Patent Publication Number: US-2011077975-A1

Title: System and method for rfid-enabled tracking of insurance claims packages and payments

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to insurance claims package processing and, more particularly, to computerized systems and methods for tracking and automated processing of insurance claims packages. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     When an insured party suffers a loss covered by insurance, an insurance claim must be made and processed in order to obtain payment of the covered loss. Since timely payment of the claim will timely compensate the insured party&#39;s loss, it is highly desirable to expedite processing of insurance claims. 
     Typically, after paying an insurance claim, the paying insurance company will seek subrogation of payments made for covered losses. That is, the paying insurance company will try to collect the covered loss payment from the parties actually responsible for the loss, or from the insurers covering the responsible parties. Accordingly, it is highly desirable to expedite processing of subrogation claims. 
     However, insurance claims, and particularly subrogation claims, generally involve large quantities of documents collected into claim packages. During processing of an insurance claim or of a subrogation claim, each claim package is manually inspected and handled many times to determine what claim the claim package relates to and where the claim package should be sent. Repeated manual inspection and handling can significantly delay processing of the claim package. Accordingly, it is highly desirable to provide a method or system for automating the inspection and handling of insurance or subrogation claim packages. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     According to the present invention, a computerized system for RFID-enabled tracking and automated processing of insurance claims packages includes a package generation module configured to generate an RFID-tagged insurance claim package including at least one document with an associated RFID device, the package generation module being further configured to encode the associated RFID device with information including at least an identifying indicator. The computerized system also includes a package dispatching module configured to query the associated RFID device to obtain at least the identifying indicator, and configured to route the RFID-tagged insurance claim package to an associated respondent based on at least the identifying indicator. 
     According to the present invention, a method for RFID-enable tracking of insurance claim packages includes generating an RFID-tagged insurance claim package including at least one document with an associated RFID device; encoding the associated RFID device with information including at least an identifying indicator; and routing the RFID-tagged insurance claim package to an associated respondent based on at least the identifying indicator. 
     According to the present invention, an RFID-tagged insurance claim package includes at least one document including an associated RFID device encoded with claim information including at least an identifying indicator. 
     These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in light of the detailed description of the best mode embodiment thereof, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic illustration of a computerized system for RFID-enabled tracking and automated processing of insurance claim packages, according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic illustration of the system of  FIG. 1 , implemented using a network host computer; 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic illustration of the system of  FIG. 1 , implemented using a distributed network architecture; 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic illustration of an RFID-tagged insurance claim package for processing by the system shown in  FIGS. 1 through 3 ; and 
         FIG. 5  is a flowchart illustrating a process for RFID-enabled tracking and automated processing of RFID-tagged insurance claim packages, as performed by the system shown in  FIGS. 1 through 3 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a computerized system  10  for RFID-enabled tracking and automated processing of RFID-tagged insurance claim packages  12  includes a package generation module  14 , a package dispatching module  16 , a package receiving module  18 , and a package check module  20 . The computerized system  10  may be implemented in many different ways. For example, the computerized system  10  may be implemented in a central server architecture  26  that is centered on a conventional network host computer  28 , as shown in  FIG. 2 . Alternatively, and preferably, the computerized system  10  can be implemented in a distributed network architecture  30 , as shown in  FIG. 3 . The various modules of the computerized system  10  are configured to accomplish a process  500  for RFID-enabled tracking and automated processing of the insurance claim packages  12 , as further discussed below in detail with reference to  FIG. 5 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , the network host computer  28  includes at least one controller, processor, or central processing unit (CPU)  32 , one or more data storage structures  34 , and at least one communication port  36 . The processor  32  may include one or more conventional microprocessors and one or more supplementary co-processors such as math co-processors. The communication port  36  may include multiple communication channels for simultaneous communication with, for example, other processors, servers or client terminals  38 , or a display unit  40 . Devices in communication with each other need not be continually transmitting to each other. On the contrary, such devices need only transmit to each other as necessary, may actually refrain from exchanging data most of the time, and may require several steps to be performed to establish a communication link between the devices. For example, the communication port  36  may include wire modems, wireless radio, infrared, visible laser, or UV laser transceivers, or audio transceivers. The communication port  36  and the one or more data storage structures  34  are in communication with the processor  32  to facilitate the operation of the network host computer  28 . The data storage structures  34  may comprise an appropriate combination of magnetic, optical and/or semiconductor or flash memory, and may include, for example, RAM, ROM, an optical disc such as a compact disc and/or a hard disk or drive. The processor  32  and the data storage structures  34  each may be, for example, located entirely within a single computer or other computing device; or connected to each other by a communication medium, such as a USB port, serial port cable, a coaxial cable, an Ethernet type cable, a telephone line, a radio frequency transceiver or other similar wireless or wireline medium. 
