HEALTHCARE VISIT MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK
Described herein is a descriptive framework to facilitate healthcare visit management. In accordance with one aspect, information of an appointment scheduled with a healthcare provider is received. A user's real-time location is monitored and the user's real-time location is used to facilitate a visit to fulfill the appointment. If waiting time of the user during the visit is estimated to be more than a predetermined threshold value, one or more recommendations may be presented via a user device to recommend relevant services, goods or entertainment options to the user.
1 . A method of managing a healthcare visit, comprising:
receiving a healthcare need description associated with a user;
generating, by a processor, a list of recommended healthcare providers relevant to the healthcare need description;
receiving, via a user device, a user selection of a healthcare provider from the list;
requesting, by the processor, an appointment with the selected healthcare provider; and
facilitating, by the processor, a visit to fulfill the appointment.
2 . A method of managing a healthcare visit, comprising:
receiving information of an appointment scheduled with a healthcare provider;
monitoring, by a processor, a user's real-time location;
facilitating, based on the user's real-time location, a visit to fulfill the appointment; and
if waiting time of the user during the visit is estimated to be more than a predetermined threshold value, presenting, via a user device, one or more recommendations of relevant services, goods or entertainment options to the user.
3 . The method of claim 2 further comprising:
receiving a healthcare need description associated with a user;
generating, by the processor, a list of recommended healthcare providers relevant to the healthcare need description; and
receiving, via the user device, a user selection of a healthcare provider from the list.
4 . The method of claim 3 further comprising receiving, via the user device, user input of the healthcare need description.
5 . The method of claim 4 further comprising suggesting, based on the user input, one or more keywords as feedback to the user.
6 . The method of claim 2 further comprising automatically generating, by the processor, a healthcare need description based on a health record associated with the user.
7 . The method of claim 6 further comprising presenting, via the user device, a dashboard for the user to manage the health record.
8 . The method of claim 7 further comprising presenting, via the dashboard, impending healthcare needs associated with the user or the user's family members.
9 . The method of claim 6 wherein automatically generating the healthcare need description comprises:
retrieving the health record and preventive care guidelines from one or more databases;
determining if proactive healthcare is due based on the health record or the preventive care guidelines;
sending a health alert including a recommendation for the proactive healthcare; and
in response to receiving a user acceptance, providing the healthcare need description based on the recommendation.
10 . The method of claim 3 wherein generating the list of recommended healthcare providers relevant to the healthcare need description comprises:
parsing the healthcare need description and patient information to extract one or more keywords; and
searching, using the one or more keywords, one or more databases to generate the list of recommended healthcare providers.
11 . The method of claim 10 wherein the list of recommended healthcare providers includes one or more healthcare providers reviewed by the user's social network.
12 . The method of claim 2 wherein facilitating the visit to fulfill the appointment comprises determining, based on the real-time location of the user, if re-scheduling the appointment is required.
13 . The method of claim 12 wherein facilitating the visit to fulfill the appointment further comprises presenting the user with an option to re-schedule the appointment or to book a faster mode of transportation.
14 . The method of claim 12 wherein the appointment comprises a composite appointment including multiple appointment items.
15 . The method of claim 14 wherein if re-scheduling the appointment is required, the method further includes re-arranging a temporal order of the appointment items.
16 . The method of claim 2 wherein facilitating the visit to fulfill the appointment comprises notifying the healthcare provider of the user's estimated time of arrival.
17 . The method of claim 2 wherein facilitating the visit to fulfill the appointment comprises providing indoor navigational aid to the user after the user arrives at the healthcare provider's venue.
18 . The method of claim 2 further comprising issuing one or more context-sensitive alerts to the user device when the appointment is imminent to remind the user to go to a designated waiting area.
19 . The method of claim 2 further comprising concluding, via the user device, a transaction related to the visit.
20 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon program code, the program code executable by a computer to:
receive information of an appointment scheduled with a healthcare provider;
monitor a user's real-time location;
facilitate, based on the user's real-time location, a visit to fulfill the appointment; and
if waiting time of the user during the visit is estimated to be more than a predetermined threshold value, present one or more recommendations of relevant services, goods or entertainment options to the user.
21 . A system comprising:
a non-transitory memory device for storing computer-readable program code; and
a processor in communication with the memory device, the processor being operative with the computer-readable program code to
receive information of an appointment scheduled with a healthcare provider,
monitor a user's real-time location,
facilitate, based on the user's real-time location, a visit to fulfill the appointment, and
if waiting time of the user during the visit is estimated to be more than a predetermined threshold value, present one or more recommendations of relevant services, goods or entertainment options to the user.