Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR EVALUATING AND SELECTING
A HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL USING A HEALTHCARE OPERATING
SYSTEM
The present invention relates to evaluating healthcare professionals in a
social
network setting. More particularly, the present invention relates to providing
information about healthcare professionals, assisting patients to select
healthcare
professionals to fit their own needs, providing quick and trustworthy answers
to health-
related questions, and facilitating virtual consultations between patients and
healthcare
professionals in a social network setting.
Currently, the process of choosing a healthcare professional is time
consuming,
inefficient, and filled with uncertainty. When individuals find themselves in
need of
medical care, they often have difficult time finding a doctor with whom they
will be
satisfied. Many individuals select their doctors based on: a referral from a
primary care
physician, a recommendation from a friend or relative, or a healthcare
provider directory.
These sources do not provide an objective metric for the quality of the
doctor's
knowledge as assessed by a broader medical community or based on publicly
available
information.
Further, patients might look for a healthcare provider directory or some
Internet
rating website. However, most Internet rating websites provide collections of
comments
or ratings from unidentified sources and the veracity of data remains unknown
to the
community. 'These sources do not provide an objective metric for the quality
of the
doctor's knowledge as assessed by a broader medical community or based on
publicly
available information.
There is thus a need to provide a trustworthy system and method to provide
information for evaluating professionals such as medical professionals based
on merits
and the medical professional's performance.
The Internet is a huge information repository. When individuals find
themselves
in need of an answer to a question within a specialized field of knowledge,
such as health
question, they often turn to the Internet. However, the sources of the answers
to such
questions provided on the Internet are often not identified and have dubious
credibility.
Accordingly, consulting the Internet with such questions, e.g., using a search
engine,
often leaves people more confused, seared and misinformed than they were
before.
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There is a need to provide methods and systems to help people find reliable
information
in specialized fields such as medicine and the many health-related specialty
fields.
However, seeking reliable answers in certain fields can be expensive,
inefficient
and inconvenient. For example, if one wants an answer for a curious, but not
necessarily
serious, ailment from a doctor, it can take weeks to get an appointment with
the doctor.
Also it is costly to visit the doctor or emergency room. While there is no
replacement for
an in-person visit with a doctor who knows your medical history, sometimes we
may just
need quick, reliable medical information or advice. Thus, there is a need for
new
systems and methods of communication and information exchange between doctors
and
patients (or investors and bankers; potential clients and lawyers; students
and professors;
and so on) beyond doctor office visits, such that patients can obtain quick,
reliable
medical information or advice from trustworthy doctors with very little cost,
if any.
The following brief summary is not intended to include all features and
aspects of
the present invention, nor does it imply that the invention must include all
features and
aspects discussed in this summary. Some embodiments below describe
interactions with
doctors, but could apply to any professional providing medical diagnosis,
treatment,
advice, support or care.
The present disclosure, in some embodiments, provides computer-implemented
methods and systems for evaluating healthcare professionals, comprising: a)
receiving,
by the computer processor, a plurality of attributes data indicative of
professional
qualification and performance; b) assigning each said attribute, by the
computer
processor, a value or a function calculating such a value based on the
variables affecting
that said attribute; c) computing and storing, by the computer processor, the
sum of every
result value of each attribute in step b; d) receiving, by the computer
processor, feedback
and endorsement data for the healthcare professional's engagement with other
users and
other healthcare professionals; e) assigning each feedback data, by the
computer
processor, a value or a function calculating such a value based on the
variables affecting
that said feedback data; f) computing and storing, by the computer processor,
the sum of
every result value of each feedback data in step e; g) generating, by the
computer
processor, an overall value based on step c and step f.
In one embodiment, the attributes indicative of professional qualification and
performance are selected from a group of considerations comprising: education,
training,
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certification, experience, publication, editorial positions, academic
appointment,
referrals, awards, professional society participation, and hospital
affiliation. More
specifically, the attributes indicative of professional qualification and
performance are
selected from a group of considerations named as Education Factor, Training
Factor,
Certification Factor, Experience Factor, Publication Factor, Editorial
Position Factor,
Academic Appointment Factor, Referral Factor, Achievements and Awards Factor,
Professional Society Participation Factor, Hospital Affiliation Factor, and
the like.
However, the above listed factors are not exhaustive, and other factors which
contribute
to the performance, reputation, or the practicing skills of the healthcare
professional may
be considered.
In another embodiment, the step of computing and storing the value of each
attribute indicative of professional qualification and performance and
computing the sum
value of all attributes is achieved by a computer processor Profile Data
Calculation
Module. This module has already assigned each attribute individual value or
functions
to calculate such value based on variables affecting said attribute. This
module will
derive a sum of each individual value calculated under each attribute.
Therefore, it is
important to note that the value or the function to calculate such value
assigned to each
attribute should not be limited to the examples disclosed here. Various
different points,
numeric values or other forms of value may be assigned to each of the above
attributes.
Functions for each attribute may differ, to take into considerations of all
the relevant
variables that may affect the said attribute. The assigned value or the
designed functions
may differ from the examples explicitly set forth in this disclosure, and may
be any
assigned values or functions that reflect an evaluation of the healthcare
professional's
merits and overall standing.
In another embodiment, the step of computing and storing the value of each
feedback or endorsement and the sum value of all the feedbacks and
endorsements is
processed by a computer processor Feedback Data Calculation Module. In
addition, in
the Feedback Data Calculation Module, the sum value of the feedback can be
scaled by
the contemporary nature of the feedback or endorsement. In this module, a
value or a
function to calculate such value is assigned to each feedback or endorsement
activity.
Based on the feedback or endorsement the healthcare professional received,
this module
will calculate a sum or a weighed sum of all the result values under each
feedback or
endorsement. Again, the value and function assigned to each feedback data
should not
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be limited to the examples disclosed herein. Other such points, numeric value,
or other
forms of value or function to calculate such value may be assigned, and
different
functions may be formulated for weighting or otherwise valuing for each
feedback data
entry, taking into account any variables which may be relevant to the feedback
or
endorsement data entry. Though the assigned value or the designed functions
may be
different than the examples in this disclosure, they reflect an evaluation of
the healthcare
professional's merits and overall standing and thus contemplated by the
present
disclosure.
The meaning of the sum of the Feedback Data value is scaled by the
contemporary nature is that if the healthcare professional has been inactive
for some
time, the Feedback Data value will decay. Such decay can be a function of the
days
since the healthcare professional has not been active, or can be a function of
the rate of
the questions being answered out of the total questions sent to the healthcare
professionals in a certain period of time. A function may scale the sum raw
Feedback
Data points by the time consideration / contemporary nature of the data. Other
functions
may scale the sum raw Feedback Data Points by different factors or
considerations.
Such calculation should not be limited by the examples presented in this
disclosure.
In one embodiment, the Profile Data Value and the Feedback Data Value are
functions of their corresponding raw values respectively and are converted
into a smaller
range for easy understanding. For example, in one embodiment, the Profile Data
value is
converted into a numeric value range of 50-85. The Feedback Data value is
converted to
a range of 0-20. The overall value (Reputation Score) is converted into a
range 50-100
(though a maximum 99 points of Reputation Score may be set). Such converting
functions can be segmented linear functions of the corresponding raw data
which may be
designed to reflect a sharp drop in the first 30 days inactiveness. Other
functions may
convert the raw scores into a preferred value format, for example in numeric
value or in
percentile. One or more segmented linear functions may assign a different drop
rate for
the healthcare professional's inactiveness. The two components of the
Reputation score
(i.e., Profile Data Value and Feedback Data Value) may be allocated differing
weights
under the teaching of the present disclosure.
In one embodiment, the present disclosure provides a system for generating a
healthcare professional evaluation system, comprising a memory comprising
instructions
executable by one or more processors; and one or more processors coupled to
the
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memory and operable to execute the instructions, the one or more processors
being
operable when executing the instructions to perform the steps of: a)
receiving, by the
computer processor, a plurality of attributes data indicative of professional
qualification
and performance; b) assigning each said attribute, by the computer processor,
a value or
a function calculating such a value based on the variables affecting that said
attribute; c)
computing and storing, by the computer processor, the sum of every result
value of each
attribute in step b; d) receiving, by the computer processor, feedback data
for the
healthcare professional's engagement with other users; e) assigning each
feedback data,
by the computer processor, a value or a function calculating such a value
based on the
variables affecting that said feedback data; 0 computing and storing, by the
computer
processor, the sum of every result value of each feedback data in step e; g)
generating, by
the computer processor, an overall value based on step e and step 11
In one embodiment, the present disclosure provides one or more computer-
readable storage media embodying software operable when executed by one or
more
computer systems to perform: a) receiving, by the computer processor, a
plurality of
attributes data indicative of professional qualification and performance; b)
assigning
each said attribute, by the computer processor, a value or a function
calculating such a
value based on the variables affecting that said attribute; c) computing and
storing, by the
computer processor, the sum of every result value of each attribute in step b;
d)
receiving, by the computer processor, feedback data for the healthcare
professional's
engagement with other users; e) assigning each feedback data, by the computer
processor, a value or a function calculating such a value based on the
variables affecting
that said feedback data; 0 computing and storing, by the computer processor,
the sum of
every result value of each feedback data in step e; g) generating, by the
computer
.. processor, an overall value based on step c and step f.
Such evaluation systems and methods are also applicable to institutions, other
professionals in health industiy and in clinics, and institutions alike.
Further, while some
embodiments provided by the present disclosure are described primarily as
involving
healthcare professionals, the systems and methods provided herein may be
advantageously employed for use by other professionals, including lawyers,
teachers,
accountants, contractors or any other service providers. The present
disclosure describes
interactions with doctors, but could apply to any professional providing
medical
diagnosis, treatment, advice or care. Further, while the present disclosure is
described
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with particular respect to doctors, the present disclosure is not limited for
use in any
particular profession or area of expertise; rather, the systems and methods
provided
herein may be advantageously employed for use by other professionals or
persons having
expertise in any given field. For example, using the systems and methods
provided
herein, professionals in various fields may solicit and/or receive votes
indicating skill in
a particular specialty or sub-specialty, including, lawyers, professors,
accountants,
contractors, bankers and so on.
In one embodiment, the present disclosure provides a computer-implemented
method for evaluating a medical professional, the method comprising:
generating, by the
computer processor, categories of topics or practicing area the medical
professional has
expertise in; receiving a plurality of votes from both credentialed medical
professional
users and patient users under each topic or practicing area; computing and
processing the
votes from credentialed physicians and from the patient users separately under
each topic
or practicing area; and presenting the result value of the votes from
credentialed
physicians and from the patient users separately under each topic or
practicing area.
In one embodiment, the computer-implemented method further comprises
presenting content showing the medical professionals' credentials together
with voting
results.
In another embodiment, the present disclosure provides a system for generating
a
medical professional evaluation system, comprising a memory comprising
instructions
executable by one or more processors; and one or more processors coupled to
the
memory and operable to execute the instructions, the one or more processors
being
operable when executing the instructions to: generating, by the computer
processor,
categories of topics or practicing area the medical professional has expertise
in; receiving
a plurality of votes from both credentialed medical professional users and
patient users
under each topic or practicing area; computing and processing the votes from
credentialed physicians and from the patient users separately under each topic
or
practicing area; and presenting the result value of the votes from
credentialed physicians
and from the patient users separately under each topic or practicing area.
In another embodiment, the present disclosure provides one or more computer-
readable storage media embodying software operable when executed by one or
more
computer systems to perform: generating, by the computer processor, categories
of
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topics or practicing area the medical professional has expertise in; receiving
a plurality of
votes from both credentialed medical professional users and patient users
under each
topic or practicing area; computing and processing the votes from credentialed
physicians and from the patient users separately under each topic or
practicing area; and
presenting the result value of the votes from credentialed physicians and from
the patient
users separately under each topic or practicing area.
In yet another embodiment, the present disclosure provides computer-
implemented systems and methods for providing quick and trustworthy answers to
health
information. In one embodiment, such computer-implemented system comprises
steps
of receiving, by the computer processor, a health related question from the
users;
placing the question in a queue where all unanswered questions are sequenced
in reverse
chronological order; delegating questions prioritized by their queue orders to
verified
healthcare professional users who are licensed with good standing; and
displaying the
answers provided by said verified healthcare professional users together with
the
question.
In one embodiment, the method of providing quick and trustworthy answers
further comprises processing and associating the question with the topic tags
or system
ID to organize the questions based on content.
In another embodiment, the method of providing quick and trustworthy answers
further comprises a step to present the user with existing similar questions
in the system
before the user submits the question.
In another embodiment, the method of providing quick and trustworthy answers
further comprises delegating the questions only to the qualified healthcare
professional
with good standing.
In another embodiment, the healthcare professional users' files are completely
transparent and viewable to other users. These healthcare professional users
can be the
healthcare professional users who provide answers or healthcare professional
users who
agree with the answers provided by others.
In another embodiment, the present disclosure provides a system for generating
a
system for providing quick and trustworthy answers to health information. In
one
embodiment, such computer-implemented system comprises steps of receiving, by
the
computer processor, a health related question from the users; placing the
question in a
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queue where all unanswered questions are sequenced in reverse chronological
order;
delegating questions prioritized by their queue orders to verified healthcare
professional
users who are licensed with good standing; and displaying the answers provided
by said
verified healthcare professional users together with the question.
In another embodiment, the present invention provides one or more computer-
readable storage media embodying software operable when executed by one or
more
computer systems to perform: receiving, by the computer processor, a health
related
question from the users; placing the question in a queue where all unanswered
questions
are sequenced in reverse chronological order; delegating questions prioritized
by their
queue orders to verified healthcare professional users who are licensed with
good
standing; and displaying the answers provided by said verified healthcare
professional
users together with the question.
In another embodiment, the present disclosure provides a computer-implemented
method for facilitating virtual consultations between a patient and a
healthcare
professional, comprising the steps of: receiving, by a virtual consultation
application
hosted at least partially on a server, a request to initiate a virtual
consultation from a
patient using a patient computer device; receiving, by the virtual
consultation
application, information input by the patient relating to the patient's reason
for the
consultation; receiving, by the virtual consultation application, attachment
information
.. provided from the patient computer device; locating a healthcare
professional available
to provide a virtual consultation via a healthcare professional computer
device accessing
the virtual consultation application; and providing, by the virtual
consultation
application, a communications interface for virtual consultation between the
patient and
the healthcare professional, wherein the communications interface facilitates
at least one
of: video, audio and chat communications.
In yet another embodiment, the present disclosure provides a system for
virtual
healthcare consultations, the system including a virtual consultation
application, hosted
at least partially on a server and electronically accessible over at least one
network
system to at least one patient computer device and at least one healthcare
professional
computer device. The virtual consultation application is configured to:
receive a request
to initiate a virtual consultation from a patient using the at least one
patient computer
device; receive infolitiation input by the patient relating to the patient's
reason for the
consultation; receive attachment infotniation provided from the patient
computer device;
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locate a healthcare professional available to provide a virtual consultation
via the at least
one healthcare professional computer device accessing the virtual consultation
application; and provide a communications interface for virtual consultation
between the
patient and the healthcare professional, wherein the communications interface
facilitates
at least one of: video, audio and chat communications.
In yet another embodiment, the present disclosure provides a non-transitory
computer readable medium containing instructions for providing a method for
facilitating virtual consultations between a patient and a healthcare
professional enabled
at least in part on a processor of a computerized device, wherein a virtual
consultation
application is electronically accessible by the processor and is hosted at
least partially on
a server and electronically accessible over at least one network system to at
least one
patient computer device and at least one healthcare professional computer
device, the
instructions, which when executed by the processor, perfotnting the steps of:
receiving,
by the virtual consultation application, a request to initiate a virtual
consultation from a
patient using the at least one patient computer device; receiving, by the
virtual
consultation application, information input by the patient relating to the
patient's reason
for the consultation; receiving, by the virtual consultation application,
attachment
information provided from the patient computer device; locating a healthcare
professional available to provide a virtual consultation via the at least one
healthcare
professional computer device accessing the virtual consultation application;
and
providing, by the virtual consultation application, a communications interface
for virtual
consultation between the patient and the healthcare professional, wherein the
communications interface facilitates at least one of: video, audio and chat
communications.
The present disclosure also provides a computer-implanted method and system,
including non-transitory computer readable medium containing instructions for
connecting consumers with information and healthcare providers, via any
computer or
mobile device, to provide immediate access to relevant content or advice to
address any
health need, and to provide mechanisms (via five "Modules") for: scheduling
appointments (virtual or in person) ("Scheduling"), creating and storing and
adding
information from multiple sources (automatically or manually) to a personal
health
record ("PHR") accessing a database of health content ("Information"),
communicating
with healthcare providers (via text, audio, or video) ("Communication"),
accessing
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health related services, including testing and treatments ("Services"),
receiving health-
related support services ("Support"), connecting the PHR with Information,
Communication, Services and Support, and for paying for goods or services
under the
system ("Payment"); a system for connecting healthcare providers with
consumers for
Scheduling, providing, evaluating, and responding to Content, interacting with
consumers via Communication, facilitating and providing Services, and
facilitating and
providing Support, for improving the delivery or evaluation of Information,
Communication, Services and Support by the connection of these elements to a
PHR,
and for facilitating and receiving Payment; a system for organizations
responsible for
providing or coordinated health information or health care services to
facilitate access to
or delivery of Scheduling, Information, Communication, Services and Payment,
and for
connecting Information, Communication, Services and Support to a PHR and using
the
PHR to improve the quality of health information and care and support through
access to
and augmenting the PHR.
The present disclosure can also be viewed as providing methods of facilitating
medical consultations between a patient and a healthcare professional located
remote
from the patient. In this regard, one embodiment of such a method, among
others, can be
broadly summarized by the following steps: receiving, by a virtual
consultation
application hosted at least partially on a server, a request to initiate a
medical
consultation from a patient using a patient computer device; receiving, by the
virtual
consultation application, information input by the patient relating to a
health inquiry of
the patient; identifying a healthcare professional based on the information
input by the
patient relating to the health inquiry; and facilitating communication between
the patient
and the healthcare professional by connecting the patient computer device with
a
healthcare professional computer device for a consultation, wherein at least
one
electronic message is communicated from the healthcare professional computer
device to
the patient computer device, wherein the at least one electronic message is
related to the
health inquiry during the consultation and to a recommendation for treatment
by
healthcare professional recommendation after the consultation.
In one aspect of this embodiment, the method further comprises providing the
patient with a summary of the communication between the patient and the
healthcare
professional after completion of the consultation, wherein the summary further
comprises an electronic message communicated to the patient computer device.
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In another aspect of this embodiment, the facilitated communication between
the
patient and the healthcare professional further comprises at least one of a
text-based
electronic message, a video communication, and an audible communication.
In yet another aspect of this embodiment, prior to facilitation communication
between the patient and the healthcare professional, the healthcare
professional accesses
a personal health record of the patient.
In this aspect, the healthcare professional accesses the personal health
record of
the patient electronically on the computer healthcare professional computer
device.
In another aspect of this embodiment, the method further comprises connecting,
by the virtual consultation application, the patient to at least one of a lab
test provider
and a pharmacy after completion of the consultation.
In another aspect of this embodiment, the method further comprises engaging
the
patient with the virtual consultation application after completion of the
consultation by at
least one of: communicating an automated checklist to the patient;
communicating a
newsletter to the patient; communicating a healthcare professional's treatment
recommendations to the patient with at least one of: a scheduled notification
and a
reminder; and communicating a survey to the patient.
In yet another aspect of this embodiment, identifying the healthcare
professional
based on the information input by the patient relating to the health inquiry
further
.. comprises selecting, by the patient, the healthcare professional from a
directory of
healthcare professionals, wherein the patient is presented with identifying
information
and a reputation score of the healthcare professional on a display of the
patient computer
device.