     At least one of the data storage structures  34  is encoded with (i) a program and/or algorithm(s)  42  (e.g., computer program code and/or a computer program product) adapted to configure one or more of the processors  32  to emulate the various modules of the computerized system  10 , as described in detail hereinafter; and/or (ii) at least one database  44  configured to store information required, manipulated, or produced by the computerized system  10  in execution of the program  42 . 
     The computer program  42  for configuring the processor  32  to implement the process  500  (and other functions described herein) can be developed by a person of ordinary skill in the art, and is not described in detail herein. Suitable computer program code may also be provided for performing numerous other functions such as generating notifications at selected time intervals. For example, in addition to instructions for configuring the processor  32  to perform the process  500 , the program  42  also may include program elements such as an operating system, a database management system and “device drivers” that allow the processor to interface with computer peripheral devices (e.g., a video display, a keyboard, a computer mouse). The instructions of the program  42  may be read by the processor  32  from the data storage structures  34 . The program  42  may be stored, for example, in a compressed, an uncompiled and/or an encrypted format, and may include computer program code. While execution of sequences of instructions in the program  42  will configure the processor  32  to emulate one or more of the modules  14 ,  16 ,  18 ,  20  for performing steps of the computerized process  500  as described below, hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of, or in combination with, software instructions for implementation of the computerized process  500 . Thus, embodiments of the present invention are not limited to any specific combination of hardware and software. 
     Each user device or computer or client terminal  38  may include any one or a combination of a keyboard, a computer display, a touch screen, LCD, voice recognition software, an optical or magnetic read head, or other input/output devices required to implement the above functionality. Each display unit  40  may include any one or a combination of a computer display, a printer, a CD/DVD burner, a magnetic tape drive, a magnetic disk drive, an LCD array, a voice speaker, a network connection, or similar output device. At least one of the user devices or computers or client terminals  38 , or of the display units  40 , may be configured according to the computer program  42 , or according to other instructions, to provide various user interfaces, such as a claims administrator interface  45 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , the distributed network architecture  30  includes several module servers  46   a  through  46   n  and at least one data server  48  connected by a communications hub  50 . Each of the module servers  46   a  through  46   n  includes at least one associated processor  32  and one or more data storage structures  34 . The data server  48  is configured to maintain the database  44  in response to instructions and queries received from the various module servers  46   a  through  46   n , according to the program  42 . The communications hub or port  50  serves as a primary communication link between the module servers  46 , the data server  48 , and other servers, client or user terminals  38  and related devices including one or more display units  40 . The communications hub or port  50  may have minimal processing capability itself, serving primarily as a communications router, or may also act as another module server  46 . A variety of communications protocols may be part of the system, including but not limited to: Ethernet, SAP, SAS™, ATP, Bluetooth, and TCP/IP. 
     In the distributed network architecture  30 , as shown in  FIG. 3 , each of the module servers  46  is configured by execution of the program  42  to emulate one or more of the various modules of the system  10 . For example, module servers  46   a  through  46   d  may be configured by the program  42  to emulate the package generation module  14 , the package dispatching module  16 , the package receiving module  18 , and the package check module  20 , respectively, at different physical locations throughout a mail handling facility, an office environment, or another workspace. 
