INTEGRATED MEDICAL SOFTWARE SYSTEM WITH AUTOMATED PRESCRIPTION SERVICE

1 - 62 . (canceled)

63 . An integrated medical software system with automated prescription management, the system comprising:

a clinical software module executed by a processor of the system and utilized by a user of the system to create an electronic document and to capture clinical data in the electronic document with a user interface during an encounter with a patient, said clinical data including one or more prescriptions the user generates for the patient, and said electronic document being pre-populated with at least a portion of demographic data for the patient; and

a software application executed by the processor of the system to interface the system with at least one of a lab, a pharmacy, and a prescription system via a network connection and to automatically submit instructions for filling the one or more prescriptions to the at least one of a lab, a pharmacy, and a prescription system as the one or more prescriptions are generated for the patient during the encounter with the patient,

wherein the user can generate the one or more prescriptions for the patient by using the user interface to select the one or more prescriptions from one or more previously generated prescriptions such that the instructions for filling the one or more prescriptions will be automatically submitted to the at least one of a lab, a pharmacy, and a prescription system without the user writing a new prescription.

64 . The integrated medical software system of claim 63 , further comprising a patient registration software component executed by the processor of the system to receive financial data and the demographic data for the patient, wherein the patient is pre-approved for the one or more prescriptions based on at least one of the financial data and the demographic data.

65 . The integrated medical software system of claim 64 , wherein the instructions for filling the one or more prescriptions include at least a portion of at least one of the financial data and the demographic data.

66 . The integrated medical software system of claim 63 , further comprising:

a database for storing demographic data, financial data, scheduling data, and the clinical data in a normalized data format;

an account management software module executed by the processor of the system to capture financial data in the normalized data format and to automatically create at least one of a bill, a claim, and a statement for the patient using the financial data and the clinical data as the clinical data is captured during the encounter with the patient;

a scheduling software module executed by the processor of the system to capture scheduling data in the normalized data format and to schedule the patient and at least one of a clinician, a staff member, and equipment for the encounter with the patient using the scheduling data and the demographic data; and

a framework software module that is integrated with the clinical software module, the account management software module, and the scheduling software module using a common architecture and that is executed by the processor of the system to support an exchange of the clinical data, the demographic data, the financial data, and the scheduling data between those software modules and with the database in the normalized data format.

67 . The integrated medical software system of claim 66 , wherein the one or more prescriptions are used by the account management software module to automatically create the at least one of a bill, a claim, and a statement for the patient.

68 . The integrated medical software system of claim 66 , wherein at least one of the demographic data, the financial data, and the administrative data is updated based on input from at least one of the account management software module, the scheduling software module, and the clinical software module.

69 . The integrated medical software system of claim 63 , further comprising functionality for providing the user with an alert that the one or more prescriptions need to be re-filled at a time when the one or more prescriptions need to be re-filled.

70 . The integrated medical software system of claim 63 , wherein the user generates instructions for re-filling the one or more prescriptions by using the user interface to select the one or more prescriptions from one or more previously generated prescriptions such that the instructions for re-filling the one or more prescriptions will be automatically submitted to the at least one of a lab, a pharmacy, and a prescription system without the user writing a new prescription.

71 . The integrated medical software system of claim 70 , wherein the re-filling of the one or more prescriptions is automatically documented in the patient's chart.

72 . The integrated medical software system of claim 63 , wherein the system displays at least one of brand name and generic pricing and dosage, national drug codes, medication lists, allergy cross-checks (drug-drug, drug-food, drug-disease interactions), and side affects at the user interface as the user generates the one or more prescriptions.

73 . A method for automating prescription management in 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:

allowing a user of the system to create an electronic document prior to an encounter with a patient;

pre-populating the electronic document with previously-captured demographic data for the patient;

capturing clinical data for the patient in the electronic document in a normalized data format during the encounter with the patient, said clinical data including one or more prescriptions the user generates for the patient; and

automatically submitting instructions for filling the one or more prescriptions to at least one of a lab, a pharmacy, and a prescription system as the one or more prescriptions are generated for the patient during the encounter with the patient, said system being interfaced the with the at least one of a lab, a pharmacy, and a prescription system, and said instructions being submitted via a network connection;

wherein the user generates the one or more prescriptions for the patient by using the user interface to select the one or more prescriptions from one or more previously generated prescriptions such that the instructions for filling the one or more prescriptions will be automatically submitted to the at least one of a lab, a pharmacy, and a prescription system without the user writing a new prescription.

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

receiving financial data and the demographic data for the patient; and

pre-approving the patient for the one or more prescriptions based on at least one of the financial data and the demographic data.

75 . The method of claim 74 , wherein the instructions for filling the one or more prescriptions include at least a portion of at least one of the financial data and the demographic data.

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

automatically creating at least one of a bill, a claim, and a statement for the patient using financial data and the clinical data as the clinical data is captured during the encounter with the patient;

capturing the financial data in the normalized data format;

scheduling the patient and at least one of a clinician, a staff member, and equipment for the encounter with the patient using scheduling data and the demographic data;

capturing the scheduling data in the normalized data format; and

storing the clinical data, the financial data, the demographic data, and the scheduling data in a database in the normalized data format;

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

77 . The method of claim 76 , wherein the at least one of a bill, a claim, and a statement is automatically created using the one or more prescriptions generated for the patient during the encounter with the patient.

78 . The method of claim 76 , further comprising the step of updating at least one of the clinical data, the financial data, and the administrative data as that data is captured during a corresponding step of capturing.

79 . The method of claim 73 , further comprising a step of alerting the user that the one or more prescriptions need to be re-filled at a time when the one or more prescriptions need to be re-filled.

80 . The method of claim 73 , wherein the user generates instructions for re-filling the one or more prescriptions by using the user interface to select the one or more prescriptions from one or more previously generated prescriptions such that the instructions for re-filling the one or more prescriptions will be automatically submitted to the at least one of a lab, a pharmacy, and a prescription system without the user writing a new prescription.

81 . The method of claim 80 , wherein the re-filling of the one or more prescriptions is automatically documented in the patient's chart.

82 . The method of claim 73 , further comprising the step of displaying at least one of brand name and generic pricing and dosage, national drug codes, medication lists, allergy cross-checks (drug-drug, drug-food, drug-disease interactions), and side affects at the user interface as the user generates the one or more prescriptions.