Computer-based system for automating administrative procedures in
Contents
1. as in the embodiment 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 especially useful where for example a practice has a number of differ ent 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 perfor mance reasons a copy of selected records from database 18 can be cached in local memories not shown of client com puters 82 Updates in progress can be made to the cached record and then copied to database 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 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 automatio2. substantially less manpower is required to run a medical office thereby reducing overhead costs In addition systems configured in accordance with the present invention enable providers and or office administra tors to become more independent from support staff than is possible in a typical medical office Referring now to FIG 1 in accordance with a first embodi ment of the present invention a office automation system 10 for automating administrative procedures in a medical office includes a control module 12 in communication 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 module 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 FoxPro 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 Database 18 can reside on the sa
3. 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 staff member 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 main tain information in database 18 relating to provider workload thus enabling the office administrator to assess current work loads when determining to whom to assign new work e g new managed care patients 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 availability instant access to provider workload tape status and chart location information By maintaining all of the underlying information for such reports in database 18 administrator tracker 50 enables the office administrator to acquire an array of necessary information without the need for interactions with other office staff members To further reduce unneces sa
4. generating reports associated with the tasks to be performed populating the reports with information from the database as appropriate 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 and supporting off site performance of one or more adminis trative tasks including managing electronic information exchanges with off site service providers In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention such a system includes a control module in com munication with an administrator module and a tape manage ment module as well as a database accessible by the admin istrator 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 config 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 In accordance with another embodiment a computer implemented subscription service for automating administra tive 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 in
5. report distribution In a typical office environment reports must be reviewed and signed by a provider and often must also be reviewed by an editor for quality control purposes US 8 751 260 2 7 leading to a situation in which large numbers of physical documents are constantly being passed around the office To alleviate the logistical and administrative problems inherent in such an approach report tracker module 42 can be config ured to distribute reports electronically whenever possible For example providers can choose to have final versions of reports electronically copied to a personal directory acces sible through office automation system 10 for review or can select a designated editor to receive signed reports and review them again by copying the report to the editor s personal directory Depending upon the nature of a particular imple mentation 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 Report tracker 42 also permits reports to be routed to des ignated printers on demand e g by copying a file containing the report to a print directory Indeed persons familiar with medical office administratio
6. the chart generated by the management tracker module includes attachment of a pain drawing 10 The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 wherein the administrative tracker module is configured to provide access to reports of on site and or off site data avail ability 11 The computer readable storage medium of claim 10 wherein the administrative tracker module is configured to provide access to provider workload tape status and chart location information 12 The computer readable storage medium of claim 11 wherein the administrative tracker module is configured to maintain an administrator mailbox for receiving e mails of pertinent communications sent by other employees 13 The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 wherein the provider tracker module is configured to provide a report of all outstanding dictations 14 The computer readable storage medium of claim 13 wherein the provider tracker module is configured to provide a report of all outstanding reports
7. to subscriber service center 90 e g by overnight delivery service Subscriber service cen ter 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 sub scriber and update the subscriber s database 18 to document progress In a particular implementation subscriber 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 otherwise loaded into database 18 the subscriber can view print or edit the transcription using the above described facilities of office automation system 10 Many variations of the foregoing transcription service are possible For example where a subscriber has its own tran scriptionist transcription files can be sent by diskette or elec tronically to subscriber service center 90 after which sub scriber service center 90 can print and mail reports and update the subscriber s database 18 as just described subscriber wishes to transcribe and print tapes on site subscriber service center 90 can receive the transcription files process them and transmit files containing the desired reports to office automa tion system 10 for automatic printing on the subscriber s printer Similarly if a subsc
8. 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 In accordance 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 appear 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 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 computer 80 accessible by a plurality of client computers 82 Each client computer 82 is loaded with an instance of office automation system 10 configured for example