     In the central server architecture  26  shown in  FIG. 2  or in the distributed network architecture  30  shown in  FIG. 3 , the program  42  may be embodied in a computer-readable medium  52 , other than any of the data storage structures  34 , that provides or participates in providing instructions to the processor  32  (or any other processor of a computing device described herein) for execution. The computer-readable medium  52  may take many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. Non-volatile media include, for example, optical or magnetic disks, such as memory. Volatile media include dynamic random access memory (DRAM), which typically constitutes the main memory. Transmission media include coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires that comprise a system bus coupled to the processor. Transmission media may carry acoustic or light waves, such as those generated during radio frequency (RF) and infrared (IR) data communications. Common forms of computer-readable media  52  include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, DVD, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM or EEPROM (electronically erasable programmable read-only memory), a FLASH-EEPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrier wave encoded with data by amplitude, phase, and/or frequency modulation, or any other medium from which a computer can read. Various forms of the computer-readable medium  52  may be involved in configuring the processor  32  (or any other processor of a device described herein) to perform the computerized process  500 . For example, as shown in  FIG. 3 , the program  42  may initially be borne on a magnetic disk of a remote computer  54 . The remote computer  54  can load the instructions into its dynamic memory and send the instructions over a telephone line  56  using a first modem  58 . A second modem  60  local to the communications hub  50  can receive the data on the telephone line  56  and can use an infrared transmitter  62  to convert the data to a wireless signal  64 . An infrared detector  66  of the communications hub  50  can receive the data carried in the wireless signal  64  and transfer the data through the communications hub  50  to one of the module servers  46  or to the data server  48 . In addition, instructions may be received as electrical, electromagnetic, or optical signals, conveyed either on optical or electromagnetic cables or as wireless carrier waves that carry data streams representing various types of information. 
     In the central server architecture  26  shown in  FIG. 2  or in the distributed network architecture  30  shown in  FIG. 3 , the claims administrator interface  45  is in communication with, and coordinates operation of, the various system modules  14 ,  16 ,  18 ,  20  and the data server  48 . The claims administrator interface  45  also displays system status information to a user, and receives instructions from the user. 
     Referring specifically to  FIG. 3 , the data server  48  maintains the database  44 , which includes a plurality of claim records  68   a - n , each claim record  68  including fields related to an insurance claim, such as, for example, a claim number  70  or any other identifying indicator, a claim amount  72 , a subrogation respondent identity  74 , a respondent address  76 , a processing status  78 , and a claim age  80 . The information contained in the fields of each claim record  68  may be provided to the data server  48  by the user via the claims administrator interface  45 , may be reported to the data server  48  by one of the various system modules  14 ,  16 ,  18 ,  20 , or may be otherwise determined. For example, the processing status  78  may be determined based on which system module  14 ,  16 ,  18 , or  20  has most recently reported the claim number  70 . The data server  48  can be configured by the program  42  to analyze the records  68 , for example to determine an average of the claim ages  80 , to monitor an aging trend for each RFID-tagged insurance claim package  12  at each value of the processing status  78 , or to generate a distribution of claim ages  80  for each respondent identity  74 . The data server  48  can be further configured by the program  42  to send trend information and alerts to the claims administrator interface  45 . For example, the data server  48  can be configured to alert the claims administrator interface  45  if any of the RFID-tagged insurance claim packages  12  exceeds a predetermined threshold for claim age  80 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 4 , each RFID-tagged insurance claim package  12  corresponds to one or more insurance claims having a common respondent  82 . Each of the RFID-tagged insurance claim packages  12  includes one or more documents  84 , and includes among the documents  84  a demand document  86  specifying the claim number(s)  70 , the claim amount(s)  72 , and the respondent identity  74  corresponding to one or more insurance claims. The documents  84  can also include, for example, a response document in addition to or in place of the demand document  86 . The documents  84  are physical objects including, but not limited to, any or all of the following: a paper document, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, DVD, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM or EEPROM (electronically erasable programmable read-only memory), a FLASH-EEPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge. The documents  84  include, but are not limited to, for example, outgoing or incoming demand letters, responses, settlement offers or counteroffers, evidentiary exhibits, inventories, appraisals, requests for information, or other correspondence, as produced by or modified by a demanding party or a claimant, by a respondent to an insurance claim, or by any third party to an insurance claim. At least one of the documents  84  includes an associated RFID device  88 , such as, for example, a chip, tag, or imprinted circuit. Preferably, at least one of the associated RFID devices  88  is embedded into the demand document  86 . Each of the associated RFID devices  88  can be write-once, or erasable/rewritable. 
