Abstract:
The present invention provides a system and method for generating a physician recommendation. The method for generating said physician recommendation to said user comprising receiving an input search criterion by a physician recommendation platform using one or more communication devices; identifying one or more physician according to said received input search criterion based on a plurality of attributes; comparing one or more identified physicians based on a scoring mechanism; and displaying a list of physician to said user corresponding to said received input search criterion.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    The present application is related to provisional patent application Ser. No. 62257737, filed on Nov. 20, 2015, and titled “PHYSICIAN RECOMMENDATION SYSTEM”. The entire disclosure of the above patent application is hereby incorporated by reference. 
     
    
     FIELD OF INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present application generally relates to healthcare services and in particular, it relates to recommendation of a list of physicians based on an input search criterion. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    There are no objective measures by which one can identify a doctor&#39;s expertise in a particular disease, procedure or medicine. Some doctors display their expertise on their own website but there is no third party validation for the same. Thus, patients depend on their primary care physician to guide them to the specialist doctor for their disease. Further, the current system does not allow for comparison of two or more doctors for a particular search criterion which could be a disease, medicine or procedure. 
         [0004]    In conventional systems, the physician recommendation is based on different factors such as patients&#39; review of doctors, doctors&#39; nomination by a panel of experts, and number of patients seen by a doctor. However, these factors limit the scope of physician recommendation system for searching and recommending physicians based on the input search criteria. 
         [0005]    Thus, in light of the above mentioned background art, it is evident that, there is a need for a method and system for generating a physician recommendation that overcomes the above stated problems. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0006]    Before the present systems and methods, enablement are described, it is to be understood that this application is not limited to the particular systems, and methodologies described, as there can be multiple possible embodiments which are not expressly illustrated in the present disclosures. It is also to be understood that the terminology used in the description is for the purpose of describing the particular versions or embodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present application. 
         [0007]    In accordance with the present application, the primary objective is to provide a method and system for generating a physician recommendation. 
         [0008]    In embodiments, the present invention provides a method for generating a physician recommendation. The method includes receiving input search criterion, identifying one or more physicians, comparing one or more physicians, and displaying a list of physician corresponding to the input search criterion. 
         [0009]    In an embodiment, the input search criterion is based on diseases, procedure and medicines. 
         [0010]    In an embodiment, identifying one or more physicians is based on various attributes in different domains. List of the domains includes, but are not limited to Clinical expertise in the search criterion, research contributions related to search criterion, and Subject authority. The subject authority is based on education contributions, leadership roles held among peers and number of referrals. 
         [0011]    In an embodiment, the method further enables auto completion of the input search criterion. 
         [0012]    In an embodiment, comparing one or more physicians is based on a scoring mechanism. 
         [0013]    In an embodiment, displaying physician recommendations in various forms. 
         [0014]    In another aspect, the present invention provides a system for generating a physician recommendation. The system includes an information storage module, an input detection module, one or more processing modules, and an analytics module. The information storage module is configured to store information related to one or more physicians and information related to a user. The input detection module is configured to detect and interpret an input search criterion. The one or more processing modules are configured to process the input search criterion and identify one or more physician correspondence to the search criterion. The analytics module is configured to compare one or more physicians based on a scoring mechanism and provide a list of physician correspondence to the search criterion. The system displays the list of physician correspondence to the search criterion. 
         [0015]    In an embodiment, the system suggests auto completion of the input search criterion. 
         [0016]    In an embodiment, the system is multifaceted. The physician recommendations is not based on a single attribute, rather, it is based on various attributes in different domains. List of attributes includes, but is not limited to number of publications as first or last author for each search term, number of publications not as first or last author for each search term, number of citations for publications in which the doctor is first or last author for each search term, number of citations for publications in which the doctor is not a first or last author for each search term, ratio of original article and total publications, ratio of human studies and total publication, number of patients a doctor sees with a particular disease, number of a particular medicine prescribed by a doctor, number of a particular procedure performed by a doctor, invited chapters in a book on a particular topic, leadership positions in a national organization, number of referrals from peers, and honor in local and regional chapters. 
         [0017]    In an embodiment, the system is unbiased. The system does not require input from either patients or doctors and thus avoids a bias. 
         [0018]    In an embodiment, the system provides personalized physician recommendations. Identification of physician is based on disease, medicine or procedure. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0019]    The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, is better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. There is shown in the drawings example embodiments, however, the application is not limited to the specific system and method disclosed in the drawings. 
           [0020]      FIG. 1  illustrates a system for generating a physician recommendation, in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention; 
           [0021]      FIG. 2  illustrates a flowchart for generating a physician recommendation, in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention. 
           [0022]      FIG. 3 a    illustrates a user interface for receiving an input search criterion, in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention. 
           [0023]      FIG. 3 b    illustrates a user interface for providing search term suggestions, in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention. 