The present disclosure can also be viewed as providing a computer-implemented
system for facilitating medical consultations between a patient and a
healthcare
professional located remote from the patient. Briefly described, in
architecture, one
embodiment of the system, among others, can be implemented as follows. A
virtual
consultation application is hosted at least partially on a server and
electronically
accessible over at least one network system to at least one patient computer
device and at
least one healthcare professional computer device. The virtual consultation
application is
configured to: receive a request to initiate a medical consultation from a
patient using a
patient computer device; receive information input by the patient relating to
a health
inquiry of the patient; identify a healthcare professional based on the
information input
by the patient relating to the health inquiry and a reputation score of the
healthcare
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professional; and facilitate communication between the patient and the
healthcare
professional by connecting the patient computer device with a healthcare
professional
computer device for a consultation, wherein at least one electronic message is
communicated from the healthcare professional computer device to the patient
computer
device relating to the health inquiry during the consultation, and at least
one electronic
message is communicated from the healthcare professional computer device to
the
patient computer device relating to a recommendation of the healthcare
professional for
treatment after the consultation.
In one aspect of this embodiment, the virtual consultation application is
further
configured to provide the patient with a summary of the communication between
the
patient and the healthcare professional after completion of the consultation,
wherein the
summary further comprises an electronic message communicated to the patient
computer
device.
In another aspect of this embodiment, the facilitated communication between
the
patient and the healthcare professional further comprises at least one of a
text-based
electronic message, a video communication, and an audible communication.
In another aspect of this embodiment, prior to facilitation communication
between the patient and the healthcare professional, the healthcare
professional has
access to a personal health record of the patient.
In this aspect, the healthcare professional has access to the personal health
record
of the patient electronically on the computer healthcare professional computer
device.
In another aspect of this embodiment, the virtual consultation application is
further configured to connect the patient to at least one of a lab test
provider and a
pharmacy after completion of the consultation.
In another aspect of this embodiment, the virtual consultation application is
further configured to engage the patient with the virtual consultation
application after
completion of the consultation by at least one of: communicate an automated
checklist to
the patient; communicate a newsletter to the patient; communicate a healthcare
professional's treatment recommendations to the patient with at least one of:
a scheduled
notification and a reminder; and communicate a survey to the patient.
In another aspect of this embodiment, the healthcare professional is
identified by
the patient selecting the healthcare professional from a directory of
healthcare
professionals, wherein the patient is presented with identifying information
and a
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reputation score of the healthcare professional on a display of the patient
computer
device.
The present disclosure can also be viewed as providing a computer-implemented
method of triaging a health-related inquiry on a computer-implemented virtual
consultation application. In this regard, one embodiment of such a method,
among
others, can be broadly summarized by the following steps: inputting at least
one
symptom of a patient into the virtual consultation application; asking the
patient at least
one question relating to the at least one input symptom; making a probability
condition
report having at least one probable condition of the patient based on the at
least one
symptom and an answer to the at least one question; and making a triaged
recommendation to the patient based on the at least one probable condition,
wherein the
triaged recommendation instructs the patient to do at least one of: review
existing
information in a medical knowledge database; ask a question to a network of
healthcare
professionals; initiate in a text-based electronic message communication with
a
healthcare professional; initiate in a video chat communication with the
healthcare
professional; seek advice of a referral healthcare professional; and seek
emergency
medical care.
In one aspect of this embodiment, the method further comprises transmitting
the
probability condition report of the patient to the healthcare professional
prior to the
patient initiating the text-based electronic message communication or the
video chat
communication with the healthcare professional.
In this aspect, a personal health record of the patient is accessed by the
healthcare
professional prior to engaging in the text-based electronic message
communication or the
video chat communication with the patient.
In another aspect of this embodiment, inputting at least one symptom of the
patient into the virtual consultation application further comprises:
displaying to the
patient a diagram of a human body on a computer device of the patient; and
touching, by
the patient, a location on the diagram of the human body, wherein the location
corresponds to a location of the at least one symptom on the patient.
Other systems, methods, features, and advantages of the present disclosure
will
be or become apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the
following
drawings and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional
systems,
methods, features, and advantages be included within this description, be
within the
scope of the present disclosure, and be protected by the accompanying claims.
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Many aspects of the invention can be better understood with reference to the
following drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily to
scale,
emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the
present
invention. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate
corresponding
parts throughout the several views.
Figure 1 is a schematic illustration of a healthcare professional evaluation
system,
in accordance with a first exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.
Figure 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for evaluating a healthcare
professional, in accordance with the first exemplary embodiment of the
disclosure.
Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating components of an example of a system in
accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.
Figure 4 illustrates a Voting Page presented to the users to vote for a
doctor, in
accordance with embodiments provided by the disclosure.
Figure 5 illustrates one example of a Voting Result Delivering Page where
certain related content can also be delivered along with the Voting Result, in
accordance
with embodiments provided by the disclosure.
Figure 6 is a schematic illustration of a system for providing answers to user-
submitted questions, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.
Figure 7 is a flowchart illustrating a method for providing answers to user-
submitted questions, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.
Figure 8 illustrates a webpage or other graphical user interface (the
"Question
Presentation Page") presented to doctors, in accordance with embodiments of
the present
disclosure.
Figure 9 illustrates a webpage or other graphical user interface (the "Answer
Presentation Page") which is accessible by any user of the system, in
accordance with
embodiments of the present disclosure.
Figure 10 is a schematic illustration of a system for virtual healthcare
consultations, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.
Figure 11 diagrammatically illustrates the relationship between payors
(organizations) (optional), doctors (health care providers), and patients and
the
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Information, Engagement and Communication modules in accordance with an
embodiment of the present disclosure.
Figure 12 diagrammatically demonstrates the interconnectivity of the different
modules in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
Figure 13A diagrammatically illustrates a health triaging system in accordance
with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
Figure. 13B is a diagrammatical illustration of the Symptom Triage Experience
of FIG. 13A, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
Figure 14 is a diagrammatical illustration that demonstrates the
interconnectivity
of the different modules in accordance with an embodiment of the present
disclosure.
Figures 15 and 16 are images of a user interface on a mobile electronic device
of
the library database of Figures 12 and 14 in accordance with an embodiment of
the
present disclosure.
Figure 17 is an image of a user interface on a mobile electronic device of the
communication component of the system, as shown in Figures 12 and 14 in
accordance
with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
Figure 18 is an image of a user interface on a mobile electronic device of the
directory of the system, as shown in Figures 12 and 14 in accordance with an
embodiment of the present disclosure.
Figure 19 is an image of a user interface on a mobile electronic device of the
system and how it can interface with other electronic devices, in accordance
with an
embodiment of the present disclosure.
In the following detailed description of the invention, numerous specific
details
are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the
invention.
However, one skilled in the art may practice the present invention with
variation of the
following details. In addition, some well-known features have not been
described in
detail in this description to avoid unnecessarily complicating the
description.
Many embodiments of the disclosure may take the form of computer-executable
instructions, including algorithms executed by a programmable computer.
However, the
disclosure can be practiced with other computer system configurations as well.
Certain
aspects of the disclosure can be embodied in a special-purpose computer or
data
processor that is specifically programmed, configured or constructed to
perform one or
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more of the computer-executable algorithms described below. Accordingly, the
term
"computer" as generally used herein refers to any data processor and includes
Internet
appliances, hand-held devices (including palm-top computers, wearable
computers,
cellular or mobile phones, multi-processor systems, processor-based or
programmable
consumer electronics, network computers, minicomputers) and the like.
The disclosure also can be practiced in distributed computing environments,
where tasks or modules are performed by remote processing devices that are
linked
through a communications network. Moreover, the disclosure can be practiced in
Internet-based or cloud computing environments, where shared resources,
software and
.. information may be provided to computers and other devices on demand. In a
distributed computing environment, program modules or subroutines may be
located in
both local and remote memory storage devices. Aspects of the disclosure
described
below may be stored or distributed on computer-readable media, including
magnetic and
optically readable and removable computer disks, fixed magnetic disks, floppy
disk
drive, optical disk drive, magneto-optical disk drive, magnetic tape, hard-
disk drive
(FIDD), solid state drive (SSD), compact flash or non-volatile memory, as well
as
distributed electronically over networks including the cloud. Data structures
and
transmissions of data particular to aspects of the disclosure are also
encompassed within
the scope of the disclosure.
While the present disclosure is described with particular respect to doctors
and/or
medical professionals, the present disclosure is not limited for use in any
particular
profession or area of expertise; rather, the systems and methods provided
herein may be
advantageously employed for use by other professionals or persons having
particular
expertise in any given field. For example, professionals in various fields may
employ
the systems and methods provided herein, including, lawyers, professors,
accountants,
contractors, bankers and so on.
The present invention provides systems and methods to evaluate healthcare
professionals by assigning a healthcare professional an overall value
(hereinafter referred
to as "Reputation Score" for convenience and clarity, but such name does not
limit the
overall value to a numeric value). The system providing such a Reputation
Score can be
called "Healthcare Professional Evaluation System."
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The Reputation Score has two components: Profile Data Value and Feedback
Data Value. The Profile Data Value is computed based on information regarding
a
healthcare professional's merits (for example, the medical school,
publications, years of
experience, etc.). The Feedback Data Value is computed based on the feedback
and
endorsement the healthcare professional obtained from other healthcare
professional
users and/or patient users (for example, the answer to a health question
provided by this
healthcare professional is endorsed by other healthcare professionals).
The Reputation Score can be the sum of Profile Data Value and the Feedback
Data Value. The Profile Data Value can be the raw Profile Data points or a
converted
value of the Profile Data points. The Feedback Data can be a weighed value of
the raw
Feedback Data points. The Reputation Score positively reflects each healthcare
professional's overall standing based on merits and the recognition obtained
from peers
and patients. The Reputation Score gives patients a way to understand each
healthcare
professional's qualifications, knowledge of medical practices, and the quality
of their
engagement with patients or other medical professions. The patient users
therefore can
fmd and select professionals based on their trusted evaluations.
An important aspect of the present invention is that the present system or
method
is used to evaluate a healthcare professional who is certified or licensed in
real life. All
the healthcare professionals are presented in the social network in their real
identity. The
professional or practicing records can be obtained from public domain, as well
as can be
input by the healthcare professional himself/herself. Such professional or
practicing
records are accessible to all users and can be stored in the system or the
server.
The Profile Data comprises a plurality of attributes indicative of
professional
qualification and performance. After receiving the Profile Data, the Profile
Data
Calculation module (which may include or be facilitated by a computer
processor)
recognizes the categories of the above profile data or information and assigns
them to
corresponding attributes (for example, the medical school information will be
assigned to
the attribute of Education Factor). The computer either assigns a value based
on the
information under certain attributes, or treats the information as variables
of a
predesigned function to calculate the value under certain attributes. Value
obtained from
all the attributes are added and the sum value is called Raw Profile Data
Value.
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In one embodiment, the attributes chosen to reflect professional qualification
and
performance comprise: Education Factor, Training Factor, Board Certification
Factor,
Experience Factor, Publication Factor, Editorial Position Factor, Academic
Appointment
Factor, Referral Factor, Achievements and Awards Factor, Board Discipline
Factor,
.. Conference Attendance Factor, Professional Society Participation Factor,
Hospital
Affiliation Factor, and the like. However, the above listed factors are not
exhaustive.
Persons skilled in the art can adjust the above factors by either adding new
factors which
they believe contribute to the performance, reputation and the practicing
skills of the
physician, or deleting some factors if such factors are considered less
relevant.
The second component of the Reputation Score is Feedback Data Value. Raw
Feedback Data value is obtained based on the feedback information of an
individual
healthcare professional's engagement with other users of the system (e.g.
other
healthcare professionals or patients users). Such feedbacks are quantified by
the
computer processor. Such feedbacks may be provided from the patient users or
from
.. peer healthcare professional users. In one embodiment, the feedback
information from
the patient users comprise: being followed by a patient in a social network,
being
recommended by a patient user, being added by a patient as the patient's
physician,
being thanked by a patient for an answer to a health related question, or such
answer
being shared by the patient with friends by Email, SMS, push notification, or
on third
.. party social network (e.g. Facebook or Twitter), being requested by the
patient to make
an appointment (for a doctor office visit), being voted by a patient for
having knowledge
relevant to a specific topic.
The feedbacks or recognitions obtained from other peer healthcare professional
users may be given more weight and can be assigned a higher value than for
feedback
.. obtained from patients. Feedback (and the resulting Feedback Data value)
can explicitly
include expert endorsements, namely that of other eredentialed physicians, or
may
include other endorsements where it is relevant. For example, if other
healthcare
professionals send a message to a healthcare professional, other healthcare
professionals
refer the healthcare professional's answer to other users or refer a question
to the
.. healthcare professional, other healthcare professionals add the healthcare
professional to
his or her own network, other healthcare professionals agree with answers
created by the
healthcare professional, or other healthcare professionals recommended the
healthcare
professional on the network, higher value points will be allocated to the
healthcare
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professional. Further, an endorsement made by one physician to another
physician, both
of whom practice in the same field of medicine, may be more reliable than
endorsements
from a physician who does practice within the same field. Values derived from
the
feedback and endorsement stated above are added together counted toward the
Reputation Score as a second component, Feedback Data value.
Again, the feedbacks and endorsements listed above are not exhaustive. Persons
skilled in the art can either add more feedback and endorsement data when they
believe
such feedback contributes to the performance, knowledge, credibility or
practicing skills
of the healthcare professionals. Or they can delete some of the above listed
feedback
data entries for being less relevant.
The raw Feedback Data Value can be a sum of the values assigned to each
countable activity reflecting the value of the healthcare professional's
engagement. Or
such value can be calculated from functions assigned to the countable activity
based on
variables that affect such countable activity. The value or the function
assigned to each
feedback are not limited to the examples provided in the embodiments. Persons
skilled
in the art can assign different value to each feedback data entry. Persons
skilled in the
art can also design different functions to calculate the value of each
feedback since they
may believe certain variables should be given different weight, or other
variables should
be added to such a function to compute the value of the said feedback data.
Even though
such modified calculation may result in a different sum value, they are
nonetheless
covered by this invention because these calculations all reflect similar
evaluation /
consideration of the feedback or endorsement on the healthcare professional's
engagement with other healthcare professionals and patients.
However, the value derived from the feedback data is not static. It will
decrease
with inactivity. To avoid a decrease, the healthcare professional must engage
in the
activities at a rate earning more points than the minimum participation points
required.
The healthcare professional can also restore value derived from the feedback
by
reengagement. Therefore, the second component of the Reputation Score, the raw
feedback data value is scaled by contemporary nature. It reflects the current
feedback of
the healthcare professional's present knowledge.
Both the Profile Data and the Feedback Data Value can be converted into a
smaller range numeric value for easy understanding. In one embodiment, the
Profile
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Data is set within range 50-85, and the Feedback Data value is set within
range 0-20.
The conversion functions for Profile Data and Feedback Data can be different
segmented
linear functions of their respective raw data. Thus, the Reputation Score can
be
calculated to a range 0-100. However, the system can set a maximum value for
the
Reputation Score. For example, in one example, the maximum value of Reputation
Score is 99.
Figure 1 is a schematic illustration of a healthcare professional evaluation
system
100 (which may be referred to hereinafter as 'system 100'), in accordance with
a first
exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 1, the
system
includes multiple components such as a web server 106, a Healthcare
professional
evaluation application 102, and a data storage media 104. These components are
described below and may be located on the same device (e.g. a server,
mainframe,
desktop Personal Computer (PC), laptop, mobile device (smart phone or tablet),
Personal
Digital Assistant (PDA), telephone, mobile phone kiosk, cable box, and any
other
device) or may be located on separate devices connected by a network (e.g. the
internet,
or the cloud infrastructure), with wired and/or wireless segments. Those
skilled in the art
will appreciate that there may be more than one data storage media 104 and
healthcare
professional evaluation application 102 running on a device.
The healthcare professional evaluation application 102 may be fully or
partially
hosted on the server 106, and electronically accessible over at least one
network system
108. The network system 108 may include any type of network infrastructure,
such as
the Internet, or any other wired, wireless and/or partially wired network. The
server 106,
application 102 and network system 108 may include a variety of hardware and
software
components to provide successful functioning of the server 106 and the
application 102,
as is well-known within the art. Further, any features, characteristics,
designs and/or
functions that are known within the art may be included with the system 100 to
further
enhance its efficiency. The application 102 may include any computer-readable
memory
or databases, which may be stored in any computer-readable medium, and may be
accessible by a computer processor. The application 102 may further include or
access
computer program instructions which may cause a processor to perform any
algorithms
and/or functions described in this disclosure. The healthcare professional
evaluation
application 102 may include or have access to a Profile Data Calculation
Module 103
and a Feedback Data Calculation Module 105.
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The system may further include one or more patient computer devices 110 and
one or more healthcare professional computer devices 120. The patient computer
devices 110 and healthcare professional computer devices 120 may be any
computerized
devices capable of communicating with the application 102, for example via a
network
system 108. The one or more patient computer device 110 may be operated by a
patient
user of the system 100, and the one or more healthcare professional computer
devices
120 may be operated by any healthcare professional (or other professional),
such as a
primary care physician, medical doctor, nurse, medical staff or other medical
professional, or any representative thereof.
The data storage media 104 is a computer-readable storage medium, which may
be any device or medium that can store code and/or data for use by a computer
system.
This includes, but not limited to, volatile memory, non-volatile memory,
magnetic and
optical storage devices such as disk drives, magnetic tape, CDs (compact
discs), DVDs
(digital versatile discs or digital video discs), or other media capable of
storing
computer-readable media now known or later developed. The data storage media
104
may store healthcare professionals' profile information which may be included
and
accessible for display to users within the system 100 as webpage profiles for
the
healthcare professionals.
As shown in Figure 1, data for the healthcare professional evaluation system
100
may be provided from public domain, third party, existing database and stored
data on
the web server 106. Users of patient devices 110 and users of healthcare
professional
devices 120 may further input data for use by the system 100. After the
Healthcare
Professional Evaluation Application 102 receives these data, it will process
such data and
produce a value based on the data. Such value can be numeric, in percentage,
or in other
form. Any form may be utilized to present such value.
Figure 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for evaluating a healthcare
professional, in accordance with the first exemplary embodiment of the present
disclosure. The method may be performed or facilitated using the Healthcare
Professional Evaluation System 100 shown in Figure 1. The application 102
receives
profile data either from public domain data (which may be referred to herein
as "third
party data element") or from the healthcare professional's own input (e.g.,
using
healthcare professional device 120). The application 102 receives the feedback
or
endorsement data regarding the healthcare professional's activities through
patient
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devices 110, healthcare professional devices 120 (e.g., as input to the
application 102
through the web server 106).
The Profile Data of a plurality of attributes indicative of professional
qualification and perfoimance are processed by the Profile Data Calculation
Module 103
(STEP 202). The Profile Data Value can be a sum value (STEP 204) derived from
the
factors related to professional qualification and performance. For example,
factors taken
into consideration can include: Education Factor, Training Factor, Board
Certification
Factor, Experience Factor, Publication Factor, Editorial Position Factor,
Academic
Appointment Factor, Referral Factor, Achievements and Awards Factor, Board
Discipline Record Factor, Conference Attendance Factor, Professional Society
Participation Factor, Hospital Affiliation Factor and so on. Different weights
and/or
values are assigned to these factors and the sum of all the result values of
each factor
constitutes the Raw Profile Data Value. However, these factors are not an
exhaustive
list, and many other factors May be considered when such factors contribute to
or are
indicative of the perfoimance or reputation and the practicing skills of the
healthcare
professional.
In addition, the value or the function assigned to each factor are not limited
to the
examples presented in the embodiments. Persons skilled in the art will readily
understand that different values may be assigned to each feedback data and
associated
factors or attributes. As such, functions to calculate the value of each
attribute as
provided herein may be adjusted such that different variables or factors are
given
different weight, or other variables are added to such a function to compute
the said
attribute. Even though such modified calculation may result in a different sum
value,
they are nonetheless contemplated by the present disclosure, as such
calculations rely on
the evaluation methods of the healthcare professional's merits as provided
herein.
In one embodiment, the Education Factor is a function of the ranking of the
medical school the healthcare professional graduated from. The function can
take into
consideration the school's clinical ranking and the research ranking. Every
medical
school the healthcare professional has attended contributes to this factor.
