Abstract:
A system, method and computer program product for linking healthcare purchases to tax advantaged accounts by means of a card containing a card member&#39;s data. The system assists in substantiating eligible expenses for participating card holders. The system leverages existing data feeds. By flagging eligible purchases, the invention aids in automation of the rebate/claims process thereby leading to a faster substantiation of claims and hence, improving customer satisfaction. The individual card member, the card company and a service providing merchant can also communicate through a common platform like a third party website to manually substantiate any pending claims corresponding to purchases. The invention circumvents the need for a card member to use electronic payment cards at only eligible health care merchants and assists individual card members in getting benefits for eligible purchases made using the electronic card at non-healthcare merchants.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention generally relates to the field of making payments for health care purchases at healthcare and non-healthcare merchants and to providing tax advantages to a card member for eligible items in a purchase, independent of the retailer from whom that purchase was made. 
         [0003]    2. Related Art 
         [0004]    In recent times, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has allowed various healthcare items, like medicines and medical equipments, to be deemed eligible for tax advantaged accounts (TAAs) like Flexible Savings Account (FSA), Heath Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) or Health Savings Account (HSA) benefits for a card holder. An HRA or an HSA account is funded by an employer, whereas an FSA or an HSA account is funded from an employee&#39;s own salary. The employee gets tax deductions for funds put into the HRA or the HSA account. 
         [0005]    However, the IRS has restricted the usage of payment cards when accessing the funds from tax advantaged accounts for substantiation of any tax benefits associated with these accounts to only those merchants and service providers that have a valid Merchant Category Code (MCC) related to healthcare (i.e., physicians, pharmacies, dentists, vision care offices, hospitals or other medical care providers). The IRS has reiterated this point in a recent guidance issued in year 2006 and has stated that Third Party Administrators (TPAs) of these accounts and card holders must comply with these guidelines. Further, the IRS has ruled that after Dec. 31, 2007, payment cards may not be used at any store, vendor or merchant that does not have related MCCs (that is, any non-healthcare merchant in general), unless the store, vendor or merchant has implemented an inventory information approval system. In addition, after Dec. 31, 2008, the IRS requires the above mentioned compliance on a “store location by store location” basis for retail pharmacies or stand-alone pharmacies that have less than 90% of their inventory falling under the category of healthcare items. 
         [0006]    This guidance severely limits where an individual can utilize a payment card linked to tax advantaged accounts like FSA or HRA accounts, for purchases made. Such a limitation can restrict the card holder to using other financial instruments for healthcare purchases, that otherwise would have been eligible for benefits, if the merchant selling the item does not have a valid MCC and is a non-healthcare merchant. The card holder, though may file a claim later on and get reimbursed for it. Though the IRS has allowed the transaction to take place at a non-healthcare merchant, it requires the merchant to implement an inventory information approval system (e.g., line item details) at the merchant&#39;s point of sale (POS). This ensures that identification of eligible items happens substantially in real-time. Such an implementation will require significant changes to a merchant&#39;s POS solution. Additionally, conventional procedures require a lot of paperwork to be submitted by a card holder to get reimbursement for healthcare purchases leading to a slow, error-prone and resource intensive payment process. 
         [0007]    Given the foregoing, what is needed is a system, method and computer program product for circumventing restrictions on the usage of a payment card by a card holder or an individual for healthcare purchases made at healthcare and non-healthcare merchants. Further, the system, method and computer program product should be able to provide a means for complete transaction execution including payments for eligible and non-eligible items, dynamically in real time or offline (for transactions that cannot be substantiated right away at a POS device). The card holder should also be able to substantiate and track transaction details for purchases deducted from his or her tax advantaged accounts, like the FSA, HRA or HSA accounts, by means of a website or a portal. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    The present invention meets the above-mentioned needs by providing a system, method and computer program product for substantiating eligible expenses related to participating card holders for purchases made at healthcare and non-healthcare merchants. The card holder possesses a card that acts as a filtered multi-purpose payment card. The card can be used at healthcare and non-healthcare merchants, like retail stores. A TPA monitors purchases made on a continuous basis and auto-substantiates transactions whenever possible. Any substantiated purchases of eligible items would be automatically deducted from the card holder&#39;s tax advantaged accounts (like, for example, FSA, HRA or HSA accounts). Unsubstantiated purchases would be directly added to the card holder&#39;s line of credit account and would also be communicated to the card holder via a TPA website or portal, or via letter and emails to the individual card holder to substantiate any claims associated with a purchase. Further, the card holder can request amounts associated with specific purchased items to be automatically deducted from their tax advantaged accounts like FSA, HRA or HSA accounts. Any amount that remains unsubstantiated can be billed to the card holder&#39;s line of credit account with an associated issuer or company. Eligible payments in this process can be deducted from a card holder&#39;s tax advantaged account like FSA, HSA or HRA account either automatically or upon request, depending upon the settings selected by the card holder on a TPA website or a portal. 
         [0009]    Purchases that are made at healthcare merchants (having valid MCC codes) but are not eligible for any FSA, HRA or HSA benefits can be rolled over to the card holder&#39;s line of credit account with the associated issuer or company to resolve the ineligible spend. After a certain period of time, unsubstantiated charges would be billed by the issuer or company to the card holder in a similar manner as any non-healthcare remittance. 
         [0010]    Additionally, the process may leverage existing data feeds to capture inventory details like line item details (LID) at a point of sale (POS) terminal of a merchant, irrespective of the merchant having a valid MCC code. Further, the process does not require the merchant to install any new hardware or software to automatically authorize the use of payment cards. 
