SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OPTIMIZING ELECTRONIC MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY POST-COORDINATION CODING
A computer-implemented system and method for post-coordination of clinically relevant searches with respect to an electronic medical ontology includes mapping the searches to elements of the ontology, determining whether the mapped elements support post-coordination and, if not, relying on a hierarchy established by a second electronic medical ontology to which the first electronic medical ontology is mapped to determine whether one or more broader elements support post-coordination. Upon identifying one or more such broader elements, the system then may present the user with attribute selections associated with each element in order to obtain the desired post-coordination terms. The resulting combination of a broader element with its relevant attributes maps to a concept in the electronic medical ontology that is fully pre-coordinated with respect to a third electronic medical ontology.
1 . A method, comprising:
(1) receiving, by a computer, a user query corresponding to a clinical finding;
(2) analyzing, by the computer, the query against a database containing a first electronic medical ontology to determine one or more exact or approximate matches to the query;
(3) determining, by the computer, whether the matches support post-coordination;
(4a) if a match supports post-coordination:
displaying a list of post-coordination attributes,
receiving a user selection of one or more attributes,
evaluating a combination of the match and the user-selected attributes against the database containing the first electronic medical ontology,
presenting the user with a list of concepts in the first electronic medical ontology that include the match and the user-selected attributes, and
receiving a user selection from the list of concepts; and
(4b) if a match does not support post-coordination attributes,
searching, by the computer, for at least one term in the first electronic medical ontology that is broader than the match and that supports post-coordination,
displaying a list of post-coordination attributes for the at least one term,
receiving a user selection of one or more attributes,
evaluating a combination of the at least one term and the user-selected attributes against the database containing the first electronic medical ontology,
presenting the user with a list of concepts in the first electronic medical ontology that include the at least one term and the user-selected attributes, and
receiving a user selection from the list of concepts; and
(5) updating an electronic health record with data comprising the user query and a code value assigned to an element of a second electronic medical ontology, wherein the element of the second electronic medical ontology is mapped to the user selection from the list of concepts in step (4a) or (4b).
2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the second electronic medical ontology is ICD-10.
3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first electronic medical ontology is mapped to a third electronic medical ontology.
4 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein the third electronic medical ontology is the Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine-Clinical Terms.
5 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein the searching step is executed by analyzing a hierarchy established by elements of the third electronic medical ontology.
6 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the searching step comprises analyzing a hierarchy mapped to the first electronic medical ontology and identifying each term in the first electronic medical ontology that is hierarchically broader than the match and that supports post-coordination, until at least a root node level is reached.
7 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the searching step comprises analyzing a hierarchy mapped to the first electronic medical ontology, determining whether the hierarchy splits above the match into a plurality of branches, and identifying each term in the first medical ontology on each branch that supports post-coordination and that is closest to the match.
8 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the searching step comprises analyzing a hierarchy mapped to the first electronic medical ontology, and the searching step terminates when a predetermined number of terms in the first electronic medical ontology that are broader than the match and that support post-coordination are identified.
9 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the searching step comprises analyzing a hierarchy mapped to the first electronic medical ontology, determining whether the hierarchy splits above the match, and identifying at least one term in a plurality of branches above the split that is broader than the match and that supports post-coordination.
10 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the searching step comprises analyzing a hierarchy mapped to the first electronic medical ontology, determining whether the hierarchy splits above the match, identifying a distance between the match and a closest term that supports post-coordination, and identifying other terms that support post-coordination that are spaced from the match by the distance.
11 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the searching step comprises analyzing a hierarchy mapped to the first electronic medical ontology, determining whether the hierarchy splits above the match, identifying a closest term to the match that supports post-coordination, and identifying other terms that support post-coordination that are on a same branch as the closest term.
12 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the user selection from the list of concepts in step (4a) or (4b) is fully pre-coordinated.
13 . A method, comprising:
receiving, by a computer, a user query corresponding to a clinical finding;
mapping, by the computer, the user query to an element of a first electronic medical ontology;
determining, by the computer, whether the element of the first electronic medical ontology supports post-coordination;
if not, relying on a hierarchy established by a second electronic medical ontology to which the first electronic medical ontology is mapped to determine whether one or more broader elements support post-coordination;
upon identifying at least one broader elements, presenting the user with attribute selections associated with the at least one broader element; and
receiving a sufficient number of attribute selections to generate a fully pre-coordinated term.
14 . The method according to claim 13 , wherein the fully pre-coordinated term is pre-coordinated with respect to a third electronic medical ontology.
15 . The method according to claim 14 , wherein the third electronic medical ontology is ICD-10-CM.
16 . The method according to claim 13 , wherein the second electronic medical ontology is the Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine-Clinical Terms.
17 . The method according to claim 13 , wherein the second electronic medical ontology is an International Classification of Disease ontology.