Computer-based system for automating administrative procedures in
Contents
1. 1 It should be appreciated however that each subscriber computer 92 could actually comprise a server maintained by a particular practice group to which are connected a number of individual computers used by providers administrators and other personnel 0047 In accordance with the embodiment shown in FIG 6 a number of different types of services can be offered on a subscription basis including but not limited to tape transcrip tion record review and chart preparation In addition all of the necessary tracking and reporting associated with these services can also be provided 0048 With respect to transcription the level of service provided is fully customizable to the needs of any particular subscriber For example a provider can simply dictate a tape during an office hours session and send it to subscriber service center 90 e g by overnight delivery service Subscriber service center 90 would then arrange for transcription either on site or using an off site vendor print the report and make all copies mail and or e mail the reports and copies back to the subscriber and update the subscriber s database 18 to document progress In a particular implementation sub scriber service center 90 periodically updates database 18 with the progress of the requested service thereby enabling the subscriber to use office automation system 10 to access status information Once the file containing the transcription is transmitted or o2. means Remote PCs 60 may be loaded with special software to support particular functions of office automation system 10 Alternatively remote PCs 60 need only be capable of receiving files from and transmitting files to office automation system 10 0042 The embodiments described above can readily be implemented in a Microsoft Windows environment provid ing users with a familiar user friendly interface to the many capabilities offered by systems configured in accordance with the present invention As is well known in the art user inter faces can be constructed in menu form and users can be given access to help screens audio cues tutorials video demon strations and so on using standard facilities Various other time saving measures can also be built into the user interface For example timers can be incorporated into menus where some user selection is required In the event no selection is made within a predetermined period of time such as ten seconds the program driving the menu can automatically choose the selection that would most commonly be correct in a given situation In this way even users with little or no system knowledge are able to benefit from the system 0043 Inaccordance with an enhancement of the foregoing embodiments each user screen can be configured to display a bitmap image of the user associated with the logonid used to access the system In other words when John Doe logs on his picture would app
3. 18 upon completion As is known in the art particularly with respect to Internet appli cations client computer 82 can be configured to determine whether such a locally cached record has been updated on database 18 and if so to automatically replace the cached version with a copy of the updated version 0045 Referring now to FIG 6 in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention an office automation system 10 such as that shown in FIG 1 is provided as part of a subscription service thereby offering a variety of off site services to providers in remote locations In accordance with such an arrangement services can be paid for as they are used Thus a solo practitioner with only periodic need for tran scription services has comparable access to the features and benefits of office automation system 10 and associated sub Mar 8 2012 scription services as does a large medical group that may choose to use the system for overflow dictation or to out source large volumes of clerical work 0046 As shown in FIG 6 each ofa plurality of subscriber computers 92 are in communication with a subscription ser vice center 90 In one particular implementation of this embodiment subscription service center 90 comprises an office location and a server computer not shown accessible over the Internet Each subscriber computer 92 has loaded thereon office automation system 10 configured for example like the embodiment of FIG
4. assigned current workload record reviewers e g records assigned age of assigned records review status and documents e g charts invoices shipping information all with minimal user input 0031 In accordance with a particular implementation of this embodiment tape tracker 40 includes a facility for auto matically assigning tapes to transcriptionists based upon for example workload information maintained in database 18 For example database 18 may include a transcriptionist table containing records for each of a plurality of transcriptionists whether on site or off site For each such transcriptionist database 18 would include information relating to the identity and address of the transcriptionist as well as the number of tapes currently assigned to the transcriptionist Thus upon being advised of a new tape to be transcribed tape tracker 40 can identify the transcriptionist with the lightest current workload and automatically assign the new tape to that tran scriptionist Other information such as average turnaround time can be used to further refine the assignment of new tapes 0032 Report tracker 42 is configured to provide compre hensive report generation and distribution facilities aimed at reducing the extent of user input required for these tasks For example report tracker 42 uses information in database 18 to automatically insert patient registration data on all reports relating to a given patient filli