The school's
clinical ranking and research ranking can be obtained from public information
available
via the internet or provided by third party data, or may exist in a database
on the web
server 106 or data storage media 104 of the system 100, as long as the ranking
is
reputable and is applied consistently to all the healthcare professionals.
However,
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persons skilled in the art will readily understand from the present disclosure
that other
variables which contribute to the medical school's reputation may be included
to modify
the functions presented herein (e.g. the publications of the school's faculty)
and thus
affect the result value of the Education Factor. Also, the healthcare
professional's
academic performance during his/her study can be a variable affecting the
result value of
the Education Factor as well.
In one embodiment, the Training Factor is a function of the ranking of the
residency hospital and the degree the healthcare professional obtained (for
example, if
the medical profession obtained a Doctorate in addition to MD or DO or MBBS or
DDS
or DMD, more points will be allocated). Again, some other factors can be taken
into
consideration and become variables of the function as long as such factors
affect the
reputation of the residency program or the credibility of the degree.
In one embodiment, the Board Certification Factor is a sum value of each Board
Certificate the healthcare professional has obtained. Either a fixed value or
a function
can be assigned to each Board Certification record. Factors like how long ago
the
healthcare professional obtained such certificate can affect the value of the
Board
Certification Factor.
In one embodiment, the Experience Factor is a function of the years the
healthcare professional has been practicing. Therefore, facts like that the
healthcare
professional has suspended his practice for a period of time can be taken into
consideration and be a variable in a function. A maximum value can be set to
avoid
overweighing this (or any other) factor.
In one embodiment, the Publication Factor is a function of the reputation of
the
journals or periodicals where the healthcare professional published his work.
The
variables included in such a function can be the ranking of the journals or
periodicals and
the numbers of articles the healthcare professional has published. Such
publications can
be obtained either from public domain, or input by the healthcare professional
himself
For the healthcare professional input infoiniation, the PubMed identifier or
similar
identifier of the publication may be required.
In one embodiment, the Editorial Position Factor is a function of the ranking
of
the Journal where the healthcare professional serves as an editor and the
level of the
editorial position the healthcare professional has been serving. For example,
if a medical
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professional has been an editor or associate editor of a PubMed-indexed
journal, he will
obtain a higher value in Editorial Position Factor than serving on an advisory
board, or
be a reviewer at such a journal.
In one embodiment, the Academic Appointment Factor is a function of the level
of the academic appointment position the medical profession has taken and the
rank of
the institution the healthcare professional serves his appointment. The higher
level, for
example, being a Chair of a Department at a top medical school will earn the
medical
professional a much higher value.
In one embodiment, the Referral Information Factor is a function of the number
of times the healthcare professional is referred and the qualification of the
other
healthcare professionals who referred this healthcare professional. This
information can
be obtained from public domain and/or from the server 106 (e.g., as referral
information
may be input to the system 100 by referring healthcare professionals using
healthcare
professional devices 120 and accessible by the server 106).
In one embodiment, the Achievements and Awards Factor is a function of the
credibility of each achievement and award. The variables can include: how well
the
award is recognized by peers, the recency of the award, the number of the
awards the
healthcare professional has obtained. Sometimes, a predetermined value can be
assigned
to each achievement or award. Therefore, the Achievements and Awards Factor
can
simply be a sum value of points assigned to each award the healthcare
professional
achieved. For example, if the healthcare professional has been listed in a
selected doctor
directory, a predetermined value will be added toward the Achievements and
Awards
Factor. Or if the healthcare professional has been awarded the best doctor in
2013 in a
city or town, a higher predetermined value may be added toward the
Achievements and
Awards Factor.
In one embodiment, the Professional Society Participation Factor is a function
of
the credibility of each society the healthcare professional has joined. The
variables can
include: how reputable the professional society is viewed among peers, the
size of such
professional society, and the number of the professional societies the
healthcare
professional has joined.
In one embodiment, the Hospital Affiliation Factor is a function of the
ranking of
the hospital and number of the hospitals the healthcare professional has been
affiliated
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with. Such hospital's ranking can be found in public domain as long as the
ranking is
reputable and consistently applied on each healthcare professional.
Other such factors and profile data relevant to attributes indicative of a
healthcare
professional's qualifications and perfoimance may be included in the
formulations
provided herein for obtaining a value reflective of a healthcare
professional's overall
merits and standing.
In one embodiment, the Profile Data Calculation Module 103 includes an
authentication tool which allows the healthcare professional to authenticate
his/her own
profile data, and such authentication can be reflected in the Profile Data
Value. For
example, a multiplier (for example, 1.1-1.8) can be assigned to the value of
each attribute
validated or verified by the healthcare professional himself Alternatively,
certain points
can be allocated to the healthcare professional if the healthcare professional
validates the
profile data.
The Feedback Data derived from feedback or endorsement reflects recognition
and evaluation from peer healthcare professionals and patients. It also
reflects how
appreciative the community has been of their advice. The Feedback Data is
processed by
Feedback Data Calculation Module 105 (STEP 208). In one embodiment, the
Feedback
Data Value is calculated as follows:
Feedback Data Value¨Raw Feedback Data Points * Time Factor.
The Feedback Data Value indicates the quality, quantity, and recency of the
healthcare professional's engagement with other healthcare professionals and
patients.
Raw Feedback Data increases incrementally with each new unit of engagement
that
indicates quality. For example, if the healthcare professional provides an
answer to a
question asked by a patient and the patient shows appreciation (e.g. by
sending
appreciation message, or by recommending the answer to other people), points
or value
will be allocated to the healthcare professional. Further, if this answer is
recognized by
other peer healthcare professionals, more points will be allocated to the
answer provider.
More specifically, a value or a function may be assigned to each of the
feedback
data which may then be summed, resulting in a value for raw Feedback Data
Points. For
example, the feedback data may include: the number of times a healthcare
professional is
"followed" within the system 100 by other patient users or other healthcare
professional
users, the number of recommendations the healthcare professional obtained from
patients
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or healthcare professional users, the number of times being added as other
patient users'
own healthcare provider (e.g., physician), the number of office visit
appointments the
healthcare professional obtained through the system 100, the number of votes
from other
users for knowing a specific topic, the number of thanks from patient users of
the system
100 the healthcare professional obtained for answering a question or providing
some
medical issue related content, the number of times the answer provided by the
healthcare
professional is shared by patients or other healthcare professional users with
others
outside of the system 100, for example, by Email or through third party social
networks
(e.g. Facebook or Twitter). Answers provided by healthcare professionals in
the system
100 may be shareable with such outside users through any known technique,
including
for example, by embedding tools in the pages displaying answers for emailing,
republishing and sharing via social networks (e.g., "email this answer," share
on
Facebook, "Like" on Facebook, "Tweet" the answer on Twitter, etc.).
However, the recognition obtained from other peer healthcare professionals
(e.g.,
doctors) may be given a higher value than for feedback obtained from patients.
For
example, if other healthcare professionals send a message to a healthcare
professional to
ask questions, other healthcare professionals referred the healthcare
professional's
answer to other users or refer a question to the healthcare professional,
other healthcare
professionals added the healthcare professional to their own network (e.g., by
"following," or adding to their network of healthcare professionals on the
system 100),
other healthcare professionals agree with the healthcare professional's
answer, or other
healthcare professionals recommend the healthcare professional on the system
100, a
higher value can be assigned to the healthcare professional. This list is not
exhaustive.
Other such feedback or endorsement reflecting the quality of the healthcare
professional's activities may be considered and included in the computation of
Feedback
Data Value.
Updating profile by the healthcare professional can add value to the feedback
data as well. However, this engagement is not recognition from others.
Nonetheless,
such an action can be given a value and count toward the Feedback Data Value
to
encourage a healthcare professional to update his file and to improve the
communication
between the healthcare professionals and the patients.
However, in one embodiment, the Raw Feedback Data will decrease with
inactivity. In such a case, the final Feedback Data may be obtained by
multiplying Raw
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Feedback Data with a Time Factor. In this way, the Feedback Data can reflect
the
current knowledge or responsiveness of the healthcare professional. A rate of
fall can be
set and a minimum participation points per day can be set to make the Feedback
Data
Value maintainable. If a healthcare professional keeps inactive for a certain
period of
time, the Feedback Data will decrease, which will lead the overall Reputation
Score
decrease. In order to avoid a decrease of the score, the healthcare
professional must
engage activities within the system 100 with other peer healthcare
professional and
patient users at a rate earning more points than the minimum participation
points
required for each day.
If the healthcare professional user remains current on the system 100, then
all
previous content decays at a steady slow rate that is more than offset by
ongoing activity.
When the healthcare professional user becomes inactive, a more rapid,
reversible decay
in the value occurs. This decay is reversed when the physician reengaged and
generates
more points through activity on the site. The time decay for inactivity can be
set for a
sudden drop for the first short period of time, then less value will be lost
gradually over
the following longer period of time. The physician can restore the score by re-
engagement.
After the Profile Data Calculation Module 103 and Feedback Data Calculation
Module 105 compute the Profile Data Value and the Feedback Data Value (Raw
Feedback Data Value * Time Factor), an overall value, also referred to as
Reputation
Score, is obtained (STEP 212). If any data entry changes, the system /
computer
processor will detect the change and recalculate the Reputation Score from the
beginning
(STEPS 216, 220). Before the next change is detected, the Reputation Score is
assigned
to the healthcare professional (STEP 214).
Those skilled in the art, having benefit of this detailed description, will
appreciate
that there will be many other uses for the physician evaluation system, and
that the
evaluation system may be applied to evaluate either other medical entities or
other
professional services (e.g. medical institutions, lawyers, and so forth.)
DEFINITIONS
The term "social network" is used herein to refer to any computing system that
allows users to communicate or otherwise interact with each other. The
healthcare
professional evaluation system 100 provided herein is a social network. For
example,
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such network can provide a platform for the communication and interaction
between
patient users and healthcare professionals. The patient users can ask
questions and
obtain answers from qualified healthcare professionals. The healthcare
professionals can
ask questions as well and obtain answers from other peer qualified healthcare
professionals. The patient users can upload their personal health information
documents
and share them with designated healthcare professionals. The patient can also
make
doctor visit appointments with designated healthcare professionals through the
system
100. In addition, the interaction between the patient users and the healthcare
professionals can be in any form carried out by the system 100. For example,
the patient
users can send "thank you" notes for answers provided by the healthcare
professionals,
the healthcare professionals can show "agree" to answers provided by other
peer
healthcare professionals. The ways of communication and interaction are not
limited to
the examples explicitly listed in the present disclosure.
The term "profile" is used herein to refer to a user's profile containing
pages
and/or information visible to the public generally, information that is
visible only to the
user herself, information visible only to users specified by the user,
information visible
as specified by the user, and information that may not be visible to other
users. In one
embodiment, in healthcare professionals' profiles, the information regarding
professional
and practicing records are open to all users. The users can learn a healthcare
professional's expertise and experience by viewing the content in the
healthcare
professional's profile. In a healthcare professional's profile; a user can
find not only the
registration and license information, but also information like the expertise,
the
geographic location, the publication, and even the answers to health related
questions the
healthcare professional has provided before. To the contrary, a patient user's
profile can
choose to be private and not viewable to other users. Only with the permission
from the
patient user, a healthcare professional can access the patient user's health
information or
the medical documents the patient uploaded.
Other factors or variables not specifically cited or referenced in the present
disclosure may also be included in the functions provided herein without
limiting the
scope of the claimed invention. Accordingly, other factors or variables may be
further
used to be part of the function to evaluate the healthcare professionals. It
should further
be noted that the present disclosure contemplates that weights indicated in
association
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with the various factors or variables may also be adjusted as additional
factors are added
or as necessary to provide a more accurate evaluation.
The term "patient," "patient user" or the like is used herein in a broad
meaning to
refer to any person or any entity seeking health information utilizing the
systems
provided herein. The patient can ask questions regarding any aspect of
healthcare. Any
patient can be the user of a social network.
The term "healthcare professional" is used herein to refer to any medical
practitioner providing healthcare services of any kind, or any kind of
services
appurtenant to healthcare. The healthcare professionals include any doctor,
group
practice, and/or any professional providing or capable of providing healthcare
services.
While the present disclosure presents exemplary embodiments with specific
reference to
"healthcare professionals" and "patients," the present invention is not so
limited; the
systems and methods herein may be employed by various other professionals and
potential users/clients, including lawyers/clients, teachers/students,
accountants/clients,
contractors or any other service providers and recipients thereof.
The term "doctor" is used herein in its broadest meaning to refer to any
medical
practitioner or healthcare professional providing healthcare services of any
kind, or any
kind of services appurtenant to healthcare. The plural form of doctors
includes any
doctor, group practice, any professional other than a physician providing or
capable of
providing healthcare services. Such a doctor can be a dentist, an optometrist,
a therapist,
a chiropractor, and anyone else who provides healthcare services to the user
within the
medical field.
The term "overall value" is used herein to refer to a value generated by a
computer processor based on the healthcare professional's professional
achievements,
qualifications and performance (i.e. Profile Data), and feedback and
endorsement (i.e.
Feedback Data) the healthcare professional received in the system 100. For
convenience, sometimes the overall value is also called "Reputation Score"
without
limiting the scope or meaning of the overall value to any specific formality.
The overall
value can be presented in numeric value, or in other prefefied form, such as
percentile,
letters, words, symbols, icons or the like. The overall value can be based on
a sum of the
raw value of Profile Data and the raw value of Feedback Data. The overall
value can
also be converted to a smaller numeric value (or any other form) for
presentation to users
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and ease of understanding. The overall value can be a segmented function to
the raw
value of Profile Data and of Feedback or Endorsement Data, separately or
collectively.
The term "Feedback Data Value" is used herein to refer to a weighed sum value
of all countable feedback or endorsement data (see Figure 2, STEP 208). The
accumulation is based on the feedback or the endorsement the healthcare
professional
received in the system 100. The Feedback Data Value decays slowly in the
absence of
new contributions.
The term "attributes indicative of professional qualification and performance"
is
used herein to refer to any consideration that contributes to the healthcare
professional's
performance in the healthcare field and is included in Profile Data. It may
include, but is
not limited to, board certification, education, practicing experience,
publications, referral
information, training, editorial positions, academic appointments, awards,
professional
society participation, board discipline record, the involvement in malpractice
litigation,
affiliation to a hospital, and other achievements and awards considerations.
This term is
not limited to the attributes listed above or in the embodiments. Persons
skilled in the art
will readily understand that other such considerations may contribute to the
healthcare
professional's qualification and professional performance and thus may be
included in
Profile Data.
The term "third_party" is used herein to include a patient, an insurance
company,
a healthcare organization, a professional organization, a government, and any
organization that collects or provides access to healthcare-related
information.
The scope of the invention is not limited to any of these definitions or to
specific
examples mentioned therein, but is intended to include the most general
concepts
embodied by these and other terms.
EXAMPLE: EVALUATING A HEALTHCARE PROVIDER BY PROVIDING A REPUTATION
SCORE
This example illustrates systems and methods to evaluate a healthcare provider
(e.g., a doctor) by assigning the healthcare provider a Reputation Score (in
numeric
value) based on the healthcare provider's professional achievements and the
engagement
recognized by patients and other peer healthcare providers. However, the
following
embodiment is only an exemplified application of the present invention, the
described
systems and methods below are completely applicable to other professionals
and/or
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service providers. The Reputation Score represents a healthcare provider's
overall
standing, based on merits and feedback from other healthcare providers and
patient
users. The Reputation Score has two components: Profile Data Value and
Feedback
Data Value. The Reputation Score can be calculated as follows:
Reputation Score = Profile Data Value + Feedback Data Value
The above Reputation Score can be obtained by either summing the raw Profile
Data Value and raw Feedback Data Value. Or, the Reputation Score can be a sum
of
weighed Profile Data Value and weighted Feedback Data Value. The weighted
Profile
Data Value and weighted Feedback Data Value can each be obtained through a
segmented linear function of the corresponding raw Profile Data Value and raw
Feedback Data Value respectively. In this example, the segmented linear
function is
designed to give the initial contributions (i.e., initial activity/interaction
in the system
100 by healthcare professionals) more weight to encourage the healthcare
professionals'
engagement. Once the Reputation Score reaches a certain predetermined level
(e.g., a
score of "70" out of a possible 99), the healthcare professional must
increasingly engage
in activities on the system 100 in order to gain successive points of the
Reputation Score.
I. Conversion of Raw Profile Data Points to Profile Data Value and the Raw
Feedback Data Points to Feedback Data Value
In this example, the Reputation Score is set to be in a range of 50-100 for
easy
understanding when provided to users. Within this rage, the Profile Data Value
is set to
contribute about 50-85 points, and the Feedback Data Value is set to
contribute about 0-
20 points. The functions for converting both Profile Data Value and the
Feedback Data
Value are not pure linear functions, but segmented linear functions. These
converting
functions are designed in a way that the initial accumulation of the points
takes less
effort than later phases. This approach will encourage the initial involvement
of the
healthcare professional users. However, as described below, when the Profile
Data
Value and Feedback Data Value are close to their full value, more efforts and
contribution is needed to bring the healthcare professional users to be among
the best
healthcare professional users (e.g. having the highest Reputation Score).
The Reputation Score may be limited by a maximum value. For example, the
sum of the raw Profile Data Points and the raw Feedback Points may have a
value which
would produce a corresponding converted Reputation Score that would exceed the
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maximum Reputation Score; however, if such maximum Reputation Score value is
set,
the following formula can be used to set up the maximum of the Reputation
Score (e.g.,
limiting the Reputation Score to a maximum of 99 points):
Reputation Score = Min (Profile Data Value + Feedback Data Value, 99)
The above mentioned functions converting the raw values to the weighted values
are not pure linear functions, but segmented linear functions, such that in
each successive
segment, proportionate increases in converted value (i.e. Profile Data Value
or Feedback
Data Value) require successively greater increases in raw values (i.e. raw
Profile Data
Value and raw Feedback Data Value). For example, a first linear segment may
correspond with a range of converted value from 55 to 60 and may require an
increase of
raw values (x) to produce an increase of one point converted value (e.g., from
55 to 56,
56 to 57, and so on up to 60). In a second linear segment (e.g., corresponding
with a
range of converted value from 60 to 70), increasing one point of converted
value (e.g.,
from 60 to 61, 61 to 62, and so on up to 70) may require some multiple of x
(A*x, where
A> 1), such as one and one-half times the increase of raw values (1.5x) as
required
within the first segment. Similarly, increasing one point of converted value
in a third
linear segment (e.g., corresponding with a range of converted value from 70 to
80) may
require an even greater multiple of x (B*x, where B > A), such as three times
the
increase of raw values (3x) as required within the first segment. Any number
of linear
segments, each corresponding to ranges of converted values, may be included.
Thus, the initial contributions (e.g., as supplied by a healthcare
professional's
initial interactivity within the system 100) may be weighted highest For
example, to
obtain the first points of the converted Reputation Score (e.g., starting from
50 and
increasing to 55), the healthcare professional may needs only a small increase
(e.g., 150
points) in raw score. The first few answers provided by the healthcare
professional in
the system 100 causes a rapid climb in Reputation Score. The climb in later
segments
(e.g., from 70 to 90) of the Reputation Score may require a modest effort by
the
healthcare professional to engage in activity on the system 100 (e.g.,
calibrated to about a
month of substantial engagement). The highest scores (e.g., scores above 90)
become
progressively more difficult to achieve, and may require significant effort
over a
prolonged period of time in engaging in activity on the system 100 ¨ a rise in
converted
Reputation Score from 95 to 99, for example, may require an increase of
800,000 points
of the Raw Reputation Score.
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The Raw Profile Data Points and the Raw Feedback Data Points may be
converted separately into Profile Data Value and Feedback Data Value. Then the
converted scores are added together to obtain the Reputation Score.
II: Calculation of Raw Profile Data Value
Since much of the healthcare professionals' qualification information is
public,
the Profile Data can be obtained from the public domain (also called "third
party" data
element) . Such information can be accessed and/or stored in the system 100
and to be
used match with the Profile Data information input by the healthcare
professional. The
Raw Profile Data Value is a sum of values calculated under each attribute
indicative of
professional qualification and performance. For example, such attributes can
include:
Education Factor, Training Factor, Board Certification Factor, Experience
Factor,
Publication Factor, Editorial Position Factor, Academic Appointment Factor,
Referral
Factor, Achievements and Awards Factor, Professional Society Participation
Factor,
Hospital Affiliation Factor. Different values and functions calculating such
values are
assigned to these factors and the sum of these points constitute the Raw
Profile Data
Score.
