Abstract:
A method of facilitating payment of health care benefits to on behalf of a payer comprising the step of electronically transmitting a stored-value card account payment of the authorized benefit amount concurrently with an explanation of benefits.

Description:
FIELD OF INVENTION 
       [0001]    This invention relates to facilitating payments for medical benefits, and more specifically to streamline the payment of health care providers by administrators and insurance carriers that handle claims adjudication and payment to these providers. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Third party administrators, insurance companies, and large self-funded corporations (herein “Payers”) adjudicate claims, compare them to the benefit plan and make the decision to write checks in payment for the claims. Currently, Payers are required to print checks and explanation of benefit (EOB) forms for delivery to the health care providers. The EOB lists the amount the health care provider billed the Payer&#39;s company and the amount the Payer&#39;s company paid on the claim. It may also list the contractual discount amount and the patient responsibility. If the claim is denied, the EOB will explain the reason for denial. It has been estimated that the check and EOB forms cost Payers approximately $4.50 each. 
         [0003]    The inefficiencies to all Payers that must coordinate payment for medical services. This includes, but is not limited to, insurance carriers, government entities, and non-profit organizations. 
         [0004]    A long-felt but unfulfilled need in the art is a system to reduce the transactional costs incurred by the payers and speed up the delivery and funding of payments by weeks. 
       SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
       [0005]    The present invention is a method of facilitating payment of health care benefits to a health care provider on behalf of a Payer, often an insurance company, government organization or self-insured entity. An embodiment of the invention includes the step of electronically transmitting a stored-value card account payment of the authorized benefit amount concurrently with an explanation of benefits. For the purposes of this patent specification, stored-value cards and stored-value card accounts shall also include financial instruments known as credit cards, debit cards and EFT cards. 
         [0006]    A credit card system is a type of retail transaction settlement and credit system, named after the small plastic card issued to users of the system. A credit card is different from a debit card in that it does not remove money from the user&#39;s account after every transaction. In the case of credit cards, the issuer lends money to the consumer (or the user). 
         [0007]    A debit card account provides an alternative payment method to cash when making purchases. When issued in physical form, the card is a ISO 7810 card like a credit card, however its functionality is more similar to writing a check as the funds are withdrawn directly from the cardholder&#39;s bank account; some cards are referred to as check cards. 
         [0008]    A stored-value card represents money on deposit with the issuer, and is similar to a debit card. One major difference between stored value cards and debit cards is that debit cards are usually issued in the name of individual account holders, while stored value cards are usually anonymous. 
         [0009]    The stored-value card account payment generally includes a card number with the pre-funded amount, a card verification value code and an expiration date. The payment and explanation of benefits may be transmitted by a number of methods including, but not limited to, fax, SMTP, SMS, MMS, HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP. The electronic transmission may include an electronically generated image of a physical debit card and the unique debit card number is associated with a single benefit payment. 
         [0010]    Paid benefits charged to the associated debit card transaction may be reconciled via the unique card number generated and assigned to a single payment. In addition, the debit card is pre-funded only to the authorized benefit amount. Thus is it not possible to charge more than the authorized benefit amount. Furthermore, the stored-value card account payment may only be charged through a medical services terminal. 
         [0011]    Another embodiment includes a method of facilitating payment of health care benefits to a health care provider including the steps of identifying the health care provider that renders medical services in anticipation of payment; identifying a payer that has agreed to pay the health care provider on behalf of a patient subject to preselected conditions; identifying an administrator that determines whether the medical services conducted by the service provider meet the preselected conditions by the payer, generates an explanation of benefits, and arranges for payment of the service provider if appropriate; intercepting the explanation of benefits and payment information transmitted from the administrator to the health care provider; acquiring a stored-value card account number for the amount of the check; merging the stored-value card account number with the explanation of benefits into an image file; and transmitting the image file to the health care provider. The image file may be transmitted by a number of methods including, but not limited to, fax, SMTP, SMS, MMS, HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP. 
         [0012]    The charge incurred against the stored-value card account number may be reconciled to confirm the health care provider has been paid for the services approved by the administrator. As an added security precaution, the stored-value card account number is chargeable only through a medical services terminal. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0013]    For a fuller understanding of the invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
           [0014]      FIG. 1  (prior art) is an illustration of the current state-of-the-art. 
           [0015]      FIG. 2  is a flow-chart illustration of an embodiment of the invention. 
           [0016]      FIG. 3  is a diagrammatic view of an embodiment of the invention. 
           [0017]      FIG. 4  is an image of a merged EOB and stored-value card account payment according to an embodiment of the invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0018]    Turning to  FIG. 1  (prior art), insured patient  20  consumes services from health care provider  30 . Health care provider  30  submits a benefit claim to administrator  40  in order to receive payment. Administrator  40  may be a third party administrator, insurance company government entity, non-profit organization or the like. For the purposes of this specification, administrator  40  is considered any entity that adjudicates claims, compares them to the benefit plan and makes the decision to make payment for the services. Administrator  40  evaluates the claim made by health care provider  30  to determine whether all or a portion of the benefit claim is payable under the terms of the relevant policy issued by payer or plan sponsor (herein “payer).  50 . Payer  50  funds funding account  70  in anticipation of benefit claims. If administrator  40  finds that a benefit claim is payable, it draws the money from funding account  70 . Administrator  40  then generates an explanation of benefits and a check for the benefit payment. The explanation of benefits and check are then sent concurrently to health care provider  30 . Drawbacks associated with the prior art include the cost and time associated with generating hardcopy checks and sending them by mail to health care provider  30 . A long-felt but unfulfilled need exists in the art to reduce this transactional cost and speed up payment of benefits to health care provider  30 . 
         [0019]    In  FIG. 2 , claim  80  is received. Claim  80  is then evaluated to determine whether it is payable under the terms of an applicable policy. If claim  80  is not even partially payable, then non-payment EOB  90  is generated and transmitted to health care provider  30  without payment. However, if claim  80  is at least partially payable, then stored-value card account  100  is loaded with funds equal to the amount of the payable benefit. Payment EOB  110  is merged with stored-value card account  100  to generate image file  120 . Image file  120  includes payment EOB  110  and a computer-generated facsimile of a physical stored-value card complete with the card number, expiration date and security verification code. Image file  120  is transmitted to health care provider  30  by a suitable transmission medium including, but not limited to, fax, SMTP, SMS, MMS, HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP. 
         [0020]    In  FIG. 3 , insured  20  having coverage provided by payer  50  consumes services by health care provider  30 . Health care provider  30  then submits a benefit claim to administrator  40  which adjudicates the benefit claim in accordance with preexisting guidelines. If payment is appropriate on the benefit claim, a transfer of funds is made between payer&#39;s account  60  and its funding account  70  (to which administrator  40  has access). Stored-value card processor  130  then loads funds from funding account  70  onto a stored-value card account. The stored-value card account is chargeable only on a medical services terminal and it cannot be charged over the amount loaded onto it. The card number, the security verification code and the expiration date of the debit card account are merged with the explanation of benefits generated by administrator  40  into image file  140  which is then transmitted back to health care provider  30 . 
         [0021]      FIG. 4  illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a merged EOB and stored-value card account payment. 
         [0022]    It will be seen that the advantages set forth above, and those made apparent from the foregoing description, are efficiently attained and since certain changes may be made in the above construction without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matters contained in the foregoing description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. 
         [0023]    It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween. Now that the invention has been described,