           [0024]      FIG. 3 c    illustrates a user interface for selecting a category, in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention. 
           [0025]      FIG. 3 d    illustrates a user interface for displaying a list of physician recommendation, in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention. 
           [0026]      FIG. 3 e    illustrates a user interface for filtering the list of physician recommendation, in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention. 
           [0027]      FIG. 4  illustrates a block diagram of a physician recommendation platform, in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0028]    Some embodiments, illustrating its features, will now be discussed in detail. The words “comprising,” “having,” “containing,” and “including,” and other forms thereof, are intended to be equivalent in meaning and be open ended in that an item or items following any one of these words is not meant to be an exhaustive listing of such item or items, or meant to be limited to only the listed item or items. It must also be noted that as used herein and in the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Although any methods, and systems similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of embodiments, the preferred methods, and systems are now described. The disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary. 
         [0029]    Referring to  FIG. 1  is a system for generating a physician recommendation, in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention. The system  100  includes a communication device  104  associated with a user  102 , a communication device  114  associated with a user  112 , and a physician recommendation platform  108 . The communication device  104  and the communication device  114  communicate with the physician recommendation platform  108  through a communication network  110 . The functions and capabilities of the communication device  104  are same as the functions and capabilities of the communication device  114 . Examples of the user  102  include, but are not limited to a user, a patient, healthcare personnel, an administrator, a caretaker, an assistant, and any authority. 
         [0030]    In context of the present invention, the communication device  104  refers to a handheld electronic device that can be used to communicate over the communication network  110 . Examples of the communication device  104  include, but are not limited to a cell phone, a smart phone, a cellular phone, a cellular mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a navigation terminal, a personal computer, a laptop, and a tablet computer. Examples of types of the communication network include, but are not limited to a local area network, a wide area network, a radio network, a virtual private network, an internet area network, a metropolitan area network, a satellite network, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Low energy, a wireless network, and a telecommunication network. Examples of the telecommunication network include, but are not be limited to a global system for mobile communication (GSM) network, a general packet radio service (GPRS) network, third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), 4G, Long-Term Evolution (LTE), an enhanced data GSM environment (EDGE) and a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). 
         [0031]    The physician recommendation platform  108  refers to a platform that provides a list of physician recommendation to the user  102  for an input search criterion. The user  102  inputs the search criterion through the communication device  104 . The physician recommendation platform  108  receives the input search criterion from the communication device  104 . In an embodiment, the physician recommendation platform  108  stores information related to one or more physicians. The physician recommendation platform  108  processes the input search criterion and identifies one or more physician correspondence to the search criterion. In an embodiment, the physician recommendation platform  108  identifies one or more physician based on a comparison among one or more physicians. In an embodiment, the comparison among one or more physicians is based on a scoring mechanism. In an embodiment, the physician recommendation platform  108  displays a list of physician recommendation obtained from the scoring mechanism. In an embodiment, the physician having more score is displayed on the top. In an embodiment, the physician having more score is displayed on the bottom with a visual cue. 
         [0032]    In an embodiment, the physician recommendations is not based on a single attribute, rather, it is based on various attributes in different domains. Examples of the domains include, but are not limited to Clinical expertise for a search term, Research contributions related to search term, and Subject authority. The subject authority is based on education contributions, leadership roles held among peers and number of referrals. Examples of attributes include, but is not limited to number of publications as first or last author for each search term, number of publications not as first or last author for each search term, number of citations for publications in which the doctor is first or last author for each search term, number of citations for publications in which the doctor is not a first or last author for each search term, ratio of original article and total publications, ratio of human studies and total publication, number of patients a doctor sees with a particular disease, number of a particular medicine prescribed by a doctor, number of a particular procedure performed by a doctor, invited chapters in a book on a particular topic, leadership positions in a national organization, number of referrals from peers, and honor in local and regional chapters. 
         [0033]    In an embodiment, the scoring mechanism includes assigning various weights to each attributes. In another embodiment, the scoring mechanism includes analyzing strengths of association of each attribute with the input search criterion. Further, for a given search criterion, a score for a physician will be calculated based on at least one of the various weights to each attributes and strengths of association of each attributes with the input search criterion. For a particular search criterion, the physician associated with highest score will be displayed on the top. In an embodiment, displaying a list of physician recommendations based on the descending order of the score. In an embodiment, displaying a list of physician recommendations based on the ascending order of the score. 
         [0034]    In an embodiment, the physician recommendation is unbiased. The physician recommendation platform  108  does not require input from either patients or doctors and thus avoids a bias. In an embodiment, the physician recommendation platform  108  provides personalized physician recommendations. 
