Health Care

System and method for supporting delivery of health care

Health Care Abstract
Effectuation of a health care provision agency cooperative function is established through a communication network linking all the various entities of the cooperative. The entities include the third party payor members, the health providing individuals, clinics, or the like, along with secondary providers including pharmacies and laboratories, health care facilities such as hospitals, and the several entities associated with management of the cooperative and appropriate funds transfer functions. A coordinating interface system maintains data storage of the necessary information, and manages the entity intercommunications in accordance with the basic structure of the active and eligible elements of the agency cooperative.

Health Care Claims
What is claimed is:

1. A method for effectuating a cooperative health care provision and management agency system through a data switch and repository device, said method comprising the steps of:

configuring said agency system to serve only a plurality of entities who have mutually agreed to participate in said agency system by way of a plurality of interdependent agency agreements executed by said plurality of entities;

said plurality of entities including health care providers, at least one financial institution, at least one insurance organization, a management service having said data switch and repository device, purchasing members who have one or more health care users as members, and health care users who qualify as an insurance organization via self insurance;

said mutual agreement to participate in said agency system by way of said plurality of interdependent agency agreements including authority mutually granted by said plurality of entities to said at least one insurance organization to adjudicate claims that are transmitted by said health care providers to said at least one insurance organization;

providing for said data switch and repository device to communicate data transmission among said plurality of entities and to record transactions between said plurality of entities;

compiling an entity list at said data switch and repository device, said entity list listing said plurality of entities;

updating said entity list as changes in a status of any of said plurality of entities occur;

electronically transmitting an inquiry from a given health care provider to said data switch and repository device relative to a given user;

electronically responding to said inquiry by transmitting a verification from said data switch and repository device to said given health care provider that said given user is eligible to receive care as an entity of said agency system;

electronically transmitting a claim from said given health care provider to said at least one insurance organization, said claim including codes indicating a diagnosis and treatment provided to said given user;

adjudicating at said at least one insurance organization said transmitted claim, and electronically notifying said given health care provider of the results of said adjudication;

responding to a favorable result of said adjudicating step by electronically transmitting a direction from said at least one insurance organization to a financial institution, said transmission authorizing said financial institution to pay said claim to the extent that said at least one insurance organization has adjudicated that said claim is payable; and

electronically transmitting from said at least one insurance organization to said given health care provider an explanation of benefits as determined from said adjudication.

2. The method of claim 1 including the steps of:

issuing to all of said users an electronic card that is usable only in said agency system for enabling automatic communication by said purchasing members through said data switch and repository device; and

using said data switch and repository device to provide reports of transactions between said plurality of entities for analyzing financial interchanges between said plurality of entities.

3. The method of claim 2 including the steps of:

determining an amount of credit extendible to said given user;

establishing an amount of said claim that is appropriate but in excess of an amount authorized for payment by said adjudicating step; and

authorizing payment in an amount in conformity with said determining step and said establishing step.

4. The method of claim 3 including the step of:

collecting information concerning health care provider performance from transmissions through said data switch and repository device.

Health Care Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to systems and processes for supporting the delivery of health care to individuals. More particularly, the present invention relates to devices and methods dedicated to effectuating the provision and management of a cooperative health care system in connection with an integrated cooperative group of entities. The present invention is concerned with a new paradigm of systems concerned with, and supported by, communications and computer networks and methods of using the same for providing medically oriented services while coordinating the various functions associated therewith.

2. Description of the Related Art

Historically, the dispensation of health care has generally occurred in a fragmented manner. Typically, individuals obtain medical services from health care providers; i.e., physicians, pharmacies, hospitals, or the like as needed. Increasingly over the past sixty years, these services have received coverage by some form of third party payor, such as the employer, the government, or an insurance mechanism, with the balance payment remaining the responsibility of the patient. Sometimes the patient pays directly for the services, and sometimes payment is effected by use of credit through a credit card company or the like. At other times, claims are submitted by the patient or by the provider to an insurance company who then pays the provider, patient, or both, as appropriate. There are many inefficiencies and inequalities inherent in this disjointed health care system and procedure.