5. inserting data for future patients into appropriate records Thus very little data entry is required after the initial input of registration information for a new patient In addi tion database tracker 46 can be configured to maintain updat able tables of information relating to employees providers report types and other data for use in populating display screens with the latest available information 0039 Provider tracker 48 is configured to give providers access to a variety of information and facilities aimed at reducing overhead requirements and improving efficiency with respect to administrative tasks For example provider tracker 48 can provide a report of all currently outstanding dictations Similarly provider tracker 48 can give the pro vider access to a report of all outstanding reports and can prioritize such reports by their respective ages The provider thus knows how much work needs to be done as well as what should be done first without having to contact a staffmember In this embodiment provider tracker 48 also provides the ability to transfer files to a diskette or to a remote computer e g a home PC and automatically distributes reports received from report tracker 42 to the appropriate provider s personal directory Provider tracker 48 can also be configured to maintain information in database 18 relating to provider workload thus enabling the office administrator to assess current workloads when determining
6. of the advantages of the embodi ment shown in FIG 2 consider a medical office in which one or more service providers generate a number of dictation tapes in any given day During the course of the day the providers give tapes to a designated staff member for logging and outsourcing Using facilities provided by tape manage ment module 16 the staff member would input to office automation system 10 information such as the provider s name the date the tape was made the patient s to whom the tape relates This information is used to builda table entry that will eventually be stored in database 18 In one possible implementation the staff member would then select an off site transcriptionist to transcribe the tape Such selection is preferably done by choosing one of a number of possible transcriptionists presented to the staff member on a display screen Upon selection ofa transcriptionist tape management module 16 adds to the aforementioned table entry informa tion identifying the selected transcriptionist Tape manage ment module 16 can also be configured to automatically print a shipping label for each copy of each report sent to the transcriptionist Once all identifying information is input the table entry is stored in database 18 0027 At the end of the day tapes ready for transcription are shipped to transcription service 30 using for example an overnight courier service Upon completion of transcription transcription serv
7. to whom to assign new work e g new managed care patients 0040 Administrator tracker 50 is configured to provide users with access to a variety of information typically required by an office administrator to perform his or her duties For example administrator module 52 provides instant access to management reports for each department in the medical office reports of on site and or off site data avail ability instant access to provider workload tape status and chart location information By maintaining all of the under lying information for such reports in database 18 adminis trator tracker 50 enables the office administrator to acquire an array of necessary information without the need for interac tions with other office staff members To further reduce unnecessary employee contacts administrator tracker 50 can be configured to maintain an administrator mailbox for receiving e mail copies of pertinent communications sent by other employees 0041 Referring now to FIG 4 in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention office automation sys tem 10 is accessible by remote PCs 60 over second commu nications links 62 thereby enabling providers or other office personnel to access system functions from locations other than the office e g home Second communications links 62 US 2012 0059665 Al comprise for example dial up connections but the present invention is not limited to any particular communication
8. NTROL TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE 30 Patent Application Publication Mar 8 2012 Sheet 3 of 6 US 2012 0059665 Al CONTROL 18 49 2 4 6 48 50 mee report mow DR prover Aoun FIG 3 Patent Application Publication Mar 8 2012 Sheet 4 of 6 US 2012 0059665 Al 10 CONTROL TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE 30 REMOTE PC REMOTE PC REMOTE PC 60 60 60 FIG 4 Patent Application Publication Mar 8 2012 Sheet 5 of 6 US 2012 0059665 Al Patent Application Publication Mar 8 2012 Sheet 6 of 6 US 2012 0059665 Al SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE GENTER FIG 6 US 2012 0059665 Al COMPUTER BASED SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATING ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES IN AN OFFICE CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 0001 This application is a continuation of U S patent application Ser No 09 227 406 filed on Jan 8 1999 which claims the benefit under 35 U S C 119 e of U S Provi sional Application No 60 070 884 filed Jan 9 1998 U S patent application Ser No 09 227 406 is hereby incorporated by reference as if repeated herein in its entirety including the drawings BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 0002 The present invention is directed generally to the field of office automation and in particular to a computer based system for automating administrative procedures in a medical office In accordance with particular embodiments of the invention disclosed herein various administrative proce dures that would othe
