Patent ID: 8612258

Claim:
A computer-implemented method to manage patient information in a medical information system, comprising: scanning, using a computer, first information comprising a first patient identification associated with a first value and a first encounter identification to extract first non-clinical information, using a computer, the first information comprising first clinical information and the first non-clinical information; scanning, using a computer, second information comprising a second patient identification associated with a second value and a second encounter identification to extract second non-clinical information, using a computer, the second information comprising second clinical information and the second non-clinical information; comparing at least the extracted first non-clinical information to the extracted second non-clinical information, using a computer, to detect that at least a portion of the first non-clinical information is the same or similar to the second non-clinical information to detect that the first patient identification and the second patient identification are associated with the same patient; in response to detecting that the first patient identification and the second patient identification are associated with the same patient, detecting that the first information and the second information are associated with the same encounter based at least in part on a comparison of a first time period associated with the first information and a second time period associated with the second information, the first clinical information is at least partially different from the second clinical information, the first time period at least partially overlapping the second time period; and in response to detecting that the first encounter identification and the second encounter identification are associated with the same encounter, merging the first non-clinical information and the second non-clinical information and merging the at least partially different first and second clinical information, using a computer.