However, the above listed factors is not an exhaustive list, many other
factors
may be considered when such factors contribute to the performance or
reputation and the
practicing skills of the healthcare professional, for example, board
discipline record,
conference attendance and other such factors. A numeric value can be given to
some of
the above factors and be added to the Raw Profile Data Value. Persons skilled
in the art
can assign different numeric values to each of the above factors to obtain a
different sum
value, but reflects similar evaluation / consideration of the healthcare
professional's
merits.
in addition, different functions may be implemented to calculate the value of
each
attribute, as it may be desirable to include certain variables and weight them
differently.
Even though such modified calculation may result in a different sum value,
they are
nonetheless covered by this invention because these calculations all reflect
similar
evaluation / consideration of the healthcare professional's merits.
A healthcare professional may verify the Profile Data in the system 100, for
example, by signing into the healthcare professional's account in the system
100 using
healthcare professional computer device 120. By verifying the third party
element
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information, the healthcare professional can obtain an increased value or
weight (e.g.,
10%) assigned to each third party data element that has been verified as valid
by himself:
Raw Profile Data Score (for a doctor registered in the network) =
(1.1) * Raw Profile Data Score generated by the system before verification
The overall Raw Profile Data Value is a sum of the points calculated and added
by the
computer processor under each of the following parameters:
Raw Profile Data Score ¨ f (Education Factor) + f (Training Factor) + f (Board
Certification Factor) + f (Experience Factor) + f (Publication Factor) + f
(Editorial Position Factor) + f (Academic Appointment Factor) + f (Referral
Factor) + f (Achievements and Awards Factor) + f (Professional Society
Participation Factor) + f (Hospital Affiliation Factor).
1. The Education Factor:
In this example, the Education Factor is a function of the clinical ranking
and the
research ranking of the medical school the healthcare professional graduated
from.
Every medical school the healthcare professional has attended will contribute
to this
factor. The school's clinical ranking and research ranking can be obtained
from internet,
third party, or existing database on the web server 106 of the system 100, as
long as the
ranking is reputable and is applied consistently to all the healthcare
professionals. The
Education Factor can be calculated by the following formula:
Education Factor = [(A-clinical rank) * B + (A-research rank) * C]schooll + =
=
+ [(A-clinical rank) * B + (A-research rank) * C] School n
where, A = the number of ranked schools, or may be set to any fixed value,
B = a fixed weighting factor for the clinical ranking component of the
Education Factor, and
C ¨ a weight factor for the research ranking component of the Education
Factor.
A maximum number of points can be set to adjust the weight of the Education
factor, or
any other factor, in the overall Profile Data Value.
.. 2. Training Factor:
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In this example, the Training Factor is obtained by assigning value to each
residency, fellowship and degree that the doctor completed. The Training
Factor is
determined by the following formula:
Training Factor = completion of a residency (x points) + completion of a
fellowship (y points) + completion a Doctorate in addition to MD or DO or MBBS
or
DDS or DMD (z points).
The values assigned to the various components of this factor (e.g., x, y and
z) may be
adjusted to give different weight to different degrees and obtain a value
similarly
reflecting the training the healthcare professional obtained.
3. Board Certification Factor:
The Board Certification Factor can be a sum value of each Board Certificate
the
healthcare professional has obtained. Either a fixed value or a function can
be assigned
to each Board Certification record. Factors like how long ago the healthcare
professional
obtained such certificate can affect the value of the Board Certification
Factor. In one
example, if the healthcare professional obtained Board Certification from
American
Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) or American Optometric Association (AOA)
specialty, a specific number of points will be allocated. With specialty
certification, for
each additional certification, additional points will be given.
4. Experience Factor:
In this example, the Experience Factor is determined by years since the
healthcare
professional giaduated from medical school, or by years of active practice.
The formula
is as follows:
Experience Factor = Annual experience points * years since graduation
This factor can be assigned a maximum value to adjust its weight counting
toward
Personal Profile Data.
5. Publication Factor:
In this example, the Publication Factor is determined as follows:
Publication Factor ¨ u points * number of Peer-reviewed publications + v
points * number of additional publication
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A maximum value may be set for the Publication Factor. When the publication is
entered by the healthcare professional, a PMID may be required (PubMed
identifier or
PubMed unique identifier). The system 100 will update the publications of the
healthcare professional by frequently obtaining updates from public accessible
publication database.
6. Editorial Position Factor:
If a healthcare professional has been an editor or associate editor of a
PubMed-
indexed journal, a number of points are allocated. Further points may be
allocated for
being an advisory board of a PubMed-indexed journal and for being a reviewer
of a
PubMed-indexed journal.
7. Academic Appointments Factor:
If a healthcare professional has been an instructor at a medical school, a
number
of points may be allocated. Points may further be allocated for being a
faculty at a
medical school and for being a chair of Department at medical school.
8. Referral Factor:
The Referral Information Factor is a function of the number of times the
healthcare professional is referred and the qualification or reputation of the
other
healthcare professionals who referred the healthcare professional in real
life. Or certain
points can be given to each referral, and a sum of the points will be the
value for this
Referral Factor. This information can be obtained from public domain or from
the server
106.
This Referral Factor is different than the referral a healthcare professional
obtained within the system 100, for example, under the Feedback data. Those
referral
data are calculated under the Feedback data because the referral a healthcare
professional
user obtained is within the social network system, e.g. other healthcare
professional users
referring healthcare professional to other patients to answer their questions.
9. Achievements and Awards Factor:
In this example, points will be given if the healthcare professional has
obtained
some recognition or awards. For example, if he appears on a selected doctor
directory, a
certain number of points will be allocated. If the directory is more
reputational or
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prestigious (for example, the US News doctor ranking, the American's top
doctors list), a
higher score can be given.
10. Professional Society Participation Factor
The Professional Society Participation Factor can be a function of the
credibility
of each society the healthcare professional has joined. The variables can be
how
reputable the professional society is viewed among peers, the size of such
professional
society, and the number of the professional societies the healthcare
professional has
joined. Also a fixed value can be assigned to each organization the healthcare
professional participates in. For example, if the healthcare professional is a
member of a
doctor society, a number of points will be assigned. For each of additional
member
status, further points will be given.
11. Hospital affiliation
Based on the public information or the healthcare professional's input, if a
healthcare professional affiliates with a best/top hospital (e.g. rank within
top 17), a
number of points will be allocated. If a healthcare professional is affiliated
with a great
hospital (e.g. rank 1-100), points may be assigned. For the rest of the listed
hospitals on
certain ranking a healthcare professional affiliated, a less number of points
may be
assigned. For an unlisted hospital or no affiliation to any hospital, 0 points
is given. The
above mentioned ranking system can be any public accessible and reputable
ranking
system, as long as such use is consistent.
III. Calculation of Raw Feedback Data Value
The Raw Feedback Data Value indicates the quality, quantity, and recency of
the
healthcare professional's engagement in the system 100. Raw Feedback Data
Value
increases incrementally with each new unit of engagement that indicates
quality. For
example, if the healthcare professional provides an answer to a question
provided by a
patient and the patient shows appreciation (e.g. by sending appreciation
message, or by
recommending the answer to other people), points will be allocated to the
healthcare
professional. Further, if this answer is recognized by other peer healthcare
professionals,
more points will be allocated to the answer provider healthcare professional.
In this example, not all activities the healthcare professional users engage
in are
accountable. Only activities related to the quality of the engagement are
counted toward
Raw Feedback Data Value. For example, when the patient users followed a
healthcare
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professional, recommended a healthcare professional, added a healthcare
professional as
his physician or healthcare provider, requested an appointment with the
healthcare
professional, voted for the healthcare professional for knowing a specific
topic, thanked
the healthcare professional for an answer, or shared the answer with friends
either by
Email, or on third party social network (e.g. Facebook or Twitter), certain
points will be
allocated to the answer providing healthcare professional.
Further, the recognition obtained from other peer healthcare professionals
will be
given higher value. For example, if other healthcare professionals send a
message to a
healthcare professional, other healthcare professionals referred the
healthcare
professional's answer to other users or refer a question to the healthcare
professional,
other healthcare professionals added the healthcare professional to their own
network
within the system 100, other healthcare professionals agreed with the
healthcare
professional's answer, or other healthcare professionals recommended the
healthcare
professional on the system 100, higher value points will be allocated to the
healthcare
professional.
Updating a healthcare professional's profile may cause an increase of points
in
the raw Feedback Data Value. This is mainly a measure to encourage a
healthcare
professional to update his file and improve the communication between the
healthcare
professionals and the patients.
The following table provides a list of accountable activities or events, each
of
which are associated with items to count for counting occurrences of such
activities or
events and are further associated with some amount of points to be allocated
for each
occurrence:
Action or Event Items to count
Being shared on by Email and
ftshares by users of this doe's
on other third party social
content
network
Being thanked on a general # thanks received from users
question for answers
Being followed by a patient #followers (users)
# recommendations for this
Users recommend a doc to
doc, from users, sent to other
other users
users
# users who added doc to their
Being added to a user's network
network
Being thanked with a note # thank you notes received
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Other doctors send a message # messages received by doc
to this doctor from other experts
Being thanked on a private 1? thanks received for private
message message responses
Vote received for knowing a # votes for knowing a specific
specific topic (users) topic received from users
# questions received by this
Other doctors refer a question
doctor as referrals from
for answering to this doctor
experts
Being added as a patient's # users listing this doctor as
doctor their physician
Being requested for a doctor # doctor appointment requests
appointment through network received
Vote received for knowing a # votes for knowing a specific
specific topic (experts) topic received from experts
Key profile fields completed
(About description, specialty
Doc completes the profile
selected, contact information
(minimum set required)
filled out, special areas of
expertise/interest)
Doctor completes the profile Uploaded photo present on
and adds a photo profile
# Agrees received for items of
Being agreed with content (tips, answers, guides)
authored by the doctor
Being added to another # other doctors who added this
doctor's network doctor to their networks
Being recommended by
# recommendations for this
another doctor on the social
doctor, from other doctors
network __________________
Table 1: Accountable actions and events toward the raw Feedback Data Points,
each
associated with some amount of allocated points.
As shown in Table 1, even though many activities can count toward raw
Feedback Data Points, activities like simply commenting on an answer without
agreeing
with the answer may not accumulate points for the healthcare professional.
However, the Raw Feedback Data Value will decrease with inactivity. In
comparison, the Profile Data Value is mostly stable (changes only happen when
the
healthcare professional has a new publication, or win a new award, etc., which
will not
happen on daily basis). Therefore, Raw Feedback Data Value will cause the
frequent
changes of the Reputation Score value. Such decrease associated to inactivity
under
Feedback data value can be designed to be a continuous decay of total points
that must
be kept up with or the Raw Feedback Data Value will fall (slowly).
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If the healthcare professional cannot keep up with the minimum participation
score per day, the healthcare professional user account will be treated
inactive. In this
situation, the Time Factor will start playing roles to affect the Feedback
Data Value.
More specifically, the Feedback Data Value can be computed by the following
formula:
Feedback Data Value = Raw Feedback Data Points * TimeFactor.
Time Factor:
Time Factor reflects the activeness of a healthcare professional user of the
system
100. When a healthcare professional becomes inactive on the system 100, a
rapid,
reversible decay in the score occurs. This decay will be reversed when the
healthcare
professional re-engages and generates more points through activity on the
system 100.
The time decay for inactivity may produce a significant drop over some initial
period of
inactivity (e.g., inactivity over the first 30 days may result in losing 50%
of the Feedback
Data value), then loses another value (e.g., 40%) over another period (e.g.,
the next 11
months), reaching and remaining at 0.1 after one year of inactivity.
In addition, a multiplier may be associated with the status of a healthcare
professional, and can be assigned to the healthcare professional and
contribute to the raw
Feedback Data calculation. For example, if a healthcare professional is listed
in a
selected directory (e.g., a doctor directory, etc.), he can be assigned to
have a 1.4
multiplier and the accumulation of the raw Feedback Data Points will be
faster. In this
situation, the healthcare professional's Feedback Data Value could be
calculated as
follows:
Feedback Data Value = Raw Feedback Data Points * Time Factor * Status
Multiplier
As described above, when the healthcare professional becomes inactive, a
rapid,
reversible decay in the Feedback Data Value occurs. However, this decay is
reversed
when the healthcare professional reengaged and generates more points through
activity
on the system 100. The healthcare professional can restore the Feedback or
Endorsement Score by re--engagement. Upon re-engagement, the Raw Feedback or
Endorsement Score returns to the previous value diminished only by the decay
of points
equal to some unrecoverable amount of decay representing a required minimum
participation per day times number of days since last activity, for example:
Recovered Raw Feedback Data Value = Raw Feedback Data Value before the
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decay (the inactivity) ¨ minimum participation required / day * number of days
since last activity
While the Reputation Score is discussed herein primarily with respect to a
numerical value, the Reputation Score may alternatively be represented by a
symbol,
such as stars. In an embodiment, the Reputation Score ranges from 0 to 5
stars,
reflecting the peer-recognition that the healthcare professional has received
within the
system 100, as well as relevant public and other information, as described
above, which
may include: agrees, votes and recommendations from other healthcare
professionals;
years of experience; quality of healthcare professions who refer them;
education
information; board certifications; other professional accomplishments; and
thanks, votes
and recommendations from patient users. The number of stars (or other symbol)
to be
given to a particular healthcare professional may be based on a numerical
result (e.g., as
discussed above), with ranges of numerical values being associated with the
number of
stars to be given (e.g., 0-20 = 0 stars; 21-40 = 2 stars; 41-60 = 3 stars; 61-
80 = 4 stars;
81-100 = 5 stars).
REFERRALS OR VOTES PROVIDED TO HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS
In further embodiments, the present disclosure provides systems and methods to
allow expert users (e.g., "professionals" or the like) to identify areas of
interest and
expertise for purposes of identifying themselves to third parties as having
knowledge and
interest in these topics, and for interacting with a system that provides them
with an
opportunity to display their expertise and express their interest through
creating content
(including in the form of answering questions) on these topics.
Figure 3 is a schematic illustration of a healthcare professional evaluation
system
(which may be referred to hereinafter as 'system 30'), in accordance with
25 .. embodiments provided by the present disclosure. The system 30 includes
one or more
user computer devices 310 (described herein as "patient computer devices"),
one or more
healthcare professional user computer devices 314 (described herein as "doctor
computer
devices"), a web server 300 and data storage media 304. A user end 308 (e.g.
web
browser displayable on a computer device) provides user interface, through
which the
30 users can cast votes or search and access content they are interested
in, as well as search
doctors. The web server 300 is electronically accessible through at least one
network
system 306 to multiple computer devices (e.g., patient user computer devices
310,
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healthcare professional user devices 314). The network system 306 may include
any
type of network infrastructure, such as the Internet, or any other wired,
wireless and/or
partially wired network.
The server 300 may be or include any database capable of storing and/or
providing access to information, such as an electronic database, a computer
and/or
computerized server, database server or generally any network host capable of
storing
data and connected to any type of data network. Further, the server 300 may
include or
be a part of a distributed network or cloud computing environment. Any type of
electronic and/or computerized device that is capable of storing information
may be
included as the server 300, and is considered within the scope of this
disclosure. The
server 300 may include computer-readable storage media, and a processor for
processing
data and executing algorithms, including any of the processes and algorithms
set forth in
this disclosure.
Web server 300 hosts, fully or partially, or otherwise accesses multiple
application logic components (e.g. a Votes Processing Module 302). As is
understood
by persons skilled in the relevant art, modules shown in Figure 3 may
represent sets of
executable software instructions as well as the conesponding hardware (e.g.,
memory
and processor) for executing the instructions. The server 300, votes
processing module
302, and network system 306 may include a variety of hardware and software
components to provide successful functioning of the server 300 and the module
302, as is
well-known within the art. Further, any features, characteristics, designs
and/or
functions that are known within the art may be included with the system 10 to
further
enhance its efficiency.
The system 30 may further include one or more patient computer devices 310 and
one or more doctor computer devices 314. The patient computer devices 310 and
doctor
computer devices 314 may be any computerized devices capable of communicating
with
the server 300, for example via a network system 306. The one or more patient
computer devices 310 may be operated by a patient user (which may be any user
who
votes using the system 30 or otherwise seeks information related to
professional users of
the system 30, and need not be an active patient of any treating physician or
medical
caregiver) of the system 30, and the one or more doctor computer devices 314
may be
operated by any doctor user of the system 30 (which may be any user who may be
evaluated using the system 30, and may include any healthcare professional,
such as a
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primary care physician, medical doctor, nurse, medical staff or other medical
professional, or any representative thereof).
The data storage media 304 is a computer-readable storage medium, which may
be any device or medium that can store code and/or data embodying or used by
any one
or more of the methods or functions described herein. This includes, but not
limited to,
volatile memory, non-volatile memory including by way of example semiconductor
memory devices, e.g., Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM),
Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM), and flash memory
devices, magnetic storage such as internal hard disks and removable disks and
optical
storage devices such as disk drives, magnetic tape, CDs (compact discs), DVDs
(digital
versatile discs or digital video discs), or other media capable of storing
computer-
readable media now known or later developed. The data storage media 304 may be
included in, or electronically accessible by, the web server 300.
While the computer-readable medium is shown in some embodiments to be a
single medium, the term "computer-readable medium" may include a single medium
or
multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated
caches and
servers) that store the one or more instructions or data structures. The term
"computer-
readable medium" shall also be taken to include any tangible medium that is
capable of
storing, encoding or carrying instructions for execution by the computer and
that cause
the computer to perform any one or more of the methodologies of the present
invention,
or that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying data structures used by or
associated
with such instructions.
Set Topics or Practicing Areas for Users to Cast Vote on
The topics or practicing areas for voting on can be identified by the doctor
himself. The doctor can either identify his practicing area or an area of
interest where he
has done some research or had a publication in the related area. If the doctor
did not
identify the above area during the registration process, the system 30 can
also establish
such list of topic or practicing area based on the doctor's specialty and peer
reviewed
publications. In one embodiment, the users (e.g., patient users) also have an
option to
add a new area to vote for the doctor. Such options can be shown in the last
box and the
voters may fill in new content identifying a new topic or practicing area (as
shown in
Figure 4).
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However, when the system 30 generates such list for the users to vote, there
may
be some practices or topics which are related, but described in a different
term. The
system 30 has a processing module 302 to organize such different inputs, merge
related
topics and provide topics which are distinctive from each other.
Differentiate the Votes from Doctors and Votes from Patients
It is important to differentiate the votes from licensed medical professionals
and
regular patient users, as each type of user may have more informed or
otherwise relevant
input. For example, patient votes may be particularly relevant with respect to
a doctor's
bedside manner evaluation. However, when it comes to evaluating the practicing
skills
of a doctor, patients might lack professional knowledge to provide more
objective
evaluations.
To that end, an authentication module may be included within the system 30 to
verify the users who identify themselves as healthcare professionals. The
authentication
module may be included in or otherwise accessible to the Votes Process Module
302 and
may include or access a database (e.g., stored in data storage media 304)
having a
directory of medical professionals in U.S. and other data related to
professional
performance of each licensed medical professional. When medical professionals
register
or sign-in to the system, the authentication module generally requires the
user to verify
the existing information in the system and provide more information related to
his
professional performance. However, to guarantee the accuracy and currency of
the
medical professionals' qualification, all medical professionals are screened
for
credentials based on the public information released by impartial third party
or public
registered information, for example, each state's licensing board. Such
information may
be stored in the system 30 (e.g., in data storage media 304), and may be
frequently
updated in responding to the newly released public information. When a medical
professional is verified by the system 30 to be currently qualified to
practice, the system
will allow the medical professional to cast votes or agree on other medical
professionals' answers.