         [0011]    Various embodiments of the present invention provide a system, method and computer program product for substantiating, in a secure way, eligible expenses for participating card holders. Substantiation can take place by various means like LID, matching co-payment amounts, feed from pharmacy benefits managers, or the like, well known to one skilled in the art. The various embodiments may also include performing one or more of the aforementioned functions independently and in any order, as per the need. 
         [0012]    Further features and advantages of the present invention as well as the structure and operation of various embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0013]    The features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the detailed description set forth below when taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which like reference numbers indicate identical or functionally similar elements. Additionally, the left-most digit of a reference number identifies the drawing in which the reference number first appears. 
           [0014]      FIG. 1  illustrates a sample receipt containing line-item-details for a purchase made by a card holder, according to one embodiment of the invention; 
           [0015]      FIG. 2  is an exemplary environment showing various elements involved in the implementation of health care card payment method, according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0016]      FIG. 3A  illustrates a process of authorization of payment card, according to an embodiment of the invention. 
           [0017]      FIG. 3B  illustrates a process where all purchases associated with a payment card are charged to a line of credit, according to yet another embodiment of the invention. 
           [0018]      FIG. 4A  illustrates a process of claims settlement. 
           [0019]      FIG. 4B  illustrates a process of claims settlement when a line of credit account is directly charged 
           [0020]      FIG. 5  illustrates a process of manual claims settlement, according to another embodiment of this invention. 
           [0021]      FIG. 6A  illustrates a process for updating the status of various claims according to yet another embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0022]      FIG. 6B  illustrates an alternative process for updating the status of various claims. 
           [0023]      FIG. 7  is a block diagram of an exemplary computer system useful for implementing the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     I. Overview 
       [0024]    The detailed description herein makes reference to the accompanying drawings and figures, which show exemplary embodiments of the invention by way of illustration and its best mode. While these exemplary embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, it should be understood that other embodiments may be realized and that logical and mechanical changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It will be apparent to a person skilled in the pertinent art that this invention can also be employed in a variety of other applications. Thus, the detailed description herein is presented for purposes of illustration only and not of limitation. For example, the steps recited in any of the method or process descriptions may be executed in any order and are not limited to the order presented. 
         [0025]    For the sake of brevity, conventional data networking, application development and other functional aspects of the systems (and components of the consumer operating components of the systems) may not be described in detail herein. Furthermore, the connecting lines shown in the various figures contained herein are intended to represent exemplary functional relationships and/or physical couplings between the various elements. It should be noted that many alternative or additional functional relationships or physical connections may be present in a practical system. 
         [0026]    The present invention is directed to a system, method and computer program product for providing benefits linked with tax advantaged accounts to eligible card holders, based on purchases made by them at healthcare and non-healthcare merchants. Further, the present invention may perform encryption and decryption of all data items during transmission to enhance the security of the overall process. It is also contemplated that substantiation of purchases for eligible transactions for various FSA, HRA or HSA benefits will be performed on a real time basis or offline over a full-duplex communication channel. Card holders can manually or automatically initiate the substantiation process through, for example, a third party website or portal. 
         [0027]    It will be understood that each functional block of the block diagrams and the flowchart illustrations, and combinations of functional blocks in the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, respectively, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be loaded onto a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions that execute on the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks. These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowchart block or blocks. The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks. 
         [0028]    Accordingly, functional blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagram illustrations support combinations of means for performing the specified functions, combinations of steps for performing the specified functions, and program instruction means for performing the specified functions. It will also be understood that each functional block of the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, and combinations of functional blocks in the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, can be implemented by either special purpose hardware-based computer systems which perform the specified functions or steps, or suitable combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions. Further, illustrations of the process flows and the descriptions thereof may make reference to user windows, webpages, websites, web forms, prompts, etc. Practitioners will appreciate that the illustrated steps described herein may comprise in any number of configurations including the use of windows, webpages, web forms, popup windows, prompts and the like. It should be further appreciated that the multiple steps as illustrated and described may be combined into single webpages and/or windows but have been expanded for the sake of simplicity. In other cases, steps illustrated and described as single process steps may be separated into multiple webpages and/or windows but have been combined for simplicity. 
       Terminology 
       [0029]    The term “merchant” or “provider” as used herein shall mean any person, entity, distributor system, software, and/or hardware that is a provider, broker, and/or any other entity in the distribution chain of goods or services. For example, a merchant may be a credit card issuer, a hotel chain, an airline, a grocery store, a retail store, a travel agency, a service provider, including, but not limited to, a medical service provider, an online merchant, or the like. 
         [0030]    As used herein, an “item” may be one or more of information, good and/or service capable of being exchanged between entities. In addition, an “item identifier” may include, for example, one or more of a universal product code (UPC), a stockkeeping unit (SKU), a serial number, a reference number, a category number, a service type indicator, a requestor name, a price, a description and/or any other information capable of identifying an item. 
         [0031]    An “item qualifying for pre-tax treatment” (sometimes also called “a tax-advantaged item”) may include any item that may be purchased with untaxed funds, such as, but not limited to, payroll funds. In one embodiment, an item qualifying for pre-tax treatment is an item included in the Internal Revenue Service Guidelines, which may be changed over time. In addition, an item qualifying for pre-tax treatment may be set and/or changed by any person or entity. Furthermore, an item qualifying for pre-tax treatment may originate at the employer, any third party that may administer a tax-advantaged account, and/or a tax related servicing entity. However, some additional restrictions on coverage may be defined by the employer because the employer may assume the legal risk for some payments. In one embodiment, an information card may be distributed to employees, employers, and/or third party administrators explaining which expenses and/or items qualify for pre-tax treatment. 