Some business organizations have sprung up as health maintenance organizations which have prearranged service availability with particular health care providers where access, availability and methodology of treatment modalities are directly related to the structure and the payment mechanism inherent in vertically oriented organizations and related systems. Such arrangements tend to restrict the ability of the patient to select someone better known, or more desirable as a particular health care provider, to handle the particular problem.

Some prior art medical applications have employed computer systems and communications networks for various purposes. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,065,315 by Garcia employs a computer-based system for collecting patient data and producing time oriented task lists within a given hospital facility. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,491,725 by Pritchard, medical insurance coverage verification is initiated from a patient identifying card so as to access a central database through a data processing network.

Still other data processing systems have utilized computer programs, computers and data processing communication networks to interconnect a plurality of care providers, banks and insurance companies through a central computer to allow determinations of coverage and payments for patients, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,121 by Barber et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,916,611 by Doyle et al, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,070,452 by Doyle et al. Such prior art arrangements have not provided the systems and methods for effectuating a fully integrated and cooperative system for dispensing and managing health care.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The functions associated with health care provision assistance, in accordance with the present invention, advantageously utilize communicating computer equipment and a multiplicity of interconnected terminals and locations all associated with one or more of the multiple facets of an agency-cooperative health care provision and management system. Health care providers (such as doctors, hospitals, pharmacies and the like), insurance companies (including employer self insurance programs, no fault insurance programs, and government programs) and a financial institution are connected via computer terminal to a central data switch and repository computer which provides the interface between the terminals and records every transaction among the terminals. The data switch and repository is also connected to terminals associated with a coordinated management system. The management system handles the system housekeeping functions of the cooperative by monitoring the databases within the repository to ensure adequate performance by service providers and insurance companies.

A qualified member is issued an electronic card, or the like, by the financial institution, which also provides a credit level to the member. When the member visits a health care provider, the provider sends a diagnostic code to the member's insurance company and requests an authorization code which indicates the eligibility of the member for health care. The financial institution indicates whether the member has credit. After the member has received medical treatment, the provider submits a claim to the insurance company, which adjudicates the claim and notifies the financial institution to pay the claim on behalf of the third party payor and the insured member. The financial institution pays the provider's claim in full, minus a transactional fee used to pay for the bank's services and a reserve account to cover bad debt and charity care. The insurance company, or third party payor, sends an explanation of benefits to the provider, and also to the member showing which portion of the claim was paid by the insurance company and which must be paid by the patient. The bank bills the patient for the patient's share of the provider's bill which the bank has advanced. The patient and insurance company bills include a service charge to pay for the data switch and repository and management services. The bank also sends a detailed financial transaction report to the provider.

All of the transactions among the provider, insurance company, and financial institution are interfaced through the data switch and repository which records each transaction. The data switch and repository could consist of all of the databases located at the various entities. However, for redundancy and backup, in the preferred embodiment, the data switch and repository is a separate database which downloads and records all of the transactions between the entities of the system. Thus, the repository can provide statistical reports to the providers, insurance companies, and management service which are useful in assessing such matters as treatment effectiveness, insurance company performance, profitability, and conformance with cooperative group requirements.

Thus, the initiation of a medical care request by the subscriber member sets in motion a chain of events evolving around the various facets of the horizontally integrated agency cooperative. The functions involve verification of the insurance eligibility and credit of the member, membership status of the health care provider, and electronic transfer of accounting related data, including electronic claim processing and the transfer of funds by the financial institution (on behalf of third party payors and insured members).

The system and method of this invention is directed to the purpose of effectuating the operation of a cooperative agency organization dedicated to health care provision and management amongst a plurality of groups of entities. These entities include health care providers, health care facilities, a financial institution and third party payor members each of which has one or more health care users as constituents. A data switch and repository interfaces among these entities and the management service and stores records of all transactions between the entities.

