Medical consultation management system

Abstract

A medical consultation support system in which a client computer, such as a personal computer or a terminal of an existing medical support system, is employed to transfer a structured request for consultation from a primary care physician to a supervisory host computer. The structured request may be accompanied by additional information related to the request, such as existing data files containing patient history information, medical image data, laboratory results, pathologies, etc., forming a transmittable, machine-readable collection of information relating to the consultation request. At the supervisory computer, the request is displayed for preliminary review by a receiving staff physician who designates a specialist and retrieves and assembles selected tutorial and background information, including related published articles, tutorial background lessons, practice and protocol documentation, and records of prior consultations which are related to the current consultation request, all of which are stored in one or more databases of medical information accessible to the supervisory host computer. The supervisory computer then transmits the request for consultation, together with at least the identification of the assembled supporting documentation, to the selected specialist for review, and thereafter receives the responsive comment from the selected specialist. The supervisory computer further stores the request for consultation, including the specialist's responsive comment and an identification of the cited supporting material, as a structured case history item in the database of medical information where it may be accessed for future reference. Each consultation is further stored as a recorded learning event associated with the requesting primary care physician, and used to generate a report of continuing legal education credits earned by the requesting physician while participating in the managed consultation sessions.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]This invention relates to health care management systems and more particularly to a system for facilitating and managing consultation between primary care physicians and specialists.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]A need exists for new approaches to medical consultation, physician referral and continuing medical education. In the United States, health care costs have increased since 1960 at the average annual rate of 11.3%, over three times the rate of inflation, resulting in intense scrutiny of both the costs and quality of health care from private, public and governmental institutions.[0003]One solution has been managed care, a concept that has slowed the rate of growth and, in some instances, actually cut costs through the formation of closed panels of providers who deliver care at a pre-negotiated price utilizing managed and controlled approaches. Under managed care, primary care physicians treat the majority of the patients and serve as gatekeepers ...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

In the United States, health care costs have increased since 1960 at the average annual rate of 11.3%, over three times the rate of inflation, resulting in intense scrutiny of both the costs and quality of health care from private, public and governmental institutions.

Unfortunately, much of this new knowledge resides with expensive specialists.

Consumers are concerned that their primary care physician is limited in his or her access to such information because of the expense of using the specialist, and the physician gatekeeper is viewed frequently by the public as the one who avoids incurring expenses to the system rather than helping the patient.

Primary care physicians frequently need access to leading specialists in a matter of hours when difficult problems arise.

Although consultations with specialists in the HMO's provider network suffice in most instances, the necessary expertise may not always be available “in panel,” thus requiring timely access to an expert outside of the panel.

The varying skill levels and the variety of training and backgrounds of providers further complicates the delivery of quality, lowest, cost care.

Images