Integrated medical software system with embedded transcription functionality

1. An integrated medical software system with embedded transcription functionality comprising:

a processor configured to implement:

a clinical software module that is configured to be executed by the processor to create an electronic document and to capture clinical data for a patient in the electronic document during an encounter with the patient;

a transcription software application that is configured to be executed by the processor to select predefined clinical data that will appear within the electronic document in response to speech commands and to automatically transcribe dictated clinical data that will appear within the electronic document in response to dictation, the predefined clinical data being previously linked to at least one of a diagnosis code and a procedure code and the dictated clinical data being automatically linked to at least one of a diagnosis code and a procedure code as it is transcribed; and

an account management software module that is configured to be executed by the processor to automatically generate at least one of a bill, a claim, or a statement for the patient using the at least one of a diagnosis code and a procedure code linked to at least one of the predefined clinical data and the dictated clinical data;

wherein the processor is further configured to link the dictated clinical data automatically in real time to a clinical flag by:

(i) converting the dictated clinical data into text;

(ii) parsing the text to determine a meaning; and

(iii) providing a link from a portion of the text associated with the meaning to the clinical flag.

2. The integrated software system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to implement:

a registration software module that is configured to be executed by the processor to capture demographic data and associate it with the patient, the demographic data including at least one of a name, a digital photograph, an address, a date of birth, an age, a social security number, and a sex of the patient,

wherein the transcription software application is configured to receive speech commands for selecting predefined demographic data that will be associated with the patient and to receive dictated demographic data that will be automatically transcribed and associated with the patient, and

wherein the account management software module is configured to automatically generates at least one of a bill, a claim, or a statement for the patient using at least a portion of the demographic data.

3. The integrated software system of claim 2 , wherein the processor is further configured to implement:

a scheduling software module that is configured to be executed by the processor to schedule the patient and at least one of a clinician, a staff member, and equipment at a healthcare provider using scheduling data and the demographic data, the scheduling data including at least one of a time, a location, and a name for the patient and the at least one of a clinician, a staff member, and equipment,

wherein the transcription software application is configured to receive speech commands for selecting predefined scheduling data for the patient and the at least one of a clinician, a staff member, and equipment and to receive dictated scheduling data that is automatically transcribed for the patient and the at least one of a clinician, a staff member, and equipment.

4. The integrated software system of claim 3 , wherein the processor is further configured such that:

at least a portion of the predefined scheduling data is previously linked to a section in the electronic document where it will be automatically populated when the electronic document is created by the clinical software module; and/or

at least a portion of the dictated scheduling data is automatically linked to a section in the electronic document as it is transcribed where it will be automatically populated when the electronic document is created by the clinical software module.

5. The integrated software system of claim 3 , wherein the processor is further configured to implement a framework software module that is integrated with the clinical software module, the account management software module, registration software module, and the scheduling software module using a common architecture and that is configured to be executed by the processor to support an exchange of the clinical data, the demographic data, and the scheduling data between those software modules in a normalized data format.

6. The integrated software system of claim 2 , wherein the processor is configured such that:

at least a portion of the predefined demographic data is previously linked to a section in the electronic document where it will be automatically populated when the electronic document is created by the clinical software module; and/or

at least a portion of the dictated demographic data is automatically linked to a section in the electronic document as it is transcribed where it will be automatically populated when the electronic document is created by the clinical software module.

7. The integrated software system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured such that the transcription software application includes a learning function that is configured to associate an error in transcription to an associated correction so the error in transcription is not repeated by the transcription software application.

8. The integrated software system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured for the transcription software application to synthesize transcribed text into an XML document and to transform that XML document into an electronic document using predefined style sheets, the predefined style sheets being defined by a clinical document format according to at least one of a Continuity of Care Document (CCD) standard, Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) standard, and a Continuity of Care Record (CCR) standard.

9. The integrated software system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured for the transcription software application to receive speech commands for selecting at least a portion of transcribed text and to transcribe dictation to replace the selected portion of transcribed text.

10. A method of using an integrated medical software system with embedded transcription functionality comprising the steps of:

executing a clinical software module with a processor to create an electronic document and to capture clinical data for a patient in the electronic document during an encounter with the patient;

executing a transcription software application with the processor to perform at least one of the steps of:

selecting predefined clinical data that will appear within the electronic document in response to speech commands, the predefined clinical data being already linked to at least one of a diagnosis code and a procedure code; and

transcribing dictated clinical data that will appear within the electronic document in response to dictation, the dictated clinical data being automatically linked to at least one of a diagnosis code and a procedure code as it is transcribed; and

executing an account management software module with the processor to automatically generate at least one of a bill, a claim, or a statement for the patient using the at least one of a diagnosis code and a procedure code linked to at least one of the predefined clinical data and the dictated clinical data, wherein:

the dictated clinical data is automatically linked in real time to a clinical flag by:

(i) converting the dictated clinical data into text;

(ii) parsing the text to determine a meaning; and

(iii) providing a link from a portion of the text associated with the meaning to the clinical flag.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising the step of:

executing a registration software module with the processor to capture demographic data and associate it with the patient, the demographic data including at least one of a name, a digital photograph, an address, a date of birth, an age, a social security number, and a sex of the patient,

wherein the step of executing the transcription software application includes receiving at least one of:

speech commands for selecting predefined demographic data that will be associated with the patient, and

dictated demographic data that will be automatically transcribed and associated with the patient, and

wherein the step of executing the account management software module includes automatically generating at least one of a bill, a claim, or a statement for the patient using the demographic data.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising the step of:

executing a scheduling software module with the processor to schedule the patient and at least one of a clinician, a staff member, and equipment at a healthcare provider using scheduling data and the demographic data, the scheduling data including at least one of a time, a location, and a name for the patient and the at least one of a clinician, a staff member, and equipment,

wherein the step of executing the transcription software application includes at least one of:

receiving speech commands for selecting predefined scheduling data for the patient and the at least one of a clinician, a staff member, and equipment, and

receiving dictated scheduling data that is automatically transcribed for the patient and the at least one of a clinician, a staff member, and equipment.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein:

at least a portion of the predefined scheduling data is previously linked to a section in the electronic document where it will be automatically populated when the electronic document is created by the clinical software module; and/or

at least a portion of the dictated scheduling data is automatically linked to a section in the electronic document as it is transcribed where it will be automatically populated when the electronic document is created by the clinical software module.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising the step of executing a framework software module with the processor to support an exchange of the clinical data, the demographic data, and the scheduling data between those software modules in a normalized data format, the framework software module being integrated with the clinical software module, the account management software module, registration software module, and the scheduling software module using a common architecture.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein:

at least a portion of the predefined demographic data is previously linked to a section in the electronic document where it will be automatically populated when the electronic document is created by the clinical software module; and/or

at least a portion of the dictated demographic data is automatically linked to a section in the electronic document as it is transcribed where it will be automatically populated when the electronic document is created by the clinical software module.

16. The method of claim 10 , wherein step of executing the transcription software application includes performing a learning function that associates an error in transcription to an associated correction so the error in transcription is not repeated by the transcription software application.

17. The method of claim 10 , wherein the step of executing the transcription software application includes:

synthesizing transcribed text into an XML document; and

transforming that XML document into an electronic document using predefined style sheets, the predefined style sheets being defined by a clinical document format according to at least one of a Continuity of Care Document (CCD) standard, Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) standard, and a Continuity of Care Record (CCR) standard.

18. The method of claim 10 , wherein the step of executing the transcription software application includes:

receiving speech commands for selecting at least a portion of transcribed text; and

transcribing dictation to replace the selected portion of transcribed text.