Patent ID: 7624027

Claim:
A method of processing medical records, comprising: (a) creating on a network device with one or more processors and one or more associated databases, one or more different medical templates capable of being used to enter information from an encounter with a patient, wherein the one more medical templates comprise a plurality of data fields comprising: (i) patient history data; (ii) patient physical condition data; (iii) summary information; (iv) existing patient history information; and (v) complexity risk coding information; (b) printing the one or more different medical templates on paper forms; (c) entering patient encounter information from a patent encounter into the plurality of data fields by writing on the paper forms with a writing utensil, thereby creating completed paper forms; (d) scanning the completed paper forms into the network device; (e) digitizing the completed paper forms by: (i) identifying from the network device a plurality of locations of data fields on the completed paper forms; and (ii) performing optical character recognition on the network device on data created with the writing utensil at each of the plurality of identified locations of the data fields; (f) aggregating the recognized data into an electronic patient medical record and storing the electronic patient medical record on the network device; and (g) determining on the network device with the stored electronic patient medical record for the patient encounter represented by the paper forms: (i) medical and billing codes; (ii) legal compliance for medical treatment provided to the patient during the patient encounter; (iii) an appropriateness of care based on the stored patient data and the medical treatment provided during the patient encounter; (iv) a physician practice profile by aggregating data for a particular physician; and (v) data for use in research studies.