Patient direct connect

Abstract

An online service provider information service provides users with the ability to contact service centers. The service provides the ability for service centers to participate in the service as a sponsor. A user requests information regarding a particular service provider or service. In response, a webpage is generated with the requested information. Unique contact identifiers are associated with the sponsors that allow a user to connect to the sponsor service center and are included in the webpage. The unique identifiers allow the service to track the success of directing users to the sponsored service centers based on their participation in the information service. The unique identifiers also allow for implementing pay per search payment schemes and for generating reports based on the sponsor's participation in the information service.

1 . A computer storage medium encoding computer executable instructions that, when executed on a processor, perform a method of generating a webpage providing a user access to medical service providers via a sponsoring service center, the method comprising:
 receiving, at a server, a request from a client for a medical service provider;   determining a type of the request;   based upon the determination, generating a webpage providing the client access to the sponsoring service center, wherein the webpage comprises one or more unique contact numbers that are available on the generated webpage, the one or more unique numbers selected depending on the context of the webpage and the location of the one or more unique numbers on the webpage; and   providing access to the medical service provider by sending the generated webpage to the client, wherein the one or more unique contact numbers is used to connect the client to the sponsoring service center.   
     
     
         2 . The computer storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the request from the client comprises a request for a medical service provider comprising a particular specialty and a particular geographic location. 
     
     
         3 . The computer storage medium of  claim 2 , wherein the generated webpage is a search result webpage comprising:
 a first unique contact number for a first sponsoring service center;   a list of a first set of medical service providers affiliated with the sponsoring service center; and   a list of a second set of medical service providers not affiliated with the sponsoring service center, wherein the list of the second set of medical providers is located in a separate area from the list of the first set of medical service providers.   
     
     
         4 . The computer storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the type of request from the client comprises a request for a specific medical service provider affiliated with a sponsoring service center, and wherein the generated webpage comprises:
 a first unique contact number that provides access to the sponsoring service provider; and   information about the specific medical service provider.   
     
     
         5 . The computer storage medium of  claim 4 , wherein the first unique contact number provides an indication that the client was directed to the sponsoring service center based on the request for the specific medical service provider. 
     
     
         6 . The computer storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the type of request from the client comprises a request for a specific medical service provider not affiliated with the sponsoring service center, and wherein the generated webpage comprises:
 a first unique contact number that provides access to the sponsoring service center, wherein the first unique contact number indicates that the client was directed to the sponsoring service center from a webpage displaying information about a non-sponsored service provider not affiliated with the sponsoring service center;   information about the sponsoring service center; and   information about the non-sponsored medical service provider.   
     
     
         7 . The computer storage medium of  claim 6 , wherein the sponsoring service provider is selected from a list of one or more sponsoring service providers, wherein the selected sponsoring service provider is affiliated with service providers that have the same specialty and geographic location as a specified non-sponsored service provider not affiliated with the sponsoring service. 
     
     
         8 . The computer storage medium of  claim 1  further comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, perform the steps of:
 analyzing the generated webpage to determine that the generated webpage comprises one or more unique contact numbers;   determining one or more sponsoring medical service centers associated with the one or more unique contact numbers; and   charging the account of the one or more sponsoring medical service centers.   
     
     
         9 . The computer storage medium of  claim 8 , wherein an amount charged to the one or more sponsoring service centers depends on the type and location of the one or more unique contact numbers in the generated webpage. 
     
     
         10 . The computer storage medium of  claim 1 , further comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, perform the steps of:
 receiving information from the sponsoring service center;   retrieving a count of the number of times a unique contact number related to the sponsoring service center has been included in one or more generated webpages;   comparing the received information against the count; and   generating a report specifying the rate of successfully directing a client to the sponsoring service center.   
     
     
         11 . The computer storage medium of  claim 1 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, perform the step of including code in the generated webpage to display a rollover pop-up display. 
     
