System and method for generating medical service provider information incorporating referral pattern data
A system is described for rendering medical service provider entity information. The system is configured to identify a medical service provider entity for which referrals data enhanced medical service provider information will be rendered for presentation to a requesting user. The a medical service provider referral processing engine accesses medical service provider referral information relating to the medical service provider entity, wherein the referral information specifies a value representing referrals received by the medical service provider entity. The referral processing engine transforms the referral information to render a received referrals value, wherein the transformation comprises at least summing a plurality of referral values corresponding to referrals received by the medical service provider entity. The referrals value is incorporated with medical service provider information to render referrals data enhanced medical service provider information.
1. A method for rendering requested medical service provider entity information via a medical service provider information retrieval engine configured to access information stored in a medical service provider database containing information relating to service provider entities, the method comprising:
identifying a medical service provider entity for which referrals data enhanced medical service provider information will be rendered for presentation to a requesting user;
accessing, by a medical service provider referral processing engine, medical service provider referral information relating to the medical service provider entity, wherein the referral information specifies a value representing referrals received by the medical service provider entity from other medical service provider entities;
performing, by the referral processing engine, a transformation on the medical service provider referral information obtained during the accessing to render a provider entity received referrals value, wherein the transformation comprises at least summing a plurality of referral values corresponding to referrals received by the medical service provider entity from other medical service provider entities;
incorporating the provider entity received referrals value with medical service provider information obtained by the retrieval engine to render referrals data enhanced medical service provider information; and
providing the referrals data enhanced medical service provider information for presentation to a requesting user via an on-line interface.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the performing a transformation comprises attaching the provider entity received referrals value to a database table entry in the provider database for the identified medical service provider entity.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the performing a transformation comprises rendering a weighted referrals score for the identified medical service provider entity by performing a summation operation based upon a set of received referrals count values for a circle of trusted provider entities, wherein the set of referrals count values includes:
a seed referrals count value corresponding to received referrals from a seed provider entity,
an indirect referrals count corresponding to received referrals from a provider entity that received at least one referral from the seed provider entity, and
an external referrals count corresponding to received referrals from a provider entity that has not received a referral from the seed provider entity.
4. The method of claim 3 wherein each of the referrals count types is assignable a distinct weight value.
5. The method of claim 3 wherein referrals by a referring medical service provider entity are identifiable by one of the group consisting of:
a specialty in the case of an individual, and
a facility type in the case of a facility.
6. The method of claim 3 wherein the weighted referrals score for the identified medical service provider entity is a function of an indirect referrals weighting value applied to a count of all referrals received, by the identified medical service provider entity, from the medical service provider entity that received at least one referral from the seed provider entity.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein the identified medical service provider entity is an identified facility.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein the incorporating comprises rendering, based upon accumulated referrals data for multiple identified provider entities, a ranking of the multiple identified provider entities.
9. The method of claim 8 wherein the ranking comprises grouping multiple identified provider entities into ranked groups.
10. The method of claim 1 wherein the incorporating comprises rendering, based upon accumulated referrals data, a rating value assigned to the identified provider entity.
11. The method of claim 10 wherein the rating value is a referrals rating score for the identified provider entity.
12. The method of claim 11 further comprising incorporating the referrals rating score into a composite rating generated for the identified provider entity from a combination of ratings factors.
13. The method of claim 1 wherein the incorporating comprises rendering, based upon accumulated referrals data for multiple identified provider entities, a filtered set of the multiple identified provider entities by applying a referrals threshold value to the accumulated referrals data for individual ones of the multiple identified provider entities.
14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including computer-executable instructions for rendering requested medical service provider entity information via a medical service provider information retrieval engine configured to access information stored in a medical service provider database containing information relating to service provider entities, the computer-executable instructions, when executed by a programmed processor, causing execution of a method comprising:
identifying a medical service provider entity for which referrals data enhanced medical service provider information will be rendered for presentation to a requesting user;
accessing, by a medical service provider referral processing engine, medical service provider referral information relating to the medical service provider entity, wherein the referral information specifies a value representing referrals received by the medical service provider entity from other medical service provider entities;
performing, by the referral processing engine, a transformation on the medical service provider referral information obtained during the accessing to render a provider entity received referrals value, wherein the transformation comprises at least summing a plurality of referral values corresponding to referrals received by the medical service provider entity from other medical service entities;
incorporating the provider entity received referrals value with medical service provider information obtained by the retrieval engine to render referrals data enhanced medical service provider information; and
providing the referrals data enhanced medical service provider information for presentation to a requesting user via an on-line interface.
15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14 wherein the performing a transformation comprises rendering a weighted referrals score for the identified medical service provider entity by performing a summation operation based upon a set of received referrals count values for a circle of trusted provider entities, wherein the set of referrals count values includes:
a seed referrals count value corresponding to received referrals from a seed provider entity,
an indirect referrals count corresponding to received referrals from a provider entity that received at least one referral from the seed provider entity, and
an external referrals count corresponding to received referrals from a provider entity that has not received a referral from the seed provider entity.
16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14 wherein the incorporating comprises rendering, based upon accumulated referrals data for multiple identified provider entities, a ranking of the multiple identified provider entities.
17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14 wherein the incorporating comprises rendering, based upon accumulated referrals data, a rating value assigned to the identified provider entity.
18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 wherein the rating value is a referrals rating score for the identified provider entity.
19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18 further comprising incorporating the referrals rating score into a composite rating generated for the identified provider entity from a combination of ratings factors.
20. A programmed computer system comprising:
a processor; and
a non-transitory computer-readable medium including computer-executable instructions for rendering requested medical service provider entity information via a medical service provider information retrieval engine configured to access information stored in a medical service provider database containing information relating to service provider entities, the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, causing execution of a method comprising:
identifying a medical service provider entity for which referrals data enhanced medical service provider information will be rendered for presentation to a requesting user;
accessing, by a medical service provider referral processing engine, medical service provider referral information relating to the medical service provider entity, wherein the referral information specifies a value representing referrals received by the medical service provider entity from other medical service provider entities;
performing, by the referral processing engine, a transformation on the medical service provider referral information obtained during the accessing to render a provider entity received referrals value, wherein the transformation comprises at least summing a plurality of referral values corresponding to referrals received by the medical service provider entity from other medical service provider entities;
incorporating the provider entity received referrals value with medical service provider information obtained by the retrieval engine to render referrals data enhanced medical service provider information; and
providing the referrals data enhanced medical service provider information for presentation to a requesting user via on-line interface.