Patent Abstract:
A computer-based system and method are described for generating a natural procedure label to summarize a clinical procedure description recorded into the system by a physician. The system and method manipulate a set of database records comprising medical content which is naturally descriptive of clinical procedures and which is controlled for coding to generate the natural procedure label and its corresponding non E &amp; M Current Procedure Terminology (CPT) code during the recording the procedure description. To support the generation of a set of said natural procedure labels, the system and method provide interchangeable, connected, ontologically-based medical procedure database cartridges of medical content terms and rules that naturally describe constrained procedure representations for clinical procedure descriptions.

Full Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]    This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/433,625, filed Dec. 13, 2002. The complete disclosure of application Serial No. 60/433,625 is incorporated by reference herein. 
     
    
     
       FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    The field of the present invention generally relates to systems and methods for medical procedure documentation, and in particular to a system and method for generating naturally expressed medical procedure descriptions in unique association to Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) billing codes for all non Evaluation and Management (E &amp; M) CPT codes.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0003]    Medical billing has become increasingly more complicated and time consuming. Medicare and other third-party payors are requiring CPT codes and supporting documentation to be recorded for each procedure performed on a patient. Medical billing is based on two kinds of billing codes: the diagnosis code and the procedure code. The diagnosis code represents the patient&#39;s diagnosed illness or malady and the procedure code represents what medical procedure was actually performed on the patient. The World Health Organization has developed a method to identify the patient&#39;s diagnosed conditions and injuries, and the associated codes are called the International Classification of Diseases 9th edition Clinical Modification (ICD9) codes. Similar codes will likely be adopted in the future as the ICD10 codes are already published. A uniform language for effective communication of procedure codes was developed by the American Medical Association (AMA) in 1966 and is called the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT). In 1983, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), formerly the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), created the Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) or “hick-picks” system. The HCPCS system is a uniform method for health care providers and medical suppliers to report professional services, procedures, and supplies. The HCPCS system is further categorized into three levels. Level I is the AMA Physician&#39;s Current Procedural Terminology (CPT), Level II is the HCPCS national codes, and Level III is local codes maintained by individual state Medicare carriers. The HCPCS Level III codes are just one part of the three-level coding system which will soon become a two-level coding system. The Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires that there be standardized procedure coding. In order to meet this requirement all HCPCS Level III codes/modifiers need to be eliminated by Dec. 31, 2003.  
           [0004]    A third party payor is an organization, carrier, or intermediary that supplies insurance, especially health insurance (including Medicare), to individuals. Third party payors now require that the appropriate ICD9, CPT, and HCPCS codes be assigned to each and every patient encounter, evaluation, examination, and procedure between a patient and a physician, assistant, nurse or other health care provider. These codes encompass the complexity of the problem evaluated, the amount of work required of the physician, and the level of treatment required. Accordingly, physicians must code all services, and in particular procedures, according to the CPT coding system to be paid for their services from these organizations. Therefore, billing for a physician&#39;s services has become increasingly more complex in recent years.  
           [0005]    To manage this increasing complexity, groups such as Medicare and independent companies such as the Physician Management Information Company (PMIC) have developed categorizations of various parts of the patient encounter. These aids usually take the form of checklists on letter or legal sized papers. They are often several pages long and serve to aid the provider in choosing the accurate procedure code. Medical specialists find the CPT coding system difficult to use because many modern medical specialties fall within several enumerated categories. Further, the CPT coding system requires a working knowledge of the medical procedures involved to receive proper compensation, thereby causing non-physician coding personnel to sometimes improperly code examinations. Many procedures that are performed but not documented by the physician go unbilled and un-reimbursed because the non-physician coding personnel do not fully understand the medical procedures involved or because there is insufficient information provided by the physician in the procedural notes. Furthermore, even if a non-physician coding personnel coding the examinations understands the procedures involved, he or she is likely to overlook billable intermediate procedures. Thus, constructing a complete and concise set of CPT codes for procedures is complicated and problematical without a deep understanding of each medical procedure, the various ways each procedure can be described, and the associated arcane nomenclature used by the CPT coding system that matches each possible procedure description.  
           [0006]    Additionally, physicians and non-physician coding personnel often do not accurately translate a performed medical procedure into the correct CPT coding format because of the very complexity of the CPT coding system itself. In many situations, a straight reading of the CPT code will not provide the proper billing code, and the physician or non-physician coding personnel must review an entire CPT category to determine the proper billing code, or must memorize how certain procedural codes interact. Memorizing all of the CPT codes and coding interactions applicable to a physicians&#39; practice, however, is impractical, and using a truncated, but manageable, list would be incomplete and inaccurate. The CPT coding system is also imprecise in areas, and the physician or non-physician personnel must learn to compensate for this inexactness. These issues are exacerbated by the fact that the CPT codes commonly change from year to year. The CPT code interactions change as often as quarterly via the National Correct Coding Initiatives, (NCCl).  
           [0007]    To effectively handle these issues, a medical coding profession was established to translate procedural descriptions used by their hospital&#39;s physician groups to an appropriately matched CPT. Nonetheless, because of the incredible, dynamic complexity of the CPT coding system, payments from Medicare and private insurance companies regularly lack parity with the physician&#39;s services.  
           [0008]    There are systems and methods that address these issues. However, the prior art does not sufficiently address the issues to provide an efficient and effective means to solve these problems for non E &amp; M CPT coding nor does the prior art address the issue of a consistent complete natural description of a medical procedure used by physicians. Furthermore, there does not exist a prescribed and predetermined relationship between the natural procedure description used by physicians and the non E &amp; M CPT codes. A structured language bridge or ontology does not exist that uniquely matches up the natural procedure description used by the physicians and the language utilized in the non E &amp; M CPT coding systems.  
           [0009]    There are system systems that attempt to solve these problems. As an example, CodeLink is a system package developed by Context System Systems that compares CPT codes typed by the user to ICD9 codes or vice versa. The two codes are compared based on the medical necessity established by HCFA. The codes are not generated as part of a real-time documentation process but as a separate, stand-alone reference after the encounter. As another example, PRISM is system package that documents the medical encounter. PRISM&#39;s Patient Registration module prints a list of CPT and ICD9 codes selected by the physician. A significant limitation is that this list is not related to the patient-specific encounter.  
           [0010]    U.S. Pat. No. 6,529,876 to Dart et al. describes a system for the production of accurate billing coding for care rendered. The invention established the process, the data gathering and documentation required of a provider in determining and documenting correct Evaluation and Management, (E &amp; M), CPT code required for agency reimbursement for care delivered. This system only produces E &amp; M CPT codes and does not produce non E &amp; M CPT codes.  
