Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02335399 2001-02-09
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ACCESSING MEDICAL
OR CONSULTING SERVICES
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to medical or health services and a method for
coordinating such services.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Generally, a patient obtains medical or consulting services such as
prescription
renewals or referrals for medical treatment by appointment with a physician
or, in
some jurisdictions, a physician-delegate working under the supervision of a
physician.
For exemplary purposes, the following discussion is directed to methods of
obtaining
a prescription renewal. Similar methods may apply for other medical services
such as
prescriptions for topical cream, referrals for medical assessments,
consultations or
treatment, creating a pager or email message from a patient to a physician,
coordinating the authorization of a restricted use class of medications,
providing a
system for pharmaceutical companies to provide authorized sample medications
to
patients through physicians, and referrals for testing such as MRI (magnetic
resonance
imaging), CAT scans, PET scans and mammography scans.
To obtain a prescription renewal, a patient generally makes an appointment
with the physician and after consultation, receives the prescription renewal
from his
or her physician.
This requires that a patient make an appointment, for which he or she may
have to wait several days or weeks. The patient must then go to the
physician's office
for the consultation or appointment. Only after receiving the prescription
renewal can
the patient go to the pharmacy with the prescription, or have the physician
send the
prescription to the pharmacy for filling.
This method of prescription renewal suffers from many disadvantages,
particularly in the case that a physician can approve such a renewal without
the
benefit of an appointment with the patient. One such disadvantage is the
waiting time
that may be required to see the physician, which results in a delay in
receiving and
filling the prescription renewal. Also, the time of both the patient and the
physician is
taken up making and attending an appointment. It may be difficult for many
patients
to leave home or work to attend an appointment. Fui-ther, the physician may
not have
CA 02335399 2001-02-09
time available for such an appointment and there may be other patients who
more
urgently require that time. For instance, in an outbreak of influenza, the
doctor may
not have the time to see a patient.
In an alternative method of renewing a prescription, a patient may telephone
the physician to request the prescription renewal. The physician then makes a
decision if the prescription can be renewed or if an appointment is necessary.
If the
prescription can be renewed by telephone, the physician, or physician's
assistant,
must determine the location and facsimile number of the patient's pharmacy and
a
facsimile copy of the prescription, complete with all pertinent information,
must be
sent to the patient's pharmacy.
While an improvement over the first-described method, this method also
suffers from many disadvantages. The patient must call the physician in order
to
make the request for prescription renewal. This can interrupt a busy physician
or
physician's assistant. For various reasons many doctors refuse to renew a
prescription
by telephone. Where a physician's assistant answers the phone, he or she must
relay
the information to the physician to get approval for the renewal of a
medication such
that the physician receives the information second-hand. Thus the information
may
be incorrectly relayed. Also, many physicians have extremely busy practices
and may
not remember each patient's prescribed medication. Therefore, the physician
must
consult the patient's files to ensure that the prescription renewal is
correct. This
requires additional time from the physician and the physician's assistant. In
some
jurisdictions, such as the province of Ontario in Canada, the physician does
not
receive remuneration for a prescription renewal. Further, there is very little
security
as it may be difficult to confirm the requesting patient's identity. The
physician, or
physician's assistant must rely on voice recognition of the patient in order
to confirm
the requesting patient's identity. This is extremely difficult for a physician
with a
busy practice. Also, when the patient's physician is away, another physician
may
temporarily be filling in for the patient's physician and therefore is not
likely to have
any prior recollection of that patient.
If a physician chooses to renew a prescription by phone, the physician must
call the pharmacy and wait to speak with the pharmacist. Then the patient
information and prescription instructions must be given. When relaying the
information by telephone, there is a risk for errors in how the information is
either
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CA 02335399 2006-03-14
communicated or understood. In order to create a written record of the
prescription
order, the physician must then make or dictate notes for the patient file,
requiring
additional time.
Yet another problem is that the patient's physician may not be available to
approve the prescription renewal, for instance if the physician is away from
the office
for a period of time. An alternative physician may not be available and even
so, this
requires valuable patient and physician time for a renewal that might not have
otherwise required an appointment. Also, in such cases, the physician may not
have
the patient's medical information or history thus requiring more of the
physician's
time.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel
medical
or consulting access method and system for more efficient access to medical
and
consulting services.
