16. The system of claim 15 , further comprising a ranking component configured to compute a ranking for at least one of the one or more identified elements and to compute a ranking for the first clinical document in relation to the second clinical document.
17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the ranking component computes the rankings based one or more of: a text similarity measurement, a quantity of identical phrases or sentences having temporal patterns, a quantity of identical phrases or sentences that are statistically improbable to be repeated, a quantity of identical phrases or sentences having charge-related patterns, or a quantity of phrases or sentences describing clinical procedures or occurrences that are unlikely to repeat from the first point in time corresponding to the first clinical document to the subsequent point in time corresponding to the second clinical document.