INTEGRATED MEDICAL SOFTWARE SYSTEM WITH ADVANCED PATIENT SCHEDULING

1 - 62 . (canceled)

63 . An integrated medical software system with a patient scheduling software module executed by a processor of the integrated software system to schedule patient visits, the scheduling module comprising:

a section where a user adds and removes clinical and administrative flags that are associated with patients and that are displayed as reminders when the patients schedule visits, said clinical flags alerting the user to a patient's medical issue that requires special attention and said administrative flags alerting the user to a patient's clerical issue that requires special attention; and

a section where the user schedules equipment and a clinician for an appointment with a patient by performing the steps of:

selecting the patient at a first display point and the equipment at a second display point, said first and second display points being defined by different images that are viewable on a user interface display; and

dragging the patient and the equipment to a third display point, said third display point being defined by an available time in the clinician's schedule that is viewable on the user interface display.

64 . The scheduling module of claim 63 , further comprising a section where the user defines rules templates for future use, said rules templates controlling the available times in one or more clinicians' schedules so that patients and equipment can only be scheduled at the available times in the one or more clinicians' schedules.

65 . The scheduling module of claim 63 , further comprising a section where the user can perform searches for available times in one or more clinicians' schedules within different time ranges.

66 . The scheduling module of claim 63 , wherein the searches are saved as search templates for future use.

67 . The scheduling module of claim 63 , further comprising:

a database that stores patients' financial data, clinical data, and administrative data in a normalized data format, said administrative data including data captured in the normalized data format by the scheduling module;

a clinical module that creates an electronic document and that captures clinical data for a patient in the electronic document in the normalized data format during an encounter with the patient;

an account management module that captures financial data in the normalized data format and that automatically creates at least one of a bill, claim, or statement for a patient using the financial data and the clinical data; and

a framework module that is integrated with the scheduling module, the clinical module, and the account management module using a common architecture and that supports an exchange of the financial data, the scheduling data, the clinical data, and the patient data between those modules and with the database in the normalized data format.

68 . The patient registration module of claim 67 , wherein the administrative data is updated based on input from at least one of the account management module and the clinical module.

69 . The scheduling module of claim 63 , wherein the scheduling module will not allow the user to user schedule the equipment and clinician for an appointment with a patient at a specific time when the equipment and clinician are already scheduled at that specific time.

70 . The scheduling module of claim 63 , wherein the user can view at least one of multiple clinicians' schedules on a same day and multiple days for a clinician in a single view on the user interface display.

71 . The scheduling module of claim 63 , wherein the patient's medical issue is based on at least one of standard health maintenance protocols and preferred treatment algorithms.

72 . The scheduling module of claim 67 , wherein the patient's clerical issue includes at least one of disabled patient status, violent patient status, insurance status, account status, a do not call home instruction, a do not release name instruction, a do not mail to home instruction, a see notes instruction, a Medicare waiver signature, a restricted chart, a sensitive chart, a history of missed appointments, a history of canceled appointments, and specific pre-appointment instructions for the patient.

73 . A method for scheduling patients with an integrated medical software system, said method being embodied on a processor-executable medium and said integrated medical software system having a processor that executes the method to perform the steps of:

adding or removing clinical and administrative flags that are associated with patients and that are displayed as reminders when the patients schedule visits, said clinical flags alerting the user to a patient's medical issue that requires special attention and said administrative flags alerting the user to a patient's clerical issue that requires special attention; and

scheduling equipment and a clinician for an appointment with a patient by performing the steps of:

selecting the patient at a first display point and the equipment at a second display point, said first and second display points being defined by different images that are viewable on a user interface display; and

dragging the patient and the equipment to a third display point, said third display point being defined by an available time in the clinician's schedule that is viewable on the user interface display.

74 . The method of claim 73 , further comprising the step of a defining rules templates for future use, said rules templates controlling the available times in one or more clinicians' schedules so that patients and equipment can only be scheduled at the available times in the one or more clinicians' schedules.

75 . The method of claim 73 , further comprising the step of performing a search for available times in one or more clinicians' schedules within different time ranges.

76 . The method of claim 73 , wherein the searches are saved as search templates for future use.

77 . The method of claim 73 , further comprising the steps of:

creating an electronic document and for capturing clinical data for a patient in the electronic document in a normalized data format during an encounter with the patient;

capturing financial data in the normalized data format and creating at least one of a bill, claim, or statement for a patient using the financial data and the clinical data; and

storing patients' financial data, clinical data, and administrative data in a database in the normalized data format, said administrative data including data captured in the normalized data format by the scheduling module,

wherein the system is built on a common architecture to support an exchange the patients' financial data, clinical data, and administrative data in the normalized data format as required to perform each of the steps.

78 . The method of claim 77 , further comprising the step of updating the administrative data based on at least one of the steps of capturing the account management data and capturing the clinical data.

79 . The method of claim 73 , wherein the scheduling module will not allow the user to user schedule the equipment and clinician for an appointment with a patient at a specific time when the equipment and clinician are already scheduled at that specific time.

80 . The method of claim 73 , further comprising the step of viewing at least one of multiple clinicians' schedules on a same day and multiple days for a clinician in a single view on the user interface display.

81 . The method of claim 73 , wherein the patient's medical issue is based on at least one of standard health maintenance protocols and preferred treatment algorithms.

82 . The method of claim 73 , wherein the patient's clerical issue includes at least one of disabled patient status, violent patient status, insurance status, account status, a do not call home instruction, a do not release name instruction, a do not mail to home instruction, a see notes instruction, a Medicare waiver signature, a restricted chart, a sensitive chart, a history of missed appointments, a history of canceled appointments, and specific pre-appointment instructions for the patient.