Voting User Interface
30 Figure 4 illustrates one example embodiment of the Voting Screen the
users may
interact with. This page can be accessible through a graphitic user interface
element. In
the center of this page, the medical professional's name and specialty is
clearly
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identified. Under the doctor's name, there are multiple boxes listing the
topics or
practicing areas that the users can cast votes on. These voting topics or
practicing areas
are decided by either the doctors themselves or by the system 30 based on the
doctor's
publication and other related information (e.g. specialty board certificate).
IIowever, a vote from patient users is calculated separately from a vote
casted by
credentialed doctors. The votes from patient voters are categorized as bedside
manner
votes under each topic or practicing area (shown in Figure 5, Section I). The
votes from
patients do not provide resources of where these votes are collected from.
However, for
the votes from credentialed doctors, the system 30 not only provides the
number of total
votes, but also provides an access for the users (both doctors and patients)
to find out
which doctors casted votes for the present doctor (e.g., the doctor being
displayed to the
user). This not only provides transparency of the voting process, but also
improves the
credibility of the voting results. For example, if a doctor is voted by many
doctors in the
same field or practicing area, the patient will find such voting demonstrated
the
reputation of the doctor in the pertinent field. Also when the voting source
is
transparent, the comments will tend to be more objective.
The basis for the voting can be either from the real life experience, for
example,
doctor visit, or from reading the content generated by the doctor, for
example, the
answers provided by the doctor and solicited by the patients on a social
network. In
.. either situation, such rating is based on actual knowledge of the doctor's
practicing skills
and knowledge.
Presentation of Votes
The votes casted by the users are processed by the Votes Processing Module 302
before being presented in the Voting Result Presentation Page. Figure 5
illustrates an
example embodiment of the Voting Result Presentation Page. Section 1 presents
the
topics or the practicing areas that a doctor obtained votes upon. For
instance, in this
example, the doctor obtained votes on topics of Hip Pain, Vaccinations,
Diabetes, ACL
Injuries and Bee Stings. As stated before, the votes from doctors and from the
patients
are calculated separately. For example, under the topic Hip Pain, the present
doctor
received 50 doctor votes and 50 member votes (votes from non-healthcare
professional
users). Such divided source of votes helps users appreciate the recognition
the doctor
received among peers, at the same time also acknowledge the communication
skills the
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doctor has with patients.
Second, the identities of all of the 50 doctors casting votes for the present
doctor
are transparent to the users. For example, the user can simply click the 50
doctor votes
and learn who voted for the present doctor under the Hip Pain topic.
Third, the votes are calculated locally, statewide and nationally (e.g.
nationwide,
state wide, or locally). If the doctor obtains top number of votes locally
(for example,
within top 10 in a local area), such information will be provided in that
specific category
of specialty of practicing area (e.g. Figure 5, Section 1, below "Diabetes").
If the doctor
has top number of voting nationally (for example, within top 20 nationwide),
such
information will also be presented under that category (e.g. Figure 5, Section
1, below
"Vaccinations"). This is helpful for the patients who are looking for a local
doctor that
he can make a doctor visit and do follow up examination. A national top voting
of a
doctor may help a patient make decisions in seeking specific medical service
when he /
she have a very complicated disease or health issue.
Section 3 shows related areas of expertise and other topics that a doctor is
known
for, but did not receive votes in these practicing areas yet. Section 4 shows
the basic
information about a doctor including First and Last name, specialty, Board
Certification,
DocScore (can be an external doctor evaluation system showing the doctor's
professional
reputation or skills), Photo, and graphical user interface elements for
connecting with
this doctor.
Last, such voting result can be presented together with other content provided
by
the doctor, for example, the answers, tips or posts the doctor provided
before, the license
information or publication list the doctor has, or network infoimation the
doctor has
connection with (Section 5). Further, the voting results may be presented
together with
other statistics of the present doctor, for example, the statistics of how
many "doctor
agrees" the doctor received when he provided answers to the questions posted
by the
users, how many thanks the doctor received from the patient users when he
provided
such answers, or the number of doctor and patient followers they have (Section
2). Also
how responsive the doctor is may also be presented (responsiveness). Such
evaluation
can be based on the percentage of the questions the doctor answered out of the
number of
questions being given by the system.
The system 30 can also provide a measure to evaluate the quality of the
content
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the doctor rendered. For example they system will give the doctor medals when
certain
content received many "thanks" from the patients, e.g. a brown medal for over
5 thanks,
a silver medal for over 10 "thanks," and a gold medal for over 15 "thanks"
(the bottom
section of Section 2).
Such collected information based on different source provides a user a
comprehensive understanding of the present doctor's performance and practicing
skills,
where the patients have more source to learn about the present doctor and
decide whether
he will follow up with the doctor further, for example, ask one to one
question or make a
doctor visit appointment.
In addition, such voting result can be presented also with other ranking or
rating
results based on a different approach or basis. For example, there could be
another
separate system to evaluate the doctor solely based on the merits of the
doctor (e.g.
where he obtains education, what publications he has), and presented together
with the
votes. Therefore, the users have an understanding of how the doctor is
evaluated by the
patients, as well as by the peer doctors.
PROVIDING ANSWERS TO USER-SUBMITTED QUESTIONS
In further embodiments, the present disclosure provides systems and methods
for
providing trustworthy answers to health questions (or questions in any other
field of
knowledge) in an efficient and timely manner. Various aspects of the inventive
methods
and systems provided herein aims at increasing the reliability of the answers
to health (or
other) questions and reducing the response time. The present invention enables
any
patient (or other users) to solicit answers for health (or other) questions in
a social
network setting. Moreover, users may search and view existing questions (as
well as
related answers) related to desired topics or areas of practice.
In accordance with embodiments provided herein, the answers are delivered
solely by professionals having verified qualifications (e.g., licensed
doctors) and in good
standing within their respective profession. These answers are also curated by
other
qualified professionals (e.g., doctors). Other professionals (e.g., doctors)
can show they
agree with the answers and thus affect the credibility of the answer. The more
"agrees"
an answer obtains, the more prioritized (i.e. higher ranking) the answer is
presented to
users in a list of answers. In addition, the answer will be provided promptly.
In one
embodiment, the answer will be supplied within 24 hours.
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Figure 6 is a schematic illustration of a system for providing answers to user-
submitted questions 60 (which may be referred to hereinafter as 'system 60'),
in
accordance with embodiments provided by the present disclosure. The system 60
includes one or more user computer devices 610 (described herein as "patient
computer
devices"), one or more professional user computer devices 614 (described
herein as
"doctor computer devices"), a web server 600 and data storage media 620. The
web
server 600 is electronically accessible via at least one network system 630 to
multiple
user ends (e.g., patient user end having one or more patient computer devices
610; doctor
user end having one or more doctor computer devices 614). The network system
630
may include any type of network infrastructure, such as the Internet, or any
other wired,
wireless and/or partially wired network.
The server 600 may be or include any database capable of storing and/or
providing access to information, such as an electronic database, a computer
and/or
computerized server, database server or generally any network host capable of
storing
data and connected to any type of data network. Further, the server 600 may
include or
be a part of a distributed network or cloud computing environment. Any type of
electronic and/or computerized device that is capable of storing information
may be
included as the server 600, and is considered within the scope of this
disclosure. The
server 600 may include computer-readable storage media, and a processor for
processing
data and executing algorithms, including any of the processes and algorithms
set forth in
this disclosure.
Web server 600 hosts, fully or partially, or otherwise accesses multiple
application logic components (e.g. a Queue Management Module 602, Question
Processing Module 604, Content Recommendation Module 606 and Authentication
Module 608). As is understood by persons skilled in the relevant art, modules
shown in
Figure 6 may represent sets of executable software instructions as well as the
corresponding hardware (e.g., memory and processor) for executing the
instructions.
The server 600, modules 602, 604, 606, 608, and network system 630 may include
a
variety of hardware and software components to provide successful functioning
of the
server 600 and the modules 602, 604, 606, 608, as is well-known within the
art. Further,
any features, characteristics, designs and/or functions that are known within
the art may
be included with the system 60 to further enhance its efficiency.
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The system 60 may further include one or more patient computer devices 610 and
one or more doctor computer devices 614. The patient computer devices 610 and
doctor
computer devices 614 may be any computerized devices capable of communicating
with
the server 600, for example via a network system 630. The one or more patient
computer devices 610 may be operated by a patient user (which may be any user
seeking
health-related information, and need not be an active patient of any treating
physician or
medical caregiver) of the system 60, and the one or more doctor computer
devices 614
may be operated by any doctor user of the system 60 (which may be any user to
whom
access to provide answers to pending questions has been granted, and may
include any
healthcare professional, such as a primary care physician, medical doctor,
nurse, medical
staff or other medical professional, or any representative thereof).
The data storage media 620 is a computer-readable storage medium, which may
be any device or medium that can store code and/or data embodying or used by
any one
or more of the methods or functions described herein. This includes, but not
limited to,
volatile memory, non-volatile memory including by way of example semiconductor
memory devices, e.g., Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM),
Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM), and flash memory
devices, magnetic storage such as internal hard disks and removable disks and
optical
storage devices such as disk drives, magnetic tape, CDs (compact discs), DVDs
(digital
versatile discs or digital video discs), or other media capable of storing
computer-
readable media now known or later developed. The data storage media 620 may be
included in, or electronically accessible by, the web server 600.
While the computer-readable medium is shown in some embodiments to be a
single medium, the term "computer-readable medium" may include a single medium
or
multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated
caches and
servers) that store the one or more instructions or data structures. The term
"computer-
readable medium" shall also be taken to include any tangible medium that is
capable of
storing, encoding or canying instructions for execution by the computer and
that cause
the computer to perform any one or more of the methodologies of the present
invention,
or that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying data structures used by or
associated
with such instructions.
AUTHENTICATION OF THE DOCTORS' CREDENTIALS
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In the system 60, answers are provided exclusively by licensed doctors with
good
standing. The good standing status requires that no sanctions or disciplinary
restrictions
are in effect against the doctor. Neither can the doctor be a defending party
in any open
malpractice suit. The term "doctor" is used herein in a broader meaning to
refer to any
medical practitioner or healthcare professional providing healthcare services
of any kind,
or any kind of services appurtenant to healthcare. Further, while the present
disclosure is
described for exemplary purposes with respect to doctors and patients, the
present
invention is not limited for use in any particular profession or area of
expertise. Rather,
the systems and methods provided herein are applicable to users (i.e. those
submitting
questions) and professionals or persons having particular expertise (i.e.
those providing
answers) in any given field.
Users without a license to practice medicine or doctor users without good
standing status do not have access to answer the questions presented by users
of the
system 60. Thus, it is important to verify the identities of those users who
claim they are
doctors with good standing. To this end, the system 60 includes an
authentication
module 608 to verify the users who identify themselves as doctors licensed to
practice
medicine in certain jurisdiction and in good standing in that jurisdiction.
The authentication module 608 includes or has access to a database (e.g.,
stored
in data storage media 120) including directories of doctors and other data
related to
professional performance of each licensed doctors. When a doctor registers or
signs in
the system 60, the authentication module 608 may require the doctor user to
verify the
existing information in the system 60 and provide further information related
to his
professional performance. However, to guarantee the accuracy and currency of
the
doctors' qualification, all doctors are screened by the authentication module
608 for
credentials based on information released by impartial third parties or public
registered
information, for example, each state's licensing board (shown in Figure 7,
Step 216).
Such information is stored in the system 60, and is frequently updated to
include newly
released public information.
If the doctor passes the screening and is validated by the authentication
module
608 to answer questions, the authentication module 608 will grant the doctor
access
through the system 60 to provide answers to pending questions. Such grant of
access to
the questions is revocable and conditioned on the current good standing status
of the
doctor. If the doctor's good standing status changes and does not satisfy the
requirement
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anymore, the system will block the doctor's access to pending questions and
such
blocking will remain in place until the good standing status is resumed.
In addition, some or all of the doctor's information related to merits,
practicing
skills, and professional performance may be transparent to all the users (i.e.
patient users
and doctor users). The doctor's identity (e.g., name, photo, location,
specialty and/or any
other identifying information) will be presented next to the answer he
provided.
Through clicking the doctor's profile photo, the users can access the doctor's
profile and
learn more about the doctor's skills and credentials. The complete
transparency fosters
the trust between doctors and patients using the system 60 and encourages the
interaction
among the doctors and the patients. Further, when a doctor agrees with an
answer
already provided by another doctor user in the system 60, his identity will
also be shown
next to the answer. The users can similarly learn more about the doctors who
agreed
with the answer and what are their professional credentials.
Registered users (e.g., patient and doctor users) of the system 60 have
profiles,
.. which are well-known in social networks and related fields. The profiles
may be a
profile containing pages and/or information visible to the public generally,
information
that is visible only to the user herself, information visible only to
particular users
specified by the user, information visible as specified by the user, and
information that
may not be visible to other users. The doctors' profiles are generally visible
to all of the
users of the system 60. All users can view the doctors' profiles and can find
out the
doctors' credentials.
QUESTION PROCESSING MODULE
When a user inputs a question or key words (e.g., using an input box provided
by
the system 60 and displayed in a graphical user interface of the user's
computer device
610) to solicit answers, the string content in the input box will be processed
by the
Question Processing Module 606 (Figure 7, Step 202) and key words will be
extracted.
Techniques for identifying and extracting key words are known within the
relevant field,
and any such techniques may be utilized for key word extraction by the
Question
Processing Module 606. The key words are then associated by the Question
Processing
Module 606 with single or multiple predefined topic tags which may be stored,
for
example, in a database in data storage media 620. Such topic tags may include
collections of disease names, treatment methods, diagnosis, surgical
procedures, hot
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topics, areas of practice and the like. The topic tags can be associated with
closely
related tei __ ins either by meaning or formality, such that the topic tags
applied to variable
forms of terms referring to the same topic. For example, the topic tags may be
associated with misspellings, singular and plural forms and different
expression of the
same term. Thus, closely related terms regarding a specific topic can be
organized
together by topic tags. The system 60 has stored a great accumulation of these
topic tags
and these topic tags are further organized by Group ID.
The Group IDs are the next higher level of organized subjects than the topic
tags
and may be stored in a database in data storage media 620 and associated with
relevant
topic tags. In one embodiment, the Group IDs may be disease names, with each
Group
ID being associated with a collection of topic tags related to symptoms,
conditions, side
effects, treatment, procedures and medications for the disease. Such a higher
level
organization of information is important for functions providing related
content in
various situations, as the related content can be extracted from the pool of
content
sharing the same group IDs.
The association relationships between a question, topic tags and Group ID are
stored (e.g., in data storage media 620) together with the question and their
answers. The
questions are organized by the topic tags and the Group ID and will be
extracted by the
Question Processing Module 606 from the database based on the patient user's
request
(e.g. presenting similar questions before the user proceed to post the
question). For
example, when a user wants to search some specific content, he can just input
a key word
and the Question Processing Module 606 will recognize that key word and match
it up
with the existing tags and extract related questions and answers from the
database and
display the related content. If there are no close existing tags, the system
60 can provide
content sharing the same Group IDs with the requested content.
PROVIDING ANSWERS IN A TIMELY MANNER
It is important that the answers to health questions be provided in a timely
and
efficient manner. Questions related to health care often need to be answered
quickly.
Some actions might need to be taken promptly regarding certain health
concerns. The
patient often would significantly benefit from a quick answer, and an untimely
answer
may be of little or no use. A quick answer also helps reduce the anxiety
caused by some
suspicious symptoms. The system 60 prevents, or significantly reduces the
likelihood of,
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questions from sitting in the system 60 for long periods of time without being
answered.
In an embodiment, all the questions will be answered within 24 hours from
being posed
by users in the system 60. To assure the questions are answered promptly, the
system
60:
a. Reduces traffic by presenting similar questions and answers to the user
before the user proceeds to post a new question;
b. Organizes questions in a reverse chronological order where the oldest
question in the system is placed on the top of the question list presented to
the doctors;
c. Sends questions to doctors who are specialists in areas relevant to the
questions, and improve the efficiency of the system;
d. Provides similar unanswered questions to the doctor after the doctor
provides an answer to a question;
e. Gives the doctors awards or credits for answering additional questions or
questions that are needed to be answered urgently.
f. Messages the patient user to give him / her the choice to modify the
question if the question has not been answered for a long time.
1. Reduce traffic by presenting similar questions to the user before the user
posts a new
question.
The system 60 can guarantee questions being answered within a short period of
time, e.g. 24 hours. One way the system 60 can efficiently and promptly
provide
answers promptly is by avoiding processing (i.e., sending to doctors)
questions that have
already been answered in the system 60. In one embodiment, the users (mainly
patient
users) will be presented with a list of questions which are identified by the
system 60
(e.g., by the Question Processing Module 606) that are either similar or
related to the
question the user just posted.
The related questions may have been previously answered and stored in the
system 60 (e.g., in Data Storage Media 620) together with associated topic
tags and
Group IDs, assigned by the Question Processing Module 606. Their related
answers are
tagged and categorized separately as well. The previously answered questions
that are
displayed to the user are selected based on relevancy. The relevancy is
detelinined by
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the system 60 (e.g., by the Question Processing Module 606) through analyzing
the topic
tags associated with existing questions stored in the system 60 and those
associated with
the present question. The more topic tags a previously answered question and
the
present question have in common, the higher the degree of relevancy the system
60 will
determine to exist between the previous question and the present question.
In addition, each answer may be assigned an Answer Score. Answer Score
reflects the confidence in the content of the answer. The Answer Score may be
based on
a variety of factors, including: a. the reputation of the author; b. "agrees"
the answer
obtained from other doctor users; c. "thanks" the answer received from patient
users; d.
number of times that the answer has been shared with other users; e. the
length of the
answer (the longer answer has more details and will be given higher score).
Such an
Answer Score can be a function of any combination of the above factors. The
factors
can be given different weights in computing the Answer Score. The Answer Score
may
be generated by the Question Processing Module 606, or by a separate tool
contained
within the system 60.
The list of related previous questions will be presented to the user (e.g.,
displayed
on the patient computer device 610) in a ranked order based on both the
relevancy of the
topic tags and the value of the Answer Score. A highly related question having
an
associated answer with a high Answer Score will be ranked highly, and thus
shown on
top of a Related Questions Presentation Page. However, the user makes the
final
decision as to whether the proposed question is already sufficiently answered
or not. In
one embodiment, after being presented with existing related questions and/or
their
associated answers on the Related Questions Presentation Page, some users
might decide
that their questions already have been answered and stored within the system
60, and
they will not proceed to post the question. In this way, some amount of
traffic, data
storage and redundancy will be reduced. However, if the user decides his
question has
not been answered, the system 60 will allow the user to proceed to post
his/her new
question.
In general, the user can post questions for any doctor to answer. However, to
increase efficiency, in one embodiment, the system 60 sorts the questions and
sends the
questions to doctors who claim specialty in related area or practice. The
system 60 can
also allow the user to designate a specific doctor to answer the question.
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2. Organizes: ut_ctions in a reverse chronological order where the oldest
question
in the system is placed on the top of the question list -Queue Management
The Queue Management Module 602 (Figure 6) operates to organize the to-be-
answered questions in the system based 60 on the time the question is
submitted.
Therefore, the longer the question sits unanswered in the system 60, the
higher priority
will be assigned to this question to be processed (i.e. answered) by the
system 60. in
addition, Queue Management Module 602 also operates to select to-be-answered
questions and present them to individual doctor users. With the organization
by the
Queue Management Module 602, the doctor users will not see a very long list of
unanswered questions (e.g., a list of all pending unanswered questions).
Rather, the
doctor will see only those questions selected for the doctor by the Queue
Management
Module 602 (e.g., based on the doctor's specialty, location or other relevancy
consideration) on the Question Presentation page (shown in Figure 8).
The Queue Management Module 602 compiles the to-be-answered questions list
based the following considerations: a. Time of submission: the oldest
questions are given
priority to be presented on the Question Presentation Page; b. The patient
user's special
request for a fast answer: upon a user's request to process the question
faster, this
question will be marked and automatically moved up to or near the top of the
list; c.