           [0011]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,483,443 to Milstein et al. describes a system for calculating a Current Procedural Terminology (“CPT”) code from input received from a physician or other medical professional. The physician is prompted with lists of choices corresponding to a patient&#39;s medical status. This system only produces E &amp; M CPT codes and does not produce non E &amp; M CPT codes.  
           [0012]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,293 to Dome describes a system for performing the inventive method are provided to correlate billing code with planned or performed medical procedures. The method comprises the steps of determining raw codes directly associated with all of the medical procedures performed or planned to be performed with a particular patient examination, and manipulating the raw codes by the steps of a final common pathway to generate intermediate codes without altering the raw codes. The method also comprises the step of determining the billing codes from the intermediate codes. This system produces non E &amp; M CPT codes but doesn&#39;t provide a method that utilizes a structured natural procedure description used by physicians to generate the non E &amp; M CPT code. The system directs the physician to document the procedure in an unstructured non-natural procedure description method.  
           [0013]    It would therefore be advantageous to have a method and system for designing and implementing a naturally expressible medical procedural language that correctly and concisely describes a physician&#39;s procedure with a summary descriptor, such as a procedure note label, header, tag, or title. The naturally expressed summary descriptor would have a distinct correspondence between the physician&#39;s procedure and a unique non E &amp; M CPT code associated with it. In this manner, physicians are able to describe their procedures in a clinical style that is natural to the physician with no requirement to understand or use the CPT coding system nomenclature.  
           [0014]    None of the known prior documentation code association approaches are able to accomplish the noteworthy need of determining accurate codes during the documentation process, providing codes that are as accurate as possible, and doing this in an easy-to-use and automated manner for the physician.  
           [0015]    The invention incorporates the desired coding into the procedure documentation process for a physician using the invention. The invention correctly and accurately links the procedure performed, the procedure documentation input by the physician, and the procedure codes.  
           [0016]    The invention therefore provides consistent coding. The invention incorporates a set of rules that guarantee that specific criteria for each code are met or not met. By associating a CPT code to the procedure documentation, the invention provides a reliable method of coding the procedure and a sense of security for the provider that an accurate code has been presented for incorporation into the procedure note.  
           [0017]    Accuracy is a significant factor when assigning the diagnosis and procedural codes. Human error may factor into any process where numbers are looked up in one source and transcribed into another. The object of the invention is to provide concise and complete procedure documentation system that automates the generation of associated accurate CPT codes. The system allows the physician to select the textual descriptions of procedure terms and attributes as an integral part of documenting the procedure in a manner that is natural and is uniform for all procedure notes generated by the invention. The CPT codes are automatically coupled to the natural procedure label and procedure descriptions.  
           [0018]    Thus, as will be appreciated from a review of the drawings and detailed descriptions of the preferred embodiments, the present invention overcomes the significant limitations and shortcomings of the prior art.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0019]    The benefits of this invention will become clear and will be best appreciated with reference to the detailed description of the preferred embodiments. Other objects, advantages, and novel features will be apparent from the description when read in conjunction with the appended claims and attached drawings.  
           [0020]    The present invention is an automated medical procedure documentation and code compliance system and method. The invention generates thorough, medically complete, procedure notes that are coupled with accurate non E &amp; M CPT procedure codes.  
           [0021]    A computer based system and method are described for generating a natural procedure label that summarize a clinical procedure description recorded into the system by a physician. The system and method manipulate a set of database records comprising medical content which is naturally descriptive of clinical procedures and which is controlled for coding to generate the natural procedure label and its corresponding Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code during the recording of the procedure description.  
           [0022]    The system provides the features that eliminate the error prone process of dictation, and the often lengthy delays associated with transcribing, reviewing, recreating, and approving transcripts. A minimal learning curve is required to become productive when using the invention.  
           [0023]    The system eliminates the time required for coding specialists to decipher inadequate documentation to obtain proper reimbursements. The system simplifies the CPT coding process. The system codes each procedure completely, based on the physician&#39;s notes. The coding is done accurately and in a manner that makes it foolproof by engineering design. The system&#39;s document driven charge capture module completes the process by transferring the documentation to the healthcare facilities billing system. The system eliminates the problems relating to under coding and under billing. All legitimate revenues claims are properly and completely documented.  
           [0024]    The present invention is a software program operating on a single general purpose computing device or a plurality of computing devices interconnected via a network system. The invention is a system and method for electronically documenting a medical procedure in a manner that generates a natural procedure label and an associated non E &amp; M CPT code that automatically matches the correct non E &amp; M CPT description for the medical procedure. Procedure notes are stored in a database, permitting retrieval of existing procedure documentation in seconds. The procedure documentation is readily available for review, print, fax, email operations.  
           [0025]    The invention interface comprises a set of procedure descriptors designed as drop down menus that controls the information input by a physician to document a medical procedure. The invention uses an anticipatory physician interface, which emulates a typical procedural workflow and a clinician&#39;s thought processes, instantly and automatically adapting to each piece of information that is input by the physician.  
           [0026]    A procedure description narrative is constructed based on the initial procedure category selected by a physician. As the physician documents the procedure using the anticipatory interface menus, the narrative is edited as the next procedure description item is selected from a next menu in the documentation process. At the completion of the procedure documentation process, the procedure description narrative is completed and its description fields are filled in. The completed procedure description narrative is called a natural procedure label for the medical procedure.  
           [0027]    The system reduces the time spent by the physician paging through a maze of screens to find the correct place to record information. The system also reduces the time spent by the physician scrolling through dozens of pull-down menus or the time spent by the physician reading through endless lists of words in search for terminology appropriate for the procedure at hand. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0028]    The present invention can be better understood with reference to the following diagrams. The components within the drawings are not necessarily to scale relative to each other, emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present invention.  
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 1 is a plan view of a computing device, in particular, a personal computer.  
         [0030]    [0030]FIG. 2 is a plan view of a computing device, in particular, a laptop computer.  
         [0031]    [0031]FIG. 3 is a plan view of a computing device, in particular, a pocket pc.  
         [0032]    [0032]FIG. 4 is a plan view of a computing device, in particular, a tablet pc.  
         [0033]    [0033]FIG. 5 is a plan view of a computing device, in particular, portable device monitor.  
         [0034]    [0034]FIG. 6 is a plan view of a computing device, in particular, a data acquisition computer.  
         [0035]    [0035]FIG. 7 is a plan view of a computing device, in particular, a stationary device monitor.  
         [0036]    [0036]FIG. 8 is a graphical representation of a computing device, in particular, an image capture computer.  
         [0037]    [0037]FIG. 9 is a schematic, graphical representation of a typical configuration of system architecture.  
         [0038]    [0038]FIG. 10 is a schematic, graphical representation of physical connections in a typical configuration of a system within the healthcare facility.  
         [0039]    [0039]FIG. 11 is a schematic, graphical representation of physical connections in a WAN and internet configuration of the system.  
