Connecting patients with emergency/urgent health care

摘要

A computer network-based service provides search capabilities and mechanisms for connecting potential patients with emergency, urgent, and convenient care facilities. Patients make informed decisions regarding their treatment options by reviewing search results regarding facility wait times, geographic proximities of facilities, quality ratings of facilities for particular specialties, etc. Upon selecting a facility, patients may electronically transmit a notification to the facility indicating their medical condition(s) and estimated arrival time. The facility may approve or deny the treatment request by sending an electronic response. The facility may also request further information to triage the patient before his/her actual arrival and/or may provide instructions to assist the patient while en route. Navigation satellite systems may identify the patient's location for processing search requests and determining the proximity of facilities. Further, contact mechanisms, e.g., phone numbers, for contacting facilities directly may be accessed from the search service and tracked.

主权项

1. A computer-implemented method for providing healthcare facility information to potential patients, the method comprising:
receiving, by a server computer, a request for information regarding one or more types of healthcare facilities, wherein the request is transmitted over a computer network, and wherein the one or more types of healthcare facilities comprises one or more from the group consisting of: emergency care, urgent care, and convenient care; receiving one or more ranking preferences; providing a results list based on the request for information, wherein the results list comprises information regarding two or more healthcare facilities, and wherein the two or more healthcare facilities are ordered in the results list based at least in part on the one or more ranking preferences, the results list further comprising a reminder to call 9-1-1 for immediate care; receiving a selection of a first healthcare facility of the two or more healthcare facilities; in response to receiving the selection, providing a notification form for the first healthcare facility, wherein identification information for the first medical healthcare facility is displayed on the notification form, and wherein the notification form requests personal information comprising a first name, a last name, and a phone number; receiving the notification form with data entered into the notification form; transmitting the request to visit the selected first healthcare facility, wherein transmitting the request comprises sending the notification form to the first healthcare facility; and in response to transmitting the request, sending a confirmation page, wherein the confirmation page comprises a time based upon the request.