         [0032]    A “transaction account” as used herein refers to an account associated with an open account card or a closed account card system (as described below). The transaction account may exist in a physical or non-physical embodiment. For example, a transaction account may be distributed in non-physical embodiments such as an account number, frequent-flyer account, telephone calling account or the like. Furthermore, a physical embodiment of a transaction account may be distributed as a financial instrument. 
         [0033]    “Open cards” are financial transaction cards that are generally accepted at different merchants. Examples of open cards include the American Express®, Visa®, MasterCard® and Discover® cards, which may be used at many different retailers and other businesses. In contrast, “closed cards” are financial transaction cards that may be restricted to use with a particular merchant, a particular chain of merchants or a collection of affiliated merchants. One example of a closed card is a card that may only be accepted at a clothing retailer, such as a Saks Fifth Avenue® store. 
         [0034]    The term “transaction instrument” as used herein may include any type of open or closed charge card, credit card, debit card, FSA card, stored value card, an RFID chip based card or token, and the like. For convenience, a transaction instrument may be referred to as a “card.” 
         [0035]    An “account,” “account number” or “account code”, as used herein, may include any device, code, number, letter, symbol, digital certificate, mart chip, digital signal, analog signal, biometric or other identifier/indicia suitably configured to allow a consumer to access, interact with or communicate with a financial transaction system. The account number may optionally be located on or associated with any financial transaction instrument (e.g., rewards, charge, credit, debit, prepaid, telephone, embossed, smart, magnetic stripe, bar code, transponder, radio frequency card or payment statement). 
         [0036]    A “tax-advantaged account” is generally an account that is established and administered under Sections 125 and/or 132 of the Internal Revenue Code. These include, but are not necessarily limited to consumer-directed healthcare plans (“CDHPs”), such as the Flexible Spending Account (“FSA”); the Health Savings Account (“HSA”); and the Healthcare Reimbursement Arrangement (“HRA”). An example of a tax-advantaged account may be an FSA, an HSA or an HRA account unless specifically indicated otherwise. 
         [0037]    A FSA is an account set up to hold the withheld portions, and to pay for certain categories of items that qualify for pre-tax treatment under the Internal Revenue Service Guidelines. As it currently stands, if an employee wishes to, for example, establish both a FSA for qualifying childcare expenses and a FSA for qualifying medical expenses, the employee must establish two FSAs and designate how much of the employee payroll to withhold and credit to each FSA. The employee may then withdraw the funds held in each FSA as the employee purchases qualifying items associated with each respective FSA. 
         [0038]    Conventionally, to withdraw funds held in a tax advantaged account for qualifying expenses, the employee typically must first purchase the qualifying item, then request the third party administrator to reimburse the employee for the purchase. More specifically, the employee is usually required to pay for the item at the point of sale, complete and file a claim form along with the sales receipt, wait for the third party administrator to process and approve the claim, and wait to receive reimbursement. Thus, the current process for withdrawing funds from tax advantaged accounts for qualifying expenses is time consuming, requires the employee to be “out of pocket” until reimbursement arrives, and necessitates that the employee perform various tasks after the purchase. Furthermore, in situations where the employee incurs a claim for expenses in different types of FSAs (e.g., a medical expense FSA and a childcare FSA), the employee is generally required to file two claims, one for each respective FSA, following the above steps. 
         [0039]    In a typical tax advantaged account, which is the most established of the CDHPs, an employer deducts pre-tax dollars from an employee&#39;s paycheck to cover IRS-approved healthcare expenses, and the deducted amount is put in the employee&#39;s tax advantaged account. The employee pays for healthcare goods and/or healthcare services (“goods/services”) out of pocket, and submits a receipt for the goods/services for substantiation and reimbursement. A third party administrator (“TPA”) reviews the receipt and confirms the purchase of the goods/services. Once confirmed, the TPA sends a reimbursement check to the employee and the TPA is reimbursed by the employer. Funds in the tax advantaged account that are not used by the employee by the end of the year are forfeited to the employer. TPAs have begun to offer debit cards to employees for payment of healthcare goods/services. These debit cards enable automation of some aspects of claims substantiation. 
         [0040]    An HSA works in conjunction with an insurer&#39;s health insurance plan, which incorporates employee-paid deductibles. An employer and/or an employee contributes pre-tax dollars to the employee&#39;s HSA to cover IRS-approved healthcare expenses. The contributions are allowed to roll over from year to year and to accumulate tax free indefinitely. Funds in the HSA may be transferred from an investment account to a cash account to pay for expenses. When an HSA card or an HSA check is given to a provider for payment of healthcare goods/services, the provider submits a claim to the insurer. The insurer may then, for example, determine the employee&#39;s share of the payment, withdraw the determined amount from the employee&#39;s cash account, and record that amount as part of the employee&#39;s deductible. 
         [0041]    In a typical HRA, an employer contributes pre-tax dollars to an employee&#39;s HRA. Funds in the HRA may be used to pay for deductibles and/or out-of-pocket medical expenses, and may be used to replace existing healthcare benefits. The employer is allowed to determine factors such as: whether substantiation is required; an allowable annual roll-over amount; whether the HRA is to be fully funded at the beginning of the year; and particular goods/services that are not covered. The employee pays for healthcare goods/services out of pocket, and sends in a receipt for the goods/services for reimbursement, which is from funds in the HRA. 
         [0042]    As used herein, the terms “employer”, “end user”, “consumer”, “customer”, “cardmember”, “business” or “merchant” may be used interchangeably with each other, and each shall mean any person, entity, machine, hardware, software or business. 