         [0040]    [0040]FIG. 12 is a graphical representation of logical connections between clients and servers.  
         [0041]    [0041]FIG. 13 is a screen shot illustrating a physician logon screen for the system of the invention.  
         [0042]    [0042]FIG. 14 is a screen shot illustrating a form that allows a physician to select a specialty for the procedure documentation.  
         [0043]    [0043]FIG. 15 is a screen shot illustrating a main selection form for the launching of a procedure documentation component of the system of the invention.  
         [0044]    [0044]FIG. 16 is a screen shot illustrating an anticipatory physician interface for the system of the invention.  
         [0045]    [0045]FIG. 17 is a screen shot illustrating the scheduling component of the system of the invention.  
         [0046]    [0046]FIG. 18 is a screen shot illustrating the system&#39;s physician interface after having selected a patient that has undergone a procedure.  
         [0047]    [0047]FIG. 19 is a screen shot illustrating the system&#39;s physician interface prompting the physician for the procedure category for the procedure requiring documentation.  
         [0048]    [0048]FIG. 20 is a screen shot illustrating the system&#39;s physician interface prompting the physician for the procedure name for the procedure requiring documentation.  
         [0049]    [0049]FIG. 21 is a screen shot illustrating the system&#39;s physician interface prompting the physician for the first attribute for the procedure requiring documentation.  
         [0050]    [0050]FIG. 22 is a screen shot illustrating the system&#39;s physician interface prompting the physician for the next attribute for the procedure requiring documentation.  
         [0051]    [0051]FIG. 23 is a screen shot illustrating the system&#39;s physician interface prompting the physician for the next attribute for the procedure requiring documentation.  
         [0052]    [0052]FIG. 24 is a screen shot illustrating the system&#39;s physician interface prompting the physician for the next attribute for the procedure requiring documentation.  
         [0053]    [0053]FIG. 25 is a screen shot illustrating the system&#39;s physician interface displaying the completed natural procedure label.  
         [0054]    [0054]FIG. 26 is a screen shot illustrating the system&#39;s physician interface displaying the coding form.  
         [0055]    [0055]FIG. 27 is a screen shot illustrating the system&#39;s physician interface displaying the coding form and the natural procedure label.  
         [0056]    [0056]FIG. 28 is a screen shot illustrating the system&#39;s physician interface displaying the natural procedure label and the associated coupled CPT code and description.  
         [0057]    [0057]FIG. 29 is a screen shot illustrating the system&#39;s physician interface displaying the coding form outside the procedure documentation form  
         [0058]    [0058]FIG. 39 is a schematic, graphical representation of a database server containing stored procedures and tables involved with invention.  
         [0059]    [0059]FIG. 40 is a tabulated description of the stored procedures involved with invention.  
         [0060]    [0060]FIG. 41 is a tabulated description of the Cdirect table and a representation of the data stored in the table that is accessed as part of the invention.  
         [0061]    [0061]FIG. 42 is a tabulated description of the Dirpar table and a representation of the data stored in the table that is accessed as part of the invention.  
         [0062]    [0062]FIG. 43 is a tabulated description of the Cdirmen table and a representation of the data stored in the table that is accessed as part of the invention.  
         [0063]    [0063]FIG. 44 is a tabulated description of the Cmenu table and a representation of the data stored in the table that is accessed as part of the invention.  
         [0064]    [0064]FIG. 45 is a tabulated description of the Cmenent table and a representation of the data stored in the table that is accessed as part of the invention.  
         [0065]    [0065]FIG. 46 is a tabulated description of the Exam table  
         [0066]    [0066]FIG. 47 is a tabulated description of the Cmenat2 table.  
         [0067]    [0067]FIG. 48 is a tabulated description of the Cmentmp table.  
         [0068]    [0068]FIG. 49A is a representation of data stored in tables that are accessed in accord with the invention.  
         [0069]    [0069]FIG. 49B is a representation of data stored in tables that are accessed in accord with the invention.  
         [0070]    [0070]FIG. 49C is a representation of data stored in tables that are accessed in accord with the invention.  
         [0071]    [0071]FIG. 50A is a representation of data stored in tables that are accessed in accord with the invention.  
         [0072]    [0072]FIG. 50B is a representation of data stored in tables that are accessed in accord with the invention.  
         [0073]    [0073]FIG. 51A is a representation of data stored in tables that are accessed in accord with the invention.  
         [0074]    [0074]FIG. 51B is a representation of data stored in tables that are accessed in accord with the invention.  
         [0075]    [0075]FIG. 52A is a representation of data stored in tables that are accessed in accord with the invention.  
         [0076]    [0076]FIG. 52B is a representation of data stored in tables that are accessed in accord with the invention.  
         [0077]    [0077]FIG. 53A is a representation of data stored in tables that are accessed in accord with the invention.  
         [0078]    [0078]FIG. 53B is a representation of data stored in tables that are accessed in accord with the invention.  
         [0079]    [0079]FIG. 54A is a textual description of the Ai_dtree table and a representation of data stored in tables that are accessed in accord with the invention.  
         [0080]    [0080]FIG. 54B is a representation of the data stored in tables that are accessed in accord with the invention.  
         [0081]    [0081]FIG. 54C is a representation of the data stored in tables that are accessed in accord with the invention.  
         [0082]    [0082]FIG. 54D is a representation of the data stored in tables that are accessed in accord with the invention.  
         [0083]    [0083]FIG. 55A is a textual description of the Exam_codes table.  
         [0084]    [0084]FIG. 55B is a representation of the data stored in the table that is accessed in accord with the invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0085]    Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.  
         [0086]    Referring to FIG. 9, the present invention includes a plurality of general purpose computing devices interconnected in networked configuration. Referring to FIG. 11, this networked configuration can be in the form of a LAN, WAN, ISDN, Internet, or wired or wireless networked configuration. Referring to FIG. 1 to FIG. 8, the general purpose computing devices can be a personal computer  100 , or laptop computer  200 , or Pocket PC  300 , or tablet pc  400 , or portable device monitor  500 , or data capture computer  600 , or stationary device monitor  700 , or image capture device  800 . Referring to FIG. 10, the general purpose computing devices communicate with a database server via standard TPC/IP network wireless or wired protocols. The database, which includes a knowledge base in the form of a plurality of medical content specialties, is managed by the database server. A plurality of printers is also included in this configuration. The computing devices may have their own local printers.  
         [0087]    The system is written with commercially available application development and database applications. The system can be written in any programming language using commercially available database system. Referring to FIG. 12, the current system runs on Windows computers but the present invention is not limited to any specific operating systems, programming language, database vendor, or computing device.  
