Patent ID: 9483616
Filing Date: 2016-11-01
CPC Classification: G06Q,G16H

Claim Text:
1. A method for collecting information about a patient, comprising: receiving, via a vehicle computer aboard an emergency vehicle located in a coverage area of a network, a request regarding the patient, wherein the request includes a dispatch order, and the vehicle computer includes a GPS and online mapping module for displaying a position of the emergency vehicle relative to an emergency scene; collecting, via a mobile computer at the emergency vehicle, medical and billing information about the patient; synchronizing, via the vehicle computer aboard the emergency vehicle, the collected medical and billing information with the received request regarding the patient to generate a synchronized medical and billing report; after the emergency vehicle travels outside of the coverage area of the network, determining, by the vehicle computer aboard the emergency vehicle, whether the emergency vehicle has re-entered the coverage area of the network; in response to determining that the emergency vehicle has entered the coverage area of the network, automatically transmitting, from the vehicle computer to a computing device at a medical facility and a computing device at a bill processing center over the network, the synchronized medical and billing report, wherein the synchronized medical and billing report includes data for the dispatch order, patient name, patient address, present condition, past history, care events, and findings; outputting, via an output device at the medical facility, at least a portion of the medical and billing report before the patient arrives for treatment; entering, by the computer in the bill processing center, the data contained in the synchronized medical and billing report into a billing database; identifying, by the computer in the bill processing center, at least one billable item of a service or medication used on the patient based on the data contained in the synchronized medical and billing report; determining whether the billing database contains sufficient information for generating a bill for the at least one billable item; based on a determination that the billing database does not contain sufficient information for generating the bill, sending, from the bill processing center, a first notice to the patient to collect additional medical and billing information about the patient, including a type of health coverage the patient has, the additional medical and billing information being not previously contained in the billing database; verifying, at the bill processing center, health coverage information for the patient received via the mobile computer aboard the emergency vehicle; sending, from the bill processing center, a second notice to the patient based on the response to the first notice; preparing, at the bill processing center, a bill for the patient, wherein the bill includes a fee related to the dispatch order; and sending, from the bill processing center, the bill to the patient at the patient address.