Methods and apparatus for linking extracted clinical facts to text

Abstract

A plurality of clinical facts may be extracted from a free-form narration of a patient encounter provided by a clinician. The plurality of clinical facts may include a first fact and a second fact. The first fact may be extracted from a first portion of the free-form narration, and the second fact may be extracted from a second portion of the free-form narration. A first indicator that indicates a first linkage between the first fact and the first portion of the free-form narration may be provided to a user. A second indicator, different from the first indicator, that indicates a second linkage between the second fact and the second portion of the free-form narration may also be provided to the user.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 extracting, from a free-form narration of a patient encounter provided by a clinician, using at least one processor, a plurality of clinical facts representing abstract semantic concepts, wherein the plurality of clinical facts comprises a first fact and a second fact, wherein the first fact is extracted from a first portion of the free-form narration, and wherein the second fact is extracted from a second portion of the free-form narration, the extracting comprising
 analyzing the free-form narration to identify one or more sets of features of at least the first and second portions of the free-form narration, and 
 correlating the one or more sets of features to the abstract semantic concepts; 
   in response to a user selecting the first fact via a user interface, providing to the user a first indicator of the first portion of the free-form narration from which the first fact was extracted; and   providing to the user a second indicator, different from the first indicator, of the second portion of the free-form narration from which the second fact was extracted.   
     
     
         2 - 3 . (canceled) 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first indicator indicates the first portion of the free-form narration using a first color, and the second indicator indicates the second portion of the free-form narration using a second color, wherein the first color is different from the second color. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein providing the first indicator comprises:
 in response to the user selecting the first fact, visually distinguishing a textual representation of the first portion of the free-form narration from other portions of the free-form narration.   
     
     
         6 . (canceled) 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein providing the first indicator comprises:
 in response to the user selecting the first fact, scrolling a display of a textual representation of the free-form narration to a textual representation of the first portion of the free-form narration.   
     
     
         8 . (canceled) 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein providing the first indicator comprises:
 in response to the user selecting the first fact, playing an audio version of the first portion of the free-form narration.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the audio version of the first portion of the free-form narration comprises a portion of an audio recording of the clinician dictating the free-form narration. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the audio version of the first portion of the free-form narration is generated from a textual representation of the free-form narration using automatic speech synthesis. 
     
     
         12 - 19 . (canceled) 
     
     
         20 . Apparatus comprising:
 at least one processor; and   a memory storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, perform a method comprising:
 extracting, from a free-form narration of a patient encounter provided by a clinician, a plurality of clinical facts representing abstract semantic concepts, wherein the plurality of clinical facts comprises a first fact and a second fact, wherein the first fact is extracted from a first portion of the free-form narration, and wherein the second fact is extracted from a second portion of the free-form narration, the extracting comprising
 analyzing the free-form narration to identify one or more sets of features of at least the first and second portions of the free-form narration, and 
 correlating the one or more sets of features to the abstract semantic concepts; 
 
 in response to a user selecting the first fact via a user interface, providing to the user a first indicator of the first portion of the free-form narration from which the first fact was extracted; and 
 providing to the user a second indicator, different from the first indicator, of the second portion of the free-form narration from which the second fact was extracted. 
   
     
     
         21 - 22 . (canceled) 
     
     
         23 . The apparatus of  claim 20 , wherein the first indicator indicates the first portion of the free-form narration using a first color, and the second indicator indicates the second portion of the free-form narration using a second color, wherein the first color is different from the second color. 
     
     
         24 . The apparatus of  claim 20 , wherein providing the first indicator comprises:
 in response to the user selecting the first fact, visually distinguishing a textual representation of the first portion of the free-form narration from other portions of the free-form narration.   
     
     
         25 . (canceled) 
     
     
         26 . The apparatus of  claim 20 , wherein providing the first indicator comprises:
 in response to the user selecting the first fact, scrolling a display of a textual representation of the free-form narration to a textual representation of the first portion of the free-form narration.   
     
     
         27 - 28 . (canceled) 
     
     
         29 . The apparatus of  claim 20 , wherein providing the first indicator comprises:
 in response to the user selecting the first fact, playing an audio version of the first portion of the free-form narration comprising a portion of an audio recording of the clinician dictating the free-form narration.   
     
     
         30 . The apparatus of  claim 20 , wherein providing the first indicator comprises:
 in response to the user selecting the first fact, playing an audio version of the first portion of the free-form narration generated from a textual representation of the free-form narration using automatic speech synthesis.   
     
     
         31 - 38 . (canceled) 
     
     
         39 . At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with a plurality of computer-executable instructions that, when executed, perform a method comprising:
 extracting, from a free-form narration of a patient encounter provided by a clinician, a plurality of clinical facts representing abstract semantic concepts, wherein the plurality of clinical facts comprises a first fact and a second fact, wherein the first fact is extracted from a first portion of the free-form narration, and wherein the second fact is extracted from a second portion of the free-form narration, the extracting comprising
 analyzing the free-form narration to identify one or more sets of features of at least the first and second portions of the free-form narration, and 
 correlating the one or more sets of features to the abstract semantic concepts; 
   in response to a user selecting the first fact via a user interface, providing to the user a first indicator of the first portion of the free-form narration from which the first fact was extracted; and   providing to the user a second indicator, different from the first indicator, of the second portion of the free-form narration from which the second fact was extracted.   
     
     
         40 - 41 . (canceled) 
     
     
         42 . The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 39 , wherein the first indicator indicates the first portion of the free-form narration using a first color, and the second indicator indicates the second portion of the free-form narration using a second color, wherein the first color is different from the second color. 
     
     
         43 . The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 39 , wherein providing the first indicator comprises:
 in response to the user selecting the first fact, visually distinguishing a textual representation of the first portion of the free-form narration from other portions of the free-form narration.   
     
     
         44 . (canceled) 
     
     
         45 . The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 39 , wherein providing the first indicator comprises:
 in response to the user selecting the first fact, scrolling a display of a textual representation of the free-form narration to a textual representation of the first portion of the free-form narration.   
     
     
         46 . (canceled) 
     
     
         47 . The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 39 , wherein providing the first indicator comprises:
 in response to the user selecting the first fact, playing an audio version of the first portion of the free-form narration.   
     
     
         48 . The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 47 , wherein the audio version of the first portion of the free-form narration comprises a portion of an audio recording of the clinician dictating the free-form narration. 
     
     
         49 . The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 47 , wherein the audio version of the first portion of the free-form narration is generated from a textual representation of the free-form narration using automatic speech synthesis. 
     
     
         50 - 57 . (canceled)