         [0088]    Referring to FIG. 16, a physician uses the invention by going through the anticipatory system menus to document the procedure. The system is designed so that the physician is presented with natural procedure descriptors, in a manner that the physician would expect, and in a manner in which the physician would describe the procedure. The system constructs natural procedure labels that summarize the menu selections made by the physician, places these labels into the procedure report, and constructs records in the database that are used to generate the associated CPT codes.  
         [0089]    To maximize the value of the information maintained by the system, it is important to facilitate both information entry, to ensure that the system can access all pertinent information, and information retrieval, to ensure that the information is accessible and that such retrieved information is accurately provided to the provider for proper interpretation. Further, the physicians must have confidence that the information is accurate, secure, and fail-safe; otherwise, physicians will be reluctant to rely upon the system for maintaining medical information.  
         [0090]    In a typical configuration, the program modules of the system are organized in a multi-tier architecture. Several computers throughout the healthcare facility are equipped with the client-side components of the system, which can access other server-side components located on other computers via the network. The client-side system components physician user interface comprises a number of screens in a computing environment that prompts the physician for input and displaying output.  
         [0091]    While the preferred implementation for a hospital setting is a network environment, many of the system functions, including the physician interface and data management functions can be performed on a single computer.  
         [0092]    The discussions are intended to provide a brief, general description of a suitable computing environment for the server and client computers. As noted previously, the system is implemented as a series of program modules, comprising computer executable instructions executed either on a server or client computer. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, components, and data structures that perform specific coordinated and synchronized tasks.  
         [0093]    The physician logs on to the system with a user name and password  1300  (FIG. 13). After securing access to the system (FIG. 14) the physician is presented with a screen that allows them to select the specialty area for procedure documentation  1400 . Referring now to FIG. 15, the physician is presented a listing of procedures that need procedure documentation  1500 . The listings of procedures  1500  is typically generated by a scheduling interface or by scheduling personnel using the scheduling module  1700 , see FIG. 17. The physician begins the documentation of the procedure by selecting rows of data in the listing of procedures  1500 . The physician user interface then displays a screen illustrated in FIG. 18.  
         [0094]    [0094]FIG. 18 is a screen shot illustrating the operation of a system program  1800 , and more particularly the navigation tree and report area, according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring now to FIG. 18, the display of the system program typically comprises a navigation tree  1801 , a report area  1802 , a program function icon area  1806 , and a program function menu bar  1805 . Referring now to FIG. 39, the system program accesses a database server  3900  that is further comprised of programming logic in the form of Structured Query Language (SQL) stored procedures  3901  and data tables  3902 .  
         [0095]    Referring to FIG. 18, the navigation tree  1801  is comprised of several nodes  1809 ,  1807  that represent distinct areas of report documentation. One specific node, Note Record  1808  contains demographic information about the patient that is typically entered by the nursing or front desk personnel but can be automatically populated by an interface from the hospital information system. After entering data into the sub-nodes  1809  detailed within the Note Record  1808 , the data is automatically copied to the demographic subsection  1803  of the report area  1802 . Additional data is entered via the navigation tree  1801  by clicking on other nodes  1807 . The data entered is automatically copied to subsection  1804  of the report area  1802 .  
         [0096]    [0096]FIG. 19 is a screen shot illustrating the first step in the constructing of a natural procedure label controlled for coding. Referring now to FIG. 19, the physician navigates to or is automatically navigated to the node labeled Procedure Category  1900 . After clicking on the Procedure Category  1900  node several sophisticated interactions take place between the database server&#39;s  3900  (FIG. 39) stored procedures  3901  and data tables  3902  resulting in the display of the procedure category menu  1901 .  
         [0097]    The first sophisticated interaction is with the stored procedure Getmenu  4000  (FIG. 40). Getmenu  4000  is executed and returns a data element that is used to build the procedure category menu  1901 . The next operation searches through the Cdirect table  4100  (FIG. 41) looking for data that indicates that there is a procedure category menu  1901  associated with the procedure category  1900  node. A row of data  4101  (FIG. 41) is returned that satisfies the search criteria.  
         [0098]    Referring now to FIG. 42, the next operation within the stored procedure GetMenu  4000  (FIG. 40) is the searching for data in the Dirpar table  4200  (FIG. 42) that couples the Procedure Category  1900  node to a specific medical specialty. A row of data  4201  (FIG. 42) is returned that satisfies the search criteria and this example contains a data element that couples the Procedure Category  1900  node to the Urology specialty  4202 .  
         [0099]    Referring now to FIG. 43, the next operation within the stored procedure GetMenu  4000  searches for data in the Cdirmen table  4300  (FIG. 43) that contains a menuid  4302  that is used to build the procedure category menu  1901  for the specialty ‘UR’  4202 . A row of data  4301  is located that contains a menuid  4302  with a value of ‘430281’.  
         [0100]    Referring now to FIG. 44, the Cmenu table  4400  is searched for rows of data that match the menuid value  4302  (FIG. 43) with the menuid value  4403  (FIG. 44) in the Cmenu table  4400  (FIG. 44). Several rows of data  4401  are returned that are used by the system to build the procedure category menu  1901 .  
         [0101]    Referring now to FIG. 19, the physician is presented with a controlled list of available procedure categories, the procedure category menu  1901  which was derived from the data  4401  retrieved from the Cmenu table  4400 .  
         [0102]    Referring to FIG. 19, in this specific example, the physician has decided to document a procedure located within the procedure category of Bladder and clicks on the menu selection labeled Bladder  1902 . Several system operations occur with the stored procedure Update  4001  (FIG. 40). The first operation searches through the Cmenent table  4500  (FIG. 45) for a row of data that has a data element that matches the value, ‘161854’, of the data element  4402  (FIG. 44). A row of data  4501  (FIG. 45) is returned that has a menuentryid  4502 , containing the value, ‘161854’, which matches the value contained in the data element  4402 . The first step in the constructing of a natural procedure label controlled for coding is complete; the physician has selected the procedure category.  
         [0103]    The physician is next presented with a screen illustrated in FIG. 20 after several sophisticated interactions between the database server&#39;s  3900  stored procedures  3901  and data tables  3902  are completed. These interactions retrieve data from the database that is utilized to present menus of available procedure types for the ‘Bladder’ procedure category.  
         [0104]    The first sophisticated interaction is with the stored procedure Getmenu  4000  (FIG. 40). Getmenu is executed and returns a data element that is used to build the base menu  2000  (FIG. 20) of procedure types  2001  and procedures  2002 . The first operation searches through the Cdirect table  4100  (FIG. 41) looking for data values which indicate that there are procedure types  2001  and procedures  2002  associated with the selected procedure category  2005 . Referring to FIG. 49A, a row of data  4900  is returned that satisfies the search criteria.  
