Methods of providing medical services

Abstract

We will provide users with more accessible medical services through online consultations. [Solution] A method for providing medical services to a user through online medical consultation, wherein the control unit of the brand owner's terminal receives a request from the user's terminal for a desired diagnostic item from the online medical consultation menu provided by the brand owner, the control unit of the server terminal receives information related to the received diagnostic item from the brand owner's terminal, transmits the information related to the received diagnostic item to the clinic terminal, and the clinic terminal performs an online medical consultation with the user.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for providing medical services through the provision of online medical consultations to users.

Background Art

[0002] Recently, online medical consultation services implemented between users and doctors have become widespread.

[0003] For example, in Patent Document 1, an information processing system capable of quickly providing medicine to a user through online medical consultation for the user is disclosed.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] However, although the technology disclosed in Patent Document 1 discloses a method for smoothly providing medicine to a user after online medical consultation, it is expected to provide a user-friendly medical service to users with medical problems such as users living in local areas and users with limited access to medical care in emergencies.

[0006] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a more user-friendly medical service to users through online medical consultation.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0007] A method for providing online medical consultation to a user according to one aspect of the present invention, wherein the control unit of a clinic terminal receives an application for online medical consultation from the user's user terminal and transfers the application to an SNS server; the control unit of a server terminal receives medical questionnaire information from the user via the SNS server and transmits the medical questionnaire information to the clinic terminal; and the clinic terminal generates diagnostic information for the user based on the results of the online medical consultation with the user and transmits the diagnostic information to the user terminal. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide users with more accessible medical services through online consultations. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0009] [Figure 1] This is a block diagram showing a medical service provision system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] Figure 1 is a functional block diagram showing the server terminal 100. [Figure 3] Figure 1 is a functional block diagram showing the user terminal 200. [Figure 4] This figure shows an example of user data stored in server 100. [Figure 5] This figure shows an example of brand data stored in server 100. [Figure 6] This figure shows an example of clinic data stored on server 100. [Figure 7] This flowchart shows an example of a method for providing medical services according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0010] Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The embodiments described below are not intended to unduly limit the scope of the present invention as described in the claims. Furthermore, not all components shown in the embodiments are necessarily essential components of the present invention.

[0011] <Structure> Figure 1 is a block diagram showing a system for performing a method of providing medical services according to a first embodiment of the present invention. This system 1 includes, for example, a server terminal 100 that provides online medical services in cooperation with various clinic terminals, user terminals 200A and 200B managed by users, a brand owner terminal 300 that accepts online medical consultation applications from users and provides an online medical consultation platform service, a clinic terminal 400 that supports brand owners and provides online medical consultations to users, and an SNS server 500 that supports communication between users and brand owner terminals. Here, there may be separate terminals for each of multiple brand owners as brand owner terminals, and separate terminals for each of multiple clinics as clinic terminals, with each brand owner terminal operating an online medical consultation platform, and each clinic terminal providing medical services related to its respective medical menu. For the sake of explanation, each terminal is described as a single or specific number, but there is no limit to the number of each.

[0012] Server terminal 100, user terminals 200A and 200B, brand owner terminal 300, and clinic terminal 400 are each connected via network NW1. Network NW consists of the Internet, intranet, wireless LAN (Local Area Network), WAN (Wide Area Network), etc.

[0013] The server terminal 100, brand owner terminal 300, clinic terminal 400, and SNS server may be general-purpose computers such as workstations or personal computers, or may be logically realized by cloud computing.

[0014] The user terminals 200A and 200B are information processing devices such as personal computers or tablet terminals, for example, but may also be configured by smartphones, mobile phones, PDAs, etc.

[0015] In the present embodiment, the system 1 includes a server terminal 100, user terminals 200A and 200B, a brand owner terminal 300, a clinic terminal 400, and an SNS server 500. It will be described as a configuration in which users of each terminal use their respective terminals to perform operations on the server terminal 100. However, the server terminal 100 may be configured as a stand-alone device and may have a function for each user to directly perform operations on the server terminal itself. Hereinafter, the user terminals 200A and 200B will be collectively referred to as the user terminal 200 as necessary.

[0016] FIG. 2 is a functional block configuration diagram of the server terminal 100 in FIG. 1. The server terminal 100 includes a communication unit 110, a storage unit 120, and a control unit 130.

