Rule management method and system

1. A computer program product residing on a computer readable medium having a plurality of instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the processor, cause that processor to:

receive user input from a medical service provider for defining a computer-executable rule for identifying one or more patients of said medical service provider who satisfy said rule;

receive user input from said medical service provider for defining a computer-executable action to be taken concerning the identified one or more patients of said medical service provider who satisfy said rule;

determine, for the computer-executable rule, an execution time for the action;

process a plurality of computer-based medical records of patients for whom said medical service provider has an access key that grants the medical service provider access to said computer-based medical records against said computer-executable rule to identify one or more of said patients whose medical records satisfy the rule; and

initiate, on or after the execution time, the action concerning the one or more patients whose medical records satisfy the rule.

2. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the action includes one or more of:

posting a HTML link for a patient;

posting a message for a patient;

providing a tool to a patient;

transmitting an email to a patient;

updating a patient's medical record;

transmitting a pop-up message to a patient;

recommending that a patient join a discussion board;

providing a patient with medical information;

providing a medical report to a patient;

providing a medical report to a third party;

executing a program; and

notifying a third party.

3. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the execution time is a single, non-recurring, execution time.

4. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the execution time is a plurality of non-recurring execution times.

5. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the execution time is a recurring execution time.

6. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the instructions for processing the medical records against said rule comprises instructions for determining which of the medical records define the existence of a condition specified by said rule.