     
         12 . A system for providing information related to medical service providers to a user, the system comprising:
 a processing unit; and   a memory coupled to the processing unit, the memory encoding computer executable instructions that, when executed by the processing unit, perform a method of generating information related to medical service providers, the method comprising:   receiving a first request from a user at a client computer, wherein the first request comprises a request for information related to one or more medical service providers, the request comprising a geographic location and a specialty;   generating a search result webpage comprising:
 a first unique contact number, the first unique contact number allowing the user to connect to the sponsoring service provider, wherein the first unique contact number indicates that the user was directed to the sponsoring service provider from the search result webpage; 
 a list of a first set of medical service providers affiliated with the sponsoring service center; and 
 a list of a second set of medical service providers not affiliated with the sponsoring service center, wherein the list of the second set of medical providers is located below the list of the first set of medical service providers; 
   sending the search result webpage to the user at the client computer;   receiving a second request from the user at the client computer, wherein the second request comprises a request for information related to a specific medical service provider affiliated with the sponsoring service center;   generating a second webpage comprising:
 a second unique contact number that provides access to the sponsoring service provider, the second unique contact number indicates that the user was directed to the sponsoring service provider from the second webpage, and wherein the second unique contact number is different from the first unique contact number; and 
 information about the specific medical service provider; and 
   sending the second webpage to the user at the client computer.   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the memory further comprises computer executable instructions that, when executed by the processing unit, perform steps comprising:
 receiving a third request from the user at the client computer, wherein the third request comprises a request for information related to a non-sponsored medical service provider not affiliated with the sponsoring service center;   generating a third webpage comprising:
 a third unique contact number that provides access to the sponsoring service provider, the third unique contact number indicates that the user was directed to the sponsoring service provider from the third webpage, and wherein the third unique contact number is different from the first and second unique contact numbers; 
 information about the sponsoring service center; and 
 information about the non-sponsored medical service provider not affiliated with the sponsoring service center. 
   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the information about the sponsored service center comprises a list of medical service providers affiliated with the sponsoring service center. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the information about the sponsoring service center comprises a rollover pop-up display. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the memory further comprises computer executable instructions that, when executed by the processing unit, perform steps comprising:
 analyzing the generated webpages to determine that the generated webpages comprise one or more unique contact numbers;   determining one or more sponsoring medical service centers associated with the one or more unique contact numbers; and   charging the account of the one or more sponsoring medical service centers.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the memory further comprises computer executable instructions that, when executed by the processing unit, perform steps comprising:
 receiving information from the sponsoring service center;   retrieving a count of the number of times a unique contact number related to the sponsoring service center has been included in one or more generated webpages;   comparing the received information against the count; and   generating a report specifying the rate of successfully directing a client to the sponsoring service center.   
     
     
         18 . A system for providing patient direct connect access to a medical service provider, the system comprising:
 a client machine for sending a request, from a user, for information related to medical services;   a server for:
 receiving the request; 
 generating a webpage in response to the request for information related to medical services, wherein the webpage comprises one or more unique contact numbers identifying a sponsoring service center; 
 sending the webpage from the server to the client machine; 
   a sponsoring service center for:
 receiving a request for medical services from the user, wherein the user contacts the sponsoring service center using the one or more unique contact numbers of the webpage; 
 recording user information related to the request for medical services; 
 connecting the user to an affiliated service provider; and 
   the affiliated service provider for recording the user's appointment for medical services.   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the sponsoring service center further performs the action of sending the user information to the server. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the server further generates a sponsoring hospital tag on the webpage, wherein the sponsoring hospital tag includes a second unique contact number. 
     
     
         21 . A computer storage medium encoding computer executable instructions that, when executed on a processor, perform a method of generating a webpage providing a user access to medical service providers via a service center, the method comprising:
 receiving, at a server, a request from a client for a medical service provider;   determining a type of the request;   based upon the determination, generating a webpage providing the client access to information related to the medical service provider; and   providing access to the medical service provider by sending the generated webpage to the client.   
     
     
         22 . The computer storage medium of  claim 21 , wherein the request from the client comprises a request for a medical service provider comprising a particular specialty and a particular geographic location. 
     
     
         23 . The computer storage medium of  claim 22 , wherein the generated webpage comprises search results listing a plurality of medical service providers having the particular specialty and located within the particular geographic location. 
     
     
         24 . The computer storage medium of  claim 23 , wherein the listing of the plurality of medical service provides further comprises:
 the names of the plurality for service providers;   the location of the plurality of service providers; and   a plurality of links to further information about the plurality of service providers.   
     
     
         25 . The computer storage medium of  claim 21 , wherein the type of request from the client comprises a request for a service center. 
     
     
         26 . The computer storage medium of  claim 25 , wherein the generated webpage comprises information related to the service center. 
     
     
         27 . The computer storage medium of  claim 26 , wherein the generated webpage further comprises information regarding the location of the service center. 
     
     
         28 . The computer storage medium of  claim 26 , wherein the service center is affiliated with a selected medical service provider. 
     
     
         29 . The computer storage medium of  claim 21 , wherein the type of request from the complete comprises a request for information about a specific medical service provider. 
     
     
         30 . The computer storage medium of  claim 29 , wherein the generated webpage further comprises information related to the specific medical service provider. 
     
     
         31 . The computer storage medium of claim, wherein the generated webpage further comprises:
 information related to the specific medical service provider's practice;   information related to the specific medical service provider's experience; and   information related to the specific medical service provider's education.