User and engine code handling in medical coding system

Abstract

Techniques for medical coding include applying a natural language understanding (NLU) engine to a free-form text documenting a clinical patient encounter, to derive a first set of one or more medical billing codes for the clinical patient encounter and a link between each code in the first set and a corresponding portion of the free-form text. The first set of codes may be compared to a second set of one or more medical billing codes approved by one or more human users for the patient encounter, to identify at least one code in the first set that overlaps with at least one code in the second set. The code in the second set approved by the one or more human users may be retained instead of the overlapping code in the first set derived by the NLU engine.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 applying a natural language understanding engine, using at least one processor, to a free-form text documenting a clinical patient encounter, to derive a first set of one or more medical billing codes for the clinical patient encounter and a link between each medical billing code in the first set and a corresponding portion of the free-form text;   comparing the first set of medical billing codes to a second set of one or more medical billing codes approved by one or more human users for the patient encounter, to identify at least one medical billing code in the first set that overlaps with at least one medical billing code in the second set; and   retaining the at least one medical billing code in the second set approved by the one or more human users instead of the overlapping at least one medical billing code in the first set derived by the natural language understanding engine.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the comparing comprises determining that the at least one medical billing code in the first set is a same diagnosis code as the at least one medical billing code in the second set. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the comparing comprises determining that the at least one medical billing code in the first set is a same procedure code as the at least one medical billing code in the second set, and that the patient did not undergo the same procedure twice. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the comparing comprises determining that the at least one medical billing code in the first set is a less specific version of the at least one medical billing code in the second set. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the retaining comprises presenting the at least one medical billing code in the second set in a user interface of a medical coding system, and suppressing presentation of the at least one medical billing code in the first set. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising generating a link between the at least one medical billing code in the second set and the portion of the free-form text corresponding to the at least one medical billing code in the first set. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising, in response to user selection of the at least one medical billing code in the second set in a user interface of a medical coding system, providing an indicator of the linked portion of the free-form text corresponding to the at least one medical billing code in the first set. 
     
     
         8 . At least one computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed, perform a method comprising:
 applying a natural language understanding engine to a free-form text documenting a clinical patient encounter, to derive a first set of one or more medical billing codes for the clinical patient encounter and a link between each medical billing code in the first set and a corresponding portion of the free-form text;   comparing the first set of medical billing codes to a second set of one or more medical billing codes approved by one or more human users for the patient encounter, to identify at least one medical billing code in the first set that overlaps with at least one medical billing code in the second set; and   retaining the at least one medical billing code in the second set approved by the one or more human users instead of the overlapping at least one medical billing code in the first set derived by the natural language understanding engine.   
     
     
         9 . The at least one computer-readable storage medium of  claim 8 , wherein the comparing comprises determining that the at least one medical billing code in the first set is a same diagnosis code as the at least one medical billing code in the second set. 
     
     
         10 . The at least one computer-readable storage medium of  claim 8 , wherein the comparing comprises determining that the at least one medical billing code in the first set is a same procedure code as the at least one medical billing code in the second set, and that the patient did not undergo the same procedure twice. 
     
     
         11 . The at least one computer-readable storage medium of  claim 8 , wherein the comparing comprises determining that the at least one medical billing code in the first set is a less specific version of the at least one medical billing code in the second set. 
     
     
         12 . The at least one computer-readable storage medium of  claim 8 , wherein the retaining comprises presenting the at least one medical billing code in the second set in a user interface of a medical coding system, and suppressing presentation of the at least one medical billing code in the first set. 
     
     
         13 . The at least one computer-readable storage medium of  claim 8 , wherein the method further comprises generating a link between the at least one medical billing code in the second set and the portion of the free-form text corresponding to the at least one medical billing code in the first set. 
     
     
         14 . The at least one computer-readable storage medium of  claim 13 , wherein the method further comprises, in response to user selection of the at least one medical billing code in the second set in a user interface of a medical coding system, providing an indicator of the linked portion of the free-form text corresponding to the at least one medical billing code in the first set. 
     
     
         15 . Apparatus comprising:
 at least one processor; and   at least one storage medium storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, perform a method comprising:
 applying a natural language understanding engine to a free-form text documenting a clinical patient encounter, to derive a first set of one or more medical billing codes for the clinical patient encounter and a link between each medical billing code in the first set and a corresponding portion of the free-form text; 
 comparing the first set of medical billing codes to a second set of one or more medical billing codes approved by one or more human users for the patient encounter, to identify at least one medical billing code in the first set that overlaps with at least one medical billing code in the second set; and 
 retaining the at least one medical billing code in the second set approved by the one or more human users instead of the overlapping at least one medical billing code in the first set derived by the natural language understanding engine. 
   
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein the comparing comprises determining that the at least one medical billing code in the first set is a same diagnosis code as the at least one medical billing code in the second set. 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein the comparing comprises determining that the at least one medical billing code in the first set is a same procedure code as the at least one medical billing code in the second set, and that the patient did not undergo the same procedure twice. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein the comparing comprises determining that the at least one medical billing code in the first set is a less specific version of the at least one medical billing code in the second set. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein the retaining comprises presenting the at least one medical billing code in the second set in a user interface of a medical coding system, and suppressing presentation of the at least one medical billing code in the first set. 
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein the method further comprises generating a link between the at least one medical billing code in the second set and the portion of the free-form text corresponding to the at least one medical billing code in the first set.