A plurality of terminals are assigned to respective entities of the cooperative agency organization, and a data switch and repository interfaces among the entities' terminals for determining that a user is eligible for health care and for authorizing funds transfers correlated to services provided by a cooperative health provider to an authorized user. A particularly attractive device for facilitating determination of eligibility is the contemporary electronic cards each assigned to a respective one of the members for enabling automatic communication with the information storage. Such a card acts as a national bank credit card for health care for the insured member, as an I.D. card for the insurance company, as an access card to the system, and as a vehicle for health care providers to submit claims and get paid.

The data switch and repository can provide for interconnections amongst the health care providers and the health care facilities for permitting communications therebetween directed to health care provision to the member based upon establishment of eligibility of the member through an earlier inquiry of a provider or facility.

The method of this invention likewise effectuates the monitoring and management of a cooperative health care provision system through a management service. As mentioned, these entities typically include health care providers, health care facilities, a financial institution, and third party payors or subscribers who have one or more health care users as members. The method includes the initial and subsequent steps of providing interfacing between the entities, storing records of a transactions between entities, and providing statistical reports based on the transactions.

A request for information from a provider causes a response by determining that the provider is included in the listing of active members. A provider favorably thus determined in accordance with the responding step is allowed to have access to the database for determining that a user is eligible for health care and has credit. Thereafter, funds transfers are authorized in correlation to services provided by a cooperative health provider to an authorized user.

The system administrative time is reducible by the step of enabling the health care providers and health care facilities to cooperatively provide health care service to a user after a favorable determining response has resulted from the original provider inquiry.

Those having normal skill in the art will recognize the foregoing and other objects, features, advantages and applications of the present invention from the following more detailed description of the preferred embodiments as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a system block diagram illustrating communication between entities in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a system block diagram illustrating the apparatus which establishes the interrelationships between the various entities' terminals in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of the general steps for establishing eligibility and credit and claim submission and payment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing data switch and repository reports provided to entities.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 shows the interactions and communication between entities which cooperate as a collaborative health care system according to the present invention. The agency cooperative interface management system 10 is shown at the center of the diagram because management system 10 monitors and manages the system. Other elements of the system include administrative services terminals 35, purchasing members terminals 30, insurance company member terminals 25, secondary provider terminals 20, hospital facility terminals 15, and primary provider terminals. Communications occur between and among the entities' terminals through communications lines 12, 16, 17, 18, 21, 22, 26, 31, 32, 33, 36, and 37.

More particularly, FIG. 1 presents a general block diagram of the system configuration for a typical data processing network to effectuate the cooperative functions involved in the various entities for a fully integrated medical delivery and accounting system. The entities here involved cooperate as a collaborative health care system which offers more efficient delivery of medical care products and services at consequently lower costs, while establishing a vehicle by which all of the participating members in the system can have a voice in fashioning a series of cooperative interrelationships that work to the benefit of each facet of the cooperative.

The system intended for support by the FIG. 1 network is essentially a cooperative of buyers and sellers of products and services used in, or useful to, the health care industry. Such a system might have five or more voting segments with the entities of each segment generally related by similarity of business or professional interest so that no particular vested interest can control the decision making by the cooperative.

The interface management system 10 coordinates the vital functions of the cooperative. It obtains listings of the health provision entities, such as the primary health care providers 11 who have appropriate terminals to allow communication via communication links 12 with the coordinating management terminals 10. The terminals 11 are presumed assigned to the various physicians or other licensed health care facilities, such as clinics. An important segment of the cooperative are the hospitals and other licensed health care facilities which have agreed to become part of the cooperative and thus were assigned terminals 15 for communicating with the primary providers 11 over links 17 and with the coordinating interface 10 over links 16.

Secondary health care providers, such as laboratories, pharmacies, medical products suppliers and manufacturers, and the like, are assigned terminals 20 for communicating with the coordinating terminals 10 over links 21, and with insurance business entities at their terminals 25 which, in turn, communicate with the coordinator over links 26. The subscribers or purchasing members of the cooperative are employers, their employees, individuals, groups of individuals, associations, trusts, agents and the like. These are assigned terminals 30 for communicating with the other components of the cooperative as shown. It is the individuals, employees and members of the various organizations who are associated with these purchasing entity terminals 30 who essentially drive the interactions of the components of the system.

