Mobile submission of pharmacy insurance information

If a user of a client device is authenticated with a pharmacy service, the user is prompted to capture an image of an insurance card; if the user is not authenticated, the user is further prompted to input patient information. Information is extracted from the insurance card and it and the patient information are transmitted to a pharmacy for processing.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to pharmaceutical sales and, more particularly, to updating and/or renewing patient insurance information.

BACKGROUND

Accurate insurance information is necessary for payment and claims processing for pharmacy services. If a patient does not have accurate and up-to-date insurance information on file with the pharmacy, prescription fills may be delayed, leading to additional wait times, drugs returned to stock, and additional effort from pharmacy staff to address the issue (such as, for example, phone calls, checking eligibility, etc.).

In existing methods, when a person receives a new or updated insurance card, he or she must give the pharmacy the new or updated card information for data entry in order to use that insurance. The primary method for providing this information to the pharmacy is to physically present the card to staff and wait while the data is entered. One problem with this method is the inconvenience from increased wait times and/or additional trips to the store.

In some other existing methods, patients read the insurance information to pharmacy staff over a telephone. One problem with this method is that there are thousands of differing card layouts, and without being able to see the card, it is difficult for the pharmacy staff to identify which fields are needed from the card. Often, patients are not familiar with insurance card data will not know which fields to give the staff, resulting in difficulties and inaccuracies when exchanging the information. A need therefore exists for a more convenient and versatile system and method for entering new or updating existing insurance information.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present invention include systems and methods for facilitating the entry and/or updating of patient insurance information. In various embodiments, a user who is authenticated with a pharmacy service is prompted to capture images of his or her new or updated insurance card; the images and/or information extracted therefrom are transmitted to a pharmacy for processing. If the user is not authenticated (and/or does not even have a user account), the user is further prompted to enter patient information (e.g., name, date of birth, etc.), which is then transmitted to the pharmacy with the images.

In one aspect, a system for entering new or updating existing patient insurance information includes a non-volatile computer memory for storing an image of a new or updated insurance card; a network interface configured for receiving new or updated insurance information from a user of a client device over a computer network; and a computer processor configured for executing software instructions to: detect whether the user is authenticated with a pharmacy service, wherein the pharmacy service comprises patent information; if the user is authenticated with the pharmacy service, cause a first graphical-user interface to be displayed to the user on the screen of the client device, the first graphical-user interface comprising a prompt to capture an image of the insurance card; if the user is not authenticated with the pharmacy service, cause a second graphical-user interface to be displayed to the user on the screen of the client device, the second graphical-user interface comprising (i) the prompt to capture the image of the insurance card and (ii) a data-entry prompt for capturing patient information; extract information from the image of the insurance card; and electronically transmit the patient information and the extracted information from the image of the insurance card to a pharmacy for processing.

Upon successful transmission of the patent information and the extracted information, a confirmation of success may be caused to be displayed on the screen of the client device. The instructions to extract information from the image of the insurance card may include optical-character recognition, cropping, or scanning a barcode. The new or updated insurance card is may be associated with a person other than the user and wherein the patient information comprises information about the person other than the user. The person other than the user may include a family member of the user or other person associated with the insurance card. The pharmacy service may further include (i) patient information for the person other than the user and (ii) data defining a relationship between the user and the person other than the user. The pharmacy service may further include data comprising an authorization from the person other than the user allowing the user permission to submit the image of the insurance card on behalf of the person other than the user. The pharmacy may be selected based on a default pharmacy of the user, a last-used pharmacy of the user, or user input. A message may be transmitted to the client device of the user comprising an indication that an update to the insurance card is needed.

In another aspect, a method for entering new or updating existing patient insurance information includes detecting whether a user of a client device is authenticated with a pharmacy service, wherein the pharmacy service comprises patent information; if the user is authenticated with the pharmacy service, causing a first graphical-user interface to be displayed to the user on the screen of the client device, the first graphical-user interface comprising a prompt to capture an image of an insurance card; if the user is not authenticated with the pharmacy service, causing a second graphical-user interface to be displayed to the user on the screen of the client device, the second graphical-user interface comprising (i) the prompt to capture the image of the insurance card and (ii) a data-entry prompt for capturing patient information; extracting information from the image of the insurance card; and electronically transmitting the patient information and the extracted information from the image of the insurance card to a pharmacy for processing.

