Systems and methods for evaluating a healthcare professional

Abstract

Systems and methods for evaluating healthcare professionals include providing a software interface hosted at least partially on a server having a processor and computer-readable memory and electronically accessible through at least one network system by at least one user computer device having a processor and computer-readable memory, wherein upon accessing the software interface, a user is presented with categories of topics and practice areas of expertise associated with the healthcare professional which the user can vote on using the at least one user computer device; receiving a plurality of votes for the healthcare professional from credentialed healthcare professional users and patients users; processing the votes from the credentialed healthcare users and patient users separately for each topic and practice area; and presenting the result of the healthcare professional' votes from credentialed healthcare users and from the patient users separately for each topic and practice area.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method for evaluating a healthcare professional, the method comprising:
 a. providing a software interface hosted at least partially on a server having a processor and computer-readable memory and electronically accessible through at least one network system by at least one user computer device having a processor and computer-readable memory, wherein upon accessing the software interface, a user is presented with categories of topics and practice areas of expertise associated with the healthcare professional which the user can vote on using the at least one user computer device;   b. receiving a plurality of votes for the healthcare professional from both credentialed healthcare professional users and patient users;   c. processing the votes from the credentialed healthcare users and from the patient users separately for each topic and practice area; and   d. presenting the result of the healthcare professional's votes from credentialed healthcare users and from the patient users separately for each topic and practice area.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising presenting content showing the healthcare professionals' credentials together with the result of the healthcare professional's votes. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the result of the healthcare professional's votes is determined by a geographic location of the patient users, wherein the geographic location is at least one of: city, state, and country. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the result of the healthcare professional's votes is identified as a top result within the geographic location. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the categories of topics and practice areas of expertise are selected based on at least one specialty of the healthcare professional. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the categories of topics and practice areas of expertise are selected based on at least one peer-reviewed publication of the healthcare professional. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the categories of topics and practice areas of expertise is selected by at least one patient user. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the categories of topics and practice areas of expertise are selected by the healthcare professional. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising presenting content provided by the healthcare professional together with the result of the healthcare professional's votes. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising presenting at least one of: healthcare professional users' responses to content provided by the healthcare professional, patient users' responses to content provided by the healthcare professional, and the responsiveness of the healthcare professional in providing content. 
     
     
         11 . A healthcare professional evaluation system, comprising:
 at least one patient computer device having a processor and computer-readable memory;   at least one healthcare professional computer device having a processor and computer-readable memory; and   a votes processing application, hosted at least partially on a server having a processor and computer-readable memory and electronically accessible over at least one network system to the at least one healthcare professional user computer device and the at least one patient user computer device, wherein the votes processing application:
 a. presents categories of topics and practice areas of expertise associated with the healthcare professional which a user can vote on; 
 b. receives a plurality of votes for the healthcare professional from the at least one healthcare professional user computer device and the at least one patient user computer device, the votes for the healthcare professional being associated with respective topics and practice areas; 
 c. processes the received votes from the healthcare professional users and from the patient users separately for each topic and practice area; and 
 d. presents the result of the healthcare professional's votes received from the healthcare professional users and from the patient users separately for each topic and practice area. 
   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the votes processing application presents content showing at least one credential of the healthcare professionals together with the result of the healthcare professional's votes. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the result of the healthcare professional's votes is determined by a geographic location of the patient users, wherein the geographic location is at least one of: city, state, and country. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the result of the healthcare professional's votes is identified as a top result within the geographic location. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the categories of topics and practice areas of expertise are selected based on at least one specialty of the healthcare professional. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the categories of topics and practice areas of expertise are selected based on at least one peer-reviewed publication of the healthcare professional. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein at least one of the categories of topics and practice areas of expertise is selected by at least one patient user. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the categories of topics and practice areas of expertise are selected by the healthcare professional. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the votes processing application further presents content provided by the healthcare professional together with the result of the healthcare professional's votes. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the votes processing application further presents at least one of: healthcare professional users' responses to content provided by the healthcare professional, patient users' responses to content provided by the healthcare professional, and the responsiveness of the healthcare professional in providing content.
 a.