9. US008751260B2 az United States Patent 10 Patent No US 8 751 260 B2 Miller 45 Date of Patent Jun 10 2014 54 COMPUTER BASED SYSTEM FOR 52 0 8 AUTOMATING ADMINISTRATIVE 705 2 705 35 PROCEDURES IN OFFICE 58 Field of Classification Search 705 2 75 Inventor Geoffrey Mare Miller Manhattan See application file for complete search history Beach CA US 73 Assignee Millermed Software Inc Manhattan 56 References Cited Beach CA US U S PATENT DOCUMENTS Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this 5 974 389 A 10 1999 Clark etal 705 3 patent is extended or adjusted under 35 6 973 434 2 12 2005 Miller 705 2 U S C 154 b by 0 days 8 055 510 2 11 2011 Miller 705 2 This patent is subject to a terminal dis OTHER PUBLICATIONS claimer Computer based Patient Record Institute Computer based Patient 21 Appl No 13 289 872 Record System Description of Functionality Aug 1996 22 Filed Nov 4 2011 cited by examiner 65 Prior Publication Data Primary Examiner Tran Nguyen US 2012 0059665 A1 Mar 8 2012 14 Attorney Agent or Firm Kenyon amp Kenyon LLP Related U S Application Data 57 ABSTRACT 63 Continuation of application No 11 287 217 filed on computer based system for automating administrative pro Nov 28 2005 now Pat No 8 055 510 which is a cedures in an office is described According to an em
10. bodi continuation of application No 09 227 406 filed on ment the system may include a control module communi Jan 8 1999 now Pat No 6 973 434 cation with a management tracker module a provider tracker 60 Provisional application No 60 070 884 filed on Jan module and an administrative tracker module as well as a 9 1998 er database accessible by the management tracker module 7 provider tracker module and administrative tracker mod 51 Int Cl ule 060 50 00 2012 01 060 10 00 2012 01 14 Claims 6 Drawing Sheets CONTROL ADMINISTRATOR TAPE MANAGEMENT U S Patent Jun 10 2014 Sheet 1 of 6 US 8 751 260 B2 CONTROL U S Patent Jun 10 2014 Sheet 2 of 6 US 8 751 260 B2 CONTROL TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE 30 U S Patent Jun 10 2014 Sheet 3 of 6 US 8 751 260 B2 CONTROL 18 49 0 6 50 report mow prover FIG 3 U S Patent Jun 10 2014 Sheet 4 of 6 US 8 751 260 B2 10 CONTROL TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE 30 REMOTE PC REMOTE PC REMOTE PC 60 60 60 FIG 4 U S Patent Jun 10 2014 Sheet 5 of 6 US 8 751 260 B2 U S Patent Jun 10 2014 Sheet 6 of 6 US 8 751 260 B2 SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE CENTER FIG 6 US 8 751 260 2 1 COMPUTER BASED SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATING ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES IN AN OFFICE CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of U S patent applica t
11. ch chart and its age 1 how long the chart has been in a given department By simply consulting this report at the beginning of each day an office administrator can ascertain a workload status for each department without ever consulting another employee 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 identifying 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 office administrator Programming techniques and tools for implementing this type of automatic report generation are well known in the art 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 8 In keeping 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 comp
12. cluding a com munications interface for receiving data electronically A ser vice center receives a request for office administration ser vices 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 generation 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 allowing for significant reductions in overhead attributable to administrative staffing requirements BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG 1 is a block diagram illustrating a computer based system for automating administrative procedures ina medical office in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention FIG 2 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the present invention wherein a system such as that shown in FIG 1 is in communication with a remote transcription service FIG 3 is a block diagram providing a detailed view of a control module of a computer based system for automating administrative procedures in a medical office in accor
13. dance with for example the embodiment shown in FIG 1 FIG 41s a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the present invention wherein a system such as that shown in FIG 1 is in communication with a remote transcription service and a plurality of remote personal computers FIG 515 a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the present invention wherein a plurality of client computers configured with computer based systems for automating administrative procedures in a medical office in accordance with for example the embodiment shown in FIG 1 are in communication with a server computer FIG 6 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the present invention wherein a plurality of computers configured with computer based systems for automating administrative procedures in a medical office in accordance with for US 8 751 260 2 3 example the embodiment shown in FIG 1 in communi cation with a subscription service center DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention is directed generally to computer based systems for automating administrative procedures in a medical office In accordance with particular embodiments of the invention various administrative procedures 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
14. e of a day reflecting for example services provided and or entries to be made in patient charts Before the present invention such tapes presented significant logistical administrative and staffing challenges Various office personnel would be responsible for collecting the dic tation tapes transcribing them or assigning others to tran scribe them distributing the tapes back to the service provider for proofing and then updating patients charts with the tran scribed reports With this embodiment it is now possible to outsource much of the labor associated with tape transcrip tion while at the same time improving the associated tracking and processing functions To illustrate some of the advantages of the embodiment 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 out sourcing Using facilities provided by tape management mod ule 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 build a table entry that will even tually be stored in database 18 In one possible implementa tion the staff member would then select an off site transcrip tionist to transcribe the tape Such selection is preferably d
