DESC:FIELD OF INVENTION:
This invention relates to healthcare services and particularly, to providing healthcare service to patients without any physical presence. More particularly, to a method for providing healthcare services digitally to patients.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION:
Based on the World Health Organization (WHO) norm of 1 doctor per 1,000 persons, India is short of nearly 500,000 doctors. With more than 740,000 active doctors at the end of 2014 -- a claimed doctor-patient population ratio of 1:1,674 is worse than Vietnam, Algeria and Pakistan -- the shortage of doctors was one of the health-management failures cited by report of a parliamentary committee on health and family welfare, which presented its findings to both houses of Parliament on March 8, 2016.

The above stated facts clear the acute shortage of doctors in India resulting in crippling healthcare services in India. Adding to these facts is the inequality between urban and rural India healthcare facilities. As per an independent body, Public-health centres across India’s rural areas–25,308 in 29 states and seven union territories–are short of more than 3,000 doctors, the scarcity rising 200% (or tripling) over 10 years. In addition to shortage, 50% medical staff is practically sitting idle due to insufficient incentives or low salaries. These problems coupled with increased diseases due to modern lifestyles has brought such a serious stress on Indian healthcare system that people will become even more sick due to shortage of cure and diseases becoming chronic overtime. Thus, there is need of a system that can use the available pool of doctors in a better way

Another problem with present Indian healthcare system is the lack of proper documentation and storage of patient medical record. Traditionally the record are kept in physical files which makes there accessibility and security a big issue. The medical records, whether in paper or electronic form, are required to be kept confidential and safeguards are required to be taken to protect such records. Security measures are required to be implemented by those providing healthcare services to limit or control access to confidential medical records. Thus, there is also a need for an integrated healthcare delivery system that can allow for private secure communication of healthcare data between the physician and the patient and throughout the system.

In the recent times the concept of telemedicine has crop in and has been used widely across European and developed countries. Such systems, however, are difficult and yet be roll out fully in India. One of their drawbacks is that they do not provide real-time feedback between the patient and physician or provide insufficient feedback such that it cannot be considered a sufficient substitute for an in-person scheduled routine visit. Further, because telemedicine in its current form does not properly integrate the use of electronic medical records, pharmacy formularies, or medical protocols that reduce the need for discretion on the part of a patient care provider, they provide for an ineffective and non-standardized utilization of the physician resources.

Still further, because such systems tend to be implemented either ad hoc, provide block-time physician availability, or are merely established to monitor a patient's condition without real-time patient-physician interactivity, they do not lend themselves to provide cost efficient utilization and prioritization of a remotely positioned physician's available time. Stated another way, they do not provide a physician centered system for delivering healthcare, and thus, ineffectively utilize limited physician resources; the result being difficulty in a patient obtaining desired medical services and increased costs in obtaining such service, when available.

Thus, there is a need for an integrated healthcare delivery system that brings healthcare to the patient rather than the patient to healthcare by utilizing modern technology. Particularly, there is a need for an integrated healthcare delivery system capable of providing medical services delivery to a patient by a remotely separated doctor of such quality and functionality that it can be considered an equivalent if not superior substitute for an in-person consultation. Further, there is a need for an integrated healthcare delivery system that integrates the concept of telemedicine with electronic medical technology, medical protocols, and electronic billing to provide healthcare to patients anytime and anywhere from a remote facility and in both a resource efficient and a cost efficient manner.

SUMMARY:

The following presents a simplified summary of the disclosure in order to provide a basic understanding to the reader. This summary is not an extensive overview of the disclosure and it does not identify key/critical elements of the invention or delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts disclosed herein in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

A more complete appreciation of the present invention and the scope thereof can be obtained from the accompanying drawings which are briefly summarized below and the following detailed description of the presently preferred embodiments.
Object of the invention:

The embodiment of the present invention contemplates to a method by which healthcare consultation services can be provided digitally.

Another embodiment of the present invention contemplates to a method which provide list of doctors along wither their specialization, experience, qualification and credentials.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention contemplates to a method in which a patient located at any remote location can fix appointment with the doctor.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention contemplates to a method which will have all the details and documents about the patient medical history and the details will be assessable to the doctor who has been selected for appointment.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention contemplates to a method in which doctor on fixed time slot of appointment will interact with the patient and render consultation, at the end of the consultation the doctor will issue a digital prescription.