9. US 20120059665A1 as United States a2 Patent Application Publication o Pub No US 2012 0059665 A1 MILLER 43 Pub Date Mar 8 2012 54 COMPUTER BASED SYSTEM FOR 60 Provisional application No 60 070 884 filed on Jan AUTOMATING ADMINISTRATIVE 9 1998 PROCEDURES IN AN OFFICE Publication Classification 75 Inventor Geoffrey Mare MILLER Manhattan Beach CA US 51 Int Cl G060 50 22 2012 01 73 Assignee MILLERMED SOFTWARE 52 US CI 705 2 INC Manhattan Beach CA US 52 US CL sans es 21 Appl No 13 289 872 57 ABSTRACT a A computer based system for automating administrative pro 22 Filed Nov 4 2011 cedures in an oflice is described According to an embodi ae ment the system may include a control module in communi Related U S Application Data cation with a management tracker module a provider tracker 63 Continuation of application No 11 287 217 filed on module and an administrative tracker module as well as a Nov 28 2005 now Pat No 8 055 510 which is a continuation of application No 09 227 406 filed on Jan 8 1999 now Pat No 6 973 434 CONTROL ADMINISTRATOR database accessible by the management tracker module a provider tracker module and an administrative tracker mod ule Patent Application Publication Mar 8 2012 Sheet 1 of 6 US 2012 0059665 Al CONTROL ADMINISTRATOR Patent Application Publication Mar 8 2012 Sheet 2 of 6 US 2012 0059665 Al CO
10. allowing for significant reductions in overhead attributable to administrative staffing requirements BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 0010 FIG 1 is a block diagram illustrating a computer based system for automating administrative procedures in a medical office in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention 0011 FIG 2 is a block diagram illustrating an embodi ment of the present invention wherein a system such as that shown in FIG 1 is in communication with a remote transcrip tion service 0012 FIG 3 is a block diagram providing a detailed view of a control module of a computer based system for automat ing administrative procedures in a medical office in accor dance with for example the embodiment shown in FIG 1 0013 FIG 4 is a block diagram illustrating an embodi ment of the present invention wherein a system such as that shown in FIG 1 is in communication with a remote transcrip tion service and a plurality of remote personal computers 0014 FIG 5 is a block diagram illustrating an embodi ment of the present invention wherein a plurality of client computers configured with computer based systems for auto mating administrative procedures in a medical office in accor dance with for example the embodiment shown in FIG 1 are in communication with a server computer 0015 FIG 6 is a block diagram illustrating an embodi ment of the present invention wherein a plurality of comput ers configured
11. can select a designated editor to receive signed reports and review them again by copying the report to the editor s per sonal directory Depending upon the nature of a particular implementation such personal directories may reside on a server computer accessible by the provider and or editor or on some other computer capable of communicating with the computer running office automation system 10 e g an office PC capable of accessing office automation system 10 over a LAN a home PC capable of exchanging files with office automation system 10 using e mail 0034 Report tracker 42 also permits reports to be routed to designated printers on demand e g by copying a file con taining the report to a print directory Indeed persons famil iar with medical office administration will appreciate that report tracker 42 allows many types of reports to be processed without ever being handled by a provider For example office notes follow ups and other simple reports can be automati cally sent by report tracker 42 directly to a printer 0035 Report tracker 42 can also be configured to auto matically create a wide variety of standard forms such as those associated with workers compensation claims e g notification forms QME Summary Such forms can be gen erated in batch jobs run during off hours using information stored in database 18 and the generated reports can then be copied to appropriate directories for access when the offic
12. e reopens In certain cases forms can be generated without any staff interaction at all based only on the registration type of each new patient Again such forms can be made easily customizable through the use of word processor macros 0036 In accordance with the embodiment shown in FIG 3 management tracker 44 is configured to provide statistical information relating to office management for use in identi fying potential problems and further streamlining operations For example to address the logistical problems typically associated with tracking patient charts management tracker 44 automatically generates a daily report showing the number of charts assigned to each department in the medical office This report can include further detailed information setting forth the identity of each chart and its age i e how long the chart has been in a given department By simply consulting this report at the beginning of each day an office administra tor can ascertain a workload status for each department with out ever consulting another employee 0037 Likewise management tracker 44 can be configured to automatically generate and print a variety of other daily reports including listings of past present and future appoint ments charts requiring specific action e g needing a pain drawing and identification of no show patients with contact name and phone number Other possible reports include data base maintenance listings ide