         [0043]    As used herein, “point of sale device” may be any software and/or hardware suitably configured to facilitate a purchase. It may include any means or manner of communicating with one or more host computers for the purpose of making requests for payment or payment authorization. Such means may include, but are not limited to, telephonic means, card readers, computer terminals connected directly to the host computer(s) or indirectly, via e.g., the Internet, or any other means of communication known to persons skilled in the relevant arts. 
         [0044]    As used herein, “transmit” may include sending electronic data from one system component to another over a network connection. 
         [0045]    Additionally, as used herein, “data” may include encompassing information such as commands, queries, files, data for storage, and the like in digital or any other form. 
         [0046]    “Transaction data” may include, for example, one or more of the amount of purchase, at least one payment instrument account number, at least one payment account number, at least one item identifier for each item being purchased, loyalty information, demographic information and/or any other data helpful in processing a transaction. 
         [0047]    Persons skilled in the relevant arts will understand the breadth of the terms used herein and that the exemplary descriptions provided are not intended to be limiting of the generally understood meanings attributed to the foregoing terms. 
         [0048]    It is noted that references in the specification to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, “an example embodiment”, etc., indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it would be within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to effect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described. 
         [0049]    The present invention is now described in more detail herein in terms of the above exemplary system, method and computer program product. This is for convenience only and is not intended to limit the application of the present invention. In fact, after reading the following description, it will be apparent to one skilled in the relevant art(s) how to implement the following invention in alternative embodiments. 
       II. System 
       [0050]      FIG. 1  shows parts of a sample receipt  100  generated when a card holder makes a health care purchase at any merchant. Receipt  100  may be in the form of a paper receipt, an electronic record or any other mechanism that stores a record of the transaction. Sample receipt  100  may also contain, for example, other merchandise not related to a card holder&#39;s tax advantaged accounts like healthcare, FSA, HRA or HSA benefits account. As shown in  FIG. 1 , sample receipt  100  contains, amongst other data items, a card number  106 , items  102  and items  104 . For example and not by way of limitation, items  102  may be healthcare items that are eligible for tax benefits whereas items  104  are merchandise items which do not qualify for any sort of discounts or benefits. Line item details may be captured from sample receipt  100  and may be provided to a health management system  210 , as described with respect to  FIG. 2  below. 
         [0051]      FIG. 2  illustrates an environment involving a system  200  in which an embodiment of the present invention can be implemented. A card member CM  202  presents a transaction instrument, such as, for example, an electronic card, (not shown in  FIG. 1 ) to a merchant  204  after purchase of healthcare items. The electronic card contains data pertinent to CM  202 &#39;s healthcare, financial and personal information. The electronic card may be used by CM  202  to directly access his or her tax advantaged accounts like FSA, HRA or HSA accounts as described in the co-pending application titled “Linking Transaction Cards with Spending Accounts” (U.S. application Ser. No. 11/381,641 filed May 4, 2006) for Keck et al, incorporated in its entirety by reference herein. Further, the electronic card may be linked to a card company network  206  that maintains the electronic card. 
         [0052]    Merchant  202  can have a valid “Merchant Category Code” (MCC code) that identifies it as a healthcare merchant. An example of a valid MCC code merchant would be a physician providing healthcare services to a CM  202 . Alternatively, merchant  204  can be a merchant who does not have a valid MCC code. An example of a merchant without a valid MCC code would be a grocery store. According, to one embodiment of the current invention, CM  202  can use the electronic card at both healthcare merchants with a valid MCC code and non-healthcare merchant without a valid MCC code. This feature of the present invention gives CM  202  a choice of purchasing a healthcare item anywhere without worrying about whether or not he or she can use the electronic card for purchases at any merchant  204 . 
         [0053]    Merchant  204  has means for reading CM  202  data as stored in the electronic card. Such a means could be, for example, a point-of-sale device (POS device), a wedge card reader, or any other means well known to one skilled in the art. Once data from the electronic card has been read by merchant  204 , merchant  202  sends an authorization request to card company network  206 . Card company network transfers this request to a card platform processor  208  along with the details of CM  202  as stored on the electronic card. 
         [0054]    Card processor platform  208  can verify data related to the authorization request and send a return authorization message and settlement instruction to card company network  206 . Card company network  206  can receive authorization and settlement instructions from card processor platform  208  in substantial real-time so that merchant  204  and card company network  206  can settle payments for eligible healthcare purchases made by CM  202  using, for example, binary range data on the electronic card. The settlement and payment process can happen fast enough for CM  202  to perform purchases “on-the-go” as CM  202  might do with general everyday purchases. 
         [0055]    Alternatively, card processor platform  208  can send pending charges information to card company network  206 . Card company network  206 , at an end-of-cycle period can then bill CM  202  in the form of a statement or like, as shown by path  222 . A statement of amounts charged can be sent directly to CM  202 . Additionally, such a charge can also be applied to any non-substantiated amounts that have been left unclaimed for a predetermined amount of time and a statement can then be sent to CM  202 , as shown by path  222 . 
         [0056]    For purchases that cannot be verified for tax-benefits instantaneously because of lack of data like insurance data or line-item-detail (LID) data, card processor platform  202  forwards transaction details for such purchases made by CM  202  to a health management system  210 . 