Relations to the specialty the doctor claimed: Queue Management Module 602
will send
questions to the doctor within his specialty by default; d. The geographic
location of the
doctor: the Queue Management Module 602 will automatically send the questions
to
doctors who has closer geographic location to the patient user who posted the
question;
e. Whether the doctor has provided similar content or answers to similar
questions
before: the Queue Management Module 602 will send to the doctor questions that
he has
shown knowledge on.
3. Send qtkestions to doctors who are specialized in the area or practice the
questions related and reduce the responding time
The doctor can specify fields that he/she has expertise or feels more
comfortable
answering questions in. If the doctor user does not claim a specialty, the
system 60 will
assign a specialty tag to the doctor based on his/her licensing information
and
publications. The specialty tag may be associated with the doctor, for
example, in the
doctor's profile which may be stored in a database in or accessible to the
system 60.
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Such specialty tag allows the Queue Management Module 602 to only send the
doctor
questions related to his specialty and let the doctor answer questions he
feels more
comfortable with. However, such specialty screening is optional and the doctor
has a
choice at the Question Presentation Page to view either the questions solely
from his own
specialty or from all fields.
4. Show the doctors similar questions after the doctor answered related
questions
In addition, after a doctor answers one question, a list of similar unanswered
questions can be presented to the doctor in a pushed message (e.g., the Queue
Management Module 602 may push such questions to the doctor's user device
614).
Such a list of similar questions obtained through the same sorting and
organizing
techniques as described with respect to presenting a Related Questions
Presentation Page
to the users.
5. Provide awards or credits to doctors for answering high priority or
additional
questions.
An award system may be established to encourage the doctors to answer more
questions, especially when the unanswered questions in the system 60 are
backlogged.
As shown in Figure 8 (section 2), the doctors are provided an opportunity to
gain an
award or credits (e.g., bonus double daily participation points) by answering
one more
questions. Further, bonus points may be allocated to doctor users for
answering high
priority or urgent questions in the system 60. Such bonus points may be
utilized to
increase a doctor's status or ranking in the system 60, or may be provided to
a doctor
evaluation system or recommendation system which may utilize the doctor points
as a
factor in evaluating, ranking or recommending doctors. The system 60 may be
integrated with or otherwise communicatively coupled with such an evaluation
or
recommendation system, thereby providing benefit to the doctors who answer
questions
on the system 60 by facilitating an increased status or ranking.
6. Message the patient user to give him / her the choice to modify the
question if
the question has not been answered for a long time.
In one embodiment, the system 60 monitors questions in view of a time limit
within which questions should be answered. Such time limit can be decided
based on the
traffic volume of the server. When a question is not answered within this time
limit, the
system 60 will send a message to the question posting user to remind him/her
that his/her
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questions are still not answered. The system 60 can also give the user a
choice to modify
the questions and try again.
ANSWER PRESENTATION PAGE
After a question is answered, the answer will be processed by the system and
presented to the patient user on the Answer Presentation Page (e.g., when the
user logs
into the system 60 using a patient device 610) (shown in Figure 9). The Answer
Presentation Page is also accessible by other users by searching key words. In
addition,
the system 60 can also present related contents to the question on the Answer
Presentation Page. For example, top doctors in related practicing area,
related health
.. tips, related medication information, and so on may be presented to the
user on the
Answer Presentation Page.
Figure 7 is a flowchart illustrating a method for providing answers to user-
submitted questions, in accordance with the first exemplary embodiment of the
present
disclosure. As shown at Step 200, a user can post a question through the user
interface
provided on the patient device 610. At Step 202, the questions are received
and
processed by the Question Processing Module 606 after it is input by the user
and the
key words are extracted from the input content. The key words are then matched
with
topic tags which are previously generated and stored in the system 60. If one
or multiple
matches are established, such tags will be then assigned to the question and
the
association relationship will be stored in the data storage media. Such
association can be
based on content match between the keywords and the tags because the input
question in
the box is received as a string which is a system recognizable formality.
These topic tags can recognize misspellings, singular and plural forms and
different expression of the same term. Thus the topic tags organize and
correctly
categorize the questions under the same topic tags even though the key words
from the
questions may be misspelled or expressed in a different term.
For example, a patient user inputs a question: "what can be the cause of chest
pain and short of breath?" The system 60 then extracts the keywords "cause,"
"chest
pain" and "short of breath" from the question and matches them with the
existing tags.
"Chest pain" and "short of breath" themselves can be existing topic tags. Or
another
topic tag such as "heart attack" can be assigned to this question because
chest pain and
shortness of breath are typical symptoms of heart attack. If the user
misspelled "chest
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pain," the system can 60 still recognize it and associate the question with
the right topic
tag, "chest pain." In addition, the system 60 can also associate the medical
term
"myocardial infarction" with the topic tag "heart attack" where the former is
a medical
term of "heart attack" used by the doctors. Further, the system 60 might also
associate
the question with topic tags like "pericarditis," "hypertrophic
cardiomyopathy," or
"mitral valve prolapse," because chest pain is a common and possible symptom
for these
diseases as well.
After the first level of labeling, the question can be further assigned to a
Group
ID, for example, "cardiovascular disease." And this "cardiovascular disease"
Group ID
may include content, questions and answers related to the symptoms,
treatments,
procedures, medication, health tips, diet suggestions and the like for
cardiovascular
disease.
Therefore, in the above example, the topic tags "cause," "chest pain", "short
of
breath," "heart attack," "pericarditis," "hypertrophic cardiomyopathy," and
"mitral valve
.. prolapse" can be assigned to the provided question. At the same time, this
question is
also assigned a Group ID, "cardiovascular disease." The topic tags used in the
examples
herein are not exhaustive, and persons skilled in the relevant field will
readily understand
that other such topic tags may be applied to sort questions by topics and thus
associate
and organize related questions together.
The Group IDs are important for rendering similar or related content on the
Answer Presentation Page. Since the content rendered related to the questions
are all
belonging to the same Group IDs.
After the system 60 processes the question, it will proceed to send the
question to
doctors and solicit answers. However, before sending the question to doctors,
the system
60 takes some measures to efficiently process and generate answers to the
questions.
First, in order to speed answer delivery, unnecessary traffic should be
avoided, e.g. avoid
processing questions which have been answered before or in which similar
issues have
been addressed. Therefore, the system 60 provides users (mainly patient users)
an
opportunity for a second thought before posting the question. This step
includes
.. presenting the patient users with a list of questions which are identified
by the system 60
(e.g. by the Question Processing Module 606) that are either similar or
related to the
question the user just posted (Figure 7, Step 204). These existing related
questions are
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stored in the system 60 (e.g., in Data Storage Media 620) together with their
associated
tags and topics. The Question Processing Module 606 organizes these existing
questions
based on the multiple tags associated with them assigned by the system 60.
The delivery of the similar questions (and their answers) requires the system
60
derive a list of existing questions that are most related to the question
posted. Such
relevancy is computed by the system 60 through analyzing and matching the tags
between the existing questions and the present question. The list of related
previous
questions will be presented in a descending order of relevancy. For example,
the similar
questions and answers that have exactly the same tags with the posted question
will be
presented first. Then the similarity of the tags will be analyzed and the
existing
questions sharing most closely related tags will be presented second. If a
question
cannot be matched with similar questions based on the relevancy of the tags,
the content
within the same Group ID as the input question will be presented to the user.
After being presented with previous questions, the user has an option to make
the
final decision to decide whether his or her question has been answered or not.
In this
embodiment, after reviewing the presented existing answers, some users might
decide
that their questions already have been addressed and they will not proceed to
post the
question. In this way, at least certain amount of unnecessary traffic will be
reduced and
the system 60 saves time and space to provide answers to questions that have
not yet
been answered. However, if the user decides his question has not been
answered, the
system will allow the user to proceed to post his/her own question.
After the question is posted by the user and processed and tagged by the
system
60, it will be placed in a queue in reverse chronological order by Queue
Management
Module 602 (Step 206). Then the Queue Management Module 602 will selectively
send
questions to doctors based on information about the doctors stored in or
accessible to the
system 60 (e.g., doctor profile data). The questions may be routed to the
doctors
according to an analysis of the question and a mapping of the question's
concepts onto
the appropriate and relevant specialties of the doctor. Such selective
presentation of the
questions to the doctors allows for more efficient and higher quality answers
to the
questions, as the questions provided are tailored to the doctor's interests
and specialties
(e.g. sending doctor the questions asked by the patients from the same city or
community) and the doctors can answer the question more efficiently and
willingly. The
questions are only presented to, and accessible by, doctors who are licensed
and in good
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standing (Step 208). Credential information can be obtained at step 216 and
the doctor's
good standing can be authenticated, at step 218. At Step 210, the questions
will be
presented to the doctors on a Question Presentation Page (shown in Figure 8).
Figure 8 is an illustration of a webpage or other graphical user interface
(the
"Question Presentation Page"), which may be presented to doctors using the
system 60.
The Question Presentation Page includes a text input box 801 which may be
utilized by a
doctor user to input text, not only to provide answers, but also to post a
question on their
own behalf, or alternatively, enter keywords to search for questions, topics,
users, or
other content. Under the text input box 801, there is a frame (section 3)
soliciting health
tips (meaning short, doctor-written notes in areas like beauty, diet, exercise
or parenting,
which may be provided to users when logged into the system 60, or may be
delivered by
text message or e-mail) from the doctors. Questions to be answered are listed
below the
text box (Section 4). Options to provide additional answers to the questions
already
answered and to indicate agreement with already-provided answers may also
provided on
the Question Presentation Page (Section 5).
Section 4 of the Question Presentation Page exemplifies how questions are
presented to the doctors. Even though there is only one question shown in
Section 4 of
the Question Presentation Page, there may be more than one such unanswered
questions
presented to the doctors in Section 4. Such a list of unanswered questions can
be
questions only related to the doctor's specialty (claimed by himself/herself
or assigned
by the system), or related to different specialties. The system 10 can have a
default
setting to send the questions to a doctor only within the doctor's specialty.
The questions presented to the doctors are sorted and provided by Queue
Management Module 602 and are ordered based on the following considerations:
a. Time of submission: if a question was sitting in the system 60 for a long
time,
it is more likely to be sent to the doctor and more likely shows up on the top
of the list of
the questions on the Question Presentation Page.
b. The patient user's special request for a fast answer: the system 60 can set
an
option for the user to request for a fast answer. Upon such a request, this
question will
be tagged and automatically be processed first and placed on the top of the
question
queue presented on the Question Presentation Page.
c. Relation to the specialty the doctor claimed: As stated before, the doctor
can
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identify his specialty or the system 60 can assign him a specialty. If the
doctor does not
specify whether he wants to receive the question within his own specialty
only, the
system 60 will send questions to the doctor within in his specialty by
default. However,
the doctor can choose to answer questions outside of his specialty. In a
situation where a
question has been sitting for a long time in the system 60, the doctor may be
offered an
award for providing an answer.
d. The geographic location of the doctor: As shown in Figure 8, the doctor can
see the geographic location of the user who solicits the answer. In addition,
the system
60 (i.e. the Queue Management Module 602) will preferably send the questions
to
doctors who have closer geographic location to the patient user who posted the
question.
This function will endorse the communications between the patient and the
doctor users
in the same geographical area, which will create opportunities for the patient
to find a
doctor he/she likes within the same or close community. Similarly, doctors can
develop
future business through such communication.
e. whether the doctor has previously provided similar content or answers to
similar questions: Since all the question and answers are tagged in the system
60, the
answers and health tips the doctor provided can be recorded in the system 60.
If a
doctor provides some health related content or answers under certain topic
tags, the
system 60 will treat the doctor as being knowledgeable in this special topic
or subject
10 (e.g., by associating the doctor with particular topic tags). Thus, the
system 60 may send
the doctor questions closely related to what he has shown knowledge on.
After processing the questions, the Queue Management Module 602 will select
certain question and send them to specific doctors based on the above
consideration.
These questions also are presented in a specific sequence or arrangement as a
result of
weighing some or all of the above considerations. This can be achieved by
assigning a
value, or a function to calculate such a value, to each consideration. As
such, each
question may obtain a sum value of the points computed under each
consideration and
the sum value determines the sequence of the questions presented to the
doctor.
In addition, the system 60 may show the time the question was provided (top
left
corner in Section 4) so the doctor knows how old the question is. Also as
shown in
Figure 9, there are also options for the doctor to refer the question to
another doctor if
he/she believes the other doctor is a specialist and is a better candidate to
answer the
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question. This function helps direct the question to the doctor with right
specialty and
reduces the responding time.
Section 5 of Figure 8 also shows questions that are already answered by other
doctors. The doctor can either provide another answer in Section 5 or be can
agree with
the existing answers. This will help evaluate credibility of an answer
provided by a
doctor.
After a question is answered by one or many doctors, the answers will be sent
back to the server 600 and stored, e.g., in data storage media 620. The system
60 will
process these answers and assign topic tags and a Group ID to each answer, as
described
herein. After being processed and categorized, the answers will be presented
to users on
an Answer Presentation Page (Step 212).
Figure 9 illustrates a webpage or other graphical user interface (the "Answer
Presentation Page") which is accessible by any user of the system 60. As shown
in
Figure 9, there are two answers provided by qualified doctors (Sections 2 and
3). This is
only an exemplified way to show how the answers are presented. Each question
may
have many answers provided by the doctors. The sequence of how the answers are
presented may be based on an Answer Score.
The Answer Score is a numeric or other value the system 60 assigns to each
answer to reflect a level of confidence in the content of the answer. The
Answer score is
obtained based on: a. the reputation of the author of the answer; b. "agrees"
the answer
obtained from other doctor users; c. "thanks" the answer received from the
patient users;
d. times that the answer has been shared by users; e. the length of the answer
(the longer
answer has more details and will be given higher score). Such an Answer Score
can be
result value of a function of the above variables. Above variables can be
given different
weight toward computing such an Answer Score.
In addition, the answers provided by the doctor users are separately
associated
with topic tags based on the content of the answer and such topic tags are
presented
together with the answer (Figure 9, Section 2 and Section 3, bottom line of
boxes). This
is similar to the process of tagging the questions. The system 60 will extract
key words
from the answers and process and match them with topic tags. After associating
topic
tags with the answer and recording such association in the system 60 (e.g., by
storing the
answer and associations with topic tags in data storage media 620), the system
60 is able
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to extract the answer when such answer are requested related to the topic tag.
For
example, in the step of presenting similar questions to the user before the
user proceeds
to post the question, not only the question is searched, but answers matching
the topic
tags are also searched and presented to the users. A related question with an
associated
.. answer having a high Answer Score will be more likely to be presented (or
to be ranked
higher or otherwise given priority in the sequence of presented answers) to
the user on
the Answer Presentation Page.
Further, the answers are presented along with the identity of the doctors who
provided the answer. As shown in Section 2 and Section 3 of the Answer
Presentation
Page, the doctor's name and picture are presented along with the doctor's
answer to the
proposed question. In addition, a direct link to access the doctor's profile
on the system
60 is provided to allow the patient learn the doctor's credentials. Further,
if the patient
user is satisfied with the doctor's answer and wants to follow up, ask more
questions or
make an appointment for a doctor visit, the system 60 provides the patient
access to do
so.
There is also a showing of the "agrees" (i.e. an indication of agreement which
may be provided, for example, by clicking a button labeled "agree") the
doctor's answer
received from other doctors. On top right corner of Section 2 in Figure 9, it
shows how
many doctors have agreed with the answer and these "agreeing" doctors'
identities are
also provided to the user. By clicking any of the "agreeing" doctor's profile
picture
listed in the top right corner in Section 2 and Section 3 of Figure 9, the
user can learn
more about each of "agreeing" doctors' identity and credibility in medical
practice.
As shown in Figure 9, Section 2 and Section 3, a "Thank" graphical user
interface element is provided and the patient user can click it to express
appreciation to
the doctor who delivers the answer. The number of "Thanks" the doctor receives
is
counted by the system 60. On one hand, such "thanks" count can be a factor
used by the
system 60 to evaluate the doctor's perfoimance. If a doctor receives more
thanks, the
system 60 generates a more favorable evaluation of the doctor. On the other
hand, such
"thanks" can also contribute to evaluate the quality of the answer. As stated
above, the
more thanks the answer receives, the higher Answer Score the answer will
receive which
will move the answer up in the showing queue (i.e. the answer will be ranked
higher,
thus causing the answer to be provided higher priority in the sequence of
answers
displayed to users).
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In Section 1 of Figure 9, next to the question, the user is also given an
option to
"follow" the question. By following a question, a user may be automatically
notified by
the system 60 of the updates related to this specific question. For example,
if new
answers are provided under this question, the user will be automatically
notified of these
new answers. Such notifications can be provided to users through the system
60, for
example, by displaying the notification on a patient user device 610 when
logged into the
system 60, or may be provided by email, text or any other such electronic
notification
technologies.
Other than the answers to the question on the Answer Presentation Page, there
are
also other related content rendered to help the user acquire a comprehensive
understanding of the pertinent issue (Figure 7, step 214). For example, the
top doctors in
related practicing area (Section 4), related questions (Section 5), and
related topics
(Section 6) may be presented on the Answer Presentation Page. The Content
Recommendation Module 604 will accomplish this task.
The list of top doctors presented on the Answer Presentation Page is provided
based on matching the doctors' specialty with the topic tags. Further, doctors
can be
evaluated by their professional performance and the recognition the doctor
received from
other users. Any doctor evaluation or ranking system may be accessed by the
Content
Recommendation Module for obtaining relevant evaluation information. The top
doctors
(e.g., as determined based on evaluation or ranking information) having a
matching
specialty will be presented on the Answer Presentation Page.
The related questions and related topics are provided by the Content
Recommendation Module 604 which matches the topic tags associated with the
content
(i.e. the content of information stored in data storage media 620, such as
questions/answers, GroupIDs, topics, etc.) with topic tags associated with the
questions.
The more similar topic tags shared by the content and the questions, the more
possibility
the content will be presented on the Answer Presentation Page. In the
situation that a
question does not have content sharing matching tags, content under the same
identifiable Group ID can be presented.
VIRTUAL CONSULTATIONS
In further embodiments, the present disclosure provides systems and methods
for
virtual consultations between a patient and a healthcare professional.
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Figure 10 is a schematic illustration of a system for virtual healthcare
consultation 1000 (which may be referred to hereinafter as 'system 1000'), in
accordance
with embodiments provided by the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 10,
the
system 1000 includes a virtual consultation application 1002 hosted at least
partially on a
web server 1006, and data storage media 1004. These components are described
below
and may be located on the same device (e.g. a server, mainframe, desktop
Personal
Computer (PC), laptop, mobile device (smart phone or tablet), Personal Digital
Assistant
(PDA), telephone, mobile phone kiosk, cable box, and another device) or may be
located
on separate devices connected by a network (e.g. the internet, or the cloud
infrastructure), with wired and/or wireless segments.
The virtual consultation application 1002 may be fully or partially hosted on
the
server 1006, and electronically accessible over at least one network system
1008. The
network system 1008 may include any type of network infrastructure, such as
the
Internet, or any other wired, wireless and/or partially wired network. The
server 1006,
application 1002 and network system 1008 may include a variety of hardware and
software components to provide successful functioning of the server 1006 and
the
application 1002, as is well-known within the art. Further, any features,
characteristics,
designs and/or functions that are known within the art may be included with
the system
1000 to further enhance its efficiency. The application 1002 may include any
computer-
readable memory or databases, which may be stored in any computer-readable
medium,
and may be accessible by a computer processor. The application 1002 may
further
include or access computer program instructions which may cause a processor to
perform any algorithms and/or functions described in this disclosure. The
virtual
consultation application 1002 may include or have access to one or more
virtual
.. consultation databases which may be stored, for example, in data storage
media 1004.
The system may further include one or more patient computer devices 1010 and
one or more healthcare professional computer devices 1020. The patient
computer
devices 1010 and healthcare professional computer devices 1020 may be any
computerized devices capable of communicating with the application 1002, for
example
via a network system 1008. The one or more patient computer device 1010 may be
operated by a patient user of the system 1000, and the one or more healthcare
professional computer devices 1020 may be operated by any healthcare
professional (or
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other professional), such as a primary care physician, medical doctor, nurse,
medical
staff or other medical professional, or any representative thereof.