         [0105]    The next operation within the stored procedure GetMenu  4000  is the searching for data in the Dirpar table  4200  (FIG. 42) that links the procedure types  2001  and procedures  2002  to a specific medical specialty. Referring to FIG. 49A, a row of data  4901  is returned that satisfies the search criteria and in this example contains a data element that couples the procedure types  2001  and procedures  2002  to the Urology specialty, ‘UR’,  4902  (FIG. 49A).  
         [0106]    The next operation within the stored procedure GetMenu  4000  searches for data in the Cdirmen table  4300  (FIG. 43) that matches specialty value ‘UR’  4902  and Objname  4901 . Referring to FIG. 49A, a row of data is retrieved that meets the criteria, the specialty value  4902  matches the Tidvalue  4919  and the Objname  4901  matches the Objname  4917 . The row of data contains an ID  4904  with a data value of ‘564744’ that is used to find the base menu  2000  for the procedure category of bladder procedures  2005  (FIG. 20).  
         [0107]    Next, the Cmenu table  4400  (FIG. 44) is searched for the rows of data that match the data element  4904  (FIG. 49A) for the procedure category of bladder procedures  2005 . Referring to FIG. 49A, a row of data  4905  is returned that matches the ID  4904  value with the Parent  4918  value. This row of data contains the data element  4906  which has a value of ‘159872’ which is used to retrieve the next set of menuids.  
         [0108]    Referring to FIG. 49A, the data element  4906  is used to find all of the procedure types and procedures  4907  (FIG. 49B) which are displayed in the base menu  2000  and the child menu of procedures  2003 . The base menu  2000  is created by locating all of the data  4908  in the cmenu table  4400  that have a menuid that matches the value of the data element  4906  (FIG. 49A). As the stored procedure GetMenu  4000  processes the retrieved data it determines if additional menus are needed by checking the values stored in the Childid column  4920  of Cmenu table  4400 . Additional data  4909  are retrieved that match the value in the Childid  4911  with the value in the Menuids  4921 . This data is used to create the child menu of procedures  2003  for the procedure type  2004  of Cystoscopy. The data element  4912  is used to locate the data  4910  which are used to create the child menu of procedures for the procedure type  2006  of Cystectomy.  
         [0109]    The interactions that retrieve data from the database are complete and the physician is presented with the menus of available procedure types for the ‘Bladder’ procedure category. FIG. 20 is a screen shot illustrating the menus retrieved from the database. The screen shot represents a base menu  2000  of procedure types  2001  and procedures  2002 , a child menu of procedures  2003  for the procedure type  2004  of Cystoscopy for the procedure category of Bladder Procedures  2005 . The child menu of procedures  2003  is displayed when the cursor “flies over” the procedure type of Cystoscopy  2004  and a different child menu of procedures is displayed but not illustrated when the cursor “flies over” the procedure type of Cystectomy  2006 .  
         [0110]    In this specific example, the physician is documenting a procedure located within the procedure category of Bladder Procedures  2005 , the procedure type  2004  of Cystoscopy, and clicks on the menu selection for the procedure Cysto+ Stent, Stone, F. Body Removal  2007 . After clicking on the procedure Cysto+ Stent, Stone, F. Body Removal  2007 , several system operations occur with the stored procedure Update  4001 . The first operation searches through the Cmenent table  4500  for data that has a Menuentryid value  4922  that matches the data element  4913  in FIG. 49B. A row of data  4914  is returned which contains data that is updated in the exam table  4600 .  
         [0111]    Referring now to FIG. 49C, the next operation within the stored procedure Update  4001  is the updating of data in the exam table  4600 . The exam table  4600  Tidexamtype value  4923  is updated with the Tidparam value  4926  and the Examtype value  4924  is updated with the Param value  4915  for the procedure record with a specific examid  4925 . The second step in the constructing of a natural procedure label controlled for coding is complete. The physician has selected the procedure that they will be documenting and the system next needs to prompt the physician for additional data that will control the natural procedure label for coding.  
         [0112]    A screen shot illustrating the next step in the constructing of a natural procedure label controlled for coding in shown in FIG. 21. The physician is presented with the screen illustrated in FIG. 21, after several sophisticated interactions between the database server&#39;s  3900  stored procedures  3901  and data tables  3902 . These sophisticated interactions retrieve data from the database that builds that attribute menu  2103 .  
         [0113]    The first sophisticated system operation constructs the attribute tree  2101  and the structured uncompleted natural procedure label  2100 . The stored procedure make_ent 3   4002  (FIG. 40) searches through the cmenat2 table  4700  (FIG. 47) looking for data that matches the value  4922  (FIG. 49C) which link the common procedure name  2104  to an attribute tree  2101 . Referring to FIG. 50A, several rows of data  5002  are returned and are used to construct the attribute tree  2101 .  
         [0114]    The next operation within the stored procedure make_ent 3   4002  (FIG. 40) searches through the cmentmp table  4800  (FIG. 48) looking for data that matches the value  4922  (FIG. 49) which couples the common procedure name  2104  (FIG. 21) to the structured uncompleted natural procedure label  2100 . Referring to FIG. 50A, several rows of data  5003  are returned and are used to construct the structured uncompleted natural procedure label  2100 .  
         [0115]    Next, several system operations occur within the stored procedure Getmenu  4000  (FIG. 40). The first operation searches through the Cdirect table  4100  (FIG. 41) looking for data that indicates that there is an attribute menu  2103  (FIG. 21) for the attribute node  2102  from the attribute tree  2101 . Referring to FIG. 50A, a row of data  5004  is returned that satisfies the search criteria.  
         [0116]    The next operation within the stored procedure GetMenu  4000  (FIG. 40) is the searching for data in the Dirpar table  4200  (FIG. 42) that links the common procedure name for a specific medical specialty to the attribute menu  2103  (FIG. 21). Referring to FIG. 50A, a row of data  5005  is returned that indicates that an attribute menu  2103  needs to be constructed. The cmenat2 table  4700  (FIG. 47) is searched looking for data that matches the value  4922  (FIG. 49). A row of data  5006  is returned that satisfies the search criteria and contains a data value  5008  which is used to construct the attribute menu  2103  (FIG. 21).  
         [0117]    The next operation within the stored procedure GetMenu  4000  (FIG. 40) is the searching for data in the Cdirmen table  4300  (FIG. 43). Referring to FIG. 50B, a row of data  5009  is returned that has the Tidvalue value  5018  matching the TidAtt value  5008 . The row of data contains a menuid  5010  with a data value of ‘1817696’ which is used to find the menu items which are used to construct the attribute menu  2103  (FIG. 21). Next, the Cmenu table  4400  (FIG. 44) is searched for the rows of data that match the data element  5010 . Referring to FIG. 50B, several rows of data  5011  are returned that match the menuid value  5019  with the menuid value  5010  that are used to build the attribute menu  2103  (FIG. 21).  