13. e 12 administrator module 14 and tape management module 16 comprise software modules coded in for example the C programming language Alternatively suitable code can be readily generated using a facility such as Visual Fox Pro 0018 An example of a system implementing features of the embodiment shown in FIG 1 as well as features of other embodiments described herein is the MillerMed Utilities application available from MillerMed Software Inc of Bon sall Calif The MillerMed Utilities application is described further in MillerMed Utilities The Antidote for an Organiza tion User Manual for Windows95 MillerMed Software Inc 1998 the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by ref erence 0019 Database 18 can reside on the same computer as control module 12 administrator module 14 and tape man agement module 16 or database 18 can alternatively reside on a separate computer e g a database server Where database 18 is remote from the other components of office automation system 10 it may be beneficial for performance reasons to provide a local data store for temporary storage of informa tion read from or to be written to database 18 Likewise in the embodiment shown in FIG 1 administrator module 14 and tape management module 16 access database 18 through control module 12 Alternatively administrator module 14 and or tape management module 16 can be given direct access to database 18 0020 Office aut
14. ear for example in the upper left hand corner of at least one open window at all times This feature allows anyone in the area of the user to ensure that the person logged on is in fact the owner of the logonid used Implemen tation of this feature is readily accomplished by storing a picture of each authorized user in respective bitmap files When a user logs on the logonid is used to retrieve the associated bitmap file and the stored picture is displayed on the screen 0044 FIG 5 illustrates an embodiment of the present invention directed to a network environment In accordance with this embodiment database 18 resides on a server com puter 80 accessible by a plurality of client computers 82 Each client computer 82 is loaded with an instance of office auto mation system 10 configured for example as in the embodi ment of FIG 1 In contrast to the embodiment in FIG 1 however database 18 does not reside on the same computer as office automation system 10 Such an arrangement is espe cially useful where for example a practice has a number of different branches at which the same patients may be seen since the shared use of database 18 eliminates the need to maintain duplicate data at each of the multiple locations For performance reasons a copy of selected records from data base 18 can be cached in local memories not shown of client computers 82 Updates in progress can be made to the cached record and then copied to database
15. ed computer network e g in a LAN local area network or WAN wide area network In one particular implementa tion communications link 32 comprises an Internet connec tion 0024 Office automation system 10 can also be configured to facilitate outsourcing of medical records review in much the same way as outsourcing of tape transcription For US 2012 0059665 Al example rather than managing the exchange of information with transcription service 30 office automation system 10 can manage the exchange of information e g medical records reports with an off site record review service not shown 0025 In accordance with the embodiment in FIG 2 a given service provider would typically make a number of dictation tapes during the course of a day reflecting for example services provided and or entries to be made in patient charts Before the present invention such tapes pre sented significant logistical administrative and staffing chal lenges Various office personnel would be responsible for collecting the dictation tapes transcribing them or assigning others to transcribe them distributing the tapes back to the service provider for proofing and then updating patients charts with the transcribed reports With this embodiment it is now possible to outsource much of the labor associated with tape transcription while at the same time improving the associated tracking and processing functions 0026 To illustrate some