The data storage media 1004 is a computer-readable storage medium, which may
be any device or medium that can store code and/or data for use by a computer
system.
This includes, but not limited to, volatile memory, non-volatile memory,
magnetic and
optical storage devices such as disk drives, magnetic tape, CDs (compact
discs), DVDs
(digital versatile discs or digital video discs), or other media capable of
storing
computer-readable media now known or later developed. The data storage media
1004
may store virtual consultation related information, including, for example,
profile
information for healthcare professionals available for virtual consultation,
as well as
profile and/or health-related information for patient users of the system.
The virtual consultation application 1002 provides an interface for live
video,
voice and/or chat, as well as email-based inbox consultations between patients
(using
patient computer device 1010) and a healthcare professionals (using healthcare
professional computer device 1020).
Patients may initiate a virtual consultation with a healthcare professional
user of
the system 1000 by logging into or otherwise accessing the virtual
consultation
application 1002 using a patient computer device 1010. The application 1002
may
request the patient to input information in response to questions or other
prompts in order
to acquire background information and/or documentation for use by a healthcare
professional during the virtual consultation. For example, the application
1002 may first
request that the user provide input information describing the reason for the
virtual
consultation. The patient may then enter information (e.g., using a keyboard
or other
input device) to describe the problem or questions for which he is seeking
consultation
with a healthcare professional.
The application 1002 may further provide the patient with an interface through
which to attach a file, for use by a healthcare professional during the
virtual consultation.
For patient computer devices 1010 having an integrated or associated camera,
photos
may be taken or selected from the device 1010 photo gallery and then attached
for use
.. during the virtual consultation. Other files which may be available on the
patient
computer device 1010 (e.g., health-related records or other documents) may be
selected
by the patient and uploaded for attachment and use during the virtual
consultation.
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After receiving the reason for the patient's visit and/or any user-selected
attachments, the application 1002 may allow the patient user to select whether
a live
consultation or an "inbox" or email-based consultation is desired. Selecting a
live
consultation initiates a live virtual consultation via video, voice and/or
chat with a
healthcare professional using a healthcare professional computer device 1014.
Healthcare professionals (e.g., physicians) may be online and actively
available for
virtual consultations through the application 1002, or may be scheduled to be
available
on an "on-call" basis.
When the patient user submits a request for a live virtual consultation, the
application 1002 may attempt to connect the patient with a healthcare
professional based
on the patient's input reason for the consultation (e.g., by selecting a
healthcare
professional having particular expertise or training in the field of the
patient's problems
or questions), the order of the patient with respect to other patients
requesting a virtual
consultation, whether the patient is a priority user of the system (e.g., a
subscribing or
paying user ¨ there may be different tiers of subscription, for example)
and/or any
combination of such considerations. Further, the patient may select a
particular
healthcare professional with which to conduct a virtual consultation, in which
case the
patient may be notified when the healthcare professional will be available for
consultation, and the application 1002 may further provide a scheduling tool
to schedule
.. the virtual consultation at a later time should that healthcare
professional not be available
at the time of the patient's request.
While the patient waits for the application 1002 to match the patient with a
healthcare professional (e.g., by contacting the healthcare professional
through computer
device 1014 using an electronic message, prompt or the like), the application
1002 may
display to the user information related to the patient's input reason for the
virtual
consultation. For example, the application may access information stored in
data storage
media 1004 to find answers to related questions or problems.
Once a healthcare professional has been contacted and accepted the request for
a
virtual consultation, the application 1002 provides an interface for the live
consultation
to take place between the patient (using patient computer device 1010) and the
healthcare
professional (using healthcare professional computer device 1014). The
interface may
include a video feed of the patient and/or healthcare professional (e.g., from
a camera
accessible by the patient device 1010 and/or healthcare professional device
1014), audio
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feed (e.g., from a microphone accessible by the patient device 1010 and/or
healthcare
professional device 1014) and/or a chat interface for text-based chat
communication
between the patient and the healthcare professional. Further, the interface
provided by
the application 1002 allows the healthcare professional to receive the
attachments
provided by the patient via the patient computer device 1010.
During the virtual consultation, the application 1002 may provide the
healthcare
professional with various tools for documenting and performing the
consultation. For
example, the application 1002 may provide in the virtual consultation
interface a tool for
entering the healthcare professional's notes and/or observations to be
appended to a
medical chart for the patient. Further, the application 1002 may provide an
electronic
prescription tool for facilitating or enabling the communication of
prescription
information from the healthcare professional to the patient, phaimacy
information for
looking up and displaying nearby pharmacies, a referral tool for referring the
patient to
other healthcare professional users of the system 1000 as well as to
healthcare
.. professionals who are not users of the system 1000. Any such information
provided
and/or produced during the virtual consultation may be stored and associated
with the
patient and/or healthcare professional within the system 1000, e.g., in data
storage media
1004.
Records of the virtual consultations provided through the system 1000 may be
stored and may further be made available to other healthcare professionals
(e.g.,
healthcare professional users of the system 1000) for peer review. Reviewing
healthcare
professionals may rate various aspects of the virtual consultation, such as
the
appropriateness of medical treatment, clarity and actionability of patient
instructions and
thoroughness and quality of documentation. Such reviews may be utilized to
rate the
healthcare professional users of the system 1000.
Healthcare professionals may be compensated through the application 1002 for
providing virtual consultations. Compensation may be based on a per
consultation basis,
a time-available basis or the like. Similarly, patient users may pay for
virtual
consultations through the system 1000 on a per consultation basis, on a
subscription
basis (e.g., subscribing users may receive some preset number of virtual
consultations
per month or other time-period) or the like.
The systems and methods provided herein may be integrated or otherwise
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incorporated into a single platform for delivering healthcare services to
users. For
example, the healthcare professional evaluation systems (e.g., as shown and
described
with respect to Figures 1 and 3), the system for providing answers to user-
submitted
questions (e.g., as shown and described with respect to Figure 6) and/or the
system for
.. facilitating virtual consultations may be integrated into a single platform
accessible to
patients and healthcare professionals (e.g., utilizing patient computer
devices and
healthcare professional computer devices), thus enabling a variety of
functionalities and
delivery of healthcare services through a single portal, accessible to users
through the
Internet.
Referring again to Fig. 1, in another aspect of the present disclosure
1. The PHR / EHR forms the baseline of the system ¨ most functionality
touches the
EHR. it functions like an operating system's "file system" and serves as the
basis for
interactions.
2. Above the PHR / ERR rest all of the services offered by the operating
system
(OS):
a. Scheduling
i. This can connect to the PHR/EHR, but can also function
independent of the PHR/HER
b. Information {This is a "module"}
i. Health tips
Health checklists
App ratings
iv. Medication ratings
v. Answers to questions
c. Communication services {This is a "module"}
i. Asynchronous text messaging (secure messaging)
Synchronous text messaging / chat
Audio / voice conferencing
iv. Video conferencing
d. Services {This is a "module"}
i. Pharmacy transactions
Diagnostic lab transactions
e. Payment transactions {This is a "module"}
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i. This can connect to the PHR/EHR, but can also function
independent of the PHR/HER
f. Management
i. Identity management
ii. Access management
g. Compliance
i. Security compliance
HIPAA compliance
h. Technology support
i. Mobile device support
Browser support
3. On top of above disclosed services, it is possible to add "standard
apps" (i.e. "out
of the box apps" - like the default apps that come on a smartphone), and
"external apps".
a. Standard Apps:
i. Scheduling
1. Appointment Scheduling
Content
1. Search
a. Infoimation
b. Health care providers
2. Directories
a. Information
b. Health care providers
Communication
1. Inbox consults
2. Live chat consults
3. Audio/Video consults
iv. Clinical Notes
v. Electronic prescriptions (eRx)
vi. Lab test orders
vii. Referrals (to other healthcare providers)
viii. Reminders & Notifications (i.e. patient reminders and
notifications)
ix. Newsletters
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x. Surveys
b. , External Apps:
i. Disease Management Apps
Health Advisors
iii. Horne Monitors
iv. Diet Apps
v. Exercise Apps
vi. Enterprise directory apps
Referring now to Figs 11-13A, the present disclosure also provides a cloud-
based
software system 1100 (Health Operating System) with both consumer and
healthcare
provider facing applications, designed to serve the needs of parties involved
in the
delivery and receipt of healthcare: from individuals, to care providers, to
organizations
(including but not limited to: groups of individuals or care providers, health
care
systems, insurance companies, and self-insured entities from companies to
governments). The cloud-based software solution may be incorporated into the
virtual
consultation application 1002, as discussed relative to Figure 10, and/or it
may be
implemented as a stand-alone application.
As generally shown in Figure 11, the system 1100 may facilitate communication
between patients and doctors, such that patients can have around-the-clock
access to
doctors, such as through video consultations, text chats, to receive
prescriptions, to
receive referrals, or to communicate information about a patient's personal
health record.
This communication allows engagement between patients and doctors without the
expense or logistics of in-office, in-person visits. To help facilitate this
communication,
the solution disclosed herein may provide personalized checklists and
automated doctor
reminders to patients. Additionally, the solution disclosed herein may allow
for a patient
to receive personalized, doctor-curated content to healthcare or medical
related
information. Other organizations, such as health insurers or governmental
health
organizations may have access to the data and/or communication as well.
Figure 12 is another diagrammatical illustration of the system 1100 depicting
various benefits of the system 1100. For example, the system 1100 may include
a
scheduling component 1110 allowing patients and/or doctors to schedule
consultations or
meetings with one another. The system 1110 may have a library database 1120
which
stores information accessible to the patient and doctor. For example, the
library database
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1120 may have answers to common health questions, medical data, health tips,
news
about medical or health-related topics, medication ratings, and peer reviews,
among
other data. A communication component 1130 may facilitate communication
between a
doctor and patient by a number of mediums, including text or short message
service,
video calling, voice calling, or other medium. A services component 1140 may
be
interfaced with the system 1100 to facilitate patients and/or doctors to have
lab tests
completed, order medication, or other services within the medical field. The
system 1100
includes a directory 1150 which may have contact information for various
medical
personnel, including doctors, nurses, medical groups, or other parties. An
engagement
component 1160 may be included to enhance communication using the system 1100
and
the usability of the system for doctors, patients, and 3rd party groups. The
engagement
component 1160 may provide checklist notifications to patients or doctors, it
may
provide tailored data to patients or doctors, such as tailored feeds or
newsletters, and it
may conduct surveying of users of the system 1100. A payment module 1170 may
facilitate monetary payments between patients, doctors, and 3rd party payors
such as
insurers. All of the data collected may be incorporated into a personal health
record
(PHR) 1190 of a patient, and all of the components of the system 1100 may
communicate information to an analytics component 1180 of the system 1100,
thereby
allowing analysis of how the system 1100 is being used.
The system 1100 may provide various solutions to the healthcare industry. For
example, the system 1100 provides a consumer-facing solution which enables
individuals with health needs of any kind to immediately connect with health
information or healthcare providers, directly from any computer or mobile
device, to
promptly be triaged to the appropriate level of information, care or
treatment. Whether
the consumer has a non-urgent health question or need, or a question or need
requiring a
prompt response or attention or advice, the Health Operating System enables
and
facilitates immediately addressing the inquiry or need by quickly triaging the
patient to
appropriate information or care. Together, the modules of the system 1100 may
create a
partial or complete unified healthcare solution for the consumer.
Another solution the system 1100 provides is the provider-facing solution,
which
enables healthcare providers to contribute to, assess, and refine a body of
health
information designed to provide consumers or other healthcare providers with
health-
related information, to manage availability and schedule appointments with
consumers or
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other healthcare providers; to provide care to consumers, scheduled or on
demand, via
text, audio, or video directly from any computer or mobile device; to view and
contribute
information to a patient personal health record (PHR); to provide support to
consumers
following consultations; to order or provide health related services to
consumers
(including but not limited to ordering treatments, including but not limited
to
prescriptions, tests, and procedures), and to solicit and receive payments for
services.
The system 1100 also provides an organization-facing solution, which enables
groups 'or organizations of any size to help manage the health of a population
through the
Health Operating System by providing access to the various modules, notably,
the
modules or components for scheduling, information, communication, services,
support
and payment. The Health Operating System creates a unified and integrated
healthcare
solution.
One benefit of the system 1100 is the ability to provide data-based triaging
in
response to a user's inquiry about his or her health. Specifically, the system
1100 is
capable of recommending a proper course of treatment in response to an
inquiry, which
substantially improves over the existing tools which merely present a user
with possible
causes of his or her health symptoms. The abilities of the system 1100, in
part, are due to
the combination of data within the system 1100 and the personalization of the
system
1100 to a user, such as through the user's personal health records and data
gathered from
the user by the system 1100.
The backend of the system 1100 may be designed to fully support efficient
operation of the system 1100. For example, the data contained in the system
1100 may
be compiled, at least in part, from the crowdsource knowledge of doctors and
other
medical professionals. The data may also include well-established medical
data, but it
may be modified based on additional data collected from the crowdsourced
doctors, such
as that the system 1100 may be successful at assisting with identification of
a given
condition based on a patient's symptoms. The various data may be modeled or
processed, the specifics of which may vary by design. In one example, a
Bayesian model
may be used. Then, the information collected and processed may be combined
with the
personal history collected from the patient to recommend or triage the
patients to a
specific type of care within the system 1100 or to a third party provider. The
system may
use intelligent processing or Alto help triage patients. It is noted that
triaging patients
within the system 1100 is not based on a fixed probability model.
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In one embodiment, the system 1100 may act as a 'virtual symptom checker' for
a patient. This virtual symptom checker may be included in a part of the
system 1100
which allows for asking doctors questions. It may first include identifying
who the
patient is, i.e., to determine if the patient is the same individual asking
the question or a
different person. The user may tap a location on a diagram of the human body
and the
system 1100 may present a set of symptoms to the user. The symptoms may be
organized in various ways, such as from common to least common. Once a symptom
has
been tapped, the user is lead through a series of triage questions related to
the symptoms
to obtain information that would make a difference in diagnosis. Examples of
triage
questions may include: how severe the symptom is; how long the patient has
been
experiencing the symptom; whether the symptom occurred suddenly or gradually;
whether the symptom radiates from a part of the body; such as the jaw, arm,
knee, leg, or
foot; on which side of the body the symptom occurs; whether the symptom is
worsened
by performing various actions, such as exertion, walking coughing, taking a
deep breath,
emotional stress, at a particular time of the day, or when the person assumes
a particular
position; whether the symptom improves based on a catalyst, such as applying
ice,
raising the body part upwards, taking medicine, etc.; a gender of the patient;
age of the
patient; and/or ethnicity of the patient. Other questions may also be asked.
If basic information is not known, it may be asked directly at this point in
order to
.. complete basic PHR info, such as age, gender, family history, etc. Then,
the system 1100
may provide a probabilistically ranked condition report, which is not a
diagnosis, but
may be useful in achieving a diagnosis by a doctor later on. The system 1100
may then
make a triaged recommendation based on each probable condition, which may
include
recommendations such as: get to the emergency room; see a doctor soon (virtual
or in
person); seek a non-urgent doctor consult; seek self-managed care, such as
using
checklists and treatment options. If the patient selects a virtual consult,
the system may
pre-populate a "reason for a consult" field in a future consult request.
Ultimately, the
system 1100 may collect information around the patient to package and pass
through the
product to doctors associated with the system or for the patient to export and
share.
The doctors may play an important role in this embodiment. For example, when
making the ranked condition report, the system 1100 may ask doctors how often
given
symptoms occur in people with given conditions. The system 1100 may also rate
an Rx
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model applied to symptoms and conditions, rate the frequency of symptoms to
conditions, and rating the strength of risk factors for conditions.
Figure 13A is a diagrammatical illustration of a health triaging system. In
particular, Fig. 13A illustrates how the system 1100 uses data to enable and
facilitate
prompt access to the appropriate level of health information or virtual care
(in the case of
the Health Operating System, to an appropriate module of the system). That is
to say,
the system 1100 works to help direct a user to the right point in the system
1100, such
that the user can begin using the tools of the system 1100 at the optimal
point of entry for
that particular user. Figure 13A shows the general "funnel," revealing how
most inbound
connections with the system 1100 may be serviced through either the existing
knowledge-base of information or new answers from doctors to informational-
based
inquiries; the subsequent interactions involve the Communications Module (Text
Chat
with Doctors, Video Chat with Doctors); the final phase in the triaging system
involves
referring patients to specialists for consults (in-person or virtual), or to
urgent care /
.. emergency services.
Data may be based on user-input information at the time of the interaction,
and
can include: natural-language processing of the user request, user identified
preferences
or needs for the appropriate entry point, or reference to the user PHRJEHR to
determine
the optimal entry point into the funnel.
Triaging is designed to effectively address the needs of consumers with the
fastest available, lowest cost solution that serves their needs, before taking
the consumer
to more-costly solutions (recognizing that at times the service of a consumer
need may
be to immediately connect the consumer with the most costly solution).
Generally, this
triaging system moves consumers through a funnel from information (existing,
then
newly created) to virtual care (non-real time to real-time chat, audio, and
video) to
referrals to other care providers for more specialized care (virtual care to
non-virtual
care), to non-virtual urgent/emergency care.
The training system, therefore, covers the entire continuum of care, from
health
issues or concerns addressed through existing knowledge, all the way to a
referral for in
person emergency care.
Note that consumers may enter the system at any point and are not necessarily
required to interact with each segment of the funnel in order to progress
through the
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funnel (i.e. a consumer could enter the funnel to connect with a doctor for
virtual care
with an emergency concern and be immediately referred to in-person emergency
care;
likewise, a consumer could enter the funnel with an informational query and
determine
from existing information in the knowledge-base that immediate in-person
urgent care
was required).
The progression of the user through the funnel may occur as follows:
1. information
a. Access to information from an existing knowledge-base
b. Disseminating user requests (where not satisfied by the knowledge-base) to
a
network of healthcare providers who provide a response that can become part of
the
knowledge base.
2. Virtual care
a. Access to asynchronous messages to doctors (non-real-time messages)
b. Access to synchronous messages to doctors (real-time text chat)
c. Access to synchronous audio consults (real-time audio communications) or
video
consults (real-time video consults).
3. Referrals
a. Referring the consumer to virtual care with a specialist or different care
provider
b. Referring the consumer to non-virtual care (i.e. to in-person care) with a
health
care provider
c. Referring the consumer to urgent or emergency non-virtual care.
Example I: Outline overview of one implementation of Symptom Triage System
Guiding Questions:
1. For a full set of symptoms, co-occurring conditions, and current
medications,
what are the most likely diagnoses?
2. Based on information already gathered, what is the most important next
question to ask?
3. Given this input, what is the recommended course of treatment?
Goals:
For Members:
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o Right care at the right cost at the right time
o Fast, convenient path to peace of mind and treatment
For Doctors:
o "HealthTap History provides context for virtual consults or office
visits
o Saves valuable consult time
o Facilitates expert diagnosis
Triage Experience:
FIG. 13B is a diagrammatical illustration of the Symptom Triage Experience of
FIG. 13A. As shown, the system may query who the user is first, then identify
an
associated history of the user. AI-driven triage questions may be given to the
user, which
may allow the system to facilitate the user whether their interest is just
exploring health
topics, in which case they can learn and ask questions using the system, or
whether the
user is experiencing health related issues. In this case, the user may be
directed to
appropriate medical care, such as seeking urgent medical attention, receiving
a virtual
consultation with a suggested specialist, or seeing a doctor in person.
Competitive Advantages
1. Delightful
o smooth, modern, mobile-optimized 1JI
o outputs a "HealthTap History" for virtual or office visits
Personalized
o pre-populated from your PHR
o probabilities calculated in context of who you are: other
conditions, medications, allergies, family history, risk factors, etc.
o outputs go back into PHR
Smart
o more symptoms and conditions covered than any other alternative
o intelligently suggests best course of action based on severity
(urgent medical care, office visit, or virtual consult)
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o symptom ontology helps refine specific symptoms for more
accurate suggestions
o assessed family and personal risk factors to improve probability
calculations
o probabilistic recommendations of condition OR medication side
effect
o uses ontology to recommend the right specialties (for virtual or
office visit)
Expert-driven
o powered by HealthTap's unparalleled 102,000 doctor network
o constantly improving with crowd-sourced expert wisdom and
machine learning algorithms
Product Context:
In this implementation of the system, the symptom triage system may be a part
of
the ask doctors flow. In the future iterations, symptom triage will be a way
to gather
patient history before a consult and a way to synthesize infoimation for a
doctor's visit.
