Systems and methods for referring physicians based on hierarchical disease profile matching

Abstract

Systems, apparatus, and methods for referring physicians based on hierarchical disease profile matching are disclosed. An example system includes a data store to include a plurality of disease profiles, each disease profile associated with a patient condition, a user interface to accept a user request for a referral of a patient to a physician, and a referral processor to compare a profile associated with the patient including a patient symptom to the plurality of disease profiles to generate one or more physician recommendations for referral, the referral processor to refine the one or more physician recommendations based on one or more characteristics associated with each of the one or more physician recommendations, the referral processor to provide the refined one or more physician recommendations to a user for review and selection via the user interface.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A physician referral system comprising:
 a data store to include a plurality of disease profiles, each disease profile associated with a patient condition and a hierarchical categorization of physicians in a healthcare organization, the hierarchical categorization of physicians including one or more characteristics associated with each respective physician;   a user interface to accept a user request for a referral of a patient to a physician in the healthcare organization; and   a referral processor to:
 match the patient to one of the plurality of disease profiles based on one or more symptoms associated with the patient; 
 if a match is made, reduce a pool of possible physicians for referral based on the matching disease profile in comparison with the hierarchical categorization of physicians; 
 if no match is made, reduce the pool of possible physicians for referral based on one or more general categories associated with the one or more symptoms associated with the patient in comparison with the hierarchical categorization of physicians; 
 further reduce the pool of possible physicians for referral based on the one or more characteristics associated with each physician in the pool of possible physicians; and 
 provide a recommendation list of one or more possible physicians for referral based on an output of the reductions. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more characteristics associated with each physician are to be considered based on one or more options selected by the user. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the referral processor is to enable a referral of the patient to a physician on the recommendation list by the user with assistance via the user interface. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more characteristics associated with each physician include past physician outcomes, physician cost of care delivery, physician efficiency, and physician geographic location. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein one or more patient characteristics including one or more of the patient's ability to travel and the patient's ability to wait for treatment are to be used to further reduce the pool of possible physicians for referral. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more options selected by the user are used to at least one of select or prioritize one of more of the characteristics associated with each physician. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the referral processor is to further refine the recommendation list based on clinical best practices retrieved from one or more knowledge bases. 
     
     
         8 . A computer-implemented method of generating physician referral recommendations for a patient, the method comprising:
 accepting a user request for a referral of a patient to a physician in a healthcare organization, physicians in the healthcare organization organized according to a hierarchical categorization of physicians in the healthcare organization, the hierarchical categorization of physicians including one or more characteristics associated with each respective physician;   matching, using a processor, the patient to one of a plurality of disease profiles based on one or more symptoms associated with the patient;   if a match is made, reducing, using the processor, a pool of possible physicians for referral based on the matching disease profile in comparison with the hierarchical categorization of physicians;   if no match is made, reducing, using the processor, the pool of possible physicians for referral based on one or more general categories associated with the one or more symptoms associated with the patient in comparison with the hierarchical categorization of physicians;   further reducing the pool of possible physicians for referral based on the one or more characteristics associated with each physician in the pool of possible physicians; and   providing a recommendation list of one or more possible physicians for referral based on an output of the reductions.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the one or more characteristics associated with each physician are to be considered based on one or more options selected by the user. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising enabling a referral of the patient to a physician on the recommendation list by the user with assistance via a user interface. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the one or more characteristics associated with each physician include past physician outcomes, physician cost of care delivery, physician efficiency, and physician geographic location. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein one or more patient characteristics including one or more of the patient's ability to travel and the patient's ability to wait for treatment are to be used to further reduce the pool of possible physicians for referral. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the one or more options selected by the user are used to at least one of select or prioritize one of more of the characteristics associated with each physician. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising further refining the recommendation list based on clinical best practices retrieved from one or more knowledge bases. 
     
     
         15 . A tangible computer readable storage medium including executable program instructions which, when executed by a computer processor, cause the computer to implement a method of generating physician referral recommendations for a patient, the method comprising:
 accepting a user request for a referral of a patient to a physician in a healthcare organization, physicians in the healthcare organization organized according to a hierarchical categorization of physicians in the healthcare organization, the hierarchical categorization of physicians including one or more characteristics associated with each respective physician;   matching, using a processor, the patient to one of a plurality of disease profiles based on one or more symptoms associated with the patient;   if a match is made, reducing, using the processor, a pool of possible physicians for referral based on the matching disease profile in comparison with the hierarchical categorization of physicians;   if no match is made, reducing, using the processor, the pool of possible physicians for referral based on one or more general categories associated with the one or more symptoms associated with the patient in comparison with the hierarchical categorization of physicians;   further reducing the pool of possible physicians for referral based on the one or more characteristics associated with each physician in the pool of possible physicians; and   providing a recommendation list of one or more possible physicians for referral based on an output of the reductions.   
     
     
         16 . The computer readable storage medium of  claim 15 , wherein the one or more characteristics associated with each physician are to be considered based on one or more options selected by the user. 
     
     
         17 . The computer readable storage medium of  claim 15 , wherein the method further comprises enabling a referral of the patient to a physician on the recommendation list by the user with assistance via a user interface. 
     
     
         18 . The computer readable storage medium of  claim 15 , wherein the one or more characteristics associated with each physician include past physician outcomes, physician cost of care delivery, physician efficiency, and physician geographic location. 
     
     
         19 . The computer readable storage medium of  claim 15 , wherein one or more patient characteristics including one or more of the patient's ability to travel and the patient's ability to wait for treatment are to be used to further reduce the pool of possible physicians for referral. 
     
     
         20 . The computer readable storage medium of  claim 15 , wherein the one or more options selected by the user are used to at least one of select or prioritize one of more of the characteristics associated with each physician.