The details of one or more embodiments of the invention are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals have been used to designate like elements, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating the workflow of system for providing healthcare services digitally in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION
It is to be understood that the present disclosure is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The present disclosure is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

The use of “including”, “comprising” or “having” and variations thereof herein is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items. The terms “a” and “an” herein do not denote a limitation of quantity, but rather denote the presence of at least one of the referenced item. Further, the use of terms “first”, “second”, and “third”, and the like, herein do not denote any order, quantity, or importance, but rather are used to distinguish one element from another.

Referring to FIG.1, where a patient can select a doctor from the large pool of doctors, patient can view qualification, experience and other credential of doctor, based on which he/she can select a particular doctor and request for appointment and select a particular time slot, after which the patient will make an advance payment toward the appointment. After successful payment patient will receive a confirmation about the consultation appointment. The doctor will view the queue of the appointment and if required make the request for the change in the appointment list and notification about the change request will be notified to the patient. The patient will either revise the appointment schedule, or can apply for cancellation. The payment will refund back to patient if chosen for cancellation as per applicable terms and conditions.

Prior to consultation, the patient could share already uploaded documents or upload and share all the record relating to the ailment. The documents can be provided by patient either as scanned/photo of the document or sourced from the health care providers including lab/imaging center. The uploaded document can be viewed by the doctor during or before consultation for effective communication during the consultation. During consultation the patient need not be present in the premise of the healthcare service provider. During consultation the doctor will initiate the Audio, Video and Chat call with the Patient from his/her Mobile phone or Web Application and patient receives the call/Message on his/her mobile phone or web application. Doctor can simultaneously share images/audio/video files on live chat along with the online consultation and keeps for any critical instructions or to communicate difficult words with patient.

After termination of consultation the Doctor will issue digital prescription or e-prescription. Patient will receive e-prescription document which can be used with pharmacy, lab, imaging etc. If doctor forgets to end the consultation, the session will end automatically after a defined time period and the e-prescription has been issued to patient.

Advantages of the current invention:
1) Location based and specialty, symptom etc Search options for doctor selection
2) Doctor detailed profile for Patient to make informed decision rather than just word of mouth today
3) Digital queues so that Patient is served in the order they get added
4) Only Doctor call Patient, rather Patient does or a third party connect both
5) Doctor has the visibility of detailed profile of patient health condition, and shared reports.
6) Patient records are visible during the online consultation to doctor in the chat window itself
7) Diacom viewer is part of the app itself, so doctor can view diacom images online
8) Patient can share documents at the time of call as well.
9) Doctor issue e-prescription document before end of consultation
10) Doctor issuing e-prescription document as part of the workflow not issued as outside document.

In the foregoing specification, the invention is described with reference to specific embodiments thereof, but those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention is not limited thereto. Various features and aspects of the above-described invention may be used individually or jointly. Further, the invention can be utilized in any number of environments and applications beyond those described herein without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the specification. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive. It will be recognized that the terms "comprising,""including," and "having," as used herein, are specifically intended to be read as open-ended terms of art.

CLAIMS:We claim:
1. A method for providing healthcare consultation services digitally, comprising the steps of:
providing plurality of medical practitioner along with their specialization, experience, qualification and credentials to patient;
patient located at any remote location after selecting the medical practitioner can request for appointment with that medical practitioner;
the said medical practitioner has the liberty to accept the appointment with the patient, on acceptance patient will be informed;
medical practitioner on fixed time slot of appointment will interact with the patient and render consultation, at the end of the consultation the doctor will issue a digital prescription.

2. The method for providing healthcare consultation services digitally, as claimed in claim 1, wherein the patient access the service through mobile application or web application.

3. The method for providing healthcare consultation services digitally, as claimed in claim 1, wherein the patient can upload medical reports and other related documents, which shall be accessible to medical practitioner during consultation.

4. The method for providing healthcare consultation services digitally, as claimed in claim 1, wherein digital prescription consist of details which can be used for pharmacy, lab or imaging.

5. The method for providing healthcare consultation services digitally, as claimed in claim 1, wherein the patient shall make an advance payment for the appointment.

6. The method for providing healthcare consultation services digitally, as claimed in claim 1, wherein the doctor can request for the change in the appointment, which shall be notified to the patient.

7. The method for providing healthcare consultation services digitally, as claimed in claim 6, wherein the patient may either revise the appointment schedule, or can apply for cancellation.
The method for providing healthcare consultation services digitally, as claimed in claim 7, wherein patient will be entitled for refund for the amount paid for appointment, if applied for cancellation.