In some jurisdictions, it is illegal for medical service providers to share
patient
information due to privacy laws. Accordingly, in one aspect of the present
invention,
it is an object to provide a medical record keeping system where a patient's
medical
records are kept under the control of the patient, are accessible by the
patient's
medical service providers in order to provide medical services to the patient
and to
update the records with the services thereon. This system of medical records
under
the control of the patient should alleviate privacy concerns and legalities.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, in one aspect of the present invention there is provided a
computer-implemented method for facilitating provision of medical services,
said
method comprising:
(i) registering authorised patients for access to facilitated medical
services;
(ii) continuously awaiting patient authored, remote, textual medical service
requests;
(iii) receiving said requests;
(iv) verifying that said requests originated from authorised patients;
(v) in the case of positive verification in step (iv), forwarding said
requests to
the attention of a physician;
(vi) providing for electronic augmentation of said requests by said physician.
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CA 02335399 2006-03-14
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a
computer-implemented method for facilitating provision of medical services,
said
method comprising:
(i) registering authorised patients for access to facilitated medical
services;
(ii) continuously awaiting communication;
(iii) receiving communication;
(iv) verifying that those communicating in step (iii) are registered patients
according to step (i);
(v) in the case of positive verification in step (iv), accepting patient
authored,
remote, textual medical service requests;
(vi) forwarding said requests to the attention of a physician; and
(vii) providing for electronic augmentation of said requests by said
physician.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a
system for facilitating provision of medical services, said system comprising:
a host server, and a program for:
registering authorised patients for access to facilitated medical services;
continuously awaiting communications;
receiving said communications;
verifying that those communicating are registered patients;
in the case of positive verification accepting patient authored, remote,
textual medical service requests; and
forwarding said requests to the attention of a physician; and
providing for electronic augmentation of said requests by said
physician.
According to still yet another aspect of the present invention there is
provided
a computer-readable medium including a computer program for facilitating
provision
of medical services, said computer program comprising:
computer program code for registering authorised patients for access to
facilitated medical services;
computer program code for continuously awaiting communications;
computer program code for receiving said communications;
computer program code for verifying that those communicating are
registered patients;
computer program code for in the case of positive verification, accepting
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CA 02335399 2006-03-14
patient authored, remote, textual medical service requests;
computer program code for forwarding said requests to the attention of a
physician; and
computer program code for electronic augmentation of said requests by said
physician.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will be better understood with reference to the drawings, and
the following description, in which:
Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a system for providing a medical service
according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.
Fig. 2 is a representation of an electronic membership form according to a
preferred embodiment of the invention.
Fig.3 is a flow chart of a method of becoming a patient member for receiving
the medical service according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.
Fig. 4 is a representation of an electronic prescription renewal request form
according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.
Fig. 5 is a representation of a physician approval form according to a
preferred
embodiment.
Fig. 6 is a flow chart of a method of providing a prescription renewal
according to an aspect of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Reference is first made to Fig. 1 to describe a preferred embodiment of a
system for providing a medical service, indicated generally by the numeral 20.
System 20 has a host server 22 operable to verify the identity of a registered
patient
using a predefined verification protocol. The host server 22 is also operable
to
provide an electronic request form. System 20 also includes a patient-input
device 24,
in communication with the server 22 and operable to receive data to complete
said
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CA 02335399 2001-02-09
electronic request form. The patient-input device 24 is also operable to
transmit the
electronic request form to the host server 22 after the electronic request
form is
completed. When the request form is transmitted from the patient-input device
24,
the host server 22 is further operable to generate a physician approval form,
such as a
prescription renewal, based on the data provided by the registered patient.
The server
22 then transmits the physician approval form to a registered physician.
The system 20 will now be described in more detail. The patient-input device
24 includes a patient server 26 and a patient intelligent device 28 such as a
personal
computer.
The patient intelligent device 28 includes a data entry device such as a
keyboard, an output device such as a video card and monitor, a processing
unit, a
random access memory, and a network interface card for connecting to the
patient
server 26.
The patient intelligent device 28 is connected to an internet 30 through the
patient server 26. The patient server 26 can be any internet service provider.
The host server 22 includes a processing unit, a random access memory, a
persistent storage device, an input device, an output device such as a video
card and a
monitor and a network interface card for connecting to the internet 30. The
host
server 22 is able to send data to the patient-input device 24 and receive data
from the
patient-input device 24.