16. ement tracker module is configured to 1 automatically generate a report showing the number of charts assigned to each department in the medical office 2 automatically generate a report showing an age of charts assigned to each department so that an office administrator may ascertain a workload status for each department 3 automatically generate a report identifying no show patients Mar 8 2012 H wherein the provider tracker module is configured to 1 maintain information in the database relating to pro vider workload to enable an office administrator to assess current workloads when determining to whom to assign new patients I wherein the administrative tracker module is configured to 1 provide access to management reports for each department 2 The system of claim 1 wherein the management tracker module is configured to provide statistical administrative information relating to office management 3 The system of claim 2 wherein the management tracker module is configured to automatically generate a report show ing listings of past present and or future appointments 4 The system of claim 3 wherein the management tracker module is configured to automatically generate a chart that requires specific action to be taken 5 The system of claim 4 wherein at least one of the reports generated by the management tracker module is generated daily and automatically printed 6 The system of claim 4 wh
17. erein a report generated by the management tracker module includes age of a chart repre senting how long the chart has been in a given department 7 The system of claim 4 wherein the specific action to be taken in the chart generated by the management tracker mod ule includes attachment of a pain drawing 8 The system of claim 4 wherein reports generated by the management tracker module include database maintenance listings identifying duplicate entries and database file archiving information 9 The system of claim 8 wherein the database file archiving information includes tape backups generated dur ing overnight processing 10 The system of claim 1 wherein the provider tracker module is configured to provide a report of all outstanding dictations 11 The system of claim 10 wherein the provider tracker module is configured to provide a report of all outstanding reports 12 The system of claim 1 wherein the administrative tracker module is configured to provide access to reports of on site and or off site data availability 13 The system of claim 12 wherein the administrative tracker module is configured to provide access to provider workload tape status and chart location information 14 The system of claim 13 wherein the administrative tracker module is configured to maintain an administrator mailbox for receiving e mails of pertinent communications sent by other employees x x x k x
18. ice 30 transmits a file containing the tran scribed report back to office automation system 10 over com munications link 32 Tape management module 16 will update database 18 appropriately to reflect receipt of the transcription and the transcribed report can be distributed electronically to the provider or other staff member for review All such processing can be performed automatically in a background mode as is known in the art without requir ing any staff interaction 0028 Embodiments of the present invention can be advan tageously used to departmentalize the administrative func tions of a medical office significantly altering the approach typically taken to medical office administration Many tradi tionally necessary interactions between office personnel can be reduced or eliminated entirely by relegating tasks to intel ligent software to the maximum extent possible For example in accordance with another embodiment of the present inven tion illustrated in FIG 3 office automation system 10 is configured to establish a plurality of virtual departments each of which is directed to managing and or performing different administrative functions To this end control mod ule 12 of office automation system 10 coordinates the opera tions of a collection of tracker modules aimed at minimiz Mar 8 2012 ing communication and document handling requirements for the office thereby reducing personnel needs In this part
19. icular embodiment control module 12 is coupled to a tape tracker 40 a report tracker 42 a management tracker 44 a database tracker 46 a provider tracker 48 and an administrator tracker 50 Examples of the types of functions performed by each tracker module are presented below 0029 As is well known in the art of computer program ming the various tracker modules shown in FIG 3 can be configured for example as substantially independent rou tines operating under the supervision of control module 12 and capable of sharing data with one another through for example access to database 18 or a local data store Alterna tively the tracker modules can be configured in a master slave relationship under close control by control module 12 oper ating only when expressly invoked by control module 12 and returning control to control module 12 upon completion of processing Persons skilled in the art will recognize that a wide variety of implementations are possible and the present invention is not limited to any particular control configura tion 0030 Looking more closely at the individual sub modules in the particular embodiment shown in FIG 3 tape tracker 40 is configured to provide a comprehensive transcription man agement system Tape tracker 40 provides facilities for track ing and or reporting information relating to tapes e g physi cal location status transcriptionists e g name and address number and identity of tapes
