Patient check-in/scheduling kiosk

Abstract

A method and system for facilitating activity scheduling for a patient including the steps of providing an interface device for checking a patient in at the facility, receiving identifying information for the patient, identifying currently scheduled appointments for the patient where the currently scheduled appointments are associated with currently scheduled appointment activities, identifying at least one additional unscheduled activity for the patient in addition to the currently scheduled appointment activities, identifying at least one suggested appointment schedule including at least one open time slot during which the patient may complete the additional unscheduled activity and the currently scheduled appointment activities and presenting the at least one suggested appointment schedule to the patient.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for time-optimizing scheduling for a patient at a medical facility, the system comprising:
 a memory storing:
 a resource schedule database identifying available resources and corresponding time slots; 
 a current appointment database that stores currently scheduled appointments for the patient; and 
 an unscheduled activities database storing at least one of prerequisites, unfulfilled orders, and elective opportunistic activities corresponding to the patient; 
   a processor linked to the memory, the processor programmed to:   access the current appointment database to identify currently scheduled appointments for a selected patient;   access the unscheduled activities database to identify at least one additional unscheduled activity for the patient in addition to the currently scheduled appointment activities;   access the resources database to identify resources for the unscheduled activity, and to identify a plurality of suggested appointment schedules;   identify at least one time-optimized suggested appointment schedule including the additional unscheduled elective opportunistic activity and the currently scheduled appointment activities; and   pushing the at least one time-optimized suggested appointment schedule to a personal device corresponding to the patient.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the patient's personal device is programmed to enable the patient to accept the at least one time-optimized suggested appointment schedule. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the patient's personal device is programmed to revise the patient's currently scheduled appointments to the time-optimized suggested appointment schedule. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the processor is further programmed to automatically push at least one time-optimized suggested appointment schedule to the patient's personal device a predetermined time before the currently scheduled appointment. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , where the processor is further programmed to automatically identify and push one or more time-optimized suggested appointment schedule to the patient's personal device a predetermined time prior to the appointment. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the processor is programmed to push the time-optimized suggested appointment schedule to the patient's personal device within a range of one to two days prior to the currently scheduled appointment. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the patient's personal device comprises at least one of a personal digital assistant and a cell phone. 
     
     
         8 . A system for scheduling an unrelated elective appointment in a patient's current schedule at a medical facility, the system comprising:
 an interface device for access by the patient;   a memory storing:
 a resource schedule database identifying available resources and corresponding time slots; 
 a current appointment database that stores currently scheduled appointments for the patient; and 
 a best practices database storing elective opportunistic activities corresponding to the patient; 
   a processor in communication with the interface device and the memory, the processor programmed to receive patient login data, wherein the processor is programmed to:   identify the patient and access the current appointment database to identify one or more currently scheduled appointments for the patient and to identify current circumstances corresponding to elective opportunistic activities for the patient;   access a stored set of rules, and to apply the stored set of rules to the circumstances associated with the patient to identify at least one additional unscheduled elective opportunistic activity in the best practices corresponding to the circumstances of the patient;   access a resource schedule database to identify resources for the elective opportunistic activity;   identify a plurality of suggested appointment schedules that include an appointment time for the identified unscheduled elective opportunistic activity and appointment time for the currently scheduled appointment; and   prompt the patient to select a schedule and to selectively check in for the suggested appointments through the interface, wherein the patient selectively schedules an elective opportunistic activity along with the currently scheduled appointments.   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the processor is further programmed to evaluate scheduling constraints associated with the unscheduled elective opportunistic activity to identify the plurality of suggested appointment schedules. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the scheduling constraint comprises at least one of a fast limitation, a recovery period, and a prerequisite. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the interface is a personal device accessed by the patient. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the processor is further programmed to push the plurality of schedules to the patient's personal device. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the patient's personal device is programmed to enable the patient to accept the suggested schedule. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the patient's personal device is programmed to revise the patient's currently scheduled appointments. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the processor is further programmed to push an optimized schedule to the patient's personal device a predetermined time before a scheduled appointment occurs. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 8 , where the processor is further programmed to automatically identify and push one or more time shifted appointments to the patient's personal device to optimize an appointment schedule a predetermined time prior to the appointment. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the patient's personal device is a portable device that comprises at least one of a personal digital assistant and a cell phone. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the best practices are correlated to the patient based on at least one of an age, a gender, and a medical history. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the interface device comprises a kiosk positioned in a location for use by patients. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the processor is further programmed to determine whether the time for the currently scheduled appointment is past, and if the time for the currently scheduled program is past, to access the database, and to present a new time for the currently scheduled appointment to the patient.