The patient server 26 and the host server 22 are interconnected by the
internet
30. Thus, the patient intelligent device 28 is connected through the patient
server 26
to the host server 22 by the internet 30. The host server 22 and the patient
intelligent
device 28 are therefore able to exchange data through the internet 30.
The host server 22 is also connected to a facsimile machine operable to send a
facsimile to a physician's facsimile machine 32 through a network 34.
System 20 is operable for providing a medical service such as a prescription
renewal, a referral for medical treatment, a referral for testing such as an
MRI, CAT,
PET, or mammography scan, a prescription provision service for items such as
topical
creams, or providing access to physicians for consultations using the
telephone, the
internet, an intranet or videoconference. For the purpose of simplicity, the
present
description is directed to a method of providing a prescription renewal
service,
however, similar methods will apply for other medical services.
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CA 02335399 2001-02-09
To provide the medical service, a patient first registers as a patient member.
Referring now to Fig. 2, a representation of an electronic membership form is
indicated generally by the numeral 40. The electronic membership form 40
includes a
plurality of electronic data fields. These electronic data fields include, a
full name
field 42, a full address field 44, a work phone number field 46, a home phone
number
field 48, a birth date field 50, a weight field 52, a height field 54, an
email address
field 56, a pharmacy phone number field 58, a pharmacy fax number field 60, a
physician's full name field 62, a physician's full address field 64, a
physician's phone
number field 66, a physician's fax number field 68, a credit card name field
70 and
credit card number field 72. All of the data fields 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 52,
54, 56, 58,
60, 62, 64, 66, 68, 70, 72 of the electronic membership form 40 can be
presented in
any suitable user-interface on the patient intelligent device 28.
The full name field 42 represents the full name of the patient. The full
address
field 44 represents the full address of the patient. It will now be apparent
that each of
the data fields represents corresponding patient information. The pharmacy
phone
number field 58, for instance, represents the phone number of the patient's
preferred
pharmacy.
The host server 22 is operable to store the electronic membership form 40 on
it's persistent storage device and make it available to the patient via the
internet 30.
The host server 22 is further operable to save the electronic membership form
40,
after completion by the patient.
Similarly, the patient intelligent device 28 is operable to receive the
electronic
membership form 40 for completion by the patient. The patient intelligent
device 28
is also operable to send the electronic membership form 40 to the host server
22 after
completion by the patient.
The host server 22 is further operable to maintain a set of rules associated
with
the electronic membership form 40. For example, one of the rules is requiring
data
entry into any or all of the data fields before the host server 22 accepts the
electronic
membership form 40. For exemplary purposes, each of the data fields of the
electronic membership form 40 are required to be completed in the present
embodiment. Further, if these data fields are not completed, the host server
22 is
operable to return the electronic membership form 40 to the patient
intelligent device
28, for completion.
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CA 02335399 2001-02-09
Referring now to Fig. 3, a method for registering a patient member will now
be described with reference to the system 20.
At step 80, the patient uses the patient intelligent device 28 to connect to
the
host server 22, through the patient server 26 and the internet 30, as
described above.
At step 82, the patient requests the electronic membership form 40. At step
84, the patient intelligent device 28 receives an electronic membership form
40 with
the data fields ready for entry of data by the patient. At step 86, the
patient completes
each of the data fields by entering data into each of the data fields of the
electronic
membership form 40. This includes completion of the credit card name field 70
and
the credit card number field 72 to indicate that payment of a membership fee
is
authorized.
The electronic membership form 40 is an HTML document.
At step 88, the patient submits the electronic membership form 40 to the host
server 22. If the patient does not complete all of the required data fields of
the
electronic membership form 40, then the host server 22 returns the form 40 to
the
patient intelligent device 28 and returned to step 86. For the purpose of the
present
example, when all of the data fields are completed, the host server 22 accepts
the
electronic membership form 40 and the information is stored in a database.
At step 90, the data in the completed data fields is verified by checking the
patient's phone number, address and the patient's physician and physician's
address.
To verify this information, the patient, pharmacy and physician phone numbers
and
addresses are confirmed using an independently published source such as a
telephone
and address directory. The physician is then notified that the patient has
joined the
service. The patient is also contacted by telephone and email to confirm that
membership was requested, the patient's credit card is checked to ensure that
it is
valid the patient's credit card is debited a membership fee. The database is
updated
accordingly.