         [0035]    Furthermore, the physician recommendation platform  108  displays a list of physician recommendations in various forms. Example of various forms includes, but is not limited to a graphical chart, a tabular form, voice guidance, a multimedia element, an animated report, and an interactive web element. 
         [0036]      FIG. 2  illustrates a flowchart  200  for generating a list of physician recommendations, in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention. At step  201 , the flowchart  200  initiates. At step  202 , the physician recommendation platform  108  receives the input search criterion from the communication device  104 . In an embodiment, the physician recommendation platform  108  receives the input search criterion from a registered communication device. In another embodiment, the physician recommendation platform  108  receives the input search criterion from a registered user. In an embodiment, the physician recommendation platform  108  stores various information related to one or more physicians. 
         [0037]    At step  204 , the physician recommendation platform  108  processes the input search criterion and identifies one or more physician correspondence to the search criterion. At step  206 , the physician recommendation platform  108  compares the one or more physicians based on a scoring mechanism. 
         [0038]    At step  208 , the physician recommendation platform  108  displays a list of physician recommendations obtained from the scoring mechanism. In an embodiment, displaying a list of physician recommendations based on the descending order of the score. In an embodiment, displaying a list of physician recommendations based on the ascending order of the score. At step  210 , the flowchart  200  terminates. 
         [0039]      FIG. 3 a    illustrates a user interface  302  for receiving an input search criterion, in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention. In an embodiment, the user interface  302  is a search box. Search boxes are accompanied by a search button. In another embodiment, the user interface  302  is an input text box. In yet another embodiment, the user interface  302  is a search field. In an embodiment, the user interface  302  includes guided text. In context of the present invention, the guided text is disease, procedure or medicine. 
         [0040]      FIG. 3 b    illustrates a user interface  304  for providing search term suggestions, in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention. In an embodiment, the user interface  304  displayed the search term suggestions using ontology. In an embodiment, the user interface  304  displayed the search term suggestions based on grammar and dictionary. In some examples, the user interface  304  may receive one or more indications of input to select one or more keys of a keyboard. Responsive to receiving the indications, the user interface  304  may utilize a language model to determine one or more word suggestions. For instance, the user interface  304  may determine a probability that a string of characters corresponding to one or more selected keys is included in or is a misspelling of at least one of the word suggestions. The user interface  304  may rank each word suggestion based on a probability that the word suggestion is the word actually intended by the user. For example, if the user interface  304  may receive a series of one or more character “hyper”, it displays one or more search term suggestions such as hypertension, hyperekplexia, hypercorticism, and the like. 
         [0041]      FIG. 3 c    illustrates a user interface  306  for selecting a category, in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention. The user  102  may select one of the displayed categories. In an embodiment, the user interface  306  may be a web element. In another embodiment, the user interface  306  may include a radio button. In yet another embodiment, the user interface  306  may include a check box. In yet another embodiment, the user interface  306  may include an interactive web element. 
         [0042]      FIG. 3 d    illustrates a user interface  308  for displaying a list of physician recommendation, in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention. In an embodiment, the user interface  308  displays computed score of each physician. In another embodiment, the user interface  308  displays physical address of each physician. In an embodiment, the physical address of a physician is displayed on an electronic map. In yet another embodiment, the user interface  308  displays a web button correspondence to more details about the physician. When the user  102  click the web button correspondence to more details about the physician, more information about the physician will be displayed. In yet another embodiment, the user interface  308  displays the department of each physician. In yet another embodiment, the user interface  308  displays the designation of each physician. 
         [0043]      FIG. 3 e    illustrates a user interface  310  for filtering the list of physician recommendations displayed on the user interface  310 , in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention. In an embodiment, the user interface  310  includes a list of locations. Example of location may includes, but is not limited to a state name, a country name, a city name, a metro city name, an area name, and a street name. The user  102  may choose one of the locations to filter out the list of physician recommendations displayed on the user interface  310 . 
         [0044]      FIG. 4  illustrates a block diagram  400  of the physician recommendation platform  108 , in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention. The block diagram  400  of the physician recommendation platform  108  includes an information storage module  406 , an input detection module  404 , one or more processing modules  410  and an analytics module  408 . 
         [0045]    The input detection module  404  of the physician recommendation platform  108  detects the input search criterion. In an embodiment, the user  102  inputs the search criterion through the communication device  104 . In an embodiment, the user  102  inputs the search criterion directly on a graphical user interface of the physician recommendation platform  108 . In an embodiment, the detection module  404  may include a user interface for receiving input search criterion. In an embodiment, the user interface is a search box. Search boxes are accompanied by a search button. In another embodiment, the user interface is an input text box. In yet another embodiment, the user interface is a search field. 