For purposes of the present example, the final cooperative group segment is assigned the administrative services terminals 35. The functions here provided are the general administration, legal services, accounting services, banking functions, financial organizations (such as credit companies), claims processors, data processing functions, and the like. Their terminals are coupled with the other system functions via links 33, 36 and 37.

Note that the outer loop, including communication links 17, 18, 22, 32, 33 and 37, is intended to indicate that any of the outer terminals on this loop can communicate with one or more terminals likewise on that loop, in addition to communicating with the centralized interface management system 10. Thus, a physician with a primary provider terminal 11 can communicate directly with the terminal 25 of an insurance entity to directly enter a claim upon providing services to an eligible (or at least prospectively eligible) subscriber. In addition, that same physician at a terminal 11 can contact a secondary provider terminal 20, such as for having a prescription filled.

The overall cooperative can readily eliminate duplication of services by the mutual agreement of the various components through the coordinating efforts of the interface management system 10.

In operation, the cooperative members are provided with an authorizing entry in a database managed and compiled by the interface system 10 when an appropriate service and fee payment is established by a member user associated with a terminal 30. The individuals are then given an identification code which preferably would take the form of an electronic access card or bank card. This allows access to the substantial technical capacity of member financial and banking services. This feature, including identification, billing and payment mechanisms, represents a potential savings over the administration of contemporary health provision systems.

The overall cooperative is based upon a membership which mutually agrees to the agency cooperative business relationship with potentially democratic management thereof. Thus, a network of interdependent agreements make up the cooperative thereby realizing increased efficiencies and economies of scale while lowering the costs to the members and subscribers. As a result, a managed and collaborative health care marketplace is created that ensures the availability and quality of care in a given locale or region. The cooperative structure can accommodate a single payor, or any third party arrangement, even to the extent of an entire Medicaid or Medicare system as a purchasing member. The arrangement promotes the provision of competitive quality health care services and the collective well being of the cooperative members.

A purchaser database is built and maintained as the responsibility of the agency management 10 and it is administered for the cooperative management system. The agency builds a database of the various members of the cooperative, including listings of providers, facilities, administrators including finance related entities, insurance entities and purchasing members. Whenever a purchasing member has entered the cooperative, the agency management 10 collects enrollment data of the actual health care users from that purchasing member of the cooperative.

The collected data is then transferred to an administrator terminal 35 who creates a database entry. The administrator transfers the enrollment data to a bank such as at another terminal 35, and/or to an insurance terminal 25. The administrator archives the data set as a backup, since the user-accessed database is now available to the bank and/or insurance member.

Periodically, changes in the enrollment data will occur as with employees hired by, or leaving, an employer purchasing member. The subscriber, or purchasing member, at their terminal 30 notifies the coordinating agency of these changes. The data management thereafter is similar to that described above for new enrollment data.

FIG. 2 presents a general block diagram of the system configuration for a typical data processing network to effectuate the cooperative functions involved in the various entities shown in FIG. 1 for a fully integrated medical delivery and accounting system. The entities here involved cooperate as a collaborative health care system which offers more efficient delivery of medical care products and services at consequently lower costs, while establishing a vehicle by which all of the participating members in the system can have a voice in fashioning a series of cooperative interrelationships that work to the benefit of each facet of the cooperative.

The system intended for support by the FIG. 2 network is essentially a cooperative of buyers and sellers of products and services used in, or useful to, the health care industry. Such a system might have five or more voting segments with the entities of each segment generally related by similarity of business or professional interest so that no particular vested interest can control the decision making by the cooperative.

The data switch and repository 310 interfaces between all of the other entities (315, 320, 325, 330) of the system via communications lines (312, 322, 327, 332), and maintains records of all of the transactions between entities. Data switch and repository 310 can thus provide reports to the entities based upon statistical analysis of the transactions, as shown in FIG. 4.

