What is claimed:
1. A billing method for billing for medical treatments, said method comprising:
capturing a treatment event by electronically scanning, at the time of the treatment event, a machine readable patient identifier carried by a patient treatment chart having entered thereon a prescribed treatment;
entering the captured treatment event into a computerized billing system along with the corresponding patient identifier;
using the patient treatment chart to validate charges entered into the billing system;
collecting all treatment events that are entered into the billing system for a specific patient identifier; and
generating an invoice for all of the collected treatment events entered into the billing system for the specific patient identifier.
2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said patient treatment chart contains a prescribed schedule of treatments for the patient.
3. A method as claimed in claim 2 further comprising providing an indication whether or not a specific treatment of the prescribed schedule of treatments has been carried out.
4. A method as claimed in claim 3 wherein a dialog box is presented to a user on a monitor located at the site at which the treatment event takes place, said dialog box presenting choices corresponding to (i) full treatment, (ii) partial treatment and (iii) no treatment and wherein the user checks the appropriate box to indicate to the billing system the treatment, if any, that was performed.
5. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the treatment event is entered into the treatment chart at the time the treatment takes place.
6. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the patient treatment chart is used to verify that appropriate documentation exists for all charges entered into the billing system.
7. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein a milestone billing report is generated after a predetermined number of said treatment events is captured and wherein generation of an invoice by the billing system takes place responsive to the generation of the milestone report.
8. A method as claimed in claim 7 wherein the billing system designates every fifth treatment event as a milestone for triggering generation of said milestone billing report.
9. A method as claimed in claim 8 wherein the milestone billing report includes a patient name, milestone information and bill date for a given milestone, said bill date being the date of the first treatment event of the treatment events leading up to the milestone.
10. A method as claimed in claim 9 wherein, when a full course of treatment for the patient is completed and the number of leftover unbilled treatments is not divisible by five, the billing system, in billing for the leftover treatments when there are at least three treatments, treats the leftover treatments as a further milestone and assigns as a bill date for the milestone the date of the first of the leftover treatments.
11. A method as claimed in claim 8 wherein the billing system enables a user to log on to check whether said milestones are being properly reported.
12. A method as claimed in claim 11 wherein a check is made by the billing system when a milestone is generated to check for at least one of the following errors: (i) items on the patient chart are not billed out and (ii) a prescribed treatment schedule is not entered into the chart.
13. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the billing system provides that, in generating the invoice, nothing can be billed for that is not entered into the patient treatment chart.
14. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein a characteristic audio signal, previously assigned to the patient and unique to the patient, is generated when there is a match between the patient identifier carried by the treatment chart and a stored patient identifier.
15. A billing method for billing for medical treatments administered to a patient, said method comprising:
capturing an independent treatment event by electronically scanning, at the time of the treatment event, a machine readable patient identifier for identifying the patient;
entering, at the time of the treatment event, data with respect to the treatment event, and other billable items, into a patient treatment chart associated with the specific patient identifier;
monitoring the treatment events captured for each specific patient identifier and, when the number of treatment events for a specific patient identifier reaches a predetermined number, selecting the patient treatment chart associated with the specific patient identifier; and
when the treatment chart is selected, generating an invoice identified by the patient identifier based on the patient treatment chart.
16. A method as claimed in claim 15 wherein said machine readable identifier is carried by the patient treatment chart and said patient treatment chart has entered thereon a prescribed schedule of treatment events.
17. A method as claimed in claim 15 further comprising electronically scanning a corresponding machine readable patient identifier associated with an element employed in connection with the treatment event.
18. A method as claimed in claim 17 wherein said element comprises a port film.
19. A method as claimed in claim 17 wherein said element comprises a diode.
20. A method as claimed in claim 15 further comprising providing an indication whether or not a specific treatment of the prescribed schedule of treatments has been carried out.
21. A method as claimed in claim 20 wherein a dialog box is presented to a user on a monitor located at the site at which the treatment event takes place, said dialog box presenting choices corresponding to (i) full treatment, (ii) partial treatment and (iii) no treatment and wherein the user checks the appropriate box to indicate to the billing system the treatment, if any, that was performed.
22. A method as claimed in claim 15 wherein said predetermined number is five and a milestone billing report is generated each time the number of treatment events reaches a milestone of a fifth successive treatment in a series of treatments of a patient.
23. A method as claimed in claim 22 wherein the milestone billing report includes a patient name, milestone information and bill date for a given milestone, said bill date being designated as the date of the first treatment event of the treatment events leading up to the milestone.
