to a larger stationary information or database system. Considerable physician and staff time are saved and precision and accuracy are significantly enhanced, by generating these clinical status codes automatically (at the point of service by the care-provider without any intermediary steps) from information recorded simultaneously with the provision of services.

Description

1. REFERENCES[0001] Certain aspects of the instant invention are similar to those disclosed in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08 / 259,338 filed May 13, 1994, entitled "Portable Patient Data Processing System and Method" by Edward R. Rensimer. application Ser. No. 08 / 259,338 is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07 / 877,868, filed May 4, 1992 and commonly owned with the instant application. Both applications are incorporated here, in their entirety, by reference.[0002] Additionally, certain terminology and definitions described in the 1994 edition of the Physicians' Current Procedural Terminology manual (referred to as CPT or CPT94) are incorporated herein by reference. The CPT manual provides a standard classification of medical procedures and is well known to those of ordinary skill in the field.2. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003] The invention relates to a hand-held physician's computer and database system configured to collect, store, and report histor...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0044] The system and method of the invention permits physicians and other medical staff members to conveniently record patient-treatment data. The system and method may be used for developing historical data about physician workload in an inpatient or outpatient setting. Such historical data contributes to a better understanding of the professional resources actually used in a given practice during a particular period of time. That understanding in turn permits improved resource allocation, e.g., better scheduling of work for specific physicians (and other medical professionals) in a hospital or a group or solo practice to accommodate anticipated patient-care workload. Understanding the type of work most commonly done allows improved decisions on the type of professional manpower needed.[0045] The inventive system and method permits a physician to record, accurately and precisely, patient care information in a manner that requires considerably less physician and staff time. As a result, more physician time can be spent actually rendering patient care. In addition, the quantity and quality of historical care information for a particular patient is enhanced, meaning that future care decisions for that patient can be based on a more complete medical history database. Moreover, such enhanced care information can be put to use in outcome studies to track the efficacy of specific treatment protocols. In many ways, including how specific diagnostic / treatment approaches can change the quantity and quality of medical professional man-hours.[0046] It will also be understood by those of ordinary skill that the clinical status codes generated as described above are the same as those used in requesting payment from insurance companies. Considerable physician and staff time are saved, and precision and accuracy arc significantly enhanced, by generating these clinical status codes automatically (at the point of service by the care-provider without any intermediary steps) from information recorded simultaneously with the provision of services.[0047] It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill having the benefit of this disclosure that numerous variations from the foregoing illustration will be possible without departing from the inventive concept described herein. Accordingly, it is the claims set forth below, and not merely the foregoing illustration, which are intended to define the exclusive rights claimed in this application program.

Problems solved by technology

The superbill has several drawbacks, including a comparative lack of precision or "granularity" because of the limited space on the preprinted paper form.

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