Methods and apparatus for providing guidance to medical professionals

A system comprising:

• at least one processor;
• and
• at least one storage medium storing executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out a method comprising:
• evaluating a medical recommendation of a medical professional with respect to a patient encounter to determine whether the medical recommendation is consistent with at least one medical guideline, wherein evaluating the medical recommendation to determine whether the medical recommendation complies with the at least one medical guideline comprises:
• extracting, using a natural language understanding engine, one or more facts from at least one narrative provided by the medical professional in connection with the patient encounter;
• selecting, based on the one or more facts extracted from the at least one narrative and from among a set of medical guidelines, the at least one medical guideline that is applicable to the patient encounter;
• and
• determining, using the one or more facts extracted from the at least one narrative, whether the medical recommendation is consistent with the at least one medical guideline, wherein determining whether the medical recommendation complies with the at least one medical guideline comprises:
• applying one or more decision rules associated with the at least one medical guideline to the one or more facts extracted from the at least one narrative, the one or more decision rules comprising at least one recommendation called for by the at least one medical guideline;
• determining whether the medical recommendation is consistent with the at least one recommendation called for by the at least one medical guideline;
• and
• generating an alert when the medical recommendation is inconsistent with the at least one recommendation called for by the at least one medical guideline.

A method comprising acts of:

• evaluating a medical recommendation of a medical professional with respect to a patient encounter to determine whether the medical recommendation is consistent with at least one medical guideline, wherein evaluating the medical recommendation to determine whether the medical recommendation complies with the at least one medical guideline comprises:
• extracting, using a natural language understanding engine, one or more facts from at least one narrative provided by the medical professional in connection with the patient encounter;
• selecting, based on the one or more facts extracted from the at least one narrative and from among a set of medical guidelines, the at least one medical guideline that is applicable to the patient encounter;
• and
• determining, using the one or more facts extracted from the at least one narrative, whether the medical recommendation is consistent with the at least one medical guideline, wherein determining whether the medical recommendation complies with the at least one medical guideline comprises:
• applying one or more decision rules associated with the at least one medical guideline to the one or more facts extracted from the at least one narrative, the one or more decision rules comprising at least one recommendation called for by the at least one medical guideline;
• determining whether the medical recommendation is consistent with the at least one recommendation called for by the at least one medical guideline;
• and
• generating an alert when the medical recommendation is inconsistent with the at least one recommendation called for by the at least one medical guideline.

At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, perform a method comprising acts of:

• evaluating a medical recommendation of a medical professional with respect to a patient encounter to determine whether the medical recommendation is consistent with at least one medical guideline, wherein evaluating the medical recommendation to determine whether the medical recommendation complies with the at least one medical guideline comprises:
• extracting, using a natural language understanding engine, one or more facts from at least one narrative provided by the medical professional in connection with the patient encounter;
• selecting, based on the one or more facts extracted from the at least one narrative and from among a set of medical guidelines, the at least one medical guideline that is applicable to the patient encounter;
• and
• determining, using the one or more facts extracted from the at least one narrative, whether the medical recommendation is consistent with the at least one medical guideline, wherein determining whether the medical recommendation complies with the at least one medical guideline comprises:
• applying one or more decision rules associated with the at least one medical guideline to the one or more facts extracted from the at least one narrative, the one or more decision rules comprising at least one recommendation called for by the at least one medical guideline;
• determining whether the medical recommendation is consistent with the at least one recommendation called for by the at least one medical guideline;
• and
• generating an alert when the medical recommendation is inconsistent with the at least one recommendation called for by the at least one medical guideline.