Upon successful transmission of the patent information and the extracted information, a confirmation of success may be caused to be displayed on the screen of the client device. The instructions to extract information from the image of the insurance card may include optical-character recognition, cropping, or scanning a barcode. The new or updated insurance card is may be associated with a person other than the user and wherein the patient information comprises information about the person other than the user. The person other than the user may include a family member of the user or other person associated with the insurance card. The pharmacy service may further include (i) patient information for the person other than the user and (ii) data defining a relationship between the user and the person other than the user. The pharmacy service may further include data comprising an authorization from the person other than the user allowing the user permission to submit the image of the insurance card on behalf of the person other than the user. The pharmacy may be selected based on a default pharmacy of the user, a last-used pharmacy of the user, or user input. A message may be transmitted to the client device of the user comprising an indication that an update to the insurance card is needed.

These and other objects, along with advantages and features of the present invention herein disclosed, will become more apparent through reference to the following description, the accompanying drawings, and the claims. Furthermore, it is to be understood that the features of the various embodiments described herein are not mutually exclusive and can exist in various combinations and permutations.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments of the present invention include systems and methods for allowing patients to submit captured images (and/or data extracted from those images) of their new or updated insurance cards electronically, thereby allowing the patients to provide this information from any convenient location and providing the pharmacy staff clear, legible information. In various embodiments, with reference toFIG. 1, a computing environment100includes a computer server102or similar system that is configured to receive, from a remote client device104, an electronic image of an insurance card (and/or or information extracted therefrom) via a network106(such as the Internet or other network). In various embodiments, the client104is an electronic device such as a smartphone, tablet, or computer and includes or is connected to an image-capture device108, such as a camera, integrated camera, scanner, or similar device. The server102and/or client104, in some embodiments, extracts information from the image related to insurance information. In some embodiments, the user of the client104is authenticated with a pharmacy service (which may be wholly or partially hosted on the server102); the server102may communicate with a user-account database110via a network link114that includes information about the user, such as his or her name, address, phone number, date of birth, and gender. In other embodiments, the user of the client104is not authenticated with the pharmacy service; in these embodiments, the client104prompts the user for this patient information. Once the patient information is accessed and/or transmitted to the server102and/or client104, it is transmitted to a pharmacy for processing. These aspects of the invention are described in greater detail below; one of skill in the art will understand, however, that the invention is not limited to only the configuration of the environment100and that other configurations of the server102and client device104are within the scope of the present invention. For example, any number of servers102and clients104may be used; in some embodiments, some or all of the functionality of the server102may be implemented on the client104.

FIG. 2illustrates one embodiment of a method200for electronic processing of a new or updated insurance card. In a first step, the server102and/or client104detects (202) whether a user is authenticated with a pharmacy service running wholly or partially on the server102and/or client104. In some embodiments, the user has an existing account on the server102that includes, for example, information regarding his or her name, address, phone number, gender, date of birth, billing information (e.g., credit-card information), preferred pharmacy, last-used pharmacy, or any other similar information; this information may be stored in the user-account database110. The user may authenticate him or herself to the server102via, for example, entering a username and password into the client104, by scanning biometric data (e.g., fingerprint or heartbeat), with the client104or by any other method of authentication known in the art. The authentication information may be transmitted to the server104for comparison against verified authentication information and/or processed at the client104.

In some embodiments, the client104determines whether the user is authenticated with the pharmacy service. If, for example, the user has previously authenticated him or herself with the pharmacy service using the client104, the client104may store a file, variable, token, or similar construct in volatile or non-volatile computer memory that indicates successful authentication. The client104may examine the file or token and, depending on the state thereof, infer that the user is authenticated. The file or token may be reset if, for example, a certain amount of time elapses, the user logs out of the client104, the user makes an unsuccessful login attempt, or any similar reason.