If all of the data contained in the data fields is verified and determined to
be
correct, the patient is then notified by electronic mail that their membership
request
has been accepted at step 92. Further, the patient, now a patient member, is
given a
unique patient member identification and password to access a patient member
section of the website. The host server 22 then updates the database
accordingly.
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CA 02335399 2001-02-09
If the data contained in the data fields is determined to be incorrect, the
patient
is notified by email that their membership request has been denied with the
reason(s)
for the denial at step 92.
A physician becomes a physician member by similarly completing a physician
membership form. It will be understood that the data fields required for a
physician to
become a physician member can be different from the data fields required to be
completed for a patient to become a patient member. For example, a physician
membership form may not include a credit card name data field or a credit card
number data field. Alternatively, a physician can become a physician member
using
other methods of providing required information, such as requesting,
completing, and
submitting a facsimile request form. The physician phone number and address is
then
verified using an independently published source such as a telephone directory
and
the physician agrees to join. The physician's medical license is checked in
their
jurisdiction with the appropriate governing body, for example, in the Province
of
Ontario, Canada, the physician's license would be confirmed with the Ontario
College
of Physicians and Surgeons.
Similarly, a pharmacy can become a pharmacy member by having a
pharmacist complete a pharmacy member form. Again, the data fields required to
be
completed for a pharmacy to become a member can differ from those fields for a
physician or a patient. Also, a pharmacy can become a pharmacy member using
other
methods of providing required information, such as requesting, completing, and
submitting a facsimile request form. The phone number and address of the
pharmacy
is verified using an independently published source such as a telephone
directory.
Similar to the physician, the pharmacist must agree to join and the
pharmacist's
license is verified for that jurisdiction for example, in the Province of
Ontario,
Canada, the pharmacist's license would be confirmed with the Ontario College
of
Pharmacists.
It will now be apparent that the host server 22 is operable to maintain a
plurality of patient members, physician members, and pharmacy members.
The system 20 is operable to process at least one electronic medical service
request, such as a prescription renewal request, a referral for medical
treatment, a
referral for testing or a prescription provision.
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CA 02335399 2001-02-09
While the system 20 is operable for providing a medical service, the present
embodiment is directed to a method of providing a prescription renewal
service. It
will be understood that similar methods to those herein described for a
prescription
renewal, will apply for other medical services.
Referring now to Fig. 4, a representation of an electronic prescription
renewal
request is indicated generally at 100. The electronic prescription renewal
request 100
includes a plurality of electronic data fields. For exemplary purposes, the
present data
fields include a comment field 102, a first medication request field 104, a
second
medication request field 106, a third medication request field 108, a credit
card name
field 110, and a credit card number field 112. All of the fields 102, 104,
106, 108,
110, 112 of the electronic prescription renewal request form 100 can be
presented in
any suitable user-interface on the patient intelligent device 28.
Information is entered in the comment field 102 by the patient member and
represents any information that the patient member wishes to relay to a
physician.
Information is entered in the first medication request field 104 by the
patient member
and represents a first medication requested for prescription renewal.
Similarly,
information is entered in the second and third medication request fields 106,
108,
respectively, by the patient member and this information represents a second
and third
medication requested for prescription renewal. Information is entered in the
credit
card name field 110 by the patient member and represents a patient's preferred
credit
card, for payment of service. Similarly, information is entered in the credit
card
number field 112 by the patient member and represents a credit card number of
the
patient's preferred credit card.
The host server 22 is operable to store the electronic prescription renewal
request 100 in any suitable format, such as database. The host server 22 is
also
operable to make the electronic prescription renewal request 100 available on
the
patient intelligent device 28, for completion by a patient member and to
receive the
prescription renewal request 100 from the member intelligent device 28, after
completion by the patient member.
The host server 22 is further operable to maintain a set of rules associated
with
the electronic prescription renewal request form 100. For example, one of the
rules is
requiring data entry into any or all of the data fields before the host server
22 accepts
the prescription renewal request form 100 for processing. For exemplary
purposes,
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CA 02335399 2001-02-09
each of the data entry fields in the present embodiment are required to be
completed
except for the second and third medication request fields 106, 108,
respectively.