[0017] The communication unit 110 is a communication interface for communicating with the user terminal 200 and the brand owner terminal 300 via the network NW1. Communication is performed according to a communication protocol such as TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol), for example.

[0018] The storage unit 120 stores programs for executing various control processes and each function in the control unit 130, input data, etc., and is composed of a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), etc. Further, the storage unit 120 includes a user data storage unit 121 that stores various data related to the user, a brand data storage unit 122 that stores various data related to the brand owner who accepts the application for online medical treatment from the user, and a clinic data storage unit 123 that stores various data related to the clinic that supports the brand owner who accepts the application for the online medical treatment. Note that a database (not shown) storing various data may be constructed outside the storage unit 120 or the server terminal 100.

[0019] The control unit 130 controls the overall operation of the server terminal 100 by executing the programs stored in the storage unit 120, and is composed of a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), etc. As functions of the control unit 130, it has an information reception unit 131 that receives information from each terminal, and an information processing unit 132 that refers to and processes various data stored in the storage unit 120. The information reception unit 131 and the information processing unit 132 are activated by the programs stored in the storage unit 120 and executed by the server terminal 100 which is a computer (electronic computer).

[0020] The information reception unit 131 receives information from various terminals via the communication unit 110.

[0021] The information processing unit 132 refers to various data received from various terminals and stored in the storage unit 120 (for example, user data 1000 etc. described later) and performs predetermined processing.

[0022] Furthermore, the control unit 130 may also have a screen generation unit (not shown) that generates screen information to be displayed via the user interface of the user terminal 200 as needed. For example, using image and text data (not shown) stored in the storage unit 120 as material, the user interface is generated by arranging various images and text in predetermined areas of the user interface according to predetermined layout rules. Processing related to the image generation unit can also be performed by a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit).

[0023] Figure 3 is a functional block diagram showing the user terminal 200 in Figure 1. The user terminal 200 comprises a communication unit 210, a display operation unit 220, a storage unit 230, and a control unit 240.

[0024] The communication unit 210 is a communication interface for communicating with the server terminal 100 via the network NW, and communication is performed using a communication protocol such as TCP / IP.

[0025] The display operation unit 220 is a user interface used to display text, images, etc., in response to user input and input data from the control unit 240. If the user terminal 200 is a personal computer, it consists of a display and a keyboard or mouse; if the user terminal 200 is a smartphone or tablet, it consists of a touch panel, etc. This display operation unit 220 is activated by a control program stored in the storage unit 230 and executed by the user terminal 200, which is a computer (electronic calculator).

[0026] The memory unit 230 stores programs for executing various control processes and functions within the control unit 240, input data, etc., and is composed of RAM, ROM, etc. The memory unit 230 also temporarily stores the contents of communications with the server terminal 100.

[0027] The control unit 240 controls the overall operation of the user terminal 200 by executing programs stored in the memory unit 230, and is composed of a CPU, GPU, etc.

[0028] Figure 4 shows an example of user data stored in the server terminal 100.

[0029] The user data 1000 shown in Figure 4 stores various data related to the user. In Figure 4, for the sake of explanation, an example of one user (a user identified by user ID "10001") is shown, but information for multiple users can be stored. Various data related to the user may include, but are not limited to, basic information about the user (name, address, contact information, SNS account, payment information, etc.), clinic information (for example, information identifying the clinic the user visits), medical history information (for example, information about the user's health status and symptoms that the user answers before receiving treatment from a doctor, etc.), diagnostic information (for example, information about the diagnosis and prescription of medication provided by a doctor to the user through online consultation, etc.), and accounting information (for example, information about the costs paid for online consultation and prescription of medication, etc.).

[0030] Figure 5 shows an example of brand data stored in the server terminal 100.

[0031] Brand Data 2000 stores various data related to brand owners who accept online medical consultation applications from users. In Figure 5, for the sake of explanation, an example of one brand owner (a brand owner identified by brand ID "20001" (for example, a corporation or individual business operator using the name "ABC Online Clinic")) is shown, but information related to multiple brand owners can be stored. Various data related to the above brand owners may include, but are not limited to, basic information about the brand owner (e.g., name or company name, address, URL), user information (e.g., name, address, contact information, SNS account, medical questionnaire content, diagnosis content, prescription content, payment information, etc.), medical menu information (e.g., menu items such as morning-after pill, low-dose birth control pill, ED treatment, AGA treatment, etc.), accounting information (e.g., sales for each consultation, total sales, etc.), website information (e.g., article content information, etc.), and affiliated clinic information (e.g., affiliated clinic name, clinic ID, etc.).