In other embodiments, the client104queries the server102to determine whether the user is authenticated with the pharmacy service. The server104may similarly store a file, variable, token, or similar construct in volatile or non-volatile computer memory that indicates successful authentication. The server102may identify the user based on a username, email address, device MAC address, client104IP address, or any other similar information, and check to see if the user owns a user account in the user-account database110.

If the user is authenticated, the server102and/or client104causes the client104to display (204) a graphical-user interface that includes a prompt to capture one or more images of the user's insurance card. The user may be prompted to capture one image of the front of the card, two images of the front and back of the card, or any other number of images. The interface may access the image-capture device108(via, for example, an application-programming interface) and allow the user to preview and capture one or more images of the card. For example, a window on the interface may display a preview image of the card and, if the user is satisfied, the user captures the images by activating a control on the interface, such as a button. In some embodiments, the interface automatically scans the card for a pattern of encoded data, such as a bar code, and detects and extracts information therefrom without requiring interaction from the user.

If the user is not authenticated, the server102and/or client104may prompt the user for authentication and/or account-creation information. In other embodiments, however, the server102and/or client104permit the user to proceed with the process of updating his or her insurance card without authenticating and/or creating a user account with the server102. In some embodiments, the server102and/or client104cause the client104to display (206) a graphical-user interface that includes the prompt to capture one or more images of the user's insurance card as well as a data-entry prompt to capture information about the user. The data-entry prompt may include one or more text-entry boxes with which the user may enter patient information, such as his or her name, phone number, address, date of birth, gender, or similar information. The user may enter the information using a keyboard, touchscreen, mouse, voice input, or any similar method.

Instead of or in addition to the information entered by the user, the client104may additionally prompt the user to capture an image of an identification card belonging to the user, such as a driver's license, using the image-capture device108. The server102and/or client104may then extract the patient information from the image of the identification card.

In some embodiments, the server102and/or client104extract (208) information from the image of the insurance card. For example, one or more optical-character recognition algorithms may be run on the image (by the server102and/or client104) to recognize and capture any text present originally on the card and represented in the image. This text may include, for example, an insurance provider name, a patient name, an account number, or any other similar information. Non-character-based information, such as a card color or shape or an insurance-provider logo, may similarly be extracted.

In some embodiments, the image of the insurance card includes information encoded into a design, such as a one-dimensional or two-dimensional bar code. The server102and/or client104may analyze the image to detect the presence of the bar code and extract the characters, numbers, or other information encoded therein. In other embodiments, the client104includes bar-code scanning software and/or hardware that detects the presence of the bar code in the captured image and automatically extracts information encoded therein; in these embodiments, the client104may transmit to the server102only the information extracted from the bar code and not the entire image.

Once information has been extracted from the image of the insurance card, the patient information (whether sourced from the user account or entered by the user) and extracted information is transmitted (210) to a facility, such as a pharmacy, for processing. In other embodiments, no information is extracted from the image; the server102and/or client104transmits the image to the facility without performing any processing of the image.

There may be a plurality of pharmacies capable of receiving the transmitted data and processing the insurance-card entry/update for the user. In one embodiment, the user specifies a preferred pharmacy in his or her user account, and the user's information is transmitted thereto via the Internet, other data network, telephone network, or any other type of network. In another embodiment, the user-account database110includes a location of a pharmacy last visited by the user or a location of a pharmacy most frequently visited by the user, and the user's information is transmitted thereto. The client104may display a confirmation dialog to the user to confirm the location of the selected pharmacy. If the user is not authenticated to a pharmacy service, the client104may prompt the user to enter a pharmacy location, select a pharmacy from a list or menu of available/proximate pharmacies, or select a pharmacy any other way.

In various embodiments, the insurance card may be associated with a person other than the user instead of or in addition to being associated with the user. In some embodiments, the other person is a family member of the user; in other embodiments, the other person is unrelated to the user. The server102and/or client104may require that the user be authenticated before permitting the user to update the insurance information of the other person. In some embodiments, if the other person is unrelated to the user, the server102and/or the client104requires that the other person has provided some indication that he or she permits the user to update the insurance information, such as an electronic signature.