         [0118]    The data needed to form the structured uncompleted natural procedure label has been retrieved from the database and FIG. 21 is a screen shot illustrating the next step in the constructing of a natural procedure label controlled for coding. Referring now to FIG. 21, the screen shot represents the structured uncompleted natural procedure label  2100 , the common procedure name  2104 , the attribute tree  2101 , and the attribute menu  2103  for the first required controlled attribute for the structured uncompleted natural procedure label  2100 . In this example, the physician was ‘Successful’ with this aspect of the procedure and clicks on the menu item  2105  in the attribute menu  2103  documenting ‘Successful’.  
         [0119]    After clicking on the menu item  2105 , the Cmenent table  4500  (FIG. 45) is searched for the rows of data that match the data element  5012  (FIG. 50B). In this example, the system is retrieving data that will dynamically update the structured uncompleted natural procedure label with the menu item&#39;s  2105  textual representation. Referring to FIG. 50B, a row of data  5013  is returned. The structured uncompleted natural procedure label  2100  is then reconstructed by concatenating the Sitext  5017  data values and inserting into this concatenation specific replacement text  5014  into the Sislot location that is the match of  5007  and  5015 . In this example, the structured uncompleted natural procedure label is modified and the word ‘Successful’  5014  replaces the placeholder text ‘[Successful/Attempted]’ that had previously been displayed in the structured uncompleted natural procedure label  2100 . The next step in the constructing of the structured uncompleted natural procedure label controlled for coding is complete. The system then prompts the physician for additional data that will control the natural procedure label for coding.  
         [0120]    The physician is next presented with the screen illustrated in FIG. 22 after several sophisticated interactions take place between the database server&#39;s  3900  (FIG. 39) stored procedures  3901  and data tables  3902 . FIG. 22 illustrates the modified structured uncompleted natural procedure label  2200  with an attribute menu  2203  prompting the physician for their next menu selection.  
         [0121]    The first sophisticated interactions occur within the stored procedure Getmenu  4000  (FIG. 40), the system searches through the Cdirect table  4100  (FIG. 41) looking for data that indicates that there is an attribute menu  2203  (FIG. 22) for the attribute node  2202  from the attribute tree  2201 . Referring to FIG. 51A, a row of data  5104  is returned that satisfies the search criteria.  
         [0122]    The next operation within the stored procedure GetMenu  4000  is the searching for data in the Dirpar table  4200  (FIG. 42) that links the common procedure name for a specific medical specialty to the attribute menu  2203 . Referring to FIG. 51A, a row of data  5105  is returned that indicates that an attribute menu  2203  needs to be constructed. The cmenat2 table  4700  (FIG. 47) is searched looking for data that matches the value  4922  (FIG. 49). A row of data  5106  (FIG. 51A) is returned that satisfies the search criteria and contains a data value  5108  which is used to construct the attribute menu  2203 .  
         [0123]    The next operation within the stored procedure GetMenu  4000  is the searching for data in the Cdirmen table  4300 . Referring to FIG. 51A, a row of data  5109  is returned that has the Tidvalue  5117  matching the Tidatt value  5108 . The row of data contains a menuid  5110  that is used to find the menu items which are used to construct the attribute menu  2203 . Next, the Cmenu table  4400  (FIG. 44) is searched for the rows of data that match the data element  5110 . Referring to FIG. 51B, several rows of data  5111  are returned that match the menuid value  5118  with the menuid value  5110  that are used to build the attribute menu  2203 .  
         [0124]    The data needed to form the structured uncompleted natural procedure label has been retrieved from the database and FIG. 22 is a screen shot illustrating the next step in the constructing of a natural procedure label controlled for coding. Referring now to FIG. 22, the screen shot represents the structured uncompleted natural procedure label  2200 , the common procedure name  2204 , the attribute tree  2201 , and the attribute menu  2203  for the next required controlled attribute for the structured uncompleted natural procedure label  2200 . In this example, the physician was ‘Successful’ with the removal of ‘Both’ and clicks on the menu item  2205  in the attribute menu  2203  documenting ‘Both’.  
         [0125]    After clicking on the menu item  2205 , the Cmenent table  4500  (FIG. 45) is searched for the rows of data that match the data element  5112  (FIG. 51B). In this example, the system is retrieving data that will dynamically update the structured uncompleted natural procedure label with the menu item&#39;s  2205  textual representation. Referring to FIG. 51B, a row of data  5113  is returned. The structured uncompleted natural procedure label  2200  is then reconstructed by concatenating the Sitext  5116  and inserting specific replacement text  5014  (FIG. 50) into the Sislot location that is the match of  5007  and  5015  and inserting into this concatenation specific replacement text  5114  into the Sislot location that is the match of  5107  and  5115  (FIG. 51). In this example, the structured uncompleted natural procedure label is modified and the word ‘Both’  5114  replaced the placeholder text ‘[Side]’ that had previously been displayed in the structured uncompleted natural procedure label  2200 . The next step in the constructing of the structured uncompleted natural procedure label controlled for coding is complete. The system then prompts the physician for additional data that will control the natural procedure label for coding.  
         [0126]    The physician is next presented with the screen illustrated in FIG. 23 after several sophisticated interactions take place between the database server&#39;s  3900  stored procedures  3901  and data tables  3902 . FIG. 23 illustrates the modified structured uncompleted natural procedure label  2300  with an attribute menu  2303  prompting the physician for their next menu selection.  
         [0127]    The first sophisticated interactions occur within the stored procedure Getmenu  4000  (FIG. 40), the system searches through the Cdirect table  4100  (FIG. 41) looking for data that indicates that there is an attribute menu  2303  (FIG. 23) for the attribute node  2302  from the attribute tree  2301 . Referring to FIG. 52A, a row of data  5204  is returned that satisfies the search criteria.  
         [0128]    The next operation within the stored procedure GetMenu  4000  is the searching for data in the Dirpar table  4200  (FIG. 42) that links the common procedure name for a specific medical specialty to the attribute menu  2303 . Referring to FIG. 52A, a row of data  5205  is returned that indicates that an attribute menu  2303  needs to be constructed. The cmenat2 table  4700  (FIG. 47) is searched looking for data that matches the value  4922  (FIG. 49). A row of data  5206  (FIG. 52A) is returned that satisfies the search criteria and contains a data value  5208  which is used to construct the attribute menu  2303 .  
         [0129]    The next operation within the stored procedure GetMenu  4000  is the searching for data in the Cdirmen table  4300 . Referring to FIG. 52A, a row of data  5209  is returned that has the Tidvalue value  5217  matching the TidAtt value  5208 . The row of data contains a menuid  5210  that is used to find the menu items which are used to construct the attribute menu  2303 . Next, the Cmenu table  4400  (FIG. 44) is searched for the rows of data that match the data element  5210 . Referring to FIG. 52B, several rows of data  5211  are returned that match the menuid value  5218  with the menuid value  5210  that are used to build the attribute menu  2303 .  
