Patent ID: 8282397

Claim:
A method for recertifying or monitoring performance of a clinical rater participating in a clinical trial comprising: receiving one or more rater inputs reflecting the rater's clinical evaluation of a severity of a previously diagnosed condition in a subject, wherein the one or more rater inputs are received via at least one of a keyboard, a numerical keypad, a dial, a touch screen, a touch pad, a pointing device, a microphone, a telephone, a joystick, a game pad, a satellite dish, fax or a scanner; performing a computerized assessment of the subject to quantify the severity of the previously diagnosed condition in the subject through a computerized interview that comprises: (a) presenting a first question to the subject and receiving a first input from the subject in response thereto; (b) based on the first input, selecting a second question from a plurality of questions; (c) presenting the selected second question-to the subject and receiving a second input from the subject in response thereto; and (d) based on one or more inputs received from the subject, determining in accordance with a clinical rating scale a computerized severity score for the previously diagnosed condition in the subject; and (e) determining, via a processor, whether the one or more rater inputs are in accordance with the computerized severity score.