         [0046]    Further, one or more processing modules  410  of the physician recommendation platform  108  process the input search criterion and identify one or more physician correspondence to the search criterion. In an embodiment, the one or more processing module  410  is associated with a memory module. The memory module accessible by the one or more processing module  410  receives and stores data. The memory module may be a main memory, such as a high speed Random Access Memory (RAM), or an auxiliary storage unit, such as a hard disk, a floppy disk, or a magnetic tape drive. The memory may be any other type of memory, such as a Read-Only Memory (ROM), or optical storage media such as a videodisc and a compact disc. The one or more processing module  350  may access the memory module to retrieve data. Examples of one or more processing module includes, but are not limited to a central processing unit (CPU), a front-end processor, a microprocessor, a graphics processing unit (GPUNPU), a physics processing unit (PPU), a digital signal processor, and a network processor. 
         [0047]    Furthermore, the analytics module  408  of the physician recommendation platform  108  compares one or more physicians based on a scoring mechanism and provides a list of physician correspondence to the search criterion. In an embodiment, the physician having more score is displayed on the top. In an embodiment, the physician having more score is displayed on the bottom with a visual cue. In an embodiment, providing a list of physician correspondence to the search criterion is not based on a single attribute, rather, it is based on various attributes in different domains. Examples of the domains include, but are not limited to Clinical expertise for a search term, Research contributions related to search term, and Subject authority. The subject authority is based on education contributions, leadership roles held among peers and number of referrals. Examples of attributes include, but is not limited to number of publications as first or last author for each search term, number of publications not as first or last author for each search term, number of citations for publications in which the doctor is first or last author for each search term, number of citations for publications in which the doctor is not a first or last author for each search term, ratio of original article and total publications, ratio of human studies and total publication, number of patients a doctor sees with a particular disease, number of a particular medicine prescribed by a doctor, number of a particular procedure performed by a doctor, invited chapters in a book on a particular topic, leadership positions in a national organization, number of referrals from peers, and honor in local and regional chapters. In an embodiment, the scoring mechanism includes assigning various weights to each attributes. In another embodiment, the scoring mechanism includes analyzing strengths of association of each attributes with the input search criterion. Further, for a given search criterion, a score for a physician will be calculated based on at least one of the various weights to each attributes and strengths of association of each attributes with the input search criterion. For a particular search criterion, the physician associated with highest score will be displayed on the top. In an embodiment, displaying a list of physician recommendations based on the descending order of the score. In an embodiment, displaying a list of physician recommendations based on the ascending order of the score. In an embodiment, the physician recommendation is unbiased. The physician recommendation platform  108  does not require input from either patients or doctors and thus avoids a bias. In an embodiment, the physician recommendation platform  108  provides personalized physician recommendations. 
         [0048]    Furthermore, the physician recommendation platform  108  displays a list of physician recommendation in various forms. Example of various forms includes, but is not limited to a graphical chart, a tabular form, voice guidance, a multimedia element, an animated report, and an interactive web element. 
         [0049]    Furthermore, the information storage module  406  of the physician recommendation platform  108  stores information related to one or more physicians and information related to a user. In an embodiment, the information storage module  406  is a multi-tier storage system. In another embodiment, the information storage module  406  stores the information in an encrypted format. In yet another embodiment, the information storage module  406  stores the information in an indexed format. The storage module  406  facilitates storage, retrieval, modification, and deletion of data in conjunction with various data-processing operations. Storage module information may be retrieved through queries using keywords and sorting commands, in order to rapidly search, rearrange, group, and select the field. 
         [0050]    In one embodiment, the storage module  406  is secure web servers and Hypertext Transport Protocol Secure (HTTPS) capable of supporting Transport Layer Security (TLS. Communications to and from the secure web servers may be secured using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). An SSL session may be started by sending a request to the Web server with an HTTPS prefix in the URL. Alternatively, any known communication protocols that enable devices within a computer network to exchange information may be used. Examples of protocols are as follows: IP (Internet Protocol), UDP (User Datagram Protocol), TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol), HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), FTP (File Transfer Protocol), Telnet (Telnet Remote Protocol), SSH (Secure Shell Remote Protocol), POP 3  (Post Office Protocol  3 ), SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol), SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol), PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol), RFB (Remote Frame buffer) Protocol. 
         [0051]    The illustrations of arrangements described herein are intended to provide a general understanding of the structure of various embodiments, and they are not intended to serve as a complete description of all the elements and features of apparatus and systems that might make use of the structures described herein. Many other arrangements will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. Other arrangements may be utilized and derived therefrom, such that structural and logical substitutions and changes may be made without departing from the scope of this disclosure. Figures are also merely representational and may not be drawn to scale. Certain proportions thereof may be exaggerated, while others may be minimized. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. 
         [0052]    The preceding description has been presented with reference to various embodiments. Users skilled in the art and technology to which this application pertains will appreciate that alterations and changes in the described structures and methods of operation can be practiced without meaningfully departing from the principle, spirit and scope.