[0032] Figure 6 shows an example of clinic data stored on the server terminal 100.

[0033] Clinic Data 3000 stores various data related to clinics that support the medical services of clinics that accept online consultation applications. In Figure 6, for the sake of explanation, an example of one clinic (a clinic identified by Clinic ID "30001" (e.g., "XYZ Clinic")) is shown, but it can store information related to multiple clinics. Various data related to the above clinic may include, but are not limited to, basic information about the clinic (e.g., name, address, URL, doctor), user information (e.g., name, address, contact information, SNS account, payment information, etc.), medical history information (e.g., information about the user's health status and symptoms that each user answers before receiving medical treatment from a doctor, etc.), diagnostic information (e.g., information about the diagnosis and prescription of medication provided by the doctor to each user through online consultation, etc.), accounting information (e.g., sales for each consultation, total sales, etc.), and affiliated brand information (e.g., affiliated brand name, brand ID, etc.).

[0034] <Processing flow> Referring to Figure 7, the processing flow of a method for providing online medical consultations, executed by System 1 of this embodiment in which one or more brand owners, one or more clinics, and a server terminal 100 cooperate, will be described. Figure 7 is a flowchart showing an example of a method for providing medical services according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Note that the functional configuration of the server terminal 100 may also be provided in the clinic terminal 400, in which case the clinic terminal 400 may execute the processing that the server terminal 100 executes as described in the above embodiment. Furthermore, the server terminal, brand owner terminal, or clinic terminal can directly conduct interviews with the user terminal and obtain the user's interview information without going through the SNS server.

[0035] First, as a preliminary step to step S101, a user who wishes to receive online medical treatment searches for a medical treatment menu (e.g., "morning-after pill") via their user terminal 100 and accesses the brand owner's (e.g., "ABC Online Clinic") website. Here, the brand owner's (hereinafter referred to as "brand") website, which functions as an online medical treatment platform service where the user applies for online medical treatment, presents various medical treatment menus for online consultations (e.g., morning-after pill, low-dose birth control pill, ED treatment, AGA treatment, etc.) and can also include SEO-based article content containing keywords related to each item on the medical treatment menu (e.g., morning-after pill). By providing the brand's website in this way, it is possible to achieve a customer acquisition effect.

[0036] First, in step S101, the user accesses the website of the brand owner terminal 300 using a web browser or application on their user terminal, selects a desired diagnostic item (e.g., emergency contraception) from the medical treatment menu provided through the website, and submits an online medical treatment request by performing a predetermined operation (e.g., tapping "Receive online medical treatment"). In step S102, when the brand owner terminal 300 receives the online medical treatment request from the user terminal 200, it redirects (forwards) the access from the user terminal 200 to the SNS server 500 (e.g., the server of the communication application). Here, the brand owner terminal 300 can also directly send the medical treatment request, including information about the diagnostic item, to the server terminal 100 without going through the SNS server 500.

[0037] Next, as part of step S103, the SNS server 500 sends an application acceptance message along with a medical questionnaire input form to the user terminal 200 via a chat communication interface displayed on the user terminal 200 as a screen for applying for online medical consultation. The user answers each question in the medical questionnaire input form (for example, items asking for the user's basic information such as "name," "gender," "date of birth," and "medication delivery address," and questions depending on the medical treatment menu such as "date and time of sexual activity" and "history of liver disease, heart disease, kidney disease, etc.") via the chat communication interface. Then, as part of step S104, the SNS server 500 receives the medical questionnaire information (including the user's basic information) from the user terminal 200. At this point, it is also possible for the brand owner terminal 300 or the server terminal 100 (or the clinic terminal 400 that received the medical instruction (described later)) to conduct a medical questionnaire with the user terminal 100 and receive the medical questionnaire information without going through the SNS server 500.

[0038] Next, as part of step S105, the SNS server 500 transmits the medical questionnaire information received from the user, including the items of the medical treatment menu that the user has applied for, to the server terminal 100. As part of step S106, the server terminal 100 performs user registration by storing the received user basic information and medical questionnaire information as user data 1000 in the user data storage unit 121 of the storage unit 120. The server terminal 100 also stores the above basic information and medical questionnaire information as brand data 2000 in the brand data storage unit 122 of the storage unit 120.