The financial institution, or bank, is provided with terminals 315. The bank is responsible for providing an electronic card and credit level to each patient for obtaining health care services. The credit level is determined by how much credit the patient could possibly need in a year, i.e. the deductible, coinsurance and copayments up to where the insurance company starts paying 100%. The patient only loses his or her credit by abusing it (not paying bills). Thus, the bank only informs the health care providers whether the patient has credit or not, and the provider does not have to worry about the amount of credit. The bank pays the health care provider immediately after the provider's claim is adjudicated by the insurance company before collecting from the patient. The insurance company and the patient then each pay their share of the claim to the bank.

Terminals 320 are assigned to health care providers, such as physicians, hospitals, labs or pharmacies, who are members of the health care cooperative. The providers use their terminals to verify that a patient has coverage (verified by the patient's insurance company) and credit (verified by the bank). The credit verification only tells the provider whether the patient's credit is good, not its level. The provider then provides care to the patient and sends an electronic claim to the insurance company. In case a provider does not have one or more terminals, the verification and claim could be done via a credit card "swipe" or even over the phone. The information which must be provided in a verification or claim is much shorter than for conventional claim forms, because so much information about the patient and the provider is already contained in data switch and repository 310.

Once the insurance company adjudicates the claim, the provider is fully reimbursed by the bank for the claim, minus a service charge. The service charge is used to pay for the bank services, the management service, the data switch and repository 310, and a reserve fund for bad patient debt. Thus, the health care provider does not have to worry about the intricacies of the patient's health care coverage, bad debt, slow payment by the insurance company, or the like. The provider's job consists solely of electronically verifying coverage and credit, providing health care, and submitting a simple electronic claim.

The insurance company (or third party payor) terminals 325 are provided to conventional insurance companies, employer self funded insurance trusts (ERISA), government plans, no fault auto insurance plans, and the like. These entities use their terminals to provide verification of patient eligibility to health care providers, to receive claims from providers for adjudication, to tell the bank to pay the claim, and to provide an explanation of benefits to the health care provider. A copy of the explanation of benefits is also mailed to the patient, or can be sent electronically.

For purposes of the present example, the final cooperative group segment is assigned the management service terminals 330. The management service uses its terminals to monitor and manage the cooperative. The management service receives reports from data switch and repository 310, as shown in FIG. 4.

The overall cooperative can readily eliminate duplication of services by the mutual agreement of the various components through the coordinating efforts of the management service 330.

The overall cooperative is based upon a membership which mutually agrees to the agency cooperative business relationship with potentially democratic management thereof. Thus, a network of interdependent agreements make up the cooperative, thereby realizing increased efficiencies and economies of scale while lowering the costs to the members and subscribers. As a result, a managed and collaborative health care marketplace is created that ensures the availability and quality of care in a given locale or region. The cooperative structure can accommodate a single payor, or any third party arrangement, even to the extent of an entire Medicaid or Medicare system as a purchasing member. The arrangement promotes the provision of competitive quality health care services, and the collective well being of the cooperative members.

The FIG. 3 flowchart illustrates the steps followed as a patient uses the services of a health care provider in the cooperative system. Reference to FIG. 2 is helpful in stepping through the flowchart. In step 100, the patient becomes a member of the cooperative. The bank issues the patient an electronic card, and provides a credit level to the patient which would permit the maximum out of pocket expenses which could be accrued by the patient in a year. The bank will verify to providers that the patient has credit, unless the patient does not pay his or her bills, in which case credit is revoked.

In step 102, the patient visits a health care provider, such as a doctor. The doctor verifies in step 104 that the patient has coverage and credit. The doctor may "swipe" the card through a credit card type machine, or may type the patient's identification number into terminal 320. Data switch and repository 310 forwards the eligibility and credit verification request to bank terminal 315. The bank maintains a database of eligibility which is updated by the insurance companies. Data switch and repository 310 records these requests and the responses from the insurance company and bank terminals 325, 315.

If the patient is covered by the insurance company, but does not have credit, the doctor is warned that this patient is likely to default on the doctor's bill, and the bank will not pay it. The doctor can then make the choice of whether to request payment up front, or wait for the insurance company and the patient to pay the bill in the traditional manner.