20. le only Persons in the medical field will recognize that many other services both administrative and otherwise can be provided ona sub scription basis using arrangements such as that shown in FIG 6 0053 Office automation systems configured in accor dance with embodiments of the present invention can be distributed for example as a set of instructions residing on a storage medium Such a storage medium might be a portable storage device such as a diskette or a CD ROM a memory of a computer a piece of firmware or any other medium on which it is known to store executable instructions 0054 The foregoing is a detailed description of particular embodiments of the present invention The invention embraces all alternatives modifications and variations that fall within the letter and spirit of the claims as well as all equivalents of the claimed subject matter Persons skilled in the art will recognize from the foregoing description that many other alternatives modifications and variations are also possible What is claimed is 1 A system for automating administrative procedures in a medical office comprising A a database B a management tracker module C a provider tracker module D an administrative tracker module and E a control module F wherein the tracker modules are configured to operate under control of the control module and to share data with one another via access to the database G wherein the manag
21. n report generation and forms generation Embodiments of the present invention meet that need SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 0006 The present invention is directed to a computer based system for automating administrative procedures in a medical office In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a computer implemented method for auto mating administrative procedures in a medical office is pro vided Such a method includes the steps of maintaining a database including provider information patient informa tion and document management information using the data base to automatically generate management reports identify ing tasks to be performed on a given day automatically generating reports associated with the tasks to be performed populating the reports with information from the database as appropriate and supporting off site performance of one or more administrative tasks including managing electronic information exchanges with off site service providers Mar 8 2012 0007 In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention such a system includes a control module in communication with an administrator module and a tape management module as well as a database accessible by the administrator module and the tape management module The tape management module can advantageously be configured for example to manage outsourcing of tape transcription In a variation on this embodiment a provider module is c
22. ng in headings captions and carbon copy entries on all reports In accordance with a par ticular implementation report tracker 42 uses customizable templates built for example using standard macro features provided by most popular word processing applications e g Microsoft Word to reduce the amount of effort required to complete reports For instance macros can be used to estab lish setup forms that enable users to easily customize report headings and establish standard text entries i e boilerplate for each provider Similarly customized letterhead for each branch office of a multi branch practice can be readily pro vided as well as automatically inserted signatures for each provider 0033 Report tracker 42 also provides the ability to stream line report distribution In a typical office environment US 2012 0059665 Al reports must be reviewed and signed by a provider and often must also be reviewed by an editor for quality control pur poses leading to a situation in which large numbers of physi cal documents are constantly being passed around the office To alleviate the logistical and administrative problems inher ent in such an approach report tracker module 42 can be configured to distribute reports electronically whenever pos sible For example providers can choose to have final ver sions of reports electronically copied to a personal directory accessible through office automation system 10 for review or
23. ntifying for example duplicate entries and other errors and database file archiving informa tion e g identifying tape backups generated during over night processing Management tracker 44 preferably main tains a table identifying all periodic reports to be generated automatically and such table can be readily updated by the Mar 8 2012 office administrator Programming techniques and tools for implementing this type of automatic report generation are well known in the art 0038 Inkeeping with the approach of the tracker modules already described database tracker 46 is configured to auto matically perform a variety of database maintenance activi ties most or all of which preferably occur at night when the medical office is closed to avoid competition for precious computer resources For example records can be automati cally archived after a predetermined period of inactivity e g 30 days and such archived records can be automatically removed from any and all directories to which copies had been transferred Database tracker 46 can also be configured to automatically send e mail notifications of required actions e g report review to appropriate personnel based upon information in the database records e g age of record sta tus Database tracker 46 is also responsible for constantly tracking the flow of files into and out of the office automati cally adding new clients to database 18 and automatically finding and