         [0057]    Due to the substantially real-time operation of the authorization and settlement process performed by merchant  204  and card company network  206  in their communication with card processor platform  208 , the card processor platform forms the end-point for a front-end substantiation process. Card processor platform  208  will share transaction data back and forth with health management system  210  on a regular (e.g., nightly) basis. For all transactions or purchases for which card processor platform  208  has learned the authorization information, it will communicate with health management system  210  and share information related to authorized transactions. Following this, card processor platform  206  may directly issue an authorization confirmation to merchant  204  via card company network  206 . Card processor platform  206  may perform such an authorization confirmation on a group of transactions (i.e., in a batch mode) or on a transaction-by-transaction basis. 
         [0058]    Health management system  210  receives data inputs from one or more data feeds like feeds  216 - 220 . Feeds  216 - 220  can be any of a merchant LID database, a pharmacy benefits manager module or an insurer database, for example and not by way of limitation. A merchant LID database (any one of feeds  216 - 220 ) provides health management system  210  with details of items as described in sample receipt  100 . In an exemplary scenario, LID data along with insurance data from an insurer database (any one of feeds  216 - 220 ) and additional benefits information from a pharmacy benefits manager module (any one of feeds  216 - 220 ) are matched up with transaction details provided by card processor platform  208  to health management system  210 . On compiling details of the matching process and based on substantiation information, health management system  210  transfers charge purse transaction adjustments back to card processor platform  208  which will incorporate those charges for further communication with CM  202 , as shown by path  222 . 
         [0059]    All charges including those that cannot be substantiated by health management system  210  using inputs from feeds  216 - 220 , are passed by health management system  210  as charge purse transaction details to a third party administrator (TPA)  212 . 
         [0060]    TPA  212  posts charge purse transaction details on a TPA website portal  214 , for CM  202  to take action upon. On receiving transaction details from health management system  210 , TPA  212  checks if the purchase has been categorized for processing by CM  202 . If yes, then the TPA  212  may optionally chose to send purse adjustment instructions back to health management system  210 . If not, TPA  212  can send letters or emails to CM  202  for non-substantiated transactions as shown by path  224 . In case of charges that are eligible for tax advantaged account benefits, TPA  212  may select to bill charges to any such tax advantaged account that CM  202  may hold. By doing so, TPA  212  ensures that charges are always in a substantiated status. According to one embodiment of the invention, CM  202  may receive communications regarding all transactions from a statement issued by card company network  206  or TPA  212 , or further still by both card company network  206  and TPA  212 . 
         [0061]    At TPA website portal  214 , CM  202  can, via path  226 , review all charges to his or her account, request automatic, one-time or manual deductions from his or her tax advantaged account and substantiate various purchases. TPA website portal  214  shows all charges posted to a particular CM  202 &#39;s account that are pending, charges that have been unclaimed, and those that need to be filed for tax benefits. CM  202  can by use of TPA website portal  214  perform manual or automatic substantiation of charges linked to various transactions and pass them to health management system  210  via path  228 . Health management system  210  and/or TPA  212  determine if any charges are eligible for tax benefits per IRS guidelines. In the event that charges are deemed ineligible for benefits, they are moved to a line of credit account associated with the card holder. A line of credit account may be, for example, an account managed by the card company network  206 . 
         [0062]      FIG. 3A  illustrates a process  300 A for authorization of payment card for CM  202 . In step  302 , either one of CM  202  or merchant  204  swipes a payment card on a card reader (not shown) for the retail transaction amount. The card reader could be, for example and not by way of limitation, a wedge card reader. Information read by the card reader from the payment card, is routed to card platform processor  208  via card company network  206 . Card platform processor  208  receives transaction details (as shown in step  306 ) and in step  308  determines if merchant  204  has a valid MCC or not. If not, merchant  204  receives a decline for authorization, as shown in step  326 . Such a decline could be, for example, by means of a message displayed on a card reader screen. If merchant  204  has a valid MCC determined in step  308 , card processor platform  208  further decides if merchant  204  falls in a healthcare MCC or not (shown in step  310 ). If yes, then card processor platform  208  checks the available funds in CM  202 &#39;s tax advantaged accounts, as shown in step  312 . If merchant  204  has a valid MCC, but an invalid healthcare MCC card processor platform  208  checks a line of credit account associated with CM  202  and moves the charge purse to that line of credit account to be cleared by CM  202  at a later time. 
         [0063]      FIG. 3B  shows an alternative embodiment of the invention as a process  300 B, where all purchases made by CM  202  are charged directly to the line of credit account associated with CM  202 . In process  300 B, card processor platform  208  does not check for a merchant  204  to have a valid healthcare MCC, as shown in box  310  of  FIG. 3A . CM  202  can later submit a claim for reimbursement for eligible purchases via, for example, TPA website portal  214 . 
         [0064]    If in step  316 , card processor platform  208  finds that funds are not available in a CM  202 &#39;s tax advantaged account, card processor platform  208  sends a declined authorization message to merchant  204 , as described above. 
         [0065]    However, if funds are available in CM  202 &#39;s tax advantaged account, card processor platform  208  places a hold on those funds, as shown in step  318 . Card processor platform  208  then sends an approval of transaction message to merchant  204 , as shown in step  320  and also sends a file with information related to held funds to health management system  210 , as shown in step  322 . Health management system  210  further forwards this information to TPA  212 , as shown in step  324 .  FIG. 3 , thus completes the process  300  for authorization of payment for transactions by a CM  202  at a merchant  204 . 
         [0066]      FIG. 4A  illustrates a process  400 A of settlement of pending charges billed to CM  202 . In step  402 , merchant  204  submits charges to card company network  206 . Card company network  206  identifies what type of healthcare transaction this charge corresponds to, as shown in step  404 . Card company network  206  can process this request for payment and then pay merchant  204  who issues a receipt for payment, as shown in steps  408 ,  414  and  412 , respectively. 