The insurance card (and associated health insurance) may be provided by an employer of one spouse, for example, and the insurance benefits may extend to the other spouse, children, parents, or other people related to the spouse. The user may therefore use the client104to not only add or update insurance information for him or herself but also add or update insurance information for a family member. In various embodiments, patient information for the family members (such as date of birth) is associated with the user account of the user; the user had previously or concurrently provided this information to the server102. In other embodiments, the family members have their own user accounts on the server102, and the user's account includes pointers or other links to the user accounts of the family members. In other embodiments, the family members do not have user accounts on the server102; the client104may therefore prompt the user to enter the names, addresses, phone numbers, etc. for the family members.

In some embodiments, the insurance card is associated only with one or more other persons and not with the user. For example, each spouse may have their own, separate health insurance provided by their employers (and corresponding separate insurance cards), and the user may update the insurance information of both spouses using the client104. When the user updates his or her own insurance information, the client104processes the information as described above. When the user updates the spouse's insurance information (using the spouse's card), the user captures an image of the spouse's card and enters the spouse's patient information using the client104.

FIG. 3illustrates a method300in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. A user may be associated with a new or expired insurance card representing a new or expired account with a health, dental, or similar insurance provider. A pharmacy server may detect (302a) the new or expired card when the user attempts to use it or when a known expiration date of the card arrives; the pharmacy server may as a result send (304) a notification to the user so informing him or her. Alternatively or in addition, the user may detect (302b) the new or expired card.

In response to the detection by the user and/or pharmacy, the user launches (306) a software application on his or her computing device, such as a smartphone, tablet, or other computer. In one embodiment, the application launches automatically in response to the detection. As discussed above, the application may prompt the user to capture (308) one or more electronic images of the card (which may include encoding the picture in one of any image formats, such as BMP, JPEG, or TIFF and/or capturing bar-code information from the image). The server102and/or the client104may read (310) insurance-card data from the image using, for example, optical-character recognition, bar-code scanning, or any other similar method or technique.

The server102and/or the client104may determine if the user is authenticated with a pharmacy service; if so, the user's data is retrieved (312) therefrom. If not, the user is prompted (314) for user data (such as his or her name, address, phone number, etc.). As discussed above, a destination pharmacy is identified (316) and the information is transmitted (318) thereto.

FIG. 4illustrates a method400for capturing one or more images of an insurance card. The method begins (402) with the prompting (404) of the user to capture a first image by, for example, displaying a graphical-user interface on the screen of the client104. The user captures (408) the image using the client device104and the image-capture device108. The image is then tested (410) by the client104and/or user for quality; for example, the client104may reject the image if too much blurriness or too little light is detected. The user may similarly deem the image insufficient. If so, the image is recaptured (408).

Once an image of sufficient quality is captured, the image is cropped, encoded, or otherwise processed (414). The image may be cropped to a specific aspect ratio and/or encoded to Base64 format. If more images are required (416) (of, for example, a back side of the card), the user is prompted to enter (406) more images. The prompt may include a notice to the user to flip over the card to capture the back side. In some embodiments, an image of the back side of the card is required only if sufficient information cannot be determined from the image of the front of the card. Once all required images are captured, the images are saved (418). In some embodiments, JSON is used to upload the Base64 format images to the server102, and a progress indicator is shown to the user.

FIG. 5illustrates a device500that displays a graphical-user interface502in accordance with embodiments of the present invention in which a user of the device500is authenticated with a pharmacy service (e.g., the server102). The interface502includes windows504for displaying previews and/or captured images and buttons506for initiating capture of the images. The interface502further includes an element508for displaying a list of family members and other people on behalf of whom the user may submit insurance information. Another element510displays a preferred, last-used, or most-frequently-used pharmacy and an input button that allows the user to change the selected pharmacy. The user may enter comments via an input element512via touch, keyboard, voice, or other means. A submit button514allows the user to submit the images and/or other information.

