Apparatus and methods for determining and processing medical outcomes

A method for implementing medical studies, the method comprising the steps of:

• obtaining an identification of a user and an associated privilege level of the user;
• selecting a medical study;
• entering medical data related to a patient associated with the medical study;
• immediately processing the medical data entered in combination with other data associated with the medical study using a clinical algorithm specifically designed for the medical study to produce a clinical outcome of the medical study which takes into account the medical data entered that was related to the patient, wherein the clinical outcome provides an indication of a performance of the doctor for at least one of a specific drug, a specific patient, and a specific ailment in comparison to at least one other doctor;
• determining a relative privilege level of the user;
• and
• immediately and conditionally, based on the relative privilege level of the user, outputting at least a portion of the clinical outcome data once processed to provide an indication as to how the medical data that was entered for the patient effects, and is related to, the outcome of the medical study in relation to the comparison of doctors, and to present a first user having a higher privilege level a first portion of the clinical outcome and to present a second user having a lower privilege level a second portion of the clinical outcome, the second portion of the clinical outcome different from the first portion of the clinical outcome.

A computer program product having a computer-readable medium including computer program logic encoded thereon for determining clinical outcomes of medical data, such that the computer program logic, when executed on at least one processing unit with a computing device, causes the at least one processing unit to perform the steps of:

• receiving sets of medical information, each set having characteristics relating to a specific medical study and the characteristics of each set having an associated value;
• obtaining an identification of a user and an associated privilege level of the user operating the computer system
• maintaining the plurality of sets of medical information;
• immediately receiving a selection of a first and second characteristics common to at least two sets of medical information, and immediately processing all values of the first and second characteristics according to a clinical algorithm to determine a clinical outcome of the sets of medical information for the specific medical study based upon the selected first characteristic, wherein the clinical outcome provides an indication of a performance of the doctor for at least one of a specific drug, a specific patient, and a specific ailment in comparison to at least one other doctor;
• determining a relative privilege level of the user;
• and
• immediately and conditionally, based on the relative privilege level of the user, outputting at least a portion of the clinical outcome to allow the clinical outcome to be used in a state that accounts for the sets of medical information received and to present a first user having a higher privilege level a first portion of the clinical outcome and to present a second user having a lower privilege level a second portion of the clinical outcome, the second portion of the clinical outcome different from the first portion of the clinical outcome.

A method performing medical diagnosis, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving sets of computerized medical study data;
• receiving an identity of a user having an associated privilege level;
• providing feedback used to effect treatment of a patient associated with at least one of the sets of computerized medical data received;
• determining a relative privilege level of the user;
• generating comparison results describing comparisons of the sets of computerized medical study data to produce a medical study profile, wherein the medical study profile provides an indication of a performance of the doctor for at least one of a specific drug, a specific patient, and a specific ailment in comparison to at least one other doctor and wherein content of the medical study profile is produced at a level according to the relative privilege level of the user and only contains doctor ranking information upon determination that the relative privilege level is sufficiently high enough to allow that user to rank doctors against other doctors and contains ranking of a non-doctor characteristic upon determination that the relative privilege level is not sufficiently high enough to allow that user to rank doctors;
• and
• based on the medical study profile, providing an indication of a ranking of a characteristic of the medical study profile.

A method for determining clinical outcomes of medical data, the digital data processing system comprising:

• receiving sets of medical information, each set having characteristics relating to a specific medical study and the characteristics of each set having an associated value;
• receiving an identity of a user having an associated privilege level;
• maintaining the plurality of sets of medical information;
• determining a relative privilege level of the user;
• selecting first and second characteristics common to at least two sets of medical information, and immediately processing all values of the first and the second characteristic, including the first and second characteristic in the sets of medical information received, according to a clinical algorithm to determine a clinical outcome containing privileged information dependent on the relative privilege level of the user, the privileged information including at least one of a risk assessment, a performance rating, and a treatment rating, for the sets of medical information for the specific medical study based upon the selected first and second characteristic to indicate a ranking of at least two doctors in comparison to each other;
• and
• immediately outputting the clinical outcome to allow the clinical outcome to be used during the course of the study to effect treatment of a patient associated with at least one of the sets of medical information received based upon the relative privilege level of the user;
• wherein the sets of medical information containing characteristics related to the specific medical study include data related to at least one of a patient, a drug, an ailment, a doctor and a treatment technique;
• wherein a level of processing all values of the first and second characteristic according to a clinical algorithm to determine a clinical outcome is selected based upon the privilege level of the user and wherein the clinical outcome determined based upon the selected first characteristic indicates a statistical result derived from the clinical algorithm for at least one of a patient, a drug, an ailment and a doctor in relation to another of at least one of a patient, a drug, an ailment and a doctor;
• and
• wherein the first characteristic is an identity of at least one drug and wherein the second characteristic is an identity of at least one other drug, and wherein the clinical outcome provides an indication of a performance of the at least one drug for treating at least one patient in comparison to the at least one other drug in relation to doctors treating patients.