         [0067]    Card company network  404  can also send the charges to card platform processor  208 , as shown in step  406 . Card platform processor  208 , in step  410 , can then debit CM  202 &#39;s tax advantaged account or a line of credit, as the case might be. 
         [0068]    Card processor platform  208  further creates a file in step  416  comprising settlement information. This file is then forwarded to health management system  210 , in step  418 . Health management system  210  further modifies this file according to relevant information related to CM  202 &#39;s tax advantaged accounts, as shown in step  420 . The modified file is sent to TPA  212  as a posting, as shown in step  422 . 
         [0069]    In step  424 , health management system  210  uses the modified file to create a settlement file which is sent to a bank associated with card company network  206 , as shown in step  428 . On the basis of this settlement file, TPA  212  and the bank settle any remaining pending charges, as shown by steps  426  and  430 . 
         [0070]      FIG. 4B  shows an embodiment where a line of credit account is directly charged for a CM  202  by a bank associated with card company network  206 . In the scenario depicted by process  400 B, once card company network  206  identifies healthcare transactions as shown in step  404 , it also requests its associated bank to create a receivable (e.g., a statement) for CM  202 , as shown is step  440 . This results in charges for items purchased by CM  202  to directly hit his or her line of credit. In such a scenario, steps  424 ,  426 ,  428  and  430  of  FIG. 4A  are eliminated and there is no settlement process needed between TPA  212 , health management system  210  and the associated bank. Instead, as shown in step  422 , TPA  212  and health management system  210  merely receive information in the form of a posting file and do not necessarily need to process that information any further. 
         [0071]      FIG. 5  illustrates a process  500  by which a CM  202  can manually settle any charges associated with various transactions. In step  502 , CM  202  submits a request for reimbursement of payments for any potentially eligible healthcare purchases. TPA  212  receives these requests in step  504  and in step  506  determines if the request is valid or not. If not, TPA  212  sends a decline message to CM  202  which CM  202  sees as a reimbursement request details result, as shown in steps  508  and  510 . 
         [0072]    However, if the request is valid, TPA  212  communicates a manual claim balance check request to health management system  210 , as shown in step  512 . In step  514 , health management system  210  will process this request for manual claim balance check and forward it to card processor platform  208 . In step  516 , card processor platform  208  checks if there is a sufficient balance in CM  202 &#39;s tax advantaged account. If yes, card processor platform adjusts funds available in CM  202 &#39;s tax advantaged account, as shown in step  518  and goes to step  520 . If not, card processor platform  208  directly goes to step  520 . In step  520 , card processor platform  208  returns manual claim balance check results to health management system  210 . Health management system  210  forwards these results to TPA  212 , as shown in step  522 . TPA  212  then forwards these check results to CM  202 , as shown in step  524 . Thus, process  500  completes in step  510  where CM  202  receives a communication about settlement of reimbursement requests which CM  202  had manually initiated in step  502 . 
         [0073]      FIG. 6A  illustrates a process  600 A for updating claims status. Process  600 A begins at step  602  with any of feeds  216 - 220  sending claims substantiation data to health management system  210 . Health management system  210  receives substantiation data, as shown in step  604  and can then send a claim status update to TPA  212  as shown in step  608 . 
         [0074]    Claims substantiation data may also be forwarded directly to TPA  212 , as shown in step  610 , so that TPA  212  can post this data on TPA website portal  214 . This can be done, for example, by CM  202  who sends claim substantiation receipts to TPA  212  as shown in step  606 . Once TPA  212  updates claims status in step  610 , it creates fund balance adjustments to CM  202 &#39;s tax advantaged accounts, as shown in step  614 . These adjustments are then communicated back to health management system  210 , as shown in step  612 . Health management system  210  then forwards the fund balances information to card processor platform  208 . This communication can be, for example, on a nightly basis. Card processor platform  208  then updates fund balances, as shown in  616 . 
         [0075]    In an alternative embodiment shown in  FIG. 6B , process  600 B describes a process similar to process  600 A. In process  600 B, TPA  212  additionally collects funds from employers of CM  202  and sends it to a bank associated with card company network  206 . This is shown by steps  620  and  618  in  FIG. 6B . 
         [0076]    Any databases discussed herein may be any type of database, such as relational, hierarchical, graphical, object-oriented, and/or other database configurations. Common database products that may be used to implement the databases include DB2 by IBM (White Plains, N.Y.), various database products available from Oracle Corporation (Redwood Shores, Calif.), Microsoft Access or Microsoft SQL Server by Microsoft Corporation (Redmond, Wash.), or any other suitable database product. Moreover, the databases may be organized in any suitable manner, for example, as data tables or lookup tables. Each record may be a single file, a series of files, a linked series of data fields or any other data structure. Association of certain data may be accomplished through any desired data association technique such as those known or practiced in the art. For example, the association may be accomplished either manually or automatically. Automatic association techniques may include, for example, a database search, a database merge, GREP, AGREP, SQL, using a key field in the tables to speed searches, sequential searches through all the tables and files, sorting records in the file according to a known order to simplify lookup, and/or the like. The association step may be accomplished by a database merge function, for example, using a “key field” in pre-selected databases or data sectors. 
