Data synchronization for booking of healthcare appointments across practice groups

Abstract

Systems and methods for aggregating available healthcare appointment times across multiple unaffiliated practitioner groups, including search and display algorithms. A centralized marketplace is provided for real time booking of healthcare appointments which does not require the patient to have a preexisting relationship with the practitioner. The aggregated booking system enhances the number of available near term and conveniently located appointment options while the search and display algorithms reduce the complexity of the patient and practitioner information required to maintain accurate and synchronized database booking records.

1 . A method comprising:
 an aggregator of healthcare appointments maintains a central database of available healthcare appointments for a plurality of healthcare practice groups, and the aggregator provides a website for online booking of available healthcare appointments from the practice groups;   each practice group has its own database of its own available healthcare appointments; and   appointments are offered to patients from both databases concurrently by the aggregator and the various practice groups;   the practice groups and aggregator communicate via a computer network and program code which automatically pulls available appointment times from the practice group databases for the aggregator database; and   the aggregator sends the practice groups notices to check for and confirm availability of appointments.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , including:
 determining based on the central database whether a practice group has less than a predetermined number of available appointments, and if true, sending the practice group a notice.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , including:
 determining based on the central database whether a practice group will have no available appointments after a defined time period, and if true, sending the practice group a notice.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 determining from the central database whether a practice group has no available appointment times, and if true, sending the practice group a notice.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 determining from the central database whether a practice group has less than a predetermined number of available appointment times, and if true, sending the practice group a message that other practice groups are receiving appointments.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 prior to a holiday, sending the practice groups a request to verify available appointments in the central database which fall on the holiday.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 the aggregator communicating in predefined intervals with the practice groups to obtain changed appointment data from the practice group databases.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , comprising:
 providing an application on a practice group server remote from an aggregator server, for communicating changes of appointment data between the central database and the practice group database.   
     
     
         9 . A method comprising:
 an aggregator of healthcare appointments maintains a central database of available healthcare appointments for a plurality of healthcare practice groups, and the aggregator provides a website for online booking of available healthcare appointments from the practice groups;   each practice group has its own database of its own available healthcare appointments;   appointments are offered to patients from both databases concurrently by the aggregator and the various practice groups; and   the practice groups send the aggregator available appointment times for an associated practitioner in time blocks, wherein a time block includes multiple contiguous available appointment times.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , comprising:
 each practice group specifying a minimum procedure time for a practitioner;   the aggregator determining a plurality of available starting time slots from the time block based upon the specified procedure time.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , comprising:
 the aggregator offering via its website the starting time slots for an associated practitioner.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , comprising:
 the aggregator stores available appointment times as the time blocks and determines the time slots after receiving an online request for an appointment via the website.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 9 , comprising:
 the practice group specifying one or more allowed procedure types to be booked in an available appointment time.   
     
     
         14 . A method comprising:
 an aggregator of healthcare appointments maintains a central database of available healthcare appointments for a plurality of healthcare practice groups, and the aggregator provides a website for online booking of available healthcare appointments from the practice groups;   each practice group has its own database of its own available healthcare appointments;   appointments are offered to patients from both databases concurrently by the aggregator and the various practice groups; and   when a patient books an online appointment from the aggregator's website, the aggregator notifies the practice group to confirm the booked appointment within a defined time period.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein:
 the aggregator imposes a penalty on the practice group if it fails to confirm the appointment within the defined time period.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein:
 the practice group and aggregator communicate via a computer network and program code which automatically pulls available appointment time from the practice group database.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein:
 the program code automatically alerts the practice group of a booked appointment which requires confirmation.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein:
 the program code automatically blocks requests to book appointments which are less than a threshold time defined to provide the practice group sufficient time to confirm the booked appointment.   
     
     
         19 . A method comprising:
 an aggregator of healthcare appointments maintains a central database of available healthcare appointments for a plurality of healthcare practice groups, and the aggregator provides a website for online booking of available healthcare appointments from the practice groups;   each practice group has its own database of its own available healthcare appointments;   appointments are offered to patients from both databases concurrently by the aggregator and the various practice groups; and   the aggregator's website offers defined practitioner specialties and defined procedure types from which a patient selects to book an appointment; and   the practice group specifies a procedure time for an associated practitioner and procedure type.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein:
 the aggregator determines and offers on its website available starting time slots for an associated practitioner and procedure based on a minimum procedure time of the practitioner.   
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein:
 the aggregator's website offers defined insurance carriers and plans from which a patient selects to book an appointment; and   the practice group specifies insurance carriers and plans for each of its practitioners.