24. omation system 10 can be implemented on virtually any type of general purpose personal computer PC having adequate processing power One suitable hard ware configuration includes a Pentium class or comparable IBM compatible PC having at least 16 megabytes of RAM random access memory To take full advantage of visual and aural information that can be provided to a user of office automation system 10 the PC should have a Super VGA video card and a sound card Similarly to take full advantage of certain outsourcing features that can be provided in accor dance with variations of the embodiment shown in FIG 1 the PC should include a modem and or a network interface for communicating with other computers Finally the PC should be coupled either directly or indirectly to at least one printer for report generation In view of the different types of reports Mar 8 2012 typically required in a medical office it may be desirable to have both a laser printer or high quality ink jet printer e g for printing medical forms and a dot matrix printer e g for printing triplicate forms 0021 Inthe embodiment shown in FIG 1 control module 12 administrator module 14 and tape management module 16 each reside on the same computer Persons skilled in the art will recognize however that a wide variety of architectural arrangements are possible to meet the particular needs of any given implementation For example a client server type of a
25. onfig ured for example to generate reports directed to the needs of service providers e g daily task lists workload reports chart locations tape transcription status record review status etc as opposed to administrative staff thus enabling the system to be geared towards the providers themselves in a way not typically found in existing medical office software 0008 In accordance with another embodiment a com puter implemented subscription service for automating administrative procedures in a medical office is provided In providing such a subscription service one or more medical offices are provided with an office automation system includ ing a communications interface for receiving data electroni cally A service center receives a request for office adminis tration services from such a medical office processes the request and electronically transmits information relating to the processed request to the office automation system at the requesting medical office Services that can be provided in this manner include for example tape transcription chart preparation record review report generation and forms gen eration 0009 These and other embodiments are described in detail below Persons in the field of medical services will appreciate that embodiments of the present invention enable providers of medical services to streamline administrative operations in a way not possible with prior medical software applications
26. rrangement may be desirable for even a small to moderately sized medical office In such an implementation office auto mation system 10 can be installed on an applications server in communication with a plurality of client computers over a local area network LAN Such client computers can be used by a variety of office personnel such as service providers e g doctors nurses and administrative personnel to access system functions Similarly database 18 can reside on a cen tral server computer accessible by a plurality of different office automation systems 10 in remote locations This type of arrangement is especially useful where a medical practice has a number of branch offices thus allowing patient and admin istrative information to be economically shared by all of the different offices 0022 The embodiment illustrated in FIG 1 is preferably implemented to maximize the use of features and capabilities provided by existing off the shelf software applications For example administrator module 14 can interface with known word processing applications such as Microsoft Word or Corel WordPerfect Database 18 can be implemented using known database applications such as Microsoft Excel and can be formatted to be compatible with existing medical applications such as Medical Manager and Physicians Office Computer Alternatively a suite of such applications such as Microsoft Office may be used Other off the shelf applica
27. rvice center 90 can prepare charts For example a complete set of history forms status forms and fee tickets for an entire office session of patients complete with patient information imprinted can be delivered directly to any subscriber office location 0051 Subscriber service center 90 can also provide spe cial services to subscribers on demand such as binding preparation of slides and preparation of other presentation US 2012 0059665 Al materials for lectures academic conferences and so on Facilities built into office automation system 10 for exchang ing files with subscriber service center 90 can readily be used for forwarding the underlying information to subscriber ser vice center 90 along with appropriate instructions By pro viding for Internet access and or direct modem connections subscriber service center 90 can offer maximum flexibility to providers who are traveling Any subscriber can then access subscriber service center 90 from a remote location to gain access to their particular practice s data retrieve reports or drop off work Subscriber service center 90 can also provide data archiving services freeing up resources on the subscrib er s system that might otherwise have to be dedicated to storing outdated records Access to archived records can then be provided on demand by subscriber service center 90 0052 Itshould be emphasized that the foregoing subscrip tion services are described by way of examp