A method for determining clinical outcomes of medical data, the digital data processing system comprising:

• receiving sets of medical information, each set having characteristics relating to a specific medical study and the characteristics of each set having an associated value;
• receiving an identity of a user having an associated privilege level,
• maintaining the plurality of sets of medical information;
• determining a relative privilege level of the user;
• selecting first and second characteristics common to at least two sets of medical information, and immediately processing all values of the first and the second characteristic, including the first and second characteristic in the sets of medical information received, according to a clinical algorithm to determine a clinical outcome containing privileged information dependent on the relative privilege level of the user, the privileged information including at least one of a risk assessment, a performance rating, and a treatment rating, for the sets of medical information for the specific medical study based upon the selected first and second characteristic to indicate a ranking of at least two doctors in comparison to each other;
• and
• immediately outputting the clinical outcome to allow the clinical outcome to be used during the course of the study to effect treatment of a patient associated with at least one of the sets of medical information received based upon the relative privilege level of the user;
• wherein the sets of medical information containing characteristics related to the specific medical study include data related to at least one of a patient, a drug, an ailment, a doctor and a treatment technique;
• wherein a level of processing all values of the first and second characteristic according to a clinical algorithm to determine a clinical outcome is selected based upon the privilege level of the user and wherein the clinical outcome determined based upon the selected first characteristic indicates a statistical result derived from the clinical algorithm for at least one of a patient, a drug, an ailment and a doctor in relation to another of at least one of a patient, a drug, an ailment and a doctor;
• and
• wherein content associated with the clinical outcome that is output is determined, in part, by an identity of a particular person who requests the clinical outcome such that there are two users for which output of the clinical algorithm is different and the two users are a doctor and a director of a medical practice group of doctors that includes the doctor, and wherein the output of the clinical algorithm presented to the doctor is filtered as compared to the output of the same clinical algorithm presented to the director of the group of doctors that includes the doctor.

A method for determining clinical outcomes of medical data, the digital data processing system comprising:

• receiving sets of medical information, each set having characteristics relating to a specific medical study and the characteristics of each set having an associated value;
• receiving an identity of a user having an associated privilege level;
• maintaining the plurality of sets of medical information;
• determining a relative privilege level of the user;
• selecting first and second characteristics common to at least two sets of medical information, and immediately processing all values of the first and the second characteristic, including the first and second characteristic in the sets of medical information received, according to a clinical algorithm to determine a clinical outcome containing privileged information dependent on the relative privilege level of the user, the privileged information including at least one of a risk assessment, a performance rating, and a treatment rating, for the sets of medical information for the specific medical study based upon the selected first and second characteristic to indicate a ranking of at least two doctors in comparison to each other;
• and
• immediately outputting the clinical outcome to allow the clinical outcome to be used during the course of the study based upon the relative privilege level of the user;
• the sets of medical information containing characteristics related to the specific medical study include data related to at least one of a patient, a drug, an ailment, a doctor and a treatment technique;
• and
• wherein a level of processing all values of the first and second characteristic according to a clinical algorithm to determine a clinical outcome is selected based upon the relative privilege level of the user and wherein the clinical outcome determined based upon the selected first characteristic indicates a statistical result derived from the clinical algorithm for at least one of a patient, a drug, an ailment and a doctor in relation to another of at least one of a patient, a drug, an ailment and a doctor;
• and
• wherein the first characteristic is an identity of at least one drug and wherein the second characteristic is an identity of at least one other drug, and wherein the clinical outcome provides an indication of a performance of the at least one drug for treating at least one patient in comparison to the at least one other drug in relation to doctors treating patients.

A method for determining clinical outcomes of medical data, the digital data processing system comprising:

• receiving sets of medical information, each set having characteristics relating to a specific medical study and the characteristics of each set having an associated value;
• receiving an identity of a user having an associated privilege level;
• maintaining the plurality of sets of medical information;
• determining a relative privilege level of the user;
• selecting first and second characteristics common to at least two sets of medical information, and immediately processing all values of the first and the second characteristic, including the first and second characteristic in the sets of medical information received, according to a clinical algorithm to determine a clinical outcome containing privileged information dependent on the relative privilege level of the user, the privileged information including at least one of a risk assessment, a performance rating, and a treatment rating, for the sets of medical information for the specific medical study based upon the selected first and second characteristic to indicate a ranking of at least two doctors in comparison to each other;
• and
• immediately outputting the clinical outcome to allow the clinical outcome to be used during the course of the study based upon the relative privilege level of the user;
• the sets of medical information containing characteristics related to the specific medical study include data related to at least one of a patient, a drug, an ailment, a doctor and a treatment technique;
• and
• wherein a level of processing all values of the first and second characteristic according to a clinical algorithm to determine a clinical outcome is selected based upon the relative privilege level of the user and wherein the clinical outcome determined based upon the selected first characteristic indicates a statistical result derived from the clinical algorithm for at least one of a patient, a drug, an ailment and a doctor in relation to another of at least one of a patient, a drug, an ailment and a doctor;
• and
• wherein content associated with the clinical outcome that is output is determined, in part, by an identity of a particular person who requests the clinical outcome such that there are two users for which output of the clinical algorithm is different and the two users are a doctor and a user with a higher privilege level, and wherein the output of the clinical algorithm presented to the doctor is filtered as compared to the output of the same clinical algorithm presented to the user with the higher privilege level.