FIG. 6illustrates a device600that displays a graphical-user interface602in accordance with embodiments of the present invention in which a user of the device600is not authenticated with a pharmacy service. As inFIG. 5, the interface602includes windows604for displaying previews and/or captured images and buttons606for initiating capture of the images. The interface602further includes, however, a plurality of input elements608for capturing patient information of the user or other person; the information may include last name, first name, date of birth, gender, phone number, address, city, state, and/or zip code. The interface602may also include a pharmacy selector510, a comments field612, and a submit button614.

FIG. 7is a simplified block diagram of a suitably programmed general-purpose server700implementing embodiments of the present invention. The server700includes a processor702having one or more central processing units (CPUs), volatile and/or non-volatile main memory704(e.g., RAM, ROM, or flash memory), one or more mass storage devices706(e.g., hard disks, or removable media such as CDs, DVDs, USB flash drives, etc. and associated media drivers), a display device708(e.g., a liquid-crystal display (LCD) monitor), user-input devices such as a keyboard710and a mouse712, and one or more buses714(e.g., a single system bus shared between all components, or separate memory and peripheral buses) that facilitate communication between these components. A network interface716(e.g., a Wi-Fi or ETHERNET port) may be used to connect the computer700to the Internet or other network.

The main memory704may be used to store instructions to be executed by the processor702, conceptually illustrated as a group of modules. These modules generally include an operating system418(e.g., a Microsoft WINDOWS, Linux, or APPLE OS X operating system) that directs the execution of low-level, basic system functions (such as memory allocation, file management, and the operation of mass storage devices), as well as higher-level software applications, such as a user authenticator720and an image-processing module722. The various modules may be programmed in any suitable programming language, including, without limitation high-level languages such as C, C++, Java, Perl, Python, or Ruby or low-level assembly languages. The memory704may further store input and/or output data associated with execution of the instructions (including, e.g., user-account data724) as well as additional information used by the various software applications.

FIG. 8is a simplified block diagram of a suitably programmed client device800for capturing information from a user and displaying an order status thereto. Like the server700, the client device800includes a processor802, a memory804, a storage device806, a display808, a keyboard810, a mouse812, buses814, and a network interface816. The client800may further include a camera/scanner813for capturing images. The client800and the server700may communicate via a network such as the Internet using the network interfaces716,816. The user input and output interfaces described herein may be presented to the user via a web browser820and/or a client-native application822.

The server700and client800are described herein with reference to particular blocks, but this description is not intended to limit the invention to a particular physical arrangement of distinct component parts. The computers700,800are illustrative examples; variations and modifications are possible. The computers700,800may be implemented in a variety of form factors, including server systems, desktop systems, laptop systems, tablets, smartphones or personal digital assistants, and so on. A particular implementation may include other functionality not described herein, e.g., wired and/or wireless network interfaces, media playing and/or recording capability, etc. In some embodiments, one or more cameras may be built into the computer rather than being supplied as separate components. Further, the computer processor may be a general-purpose microprocessor, but depending on implementation can alternatively be, e.g., a microcontroller, peripheral integrated circuit element, a customer-specific integrated circuit (“CSIC”), an application-specific integrated circuit (“ASIC”), a logic circuit, a digital signal processor (“DSP”), a programmable logic device such as a field-programmable gate array (“FPGA”), a programmable logic device (“PLD”), a programmable logic array (“PLA”), smart chip, or other device or arrangement of devices.

It should also be noted that embodiments of the present invention may be provided as one or more computer-readable programs embodied on or in one or more articles of manufacture. The article of manufacture may be any suitable hardware apparatus, such as, for example, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a CD ROM, a CD-RW, a CD-R, a DVD ROM, a DVD-RW, a DVD-R, a flash memory card, a PROM, a RAM, a ROM, or a magnetic tape. In general, the computer-readable programs may be implemented in any programming language. Some examples of languages that may be used include C, C++, or JAVA. The software programs may be further translated into machine language or virtual machine instructions and stored in a program file in that form. The program file may then be stored on or in one or more of the articles of manufacture.