         [0077]    More particularly, a “key field” partitions the database according to the high-level class of objects defined by the key field. For example, certain types of data may be designated as a key field in a plurality of related data tables and the data tables may then be linked on the basis of the type of data in the key field. The data corresponding to the key field in each of the linked data tables is preferably the same or of the same type. However, data tables having similar, though not identical, data in the key fields may also be linked by using AGREP, for example. In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, any suitable data storage technique may be utilized to store data without a standard format. Data sets may be stored using any suitable technique, including, for example, storing consumer files using an ISO/IEC 7414-4 file structure; implementing a domain whereby a dedicated file is selected that exposes one or more elementary files containing one or more data sets; using data sets stored in consumer files using a hierarchical filing system; data sets stored as records in a single file (including compression, SQL accessible, hashed via one or more keys, numeric, alphabetical by first tuple, etc.); Binary Large Object (BLOB); stored as ungrouped data elements encoded using ISO/IEC 7414-6 data elements; stored as ungrouped data elements encoded using ISO/IEC Abstract Syntax Notation (ASN.1) as in ISO/IEC 8428 and 8825; and/or other proprietary techniques that may include fractal compression methods, image compression methods, etc. 
         [0078]    In one exemplary embodiment, the ability to store a wide variety of information in different formats is facilitated by storing the information as a BLOB. Thus, any binary information can be stored in a storage space associated with a data set. As discussed above, the binary information may be stored on the financial payment instrument or external to but affiliated with the financial payment instrument. The BLOB method may store data sets as ungrouped data elements formatted as a block of binary via a fixed memory offset using either fixed storage allocation, circular queue techniques, or best practices with respect to memory management (e.g., paged memory, least recently used, etc.). By using BLOB methods, the ability to store various data sets that have different formats facilitates the storage of data associated with the financial payment instrument by multiple and unrelated owners of the data sets. For example, a first data set which may be stored may be provided by a first party, a second data set which may be stored may be provided by an unrelated second party, and yet a third data set which may be stored, may be provided by an third party unrelated to the first and second party. Each of these three exemplary data sets may contain different information that is stored using different data storage formats and/or techniques. Further, each data set may contain subsets of data that also may be distinct from other subsets. 
         [0079]    As stated above, in various embodiments of the present invention, the data can be stored without regard to a common format. However, in one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the data set (e.g., BLOB) may be annotated in a standard manner when provided for manipulating the data onto the financial payment instrument. The annotation may comprise a short header, trailer, or other appropriate indicator related to each data set that is configured to convey information useful in managing the various data sets. For example, the annotation may be called a “condition header”, “header”, “trailer”, or “status”, herein, and may comprise an indication of the status of the data set or may include an identifier correlated to a specific issuer or owner of the data. In one example, the first three bytes of each data set BLOB may be configured or configurable to indicate the status of that particular data set; e.g., LOADED, INITIALIZED, READY, BLOCKED, REMOVABLE, or DELETED. Subsequent bytes of data may be used to indicate for example, the identity of the issuer, user, transaction/membership account identifier or the like. Each of these condition annotations are further discussed herein. 
         [0080]    The data set annotation may also be used for other types of status information as well as various other purposes. For example, the data set annotation may include security information establishing access levels. The access levels may, for example, be configured to permit only certain consumers, levels of employees, companies, or other entities to access data sets, or to permit access to specific data sets based on the transaction, merchant, issuer, user or the like. Furthermore, the security information may restrict/permit only certain actions such as accessing, modifying, and/or deleting data sets. In one example, the data set annotation indicates that only the data set owner or the user are permitted to delete a data set, various identified users may be permitted to access the data set for reading, and others are altogether excluded from accessing the data set. However, other access restriction parameters may also be used allowing various entities to access a data set with various permission levels as appropriate. 
         [0081]    The data, including the header or trailer may be received by a stand alone interaction device configured to add, delete, modify, or augment the data in accordance with the header or trailer. As such, in one embodiment, the header or trailer is not stored on the transaction device along with the associated issuer-owned data but instead the appropriate action may be taken by providing to the payment instrument user at the stand alone device, the appropriate option for the action to be taken. The present invention may contemplate a data storage arrangement wherein the header or trailer, or header or trailer history, of the data is stored on the payment instrument in relation to the appropriate data. 
         [0082]    One skilled in the art will also appreciate that, for security reasons, any databases, systems, devices, servers or other devices of system  200  may consist of any combination thereof at a single location or at multiple locations, wherein each database or system includes any of various suitable security features, such as firewalls, access codes, encryption, decryption, compression, decompression, and/or the like. 
         [0083]    System  200  may be described herein in terms of functional block components and various processing steps. It should be appreciated that such functional blocks may be realized by any number of hardware and/or software components configured to perform the specified functions. For example, system  200  may employ various integrated circuit components, e.g., memory elements, processing elements, logic elements, look-up tables, and the like, which may carry out a variety of functions under the control of one or more microprocessors or other control devices. Similarly, the software elements of the present invention may be implemented with any programming or scripting language such as C, C++, Java, COBOL, assembler, PERL, Visual Basic, SQL Stored Procedures, extensible markup language (XML), with the various algorithms being implemented with any combination of data structures, objects, processes, routines or other programming elements. Further, it should be noted that the present invention may employ any number of conventional techniques for data transmission, signaling, data processing, network control, and the like. Still further, system  200  may be used to detect or prevent security issues with a client-side scripting language, such as JavaScript, VBScript or the like. For a basic introduction of cryptography and network security, see any of the following references: (1) “Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, And Source Code In C,” by Bruce Schneier, published by John Wiley &amp; Sons (second edition, 1995); (2) “Java Cryptography” by Jonathan Knudson, published by O&#39;Reilly &amp; Associates (1998); (3) “Cryptography &amp; Network Security: Principles &amp; Practice” by William Stallings, published by Prentice Hall; all of which are hereby incorporated by reference. 
