Patent ID: 7475019

Claim:
A method for utilizing physician notes in a healthcare system comprising: inputting patient health data reflecting a current state of patients in geographically dispersed health care locations and treatment objectives for the patients to an input device, wherein the patient health data is inputted via formatted input options presented by the input device and wherein the input device is connected to a network; receiving the patient health data in the healthcare system via the network; monitoring patient data elements of the patients; communicating the monitored patient data elements from the geographically dispersed health care locations to a remote command center via the network, wherein the remote command center comprises a database; storing the monitored patient data elements in the database, wherein the database comprises stored patient data elements; creating a rule for a patient using the patient health data and the patient data elements; applying the rule continuously to selected patient data elements stored in the database to search for patterns of data and to produce an output indicative of a change in a medical condition of the patient; and utilizing the output to determine if intervention is warranted, wherein the monitoring and determining if intervention is warranted for the patient occurs in an automated fashion at the remote command center 24 hours per day 7 days per week.