         [0130]    The data needed to form the structured uncompleted natural procedure label has been retrieved from the database and FIG. 23 is a screen shot illustrating the next step in the constructing of a natural procedure label controlled for coding. Referring now to FIG. 23, the screen shot represents the structured uncompleted natural procedure label  2300 , the common procedure name  2304 , the attribute tree  2301 , and the attribute menu  2303  for the next required controlled attribute for the structured uncompleted natural procedure label  2300 . In this example, the physician was ‘Successful’ with the removal of ‘Both’ ‘Ureteral Stent(s)’ and clicks on the menu item  2305  in the attribute menu  2303  documenting ‘Ureteral Stent(s)’.  
         [0131]    After clicking on the menu item  2305 , the Cmenent table  4500  (FIG. 45) is searched for the rows of data that match the data element  5212  (FIG. 52B). In this example, the system is retrieving data that will dynamically update the structured uncompleted natural procedure label with the menu item&#39;s  2305  textual representation. Referring to FIG. 52B, a row of data  5213  is returned. The structured uncompleted natural procedure label  2300  is then reconstructed by concatenating the Sitext  5216  and inserting specific replacement text  5014  (FIG. 50) into the Sislot location that is the match of  5007  and  5015  and inserting into this concatenation specific replacement text  5114  into the Sislot location that is the match of  5107  and  5115  (FIG. 51) and inserting into this concatenation specific replacement text  5214  into the Sislot that is the match of  5207  and  5215  (FIG. 52). In this example, the structured uncompleted natural procedure label is modified and the word ‘Ureteral Stent(s)’  5214  replaced the placeholder text ‘[What Removed]’ that had previously been displayed in the structured uncompleted natural procedure label  2300 . The next step in the constructing of the structured uncompleted natural procedure label controlled for coding is complete. The system then prompts the physician for additional data that will control the natural procedure label for coding.  
         [0132]    The physician is next presented with the screen illustrated in FIG. 24 after several sophisticated interactions take place between the database server&#39;s  3900  stored procedures  3901  and data tables  3902 . FIG. 24 illustrates the modified structured uncompleted natural procedure label  2400  with an attribute menu  2403  prompting the physician for their next menu selection.  
         [0133]    The first sophisticated interaction occur within the stored procedure Getmenu  4000  (FIG. 40), the system searches through the Cdirect table  4100  (FIG. 41) looking for data that indicates that there is an attribute menu  2403  for the attribute node  2402  from the attribute tree  2401 . Referring to FIG. 53A, a row of data  5304  is returned that satisfies the search criteria.  
         [0134]    The next operation within the stored procedure GetMenu  4000  is the searching for data in the Dirpar table  4200  (FIG. 42) that links the common procedure name for a specific medical specialty to the attribute menu  2403 . Referring to FIG. 53A, a row of data  5305  is returned that indicates that an attribute menu  2403  needs to be constructed. The cmenat2 table  4700  (FIG. 47) is searched looking for data that matches the value  4922  (FIG. 49). A row of data  5306  (FIG. 53A) is returned that satisfies the search criteria and contains a data value  5308  which is used to construct the attribute menu  2403 .  
         [0135]    The next operation within the stored procedure GetMenu  4000  is the searching for data in the Cdirmen table  4300  (FIG. 43). Referring to FIG. 53A, a row of data  5309  is returned that has the Tidvalue value  5317  matching the Tidatt value  5308 . The row of data contains a menuid  5310  that is used to find the menu items which are used to construct the attribute menu  2403 . Next, the Cmenu table  4400  (FIG. 44) is searched for the rows of data that match the data element  5310 . Referring to FIG. 53B, several rows of data  5311  are returned that match the menuid value  5018  with the menuid value  5010  that are used to build the attribute menu  2403 .  
         [0136]    The data needed to form the structured uncompleted natural procedure label has been retrieved from the database and FIG. 24 is a screen shot illustrating the next step in the constructing of a natural procedure label controlled for coding. Referring now to FIG. 24, the screen shot represents the structured uncompleted natural procedure label  2400 , the common procedure name  2404 , the attribute tree  2401 , and the attribute menu  2403  for the next required controlled attribute for the structured uncompleted natural procedure label  2400 . In this example, the physician was ‘Successful’ with the removal of ‘Both’ ‘Ureteral Stent(s)’ for a ‘Complicated’ procedure and clicks on the menu item  2405  in the attribute menu  2403  documenting ‘Complicated (eg Prev. Surg, Stone&gt;2.5 cm)’.  
         [0137]    After clicking on the menu item  2405 , the Cmenent table  4500  (FIG. 45) is searched for the rows of data that match the data element  5312  (FIG. 53B). In this example, the system is retrieving data that will dynamically update the structured uncompleted natural procedure label with the menu item&#39;s  2405  textual representation. Referring to FIG. 53A, a row of data  5313  is returned. The structured uncompleted natural procedure label  2400  is then reconstructed by concatenating the Sitext  5316  and inserting specific replacement text  5014  (FIG. 50) into the Sislot location that is the match of  5007  and  5015  and inserting into this concatenation specific replacement text  5114  into the Sislot location that is the match of  5107  and  5115  (FIG. 51) and inserting into this concatenation specific replacement text  5214  into the Sislot that is the match of  5207  and  5215  (FIG. 52) and inserting into this concatenation specific replacement text  5314  into the Sislot location that is the match of  5307  and  5315  (FIG. 53). In this example, the structured uncompleted natural procedure label is modified and the word ‘Complicated Procedure’  5314  replaced the placeholder text ‘[Simple/Complicated]’ that had previously been displayed in the structured uncompleted natural procedure label  2400 . The system executes logic that determines that there are no more remaining attribute menus for this procedure type and system control moves to the next node on the navigation tree  2401 . The last step in the constructing of the natural procedure label controlled for coding is complete.  
         [0138]    The physician is next presented with a screen illustrated in FIG. 25 showing the structured completed natural procedure label controlled for coding. The system&#39;s anticipatory interface navigates the system to the next step in the documentation process. This navigation is not illustrated in FIG. 25. The number of attributes in the above description of embodiments can vary based on the procedure being documented. The above description is representative of the other methods that are used to create a natural procedure label controlled for coding embodied in this invention. Other methods may involve the modifying of the natural procedure label based upon relevant information documented in nodes  1807  of the report area  1802 .  
         [0139]    The physician is next prompted by the anticipatory physician interface to document additional aspects of the procedure documentation. Referring back to FIG. 18, the physician uses the navigation tree  1801 , comprised of several nodes  1809  and  1807  that represent distinct areas of report documentation to complete the documentation. Additional data is entered via the navigation tree  1801  by clicking on other nodes  1807 . The data entered is automatically copied to subsection  1803  and subsection  1804  of the report area  1802 . The Coding node  1810  is clicked when the physician is finished with their documentation and the physician is presented with a screen illustrated in FIG. 26.  
