Professional referral network
View Patent ↗A framework for a system that will allow a professional to vastly extend the web of his referral network, by using a centralized matching system that both protects the privacy of his client, and allows a broad range of outside specialists the opportunity to present themselves. In addition to a database that allows the referring professional to gauge the capabilities of the candidates, the system also includes a bidding system such that candidates can offer a small reward (cash or otherwise) in exchange for being given the work.
1. A method of providing medical professional referral services, comprising:
accepting information about a patient's identity and medical needs into a patient database;
accepting information about the medical specialty, personal characteristics, and referral fees, if any, paid by a candidate physician;
providing a referring physician access to a matching system that matches a patient to one or more candidate physicians that are available to handle the patient and that determines a referral fee, if any, to be paid to the referring physician; and
accepting a candidate selection from the referring physician.
2. A method as in claim 1 , wherein the matching system protects the patient's identity.
3. A method as in claim 1 , comprising the further steps of accepting ratings information from patients and/or referring physicians about candidate physicians and accepting ratings of patients from candidate physicians.
4. A method as in claim 1 , comprising the further steps of accepting referral fee bids from candidate physicians for a particular patient and selecting the highest referral fee bid using an auction system.
5. A method as in claim 1 , comprising the step of representing said referral fees as input into a cashless barter system between referring physicians and candidate physicians.
6. A system for providing medical professional referral services, comprising:
a patient database that accepts and stores information about a patient's identity and medical needs;
a candidate physician database that accepts and stores information about the medical specialty, personal characteristics, and referral fees, if any, paid by a candidate physician;
a matching system that matches a patient to one or more candidate physicians that are available to handle the patient and that determines a referral fee, if any, to be paid to the referring physician; and
an interface to said matching system that accepts a candidate selection from the referring physician.
7. A system as in claim 6 , wherein said interface is a web enabled interface that connects said matching system to the Internet.
8. A system as in claim 6 , wherein the matching system protects the patient's identity.
9. A system as in claim 6 , wherein the candidate physician database accepts and stores ratings information from patients and/or referring physicians about candidate physicians and the patient database accepts and stores ratings of patients from candidate physicians.
10. A system as in claim 6 , wherein said matching system comprises an auction system that accepts referral fee bids from candidate physicians for a particular patient and selects the highest referral fee bid.
11. A system as in claim 6 , wherein said matching system comprises a cashless barter system that barters referral fees between referring physicians and candidate physicians.
12. A system as in claim 6 , wherein said matching system comprises a fuzzy rules based system that matches patients to candidate physicians in accordance with rules provided by a human expert.
13. The system of claim 6 , wherein said matching system weights attributes of the patient and the candidate physicians based on established selection preferences.