15. etition 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 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 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 Simi larly provider tracker 48 can give the provider access to
16. indirectly to at least one printer for report generation In view of the different types of reports 0 5 25 40 45 50 4 typically required in 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 In the 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 arrangement 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 inf
17. ion Ser No 11 287 217 filed Nov 28 2005 which is a continuation of U S patent application Ser No 09 227 406 filed on Jan 8 1999 now U S Pat No 6 973 434 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 applications Ser Nos 11 287 217 and 09 227 406 are hereby incorporated by reference as if repeated herein in their entirety including the drawings BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed generally to the field of office automation and in particular to a computer based sys tem for automating administrative procedures in a medical office In accordance with particular embodiments of the invention disclosed herein various administrative procedures that would otherwise require substantial manpower to com plete are instead performed by an integrated computer system that performs those administrative procedures in an efficient cost effective manner As a result substantially less man power is required to run a medical office thereby reducing overhead costs It is well recognized that the single largest expense in a medical office is personnel and that the processing of docu ments 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 administrative dutie
18. l module 12 operating 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 configuration 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 manage ment system Tape tracker 40 provides facilities for tracking and or reporting information relating to tapes e g physical location status transcriptionists e g name and address number and identity of tapes 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 In accordance with a particular implementation of this embodiment tape tracker 40 includes a facility for automati cally 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 cur
19. me computer as control module 12 administrator module 14 and tape management module 16 or database 18 can alternatively reside on a sepa rate computer e g a database server Where database 18 is remote from the other components of office automation sys tem 10 it may be beneficial for performance reasons to pro vide a local data store for temporary storage of information 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 Office automation system 10 can be implemented on vir tually any type of general purpose personal computer PC having adequate processing power One suitable hardware 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
20. n system 10 and associated sub 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 5 20 40 45 55 10 As shown FIG 6 each of a 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 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 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 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
21. n will appreciate that report tracker 42 allows many types of reports to be processed with out 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 Report tracker 42 can also be configured to automatically create a wide variety of standard forms such as those asso ciated with workers compensation claims e g notification forms QME Summary Such forms can be generated 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 office reopens In certain cases forms can be generated without any staff inter action 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 In accordance with the embodiment shown in FIG 3 man agement tracker 44 is configured to provide statistical infor mation relating to office management for use in identifying potential problems and further streamlining operations For example to address the logistical problems typically associ ated 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 ea
22. nel can be reduced or eliminated entirely by relegating tasks to intelli gent 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 ing communication and document handling requirements for 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 the office thereby reducing personnel needs In this particular 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 As is well known in the art of computer programming the various tracker modules shown in FIG 3 can be configured for example as substantially independent routines 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 Alternatively the tracker modules can be configured in a master slave relationship under close control by contro
23. ns interface not shown for electronically exchanging data with tran scription 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 cated 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 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 example US 8 751 260 2 5 rather than managing the exchange of information with tran scription 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 In accordance with the embodiment in FIG 2 a given service provider would typically make a number of dictation tapes during the cours
24. 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 non transitory computer readable storage medium for automating administrative procedures in a medical office the computer readable storage medium comprising a database a management tracker module a provider tracker module an administrative tracker module and a control module recorded thereon 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 wherein the management 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 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 wherein the administrative tracker module is configured to 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 12 1 provide access to management rep
25. one by choosing one of a number of possible transcriptionists presented to the staff member on a display screen Upon selection of a transcriptionist tape management module 16 adds to the aforementioned table entry information identify ing the selected transcriptionist Tape management 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 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 service 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 Embodiments of the present invention can be advanta geously used to departmentalize the administrative functions of a medical office significantly altering the approach typi cally taken to medical office administration Many tradition ally necessary interactions between office person