Further, if the required data fields are not completed, the host server 22 is
further
operable to return the electronic prescription renewal request form 100 to the
patient
intelligent device 28, for completion.
Referring to Fig. 5, using the data from each of the data fields, entered by
the
patient member when filling out the electronic membership form 40 and the
electronic
prescription renewal request form 100, the host server 22 is operable to
generate an
electronic prescription renewal. An exemplary representation of the electronic
prescription renewal is indicated generally by the numeral 120.
The electronic prescription renewal 120 includes a plurality of data fields
that
are automatically entered by the host server 22. These data fields include a
physician's name field 122, a physician's address field 124, a physician's
phone
number field 126, a physician's facsimile number field 128, a pharmacy phone
number field 132, a pharmacy facsimile number field 134, a patient name field
136, a
patient address field 138, a patient phone number field 140, a patient
electronic mail
address field 142, a patient age field 144, a patient weight field 146, a
first requested
medication field 148, a second requested medication field 150, a third
requested
medication request field 152, a comments field, 154, a date field 156, and a
time field
158.
As previously described, each data field represents corresponding data entered
by the patient and saved by the host server 22. The host server 22 enters this
data on
the prescription renewal 120, as shown in Fig. 5. Other information, including
physician and pharmacy instructions, is also provided on the prescription
renewal
120.
The host server 22 is also operable to send the prescription renewal 120 to
the
physician's facsimile machine 32, thereby making the prescription renewal 120
available in paper format for the physician requested by the patient.
A method for processing a prescription renewal request will now be discussed
with reference to the foregoing and to the flow chart of Fig. 6. For the
purposes of
assisting in explaining the present embodiment, the electronic prescription
renewal
request form 100 and the prescription renewal 120 of Figs. 4 and 5
respectively will
be referred to.
CA 02335399 2001-02-09
At step 180, the patient member uses the patient intelligent device 28 to
connect to the host server 22, through the patient server 26 and the internet
30, as
described above.
At step 182, the patient member goes to the patient member section of the
website. The patient member is then prompted for the membership identification
number and the password, which was provided for the patient member, as
described
above. The patient member then enters the membership identification number and
password into the data entry device of the patient intelligent device 28.
At step 186, the host server 22 verifies the identification number and the
password. The entered patient member identification and password are checked
against a list of the patient member identifications and passwords stored on
the
persistent storage device of the host server 22 and, if verified, the patient
member is
granted access to the patient member section of the website. If the patient
member
identification and password is not on the list of identifications and
passwords, the host
server 22 returns to step 182. For the purpose of the present example, the
patient
member,identification and password is verified and the patient member is
granted
access to the patient member section of the website.
At step 188, the patient requests the electronic prescription renewal request
form 100 and the host server 22 makes the electronic prescription renewal
request
form 100 available to the patient intelligent device 28 at step 190.
At step 192, the patient member enters data into the data entry fields of the
prescription renewal request form 100. For the purpose of the present example,
the
patient member enters data into each of the medication request fields, 104,
106 and
108, therefore requesting prescription renewal of three medications.
At step 194, the patient member submits the electronic prescription renewal
request form 100 with the entered data to the host server 22. If the patient
does not
enter data into all of the required data fields of the request form 100, then
the host
server 22 returns the electronic prescription renewal to the patient
intelligent device
28 and returns to step 190.
For the purpose of the present example, the patient member has completed the
electronic prescription renewal request form 100 and has requested
prescription
renewal of three medications.
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CA 02335399 2001-02-09
At step 195, the patient's credit card is debited a prescription renewal
request
fee.
At step 196, the host server 22 generates the prescription renewal 120, and
sends the prescription renewal 120 to the physician's facsimile machine 32
where it is
printed in paper format. The prescription renewal 120 includes all of the data
as
previously described, for the convenience of the physician.
At step 198, the prescription renewal 120 is received by the physician and the
physician approves the prescription renewal 120 by writing dosage information
and
any other instructions under each of the requested medication fields 148, 150,
152,
and by signing and dating the renewal 120.
At step 200, the physician sends the prescription renewal 120 to a pharmacy's
facsimile machine using the pharmacy facsimile number provided in the pharmacy
facsimile number field 134. If the physician does not approve the prescription
renewal 120, the physician does not send the prescription renewal 120 to the
pharmacy's facsimile machine and the physician's office contacts the patient
member
to report the declined prescription and to schedule an office appointment if
necessary,
using the patient phone number provided in the patient phone number field 140.