24. A method as claimed in claim 22 wherein, when a full course of treatment for the patient is completed and the number of leftover unbilled treatments is not divisible by five, the billing system, in billing for the leftover treatments, treats the leftover treatments as a further milestone should there be at least three treatments and assigns as the bill date the date of the first of the leftover treatments.
25. A method as claimed in claim 24 wherein the billing system enables a user to log on to check whether said milestones are being properly reported.
26. A method as claimed in claim 22 wherein said treatment events are captured at a plurality of different treatment sites and a computerized billing system at a central billing office is used to determine the number of milestones reached for each treatment site during a preselected billing period and automatically checking if the corresponding charge for said period is recorded on the billing system on the correct bill date for each milestone reached.
27. A method as claimed in claim 15, wherein a characteristic audio signal, previously assigned to the patient and unique to the patient, is generated when there is a match between the patient identifier being scanned and a stored patient identifier.
28. A method of facilitating billing for medical treatment services involving treatment of a patient wherein a patient treatment chart is used in conjunction with the treatment of the patient, said method comprising the steps of:
logging onto a computerized billing system when the patient treatment chart is located at a predetermined location in a treatment facility; and
generating a billing alert in response to said logging on step so as to ensure patient treatment provided at said location will be billed out.
29. A method as claimed in claim 28 wherein said logging on step comprises logging on responsive to use of a scanning device located at said predetermined location to scan a patient identifier on said patient treatment chart.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method for generating at least one information associated with at least one signal or data received from at least one structure, comprising:
determining at least one basis based on a combination of a plurality of portions of the at least one signal or the data; and
with a computer arrangement, generating the at least one information as a function of the at least one basis.
2-11. (canceled)
12. A non-transitory computer readable medium including instructions thereon that are accessible by a hardware processing arrangement, wherein, when the processing arrangement executes the instructions, the processing arrangement is configured to:
determine at least one basis based on a combination of a plurality of portions of at least one signal or the data; and
generate the at least one information as a function of the at least one basis.
13. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the combination includes at least one of a summation, an average, a weighted average, or a statistical representation.
14. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the summation includes a summation of a plurality of segments of the at least one signal or the data.
15. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the generation of the at least one information comprises applying a transform relating the summation to at least one frequency of the at least one signal so as to generate a power spectrum.
16. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the at least one signal or the data includes at least one of a video-capsule image associated with one of a celiac disease or a cardiac signal as obtained during atrial fibrillation.
17. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the at least one information includes at least one of a dominant frequency, a dominant period, a mean, a standard deviation in a power spectral profile, or a further statistical representation.
18. The computer readable medium of claim 15, further comprising quantifying at least one characteristic associated with the at least one signal or the data based on the transform.
19. The computer readable medium of claim 15, further comprising reducing at least one of a noise, an interference, and an artifact in generating a reconstruction of the at least one signal or the data based on the transform.
20. The computer readable medium of claim 15, further comprising increasing a frequency resolution for a given time period of the at least one signal or the data.
21. The computer readable medium of claim 15, further comprising causing a recognition of a source pattern of the at least one signal or the data based on the transform
22. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the signal or the data is an image.
23. A system for generating at least one information associated with at least one signal or data received from at least one structure, comprising:
a processor which is configured to
i. determine at least one basis based on a combination of a plurality of portions of the at least one signal or the data; and
ii. generate the at least one information as a function of said at least one basis.
24. The system of claim 23, wherein the combination includes at least one of a summation, an average, a weighted average, or a statistical representation.
25. The system of claim 23, wherein the summation includes a summation of a plurality of segments of the at least one signal or the data.
26. The system of claim 23, wherein the generation of the at least one information comprises applying a transform relating the summation to at least one frequency of the at least one signal so as to generate a power spectrum.
27. The system of claim 23, wherein the at least one signal or the data includes at least one of a video-capsule image associated with one of a celiac disease or a cardiac signal as obtained during atrial fibrillation.
28. The system of claim 23, wherein the at least one information includes at least one of a dominant frequency, a dominant period, a mean, a standard deviation in a power spectral profile, or a further statistical representation.
29. The system of claim 26, further comprising quantifying at least one characteristic associated with the at least one signal or the data based on the transform.
30. The system of claim 26, further comprising reducing of at least one of a noise, an interference, or an artifact in generating a reconstruction of the at least one signal or the data based on the transform.
31. The system of claim 26, further comprising increasing a frequency resolution for a given time period of the at least one signal or the data based on the transform.
32. The system of claim 26, further comprising causing a recognition of a source pattern of the at least one signal or the data.
33. The system of claim 23, wherein the signal or the data is an image.