26. ormation to be economically shared by all of the different offices The embodiment illustrated in FIG 1 is preferably imple mented to maximize the use of features and capabilities pro vided 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 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 applications 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 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 com munications link 32 This embodiment thus facilitates 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 communicatio
27. orts for each depart ment 2 The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 wherein the management tracker module is configured to provide statistical administrative information relating to office management 3 The computer readable storage medium of claim 2 wherein the management tracker module is configured to automatically generate a report showing listings of past present and or future appointments 4 The computer readable storage medium of claim 3 wherein the management tracker module is configured to automatically generate a chart that requires specific action to be taken 5 The computer readable storage medium of claim 4 wherein reports generated by the management tracker mod ule include database maintenance listings identifying dupli cate entries and database file archiving information 6 The computer readable storage medium of claim 5 wherein the database file archiving information includes tape backups generated during overnight processing 7 The computer readable storage medium of claim 4 wherein at least one of the reports generated by the manage ment tracker module is generated daily and automatically printed 8 The computer readable storage medium of claim 4 wherein a report generated by the management tracker mod ule includes age ofa chart representing how long the chart has been in a given department 9 The computer readable storage medium of claim 4 wherein the specific action to be taken in
28. rently 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 Report tracker 42 is configured to provide comprehensive report generation and distribution facilities aimed at reduc ing 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 filling 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 1 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 Report tracker 42 also provides the ability to streamline
29. riber wishes to use a particular off site transcriptionist subscriber service center 90 can receive transcription files from the transcriptionist either elec tronically or on diskette As before such files can then be processed and reports either printed and shipped by sub scriber service center 90 or transmitted to the subscriber computer 92 for printing In either case chart copies are shipped to the subscriber 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 service 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 Subscriber service center 90 can also provide special ser vices to subscribers on demand such as binding preparation of slides and preparation of other presentation materials for lectures academic conferences and so on Facilities built into office automation system 10 for exchanging files with sub scriber service center 90 can readily be used for forwarding US 8 751 260 2 11 the underlying information to subscriber service center 90 along with appropriate instructions By providing for Internet access and or direct modem connections subscriber
30. ry employee contacts administrator tracker 50 can be con figured to maintain an administrator mailbox for receiving e mail copies of pertinent communications sent by other employees 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 comprise for example dial up connections but the present invention is not limited to any particular communication means Remote PCs 60 may be loaded with special software US 8 751 260 2 9 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 The embodiments described above can readily be imple mented in a Microsoft Windows environment providing 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
31. s is all the more critical in view of the trend towards managed health care leading to reduced medical fees but increased overhead costs There are literally hundreds of medical software applica tions available today The majority of these applications deal with billing scheduling medical records and most recently outcome management In addition there are report genera tors online services and efforts to move towards a so called paperless While such tools be helpful none of them directly address the most costly component of medical office overhead iabor hours There is therefore a need to reduce the manpower required to complete office administration tasks typically required ina medical office such as tape transcription chart preparation report generation and forms generation Embodiments of the present invention meet that need SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to a computer based sys tem for automating administrative procedures in a medical office In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a computer implemented method for automating administrative procedures in a medical office is provided Such a method includes the steps of maintaining a database including provider information patient information and document management information using the database to automatically generate management reports identifying tasks to be performed on a given day automatically
32. 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 par ticular practice s data retrieve reports or drop off work Subscriber service center 90 can also provide data archiving services freeing up resources on the subscriber 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 Tt should be emphasized that the foregoing subscription services are described by way of example only Persons in the medical field will recognize that many other services both administrative and otherwise can be provided on a subscrip tion basis using arrangements such as that shown in FIG 6 Office automation systems configured in accordance 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 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
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