At step 210, the pharmacy fills the prescription for the patient member to
pick
up or for delivery to the patient member and contacts the patient or waits for
the
patient to contact the pharmacy.
While the embodiment discussed herein is directed to a particular
implementation of the present invention, it will be apparent that variations
to this
embodiment are within the scope of the invention. For example, the patient
intelligent device described herein is a personal computer but other
intelligent devices
such as a personal digital assistant can be used.
Referring to the electronic membership form 40, there can be other data fields
or different data fields provided, as desired or required. Also, there can be
data fields
that are not required to be completed by the patient in order to be accepted
as a patient
member.
If data is not entered into all of the data fields of the electronic
membership
form 40, the host server 22 can return to step 86 of Fig. 3, as described, or
can, for
instance, prompt the patient for the required information that was not
included.
Alternatively, the host server 22 can make the partially completed form
available to
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CA 02335399 2001-02-09
the patient with a message to inform the patient which data fields are
required. Also,
at step 90 of Fig. 3, any other information required can be confirmed or
verified.
As previously discussed, the above-described embodiment was directed to a
system and method of providing a prescription renewal, however other medical
services can be provided in a similar manner. These can include referral for
medical
assessments, consultations or treatment such as a referral to an orthopedic
specialist,
referral for neurology treatment, cancer treatment, dermatology, urology or
other
medical treatment. A referral for testing such as an MRI, CAT, PET, or
mammography scan, a prescription provision service for items such as topical
creams,
or access to physicians for consultations using the telephone, the internet,
an intranet
or videoconference can also be provided. Further, provision of other services
such as
creating a pager or email message from a patient to a physician, coordinating
the
authorization of a restricted use class of medications or providing a system
for
pharmaceutical companies to provide authorized sample is also contemplated.
The host server 22 is therefore operable to provide electronic request forms
for
such services and to generate a physician approval form for each service. In
the
above-described embodiment, the prescription renewal 120 is the physician
approval
form.
It is contemplated that there may be offered different medical services
dependent on the information provided by the patient. For example, an
electronic
membership form 40 may include other data fields that, if completed, allow the
patient to access different medical services. In the instance that a client
does not enter
data into each of the data fields provided, certain medical services may not
be
provided. The host server 22 can be further operable to maintain a set of
privileges
associated with each patient member and to determine these privileges for each
patient member. For example, these privileges can include access to certain
electronic
request forms.
The host server 22 can also be operable to direct a renewal or other document
to an appropriate physician, if for example, a patient's physician is not
available.
Also, other information can be provided for the convenience of the physician.
For
example, the patient's medical history or history of prescribed medication can
be
saved in a database and made available to the physician when a request is made
by the
patient. Further, the database of the patient's medical history or history of
prescribed
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CA 02335399 2001-02-09
medication can be available to the patient at any time and can be made
available, with
the consent of the patient, to any physician or pharmacist. Thus this
information can
then available for the patient.
Also, the physician can receive remuneration for the review of a request and
approval of a prescription or other service. A fee payment for the medical
service can
be collected from the patient using the patient's credit card information
provided. A
physician can be remunerated using a portion of the fee payment collected.
It will be understood that any person using the internet can apply to become a
patient member. Membership can, however, be limited depending on a set of
rules.
For example, there may be a minimum age requirement, membership of the
patient's
physician or pharmacy may be required or other restrictions. The host server
22 is
therefore operable to maintain these rules for membership.
Similar to the electronic membership form 40, there may be other data fields
provided on the electronic prescription renewal request form 100. Also, data
fields on
the prescription renewal 120 can differ.
Also, the credit card name field 70 and credit card number field 72 may not be
included on the electronic membership form 40. The patient can be prompted to
enter
such data by the host server 22 after submission of the electronic membership
form.
Similarly, the credit card name field 110 and the credit card number field 112
may not
be included on the electronic prescription renewal form 100. Again, the
patient may
be prompted for such information.
It is also contemplated that other secure methods of communication or
delivery can be made available, for instance, the prescription renewal 120 can
be sent
to a physician's computer, where possible. The renewal can be signed and
filled in by
a physician using an electronic signature and sent in electronic form to a
computer at
the pharmacy.
14