Data:
Attribute Variable KB Category
condition
clinical finding
Disease Dx
side effect*
topic
clinical¨ finding
Symptoms Sx
topic
risk factor
clinical finding
Risk Factor RF
condition
topic
Table 1: Attribute's (*possible diagnoses on the treatment options
page will include both conditions and side effects of medications).
In order to accommodate this, treat the relationship currently represented as:
<medication>1 has side effect <clinical finding>
as if it were:
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Side effects of <medication> has clinical finding <clinical finding>
This means giving every medication a condition called "Side effects of
<medication>" and that condition has clinical findings of the side effects of
the
medication.
Probabilities:
Method
Relationshi Descri of Data Possible
Formula
ption Collectio Values
II
Preval A pre-
determine Decimal
determine
ence of value
P(Dx)
each between
probabilit zero and 1
disease
Odds Inferred P(Dx) = Odds(Dx)/ (1 +
Odds(Dx) of a from Odds(Dx))
disease P(Dx) Odds(Dx) = P(Dx)/(1- P(Dx) )
Probab
ility of Always:
Probabilit
the 0.95
ies
sympt Usually:
collected 0.75
om
from Often: 0.25
P(SXIDx) given
doctor Sometimes:
that 0.10
knowledg
the Rarely: 0.0
e curation
disease
tool
is Never: 0
present
Probab
ility of P(Dx I Sx) = P(Dx) * P(Sx Dx)
the Inferred / P(Sx)
P(DxISx) disease using We calculate P(Sx) as the
given a P(SxIDx) sum of P(Dxi) * P(Sx I
sympt Dxi) for all Dxi
om
Odds
of the
Inferred
OddsRatio( disease OddsRatio(DxISx) =
using
DxlSx) given a
P(DxlSx) P(Dx1Sx)/(1-P(Dx1Sx) )
sympt
om
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Probabilit
ies
collected
Multiplie
from
r:
doctor
Very
knowledg
strong:
e curation
tool
Odds Strong:
Multiplier
of the 10
OddsRatio( disease S ignific a
correspon
Dx RF) given a nt: 4
d to 5 star
risk Weak: 2
ratings
factor collected Very
Weak:
during
1.2
doctor
No
experienc
increase:
e (I =no
1
increase,
5¨yery
strong)
Pre-
determine
Severit d severe Boolean IT S(Dx) == 1
0: not severe
S(Dx) y of disease 1: severe AND If P(DxiSx) > threshold
disease always Then, display "warning text"
requires
ER visit
Probab To calculate probability of a
ility of disease for someone with a set
the of risk factors RF1,...RFn and
disease Inferred symptoms Sx1,....Sxn, we first
being from P stored as calculate the odds, then convert
to probability:
the integer
Odds(Dx1{RF1,...,RFn,
P(Dxl {S1..S diagno and symptomsr between 1
Sx1,...,Sxn}}) = Odds(Dx)*
and 100
n}&{REL. sis factors 100 = most Odds Rati o(D x1RF1)*... *OddsR
RFn)) given gathered likely atio(Dx1RFn)*OddsRatio(Dx1Sx
sympt in 1 = least 1)*, ..*OddsRatio(DxPxn)
And P(DxI{RF1,...,RFn,
oms member likely
Sx1,...,Sxn}})
and UI = Odds(DxI{RF1,...,RFn,
risk Sx1,...,Sxn}})
factor /(1+Odds(Dx1{RF1,...,RFn,
Sx1,...,Sxn}}) )
input
Table 2: Probabilities
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Risk factors (RF) and symptoms (Sx) modify probability of disease. To update
probabilities with results of risk factors, we convert to Odds and multiply
the odds of
having the disease times the Odds Ratio for the disease in the presence of the
risk factor.
Symptoms Dimensions Relationships:
Display Value
Relationship name Dimension (for UI
questions)
has_severity_mild severity mild
has severity moderate severity moderate
has_severity_severe severity severe
has_acuity_recent acuity recent onset
has_acuity_chronic acuity chronic
has_abruptness_gradual abruptness gradual onset
has_abruptness_sudden abruptness sudden onset
has quality sharp quality sharp
has_quality_dull quality dull ache
has_quality_tingling quality tingling
has_quality_buming quality burning
squeezing or
has_quality_squeezing quality
pressure
has_quality_tearing quality tearing
has_quality_throbbing quality throbbing
has_radiation _jaw radiation to jaw
has_radiation_arm radiation to arm
has radiation _knee radiation to knee
has_radiation_leg radiation to leg
has_radiation_foot radiation to foot
has sidedness both sidedness both
has_sidedness_left sidedness left
has_sidedness_right sidedness right
has_worsened_exertion worsened by exertion
has_worsened walk worsened by walking
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has_worsened_cough worsened by coughing
by taking a deep
has_worsenedbreath worsened
_ breath
by emotional
has worsened worsened
_ _ stress
has_worsened_lyin.g_flat worsened lying flat
has_worsened_night worsened at night
has_alleviation_ice alleviated by applying ice
raising the
has alleviation alleviated
_
affected part
has_alleviation bending alleviated bending forward
aspirin or
has alleviation NSAID alleviated ibuprofen
Table 3: Symptoms Dimensions Relationships
Symptoms and symptom-dimension pairs will exist as separate clinical finding
entries in the database. Symptoms and symptom-dimension pairs will appear as
separate
symptoms in the doctor UI and have separate, independent probabilities. Each
time we
create a new symptom that is a symptom-dimension pair, we must link the two
using the
above relationships.
Expected format for data load file:
clinical finding 1 idl I symptom relationship clinical finding_21id2
For example...
chest pain 12345678 has_severity_severel severe chest pain 87654321
chest pain 112345678 has_quality_jhrobbing throbbing chest pain NEW
Relationship naming convention is based off of treatment naming convention
(i.e.
has_treatment_medication, has treatment_procedure). Data load files and stored
data
expected to use aul the names in the above table for consistency.
Doctor Experience:
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Constraints:
= Conditional independence assumption: each symptom contributes a
conditionally
independent effect on the diagnosis of each disease
= Modeled after the Rate Treatments platform, Symptom Triage uses "Rate
Indications" to collect data from the doctor network
= Invite Directory doctors to join the network as a recruitment mechanism
by
engaging them on this effort. This will boost the number of doctors in our
network.
Specific Changes from Rate Treatments:
Element Original (Rate Treatments) New
(Rate Indications)
route /review_indications/{topic name)
freview_treatments/{topic name) e.g.
htlps://www.healthtap.com/expe
link rt/review indications/angina
"raterx_vote=someHash" param
Links format
Yexpert/raterx_vote?treatment_id 111/118crating=lor2o
r3or4or5'
Notification Name: doctor_raterx_reviewtreatment
invite Screenshot:
directory
'-= = ' = "-"' mdicationvote=someHash"
network -17 _
: -77
Send - - - -
¨ Links format
E -
Vexpert/indication vote?indication_i
mail to
d41##&rating=lor-2or3or4or5'
network
Notification Name: to be added?
doctors
-
with
rating
links
/review indications/TOPIC N
topic /review treatments/TOPIC NAME loads
AME can only load for topics
type for conditions, procedures, and medications .
with type = condition
"Review Indications
Rel./Pews Treatments 't influenza
navigati ConditionName" and "Review
on UT Indications" will be plain grey
text,
not a hyperlink
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One page "Rate Indications"
has two sections with two
questions:
= "How often do these
page One page has one question and two symptoms occur in
sections subsections (medications, procedures) people with $X?"
O "How strong are these
risk factors for $X?"
= two
subsections (Symptom
s, Risk Factors)
icons Symptoms: 80"
Risk Factors:
= Bronze
o Name: Ontology
Advisor
o Trigger: For
Bronze reviewing 50
*
indications in a
week
= = Silver
o Name: Rx Counselor o
Name:
o Trigger: For reviewing 50 Ontology
treatments in a week
M
= Silver aster
o Name: Rx Virtuoso o
Trigger: For
medals o Trigger: For reviewing 250 reviewing 250
treatments in a week indications in a
= Gold week
e
o Name: Beacon of Truth
Gold
o Trigger: For reviewing
1000 o Name: Ontolog
treatments in a week y Wizard
o Trigger: For
reviewing 1000
indications in a
week
Doctors are only able to use
autocom free text accepted autocomplete to add a new/missing
plete value (e.g. cannot organically
create
a symptom)
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stars (gray outline ¨> red)
ft' How often do these symptoms occur in people with Angini
-
* * -- -radio button interface with
labels
cheer polo * * *
How often do there symptom occur in people with Influena:
rating Review Inds:nom. AnV,
input UI
How strong are these risk factors for Angina?
r'SR lortor . . _
110 blood presume * * * * *
ryowy
change to 6 input fields (instead of
5) with corresponding labels as
labels follows ¨
scale for for symptoms: Never, Rarely,
currently 5 stars Sometimes, Often, Very Often,
rating Always
= UI for risk factors: No
Increase, Very
Weak, Weak, Significant, Strong,
Very Strong
Display "Your Rating: <label>
(value)" for example "Your Rating:
When you click on a star, displays "Your Rating: 4" Never (0%)"
where 4= number of stars Where label value pairs are as
your foJ lows
. = . :.=
:==
rating
for symptoms: Never (0%),
YOUR RATING: 4 Sometimes (1- 10%), Often (10-
.
feedbac = =
= 25%), Usually (25-75%), Always
, for risk factors: No Increase
(1x),
= Very Weak (1.2x), Weak (2x),
.=
Significant (4x), Strong (10x), Very
Strong (50x)
change to progress bar slider
currently uses stars Ul interface with label of value on
decimal scale(user cannot interact
average AVERAGE RATING* 4.0 with slider)
rating How often
do these symptnms occur In peoplewith Influenza?
display
-
, . .
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Table 4: Specific Changes from Rate Treatments (see original spec here RateRx
Release
Part 1)
Fix Ul Bugs:
Sitagliptin and
metformin ,t 1,--. '`,---,
____________________________________________________________________ _....
¨oom......A. ______________ i ii t
SCI1
I-
DDC
OD I
UI dropdown shouldn't show below input
,.. _ _ , .. .....
_
Zeriernivir
4 Aad a mechcalian
14w ax,nd ¨ ___
,
r4.4,..Asafina h rIsseka) .. ,
4 Adil a premium
¨ ¨ ¨
All horizontal lines should be full page width
Data Collection:
Data is saved as reviews and then used to update probabilities for conditions
and
= clinical findings.
Risk Factor Data should be saved as:
Condition 1 I has_risk_factor strength_$X I Condition_2
For example:
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*ong are #1, -t rs icr Prµo!,:monia?
= (1,3
VC 7 smen Noincreased riek
grew aith.hifonal risk factor]
Where condition _l = pneumonia, condition_2 = bird flu and X is average of
doctor
reviews
Member Experience:
Body Tap Interface
First time splash screen tutorial
Choosing and changing account
2nd person vs 3rd person
Symptom lists by body part
Search for symptoms
Rotate body
Symptom Refinement
Refinement questions
Data-driven, for individual symptom, will vary depending on
Add/Remove Symptoms
PHR profile
Symptom lifetime
Update PHR within Symptom Triage capabilities
Split conditions vs symptoms
Past/current symptoms
Add/remove symptom
No symptoms added assertion
Triage questions
Required PHR information
Risk factors
Family history
Personal risk factors
Past/Current conditions
Allergies
Medications
Procedures
Experiencing vs Exploring
Condition Report
Algorithm
Conditions
Medication Side Effects
Match Probability
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Triage Levels
1. Self-care
2. Non-urgent consult
3. Urgent consult
4. ER
Disclaimers
ER Warning (it looks like you're experiencing a serious condition, get your
booty to the ER)
This is not a diagnosis warning
Initial legal disclaimer upon entrance
HealthTap History
Reason for visit string
PDF of health history (v2)
Save to health files
Share with my Dr.
Triage Questions:
Question
Possible Values Notes
(X=Symptom)
How severe is the $X? Mild, Moderate, Severe
How long have you
been experiencing Recent onset, Chronic
$X?
Did the $X occur
suddenly or gradually? Sudden onset, Gradual onset
Sharp, Dull, Tingling,
Does the $X have any
Burning, Pressure or
of the following
squeezing, Tearing,
qualities?
Throbbing
Does the $X radiate to
Z = jaw, arm, knee, leg, foot
the $Z?
On which side does Left side, Right side, Both
the $Z occur? sides
Z ¨ by exertion, by walking,
Is the $X worsened by coughing, by taking a deep
$Z? breath, by emotional stress, at
night, by lying flat
Z = applying ice, raising the
Does the $X get better affected part, bending
by $Z? forward, aspirin or ibuprofen
(NSAIDs)
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Male, Female, It's
Choose your gender
complicated
Input number
then stored as
categories:
0-2 infant
3-6 preschool
712 school age
Choose Age Age input 13-17 teenager
18-24 young
adult
25-44 adult
44-64 middle
age
65+ senior
Caucasian (European
Ancestry)
African Ancestry
Hispanic Ancestry
Asian Ancestry
Choose Ethnicity
Jewish Ancestry
Arab Ancestry
Native American
Pacific Islander
Inuit
Select any applicable
KB-driven risk factors with
risk factors from the
boolean (true/false) values
following list:
Table 5: Triage Questions
Which questions are presented as well as the values for each question will
change
dynamically based on whether the answer to the question is relevant (i.e.
symptom-
dimension relationship pair exists on the back-end for that symptom and
whether a
condition has risk factor relationships).
Figure 14 is a diagrammatical illustration that demonstrates the
interconnectivity
of the different modules in accordance with an embodiment of the present
disclosure. In
particular, Figure 14 illustrates the interconnectivity of various APIs
(application
.. programming interfaces) with the system 1100 as described relative to
Figure 12. As,
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shown, the APIs can feed data into the system 1100 to provide further data and
capabilities to the system 1100. As shown, the various APIs can be stored in a
database
1200, which may be within the system 1100 or external to the system 1100,
depending
on the design and infrastructure of the system 1100. The APIs may include a
question
and answer (Q&A) API 1210, a library API 1220, a doctor communication API
1230, a
services API 1240, a directory API 1250, a data API 1260, and an application
API 1270,
among others not specifically shown. Each of the APIs may feed into the
various
modules or components of the system 1100. Additionally, Figure 14 illustrates
the
inclusion of an Electronic Medical Records (EMR) component 1280 which may
interface
with the system 1100.
Figures 15 and 16 are images of a user interface on a mobile electronic device
of
the library database 1120 of Figures 12 and 14. As shown, a user of the system
1100 may
be able to access the system 1100 from a mobile electronic device, such as a
cellular
phone, tablet computer, or other computing device. The user can use the user
interface to
navigate to the library database 1120 of the system 1100 in order to research
medical
issues, ask questions, review existing questions and answers, or otherwise use
the library
database 1120. The user may also be able to access various prepopulated health
topics
which may be of interest to the user, such as relevant articles provided by
doctors using
the system 1100, as shown in Figure 16. The library database 1120 may include
or be
searchable by a variety of topics, including by asking questions, by reviewing
tips, by
reading news articles, by health condition, symptom, or procedure, by
medication
review, by application review, and by peer review, among others.
Figure 17 is an image of a user interface on a mobile electronic device of the
communication component 1130 of the system 1100, as shown in Figures 12 and
14. The
communication component 1130 or module may give users of the system 1100 the
ability to communicate with doctors and other healthcare professionals through
a variety
of mediums, such as by voice calling, video calling, text or electronic
messages, etc. The
doctors may be accessible to users at predetermined times, including 24 hours
a day, and
may be available in real time or substantially near real time to users, such
that patients
can pose questions to doctors as needed. When a user engages in communication
with
the doctor, the doctor may simultaneously have access to the PHR of the
patient, so the
doctor can best respond to the patient's inquiry, including giving the patient
medical
advice and a possible diagnosis, providing the patient with treatment
information, a
prescription to receive medication, a referral to another doctor for further
infoimation or
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a second opinion, and ordering or interpreting lab tests, among others. At the
end of the
communication between the doctor and the patient, a summary of the
conversation may
be available to the patient through the system 1100. The summary, as shown in
Figure
17, may include information such as a history of the patient's inquiry with
the doctor or
other medical history, information about tests performed, such as a physical,
an
assessment of the patient's health, and a plan provided by the doctor to the
patient which
may include instructions for further care.
Figure 18 is an image of a user interface on a mobile electronic device of the
directory 1150 of the system 1100, as shown in Figures 12 and 14. As shown,
the
directory 1150 may include identification information about the doctor,
including the
doctor's name, practice area or specialty, rating or review information of the
doctor, and
where the doctor is licensed to practice medicine. The directory 1150 may also
include
the various services offered by the doctor using the system 1100, including
live
consultations, message or text-bases consultations, and the days/times the
doctor is
available. Other information, such as a summary of the doctor's practice, a
map of the
doctor's location, or other relevant infoimation may also be provided. Beyond
information about a specific doctor, the directory 1150 may also provide
information that
helps a user locate a doctor. For example, the directory 1150 may provide a
search query
location where a user can search for a doctor based on various criteria, e.g.,
keyword, etc.
Figure 19 is an image of a user interface on a mobile electronic device of the
system 1100 and how it can interface with other electronic devices. For
example, while
the system 1100 may be an application that is run on a cellular phone or
similar
electronic device, the application may also extend to ancillary devices, such
as smart
watches or similar devices. Any of the functionality or communication of the
system
1100 may be implemented on the ancillary device.
It is noted that the system 1100 may provide significant benefits in assisting
a
patient with receiving proper medical attention. While the system 1100 is not
a
'symptom checker', it successfully uses a patient's personal history in
combination with
their symptoms in order to provide medical care and/or medical advice.
Furthermore, the
system 1100 accomplishes these results in an efficient and streamlined manner.
For
example, the ability of a patient to be directed to the appropriate level
within the funnel
(Figure 13A) allows for the patient to receive accurate information to their
concern as
quickly as possible. Once the patient has received the medical care and/or
advice to assist
with their issue, the ability to have a summary of the interaction with the
system 1100,
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including interaction with doctors, output to the user in text format may
significantly
improve the end result of the patient's care by putting the patient in the
best possible
position for further treatment.
While the individual components of the system provide benefits to users of the
system, the overall combination of the system and the components thereof add
significant value to those seeking medical treatment or medical information.
This value
includes, in part, the ability to efficiently provide medical treatment to
users who may
not be positioned near a healthcare professional. it also allows users to
select healthcare
professionals on feedback, endorsements, and other data which provides
reliable
information about the healthcare professionals' qualifications and expertise.
The use of
feedback, endorsements, and the other data relative to a healthcare
professional's
credentials and expertise ensures a high trust factor with users of the
system, since they
can see specific data about the quality of the healthcare professionals on the
system. The
system also gives users the benefit of gaining reliable medical data
efficiently and
conveniently, for example, by allowing users to see previous questions asked
on the
system, to see numerous healthcare professionals' answers to questions and to
ask user-
specific questions to healthcare professionals. The integration of these
features, and the
other features described in this disclosure, together in one system allows for
patients to
receive effective and efficient medical treatment and information.
While the invention has been described with respect to a limited number of
embodiments, it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to
the precise
forms disclosed. Persons skilled in the art, having benefit of this
disclosure, can
appreciate that many modifications and variations are possible in light of the
above
disclosure. For example, the systems and methods provided herein may be
advantageously employed for use by other professionals or persons having
particular
expertise in any given field, including, lawyers, professors, accountants,
contractors,
bankers and so on. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be limited
only by the
following claims.
Many other variations and modifications may be made to the above-described
embodiments of the disclosure without departing substantially from the spirit
and
principles of the disclosure. All such modifications and variations are
intended to be
included herein within the scope of the present disclosure and protected by
the following
claims.
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