Patent ID: 7230529

Claim:
In a system where a separate expert system is configured to communicate with a clinical system having one or more clinical modules, and notwithstanding that the separate expert system and the clinical system are configured to process data having different and otherwise incompatible data formats, a method of interfacing the separate expert system with the clinical system, the method comprising: receiving clinical data from the clinical system on at least one of an inbound data interface and a synchronous alert interface, the clinical data having a first format structured for compatible processing at the clinical system; modifying the structure of clinical data to a second different format structured for compatible processing at the separate expert system such that the clinical data can be compatibly processed at the separate expert system, wherein without the structural modification of the clinical data the separate expert system is unable to compatibly process the clinical data; storing the modified clinical data in an expert system database of the expert system in the second different format; processing the modified clinical data in the expert system to make a medical decision; generating an alert based on results of processing the modified clinical data, the alerts having the second different data format structured for compatible processing at the separate expert system; modifying the structure of generated alerts to the first format such that the generated alerts can be compatible processed at the clinical system, wherein without the structural modification of the generated alerts the clinical system is unable to compatibly process the alerts; and sending the modified generated alert to the clinical system on at least one of the synchronous alert interface and the outbound alert interface.