[0039] Next, in step S107, the server terminal 100 refers to the brand data 2000 stored in the brand data storage unit 122 of the memory unit 120, identifies the clinic that is a partner of the brand, and sends the registered user's basic information and medical history information to the clinic's clinic terminal 400, sending a medical treatment instruction to the user. Here, the server terminal 100 can send a medical treatment instruction to a clinic that has been registered in advance as a partner of the brand, or it can determine a clinic based on the medical treatment content (medical menu) that the user wishes to receive, as received by the brand, and send a medical treatment instruction from the brand to that clinic. In addition, it can also refer to the medical status of each clinic (status of available doctors) and send a medical treatment instruction to a clinic determined based on the medical status.

[0040] Next, in step S108, the clinic (or a doctor belonging to the clinic) that received the medical instruction sends a request to start the medical consultation to the user terminal 200 via the clinic terminal 400. In step S109, the user accepts the request to start the medical consultation via the user terminal 200, thereby starting an online medical consultation with the doctor belonging to the clinic. Here, the request to start the medical consultation and the medical consultation can be conducted via video call or other means through a chat communication interface displayed on the user terminal 200 and the clinic terminal 400 via the SNS server 500, or via other video conversation applications (not shown), or other communication means such as telephone. Here, the doctor can conduct the medical consultation while referring to the medical history information entered by the user on the management screen displayed on the clinic terminal 400.

[0041] Next, in step S110, the doctor, through online consultation, inputs diagnostic information, including the diagnosis and prescription details for the user, and accounting information (in this case, billing information for the consultation fee to the user) on the management screen displayed on the clinic terminal 400. The clinic terminal 400 then generates the diagnostic information and accounting information and stores the diagnostic information in a storage unit (not shown). In step S111, the clinic terminal 400 transmits the generated diagnostic information and accounting information, including the billing amount, to the user terminal 200, and in step S112, transmits the diagnostic information and accounting information to the server terminal 100. The server terminal 100 stores the received user's diagnostic information and accounting information as user data 1000 in the user data storage unit 121 of the storage unit 120. The server terminal 100 also stores the above basic information and medical history information as clinic data 3000 in the clinic data storage unit 123 of the storage unit 120.

[0042] Here, the server terminal 100 refers to the accounting information stored in the clinic data storage unit 123 of the memory unit 120, calculates the amount to be paid to the brand (revenue share amount) based on the billing amount charged to the user by the clinic data and a predetermined rate, and executes the process of paying it to the clinic. This revenue share amount may also be calculated at the clinic terminal and paid directly to the brand.

[0043] As described above, according to this embodiment, multiple brands offering online medical consultation menus and clinics providing online medical consultations can collaborate to provide users with a one-stop virtual clinic, offering users a more accessible and user-friendly opportunity to access medical care and solve medical challenges. At the same time, it can solve the problem of physician and staff resource issues, expand customer acquisition, and enable the continuous provision of online medical consultations.

[0044] Although embodiments of the invention have been described above, these can be implemented in various other forms, and can be carried out by various omissions, substitutions, and modifications. These embodiments and variations, as well as those with omissions, substitutions, and modifications, are included within the technical scope of the claims and their equivalents. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0045] 1 System: 100 Server terminals, 110 Communication unit, 120 Storage unit, 130 Control unit, 200 User terminals, 300 Brand owner terminals, 400 Clinic terminals, NW1 Network

Claims

1. A method of providing medical services to users through online consultations, The control unit of the brand owner's terminal is From the user's terminal, the brand owner accepts applications for desired diagnostic items from the online medical consultation menu provided by the brand owner. The control unit of the server terminal is: The brand owner terminal receives information related to the received diagnostic items. The information related to the received diagnostic items is transmitted to the clinic terminal. The clinic terminal is a method for performing online medical consultations with the user.

2. The method according to claim 1, Based on the results of the online medical consultation, the clinic terminal will The diagnostic information of the aforementioned user is generated, A method for transmitting diagnostic information to the aforementioned user terminal.

3. The method according to claim 2, Based on the results of the online consultation with the user, the system transmits accounting information, including the amount to be billed to the user.

4. The method according to claim 3, The clinic terminal provides a method for calculating the amount to be paid to the brand owner based on the billing amount.

5. The method according to claim 1, The method involves the brand owner terminal transferring the application to an SNS server, and the control unit of the server terminal obtaining medical information from the patient user via the SNS server.

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