28. rwise require substantial manpower to complete are instead performed by an integrated computer system that performs those administrative procedures in an efficient cost effective manner As a result substantially less manpower is required to run a medical office thereby reduc ing overhead costs 0003 It is well recognized that the single largest expense in a medical office is personnel and that the processing of documents generates the majority of the labor in a medical office As service providers however physicians and medical office staff should ideally be spending their time on patient care and not on document management Time lost to admin istrative duties is all the more critical in view of the trend towards managed health care leading to reduced medical fees but increased overhead costs 0004 There are literally hundreds of medical software applications available today The majority of these applica tions deal with billing scheduling medical records and most recently outcome management In addition there are report generators online services and efforts to move towards a so called paperless office While such tools can be helpful none of them directly address the most costly component of medical office overhead labor hours 0005 There is therefore a need to reduce the manpower required to complete office administration tasks typically required in a medical office such as tape transcription chart preparatio
29. therwise loaded into database 18 the sub scriber can view print or edit the transcription using the above described facilities of office automation system 10 0049 Many variations of the foregoing transcription ser vice are possible For example where a subscriber has its own transcriptionist transcription files can be sent by diskette or electronically to subscriber service center 90 after which subscriber service center 90 can print and mail reports and update the subscriber s database 18 as just described If a subscriber wishes to transcribe and print tapes on site sub scriber service center 90 can receive the transcription files process them and transmit files containing the desired reports to office automation system 10 for automatic printing on the subscriber s printer Similarly if a subscriber wishes to use a particular off site transcriptionist subscriber service center 90 can receive transcription files from the transcriptionist either electronically or on diskette As before such files can then be processed and reports either printed and shipped by subscriber service center 90 or transmitted to the subscriber computer 92 for printing In either case chart copies are shipped to the subscriber 0050 Subscriber service center 90 can also provide record review services performing quality control checks on tran scribed dictations and or on records and reports generated from transcription files Likewise subscriber se
30. tions that can be advantageously integrated with embodiments of the present invention include an event sched uler a desktop emulation package e g PC Anywhere Carbon Copy Internet connectivity and browser software and utility packages such as Norton Utilities 0023 In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention illustrated in FIG 2 office automation system 10 is electronically linked to a transcription service 30 by a communications link 32 This embodiment thus facili tates the outsourcing of tape transcription enabling a service provider to either reallocate staff to other tasks or reduce the size of the staff thereby reducing overhead For this purpose office automation system 10 includes a communications interface not shown for electronically exchanging data with transcription service 30 The communications interface can be implemented as customized software included in for example control module 12 of office automation system 10 Alternatively or in addition the communications interface can be implemented using an off the shelf communications package including but not limited to an e mail application In short any application that permits files to be exchanged between two computers is suitable Likewise communica tions link 32 can be virtually any type of communications medium including a dial up connection over telephone lines a satellite connection a wireless connection part of a dedi cat
31. with computer based systems for automating administrative procedures in a medical office in accordance US 2012 0059665 Al with for example the embodiment shown in FIG 1 are in communication with a subscription service center DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 0016 The present invention is directed generally to com puter based systems for automating administrative proce dures in a medical office In accordance with particular embodiments of the invention various administrative proce dures that would otherwise require substantial manpower to complete are instead performed by an integrated computer system that performs those administrative procedures in an efficient cost effective manner As a result substantially less manpower is required to run a medical office thereby reduc ing overhead costs In addition systems configured in accor dance with the present invention enable providers and or office administrators to become more independent from sup port staff than is possible in a typical medical office 0017 Referring now to FIG 1 in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention a office automation system 10 for automating administrative procedures in a medical office includes a control module 12 in communica tion with an administrator module 14 and a tape management module 16 In addition office automation system 10 has access to a database 18 In the illustrated embodiment control modul
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