         [0084]    As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, system  200  may be embodied as a customization of an existing system, an add-on product, upgraded software, a stand-alone system, a distributed system, a method, a data processing system, a device for data processing, and/or a computer program product. Accordingly, system  200  may take the form of an entirely software embodiment, an entirely hardware embodiment, or an embodiment combining aspects of both software and hardware. Furthermore, system  200  may take the form of a computer program product on a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code means embodied in the storage medium. Any suitable computer-readable storage medium may be utilized, including hard disks, CD-ROM, optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices, and/or the like. 
       IV. Example Implementations 
       [0085]    The present invention (i.e., system  200 , processes  300 - 600  or any part(s) or function(s) thereof) may be implemented using hardware, software or a combination thereof, and may be implemented in one or more computer systems or other processing systems. However, the manipulations performed by the present invention were often referred to in terms, such as comparing or checking, which are commonly associated with mental operations performed by a human operator. No such capability of a human operator is necessary, or desirable in most cases, in any of the operations described herein, which form a part of the present invention. Rather, the operations are machine operations. Useful machines for performing the operations in the present invention may include general-purpose digital computers or similar devices. 
         [0086]    In fact, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the present invention is directed towards one or more computer systems capable of carrying out the functionality described herein. An example of the computer systems includes a computer system  700 , which is shown in  FIG. 7 . 
         [0087]    Computer system  700  includes one or more processors, such as a processor  704 . Processor  704  is connected to a communication infrastructure  706 , for example, a communications bus, a cross over bar, a network, and the like. Various software embodiments are described in terms of this exemplary computer system  700 . After reading this description, it will become apparent to a person skilled in the relevant art(s) how to implement the present invention using other computer systems and/or architectures. 
         [0088]    Computer system  700  includes a display interface  702  that forwards graphics, text, and other data from communication infrastructure  706  (or from a frame buffer which is not shown in  FIG. 7 ) for display on a display unit  730 . 
         [0089]    Computer system  700  also includes a main memory  708 , such as random access memory (RAM), and may also include a secondary memory  710 . Secondary memory  710  may include, for example, a hard disk drive  712  and/or a removable storage drive  714 , representing a floppy disk drive, a magnetic tape drive, an optical disk drive, etc. Removable storage drive  714  reads from and/or writes to a removable storage unit  718  in a well known manner. Removable storage unit  718  represents a floppy disk, magnetic tape, optical disk, and the like. Removable storage unit  718  may be read by and written to by removable storage drive  714 . As will be appreciated, removable storage unit  718  includes a computer usable storage medium having stored therein, computer software and/or data. 
         [0090]    In accordance with various embodiments of the present invention, secondary memory  710  may include other similar devices for allowing computer programs or other instructions to be loaded into computer system  700 . Such devices may include, for example, a removable storage unit such as removable storage unit  718 , and an interface. Examples of such may include a program cartridge and cartridge interface (such as that found in video game devices), a removable memory chip (such as an erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM), or programmable read only memory (PROM)) and associated socket, and other removable storage units and interfaces, which allow software and data to be transferred from removable storage unit  418  to computer system  400 . 
         [0091]    Computer system  700  may also include a communication interface  724 . Communication interface  724  allows software and data to be transferred between computer system  700  and external devices. Examples of communication interface  724  may include a modem, a network interface (such as an Ethernet card), a communications port, a Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) slot and card, and the like. Software and data transferred via communication interface  724  are in the form of a plurality of signals, hereinafter referred to as signals  728 , which may be electronic, electromagnetic, optical or other signals capable of being received by communication interface  724 . Signals  728  are provided to communication interface  724  via a communication path (e.g., channel)  726 . Communication path  726  carries signals  728  and may be implemented using wire or cable, fiber optics, a telephone line, a cellular link, a radio frequency (RF) link and other communication channels. 
         [0092]    In this document, the terms “computer program medium” and “computer usable medium” are used to generally refer to media such as removable storage drive  714 , a hard disk installed in hard disk drive  712 , signals  728 , and the like. These computer program products provide software to computer system  700 . The present invention is directed to such computer program products. 
         [0093]    Computer programs (also referred to as computer control logic) are stored in main memory  708  and/or secondary memory  710 . Computer programs may also be received via communication interface  724 . Such computer programs, when executed, enable computer system  700  to perform the features of the present invention, as discussed herein. In particular, the computer programs, when executed, enable processor  704  to perform the features of the present invention. Accordingly, such computer programs represent controllers of computer system  700 . 
         [0094]    In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, where the present invention is implemented using software, the software may be stored in a computer program product and loaded into computer system  700  using removable storage drive  714 , hard disc drive  712  or communication interface  724 . The control logic (software), when executed by processor  704 , causes processor  704  to perform the functions of the present invention as described herein. 
         [0095]    In another embodiment, the present invention is implemented primarily in hardware using, for example, hardware components such as application specific integrated circuits (ASICs). Implementation of the hardware state machine so as to perform the functions described herein will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art(s). 
         [0096]    In yet another embodiment, the present invention is implemented using a combination of both the hardware and the software. 
       V. Conclusion 
       [0097]    While various embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example, and not limitation. It will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art(s) that various changes in form and detail can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, the present invention should not be limited by any of the above described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents. 
         [0098]    In addition, it should be understood that the figures and screen shots illustrated in the attachments, which highlight the functionality and advantages of the present invention, are presented for example purposes only. The architecture of the present invention is sufficiently flexible and configurable, such that it may be utilized (and navigated) in ways other than that shown in the accompanying figures. 
         [0099]    Further, the purpose of the foregoing Abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially the scientists, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application. The Abstract is not intended to be limiting as to the scope of the present invention in any way.