         [0140]    After the physician clicks the coding node  1810  several sophisticated interactions take place between the navigation tree  1801  and the database server&#39;s  3900  stored procedures  3901  and data tables  3902 .  
         [0141]    The first system operation occurs within the stored procedure AIMP  4003  (FIG. 40). The stored procedure AIMP  4003  is the component of the system that links the natural procedure label to a non E &amp; M CPT code. The stored procedure AMIP is intrinsically an ontological inference engine that links the natural procedure label to a unique non E &amp; M CPT codes by applying inference logic against data stored in the database.  
         [0142]    Referring to FIG. 54A, the first system operation that occurs within the ontological interface engine  5401  locates the parent node  5404  for procedure type  5407  in the table AI_DTREE  5400  which matches the procedure type  4923  (FIG. 49) stored in the exam table  4600  (FIG. 46). The ontological interference engine  5401  is not displayed to the physician and the screen shots are presented to illustrate the data retrieved and logic that is executed within the system which results in the natural procedure label  2801  tied to the correct CPT code  2802  (FIG. 28).  
         [0143]    The first system operation returns a row of data  5403  that contains commands  5406  on how to proceed through the ontological inference engine  5401 . The next system operation that occurs within the ontological inference engine  5401  is based on the value located in the command  5406  (FIG. 54A). In this example, the command is ‘=’ which instructs the ontological inference engine  5401  to retrieve a row of data that has a parent value  5410  which matches the ID value  5405 . A row of data  5409  (FIG. 54B) is returned that contains commands  5412  on how to proceed through the ontological inference engine  5401 .  
         [0144]    The next system operation that occurs within the ontological inference engine  5401  is based on the value located in the command  5412  (FIG. 54B). In this example, the command is ‘getvalue’ which instructs the ontological inference engine  5401  to retrieve a row of data in the exam table  4600  (FIG. 46) which matches the subject value  5414 . A data value is retrieved  5016  (FIG. 50B) which is used to retrieve a row of data in AI_DTREE  5400  that matches ID value  5411  (FIG. 54B) with the Parent value  5417  and the retrieved value  5016  with the object value  5420  (FIG. 54B). A row of data  5416  (FIG. 54B) is returned that contains commands  5419  on how to next proceed through the ontological inference engine  5401 .  
         [0145]    The next system operation that occurs within the ontological inference engine  5401  is based on the value located in the command  5419  (FIG. 54B). In this example, the command is ‘=’ which instructs the ontological inference engine  5401  to retrieve a row of data that has a parent value  5423  which matches the ID value  5418  (FIG. 54B). A row of data  5422  (FIG. 54C) is returned that contains commands  5425  on how next to proceed through the ontological inference engine  5401 .  
         [0146]    The next system operation that occurs within the ontological inference engine  5401  is based on the value located in the command  5425  (FIG. 54C). In this example, the command is ‘getvalue’ which instructs the ontological inference engine  5401  to retrieve a row of data in the exam table  4600  (FIG. 46) which matches the subject value  5427  (FIG. 54C). A data value is retrieved  5108  (FIG. 51A) which is used to retrieve a row of data in AI_DTREE  5400  that matches ID value  5424  with the Parent value  5430  and the retrieved value  5108  with the object value  5427  (FIG. 54C). A row of data  5429  (FIG. 54C) is returned that contains commands  5432  on how to next proceed through the ontological inference engine  5401 .  
         [0147]    The next system operation that occurs within the ontological inference engine  5401  is based on the value located in the command  5432 . In this example, the command is ‘=’ which instructs the ontological inference engine  5401  to retrieve a row of data that has a parent value  5436  (FIG. 54D) which matches the ID value  5431  (FIG. 54C). A row of data  5435  (FIG. 54D) is returned that contains commands  5438  on how next to proceed through the ontological inference engine  5401 .  
         [0148]    The next system operation that occurs within the ontological inference engine  5401  is based on the value located in the command  5438  (FIG. 54D). In this example, the command is ‘fill’ which instructs the ontological inference engine  5401  to populate the exam codes table  5500  with the value in fillid  5440  (FIG. 54D) and to end the ontological inference engine processing. The value of fillid  5440 , ‘52315’ is the CPT code coupled to the natural procedure label  2601 . Referring to FIG. 55B, the value of the fillid  5440 , ‘52315’, is stored in the exam codes table  5500  in the code field  5501  (FIG. 55B) for procedure code of ‘INDWELLI — 2’ which is stored in the TID  5504 . The data in exam codes  5500  is tied to a specific patient procedure identifier, (i.e., exam id).  
         [0149]    The ontological inference engine is complete and the physician is presented with the screen illustrated in FIG. 26. The coding form  2600  contains the CPT code  2601  that is coupled with the natural procedure label  2500  previously generated in this example (FIG. 27). The physician can modify, add or delete to the non E &amp; M CPT codes. The physician can also document the relevant ICD codes that were part of this procedure documentation. Additionally, the physician may indicate the non E &amp; M CPT code for the technical aspect of the CPT billing. When the physician is satisfied with the coding they click on the Accept Codes button  2702  and the form closes. The physician is next presented with a form  2800  that has a natural procedure label  2801  controlled for coding  2802  (FIG. 28). The coding form can also be accessed in our areas of the system (FIG. 29) that are engineered to be used by non physician coding personnel.  
         [0150]    The method described above is illustrative of the coupling of a natural procedure label  2500  with a CPT code  2601 . Alternative methods involve the coupling of several CPT codes with a natural procedure label, the presentation of CCl edits for multiple CPT codes, and the presentation of CPT modifiers.  
         [0151]    Those skilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments disclosed herein are exemplary in nature and that various changes can be made without departing from the scope and the spirit of this invention. Such various changes would become clear to one of ordinary skill in the art after inspection of the specification and the drawings. In that regard, as many changes as are possible to the embodiments of this invention utilizing the teachings thereof, the descriptions above, and the accompanying drawings should be interpreted in the illustrative and not the limited sense. The invention therefore is not to be restricted except within the spirit and scope of any appended claims.  
         [0152]    The invention is by no means restricted to the embodiment shown. Many alternative versions are feasible in respect of the actual construction of the means used. The invention is not limited to procedure descriptions completed for procedures performed in Urology but in fact can be used to assign a natural procedure label to all of the non E &amp; M CPT codes currently in place and developed in future releases. Furthermore, alternative user interfaces are in place and can be created in the future that couple a natural procedure label to a plurality of procedure terminologies and non E &amp; M CPT codes. It is particularly to be noted that the invention is not restricted either to a special type of data or to special configurations of data.

Technology Classification (CPC): 6