The doctor provides health care to the patient and submits an electronic claim to the insurance company in step 106. The claim includes diagnostic codes and treatment codes so that the insurance company can adjudicate the claim. The claim is sent from the doctor's terminal 320 to the insurance company terminal 325 via data switch and repository 310, which also records the transaction and the codes.

In step 108, the insurance company adjudicates the claim and directs the bank to pay the doctor. The request is sent from the insurance company terminal 325 to the bank terminal 315 via the data switch and repository, which records the transaction.

In step 110, the bank pays the doctor. The bank pays the claim amount minus a service charge. Generally, electronic funds transfer (ACH type) will be used. In step 112, the insurance company sends an explanation of benefits to the doctor via data switch and repository 310, which records the transaction. The explanation of benefits may be mailed to the doctor as well. The explanation of benefits is also mailed to the patient, and acts as a bill for the patient's share of the claim. In step 114, the patient and the insurance company each pay their share of the claim amount to the bank.

The flow diagram of FIG. 3 has been discussed in terms of the patient seeing a doctor, but visits to other health care providers operate in the same manner. For example, if the patient visited a pharmacy to get a prescription filled, the pharmacist would verify coverage and credit, fill the prescription, and file a claim in the same manner as described above.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing data switch and repository 310 reports which may be provided to the entities. From the process flow of FIG. 3, it is evident that data switch and repository 310 maintains a database containing every transaction between the entities. Thus, by statistical analysis, it is possible for data switch and repository 310 to generate useful reports based upon these transactions. The reports which data switch and repository 310 generates for each entity depends on what is requested by the entity, and also what the entity is allowed to have in terms of confidentiality.

Block 205 shows the type of reports which might be generated for a health care provider, for example, a doctor. The doctor can access all the details of his or her own patients, including diagnoses, drugs taken, number of visits, and the like. Preferably, the doctor will have to provide both the patients ID number and the doctor's own ID number for access to the information, in order to provide security for the patient's files. The doctor may also access statistical data on all of the patients in the cooperative. Thus, the doctor can find out for all of the patients with a particular condition what drugs were taken, how many doctor visits were necessary for patients taking each drug, etc. It is immediately evident how powerful such statistical reports could be in assessing outcomes and doing cost analysis. Furthermore, the data is automatically collected and maintained, unlike many statistical surveys which rely on doctors exhaustively looking up data, remembering it correctly, and reporting it accurately. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that more complete medical records could also be stored by data switch and repository 310, allowing for more powerful reports.

Block 210 shows the type of reports which might be provided to insurance companies. Again, an insurance company can access detailed data on patients insured with it, and global comparison data among all of the patients in the cooperative. These type of reports help insurance companies assess risk and determine whether a patient is being appropriately treated.

Block 215 shows the type of reports provided to management services. Management services is responsible for monitoring the transaction which take place in the cooperative and ensuring that the entities meet the requirements set by the cooperative. In addition, management services has the role of looking for more efficient and cost effective ways of doing business. The reports provided by data switch and repository 310 are vital in allowing management services to fulfil these responsibilities. For example, management services monitors the performance of each insurance company by checking how long it takes for each company to adjudicate claims and whether each insurance company is paying meritorious claims as determined by the cooperative. Management services can also monitor the comparative effectiveness of health care providers, both in terms of patient outcomes and cost.

The accompanying sixty-seven page Addendum, which is part of the detailed description of the preferred embodiment, provides a detailed definition of the interfaces associated with the present invention. In this Addendum, MSF stands for a master system flowchart, JC is an acronym for the cooperative agency sometimes referred to as Just Care, JCA means the system administrator, JCB means the bank, INS is the insurance company, PRO is the provider, PUR is the purchaser, C is a card, T is a telephone, while "800" indicates a toll-free telephone number, E means electronic, P means paper, TPA/SF indicates a third party administrator and/or self funded member, ECP is an electronics claim processor, and all other initials or abbreviations are believed conventional.

While the exemplary preferred embodiments of the present invention are described herein with particularity, those having normal skill in the art will recognize various changes, modifications, additions and applications other than those specifically mentioned herein without departing from the spirit of this invention.