     In operation, as shown in  FIG. 5 , the system  10  implements a computerized process  500  for tracking and automated processing of the RFID-tagged insurance claims packages  12 . The computerized process  500  is initiated when a user of the system performs a step  502  of establishing a new claim record  68   n  in the database  44  via the claims administrator interface  45 . The claims administrator interface  45  then performs a step  504  of instructing the package generation module  14  to generate a new RFID-tagged insurance claim package  12   n . Throughout subsequent operations of the computerized system  10 , the claims administrator interface  45  monitors the modules  14 ,  16 ,  18 ,  20  and the database  44  and alerts the user regarding, for example, changes to the processing status  78  of each RFID-tagged insurance claim package  12 . The claims administrator interface  45  can monitor the system  10  continuously or by querying or pinging each of the modules  14 ,  16 ,  18 ,  20  at predetermined intervals. Alternatively, each of the modules  14 ,  16 ,  18 ,  20  can send an alert to the claims administrator interface  45  each time the module queries an associated RFID device in one of the RFID-tagged insurance claim packages  12 . The data server  48  also can send alerts to the claims administrator interface  45 , for example based on the claim ages  80  of the RFID-tagged insurance claim packages  12 , as discussed above with reference to  FIG. 3 . 
     The package generation module  14  performs a step  506  of generating the documents  84  comprising the new RFID-tagged insurance claim package  12   n ; a step  508  of encoding the associated RFID device  88  of the new RFID-tagged insurance claim package  12   n  with some or all of the information from the new claim record  68   n ; and a step  510  of routing the new RFID-tagged insurance claim package  12   n  to the package dispatching module  16 . In some embodiments, the associated RFID device  88  can be encoded with encrypted confidential information. Confidential information can include, but is not limited to, legal settlement offers, proprietary business information (trade secrets), medical diagnoses or treatments, individual identifying data such as a social security number or birth date, or other sensitive or legally-protected data. In embodiments where the associated RFID device  88  has been encoded with encrypted confidential information, the confidential information does not need to be included on any of the documents  84  within the RFID-tagged insurance claim package  12 . 
     The package dispatching module  16  receives RFID-tagged insurance claim packages  12  from the package generation module  14 , the package receiving module  18 , and the package check module  20 . For each RFID-tagged insurance claim package  12 , the package dispatching module  16  performs a step  512  of querying the associated RFID device  88  to determine the claim number  70  and the respondent identity  74  and a step  514  of reporting the claim number  70  and the respondent identity  74  to the data server  48 . In embodiments wherein more than one of the documents  84  includes an associated RFID device  88 , the package dispatching module  16  also performs a step  516  of querying the associated RFID devices  88  to take an outgoing inventory of the RFID-tagged insurance claim package, and performs a step  518  of reporting the outgoing inventory to the data server  48 . The package dispatching module  16  then performs a step  520  of dispatching the RFID-tagged insurance claim package  12  to the appropriate respondent  82 . 
     The package receiving module  18  receives RFID-tagged insurance claim packages  12  from the respondents or from other parties. For each RFID-tagged insurance claim package  12 , the package receiving module  18  performs a step  522  of querying the associated RFID device  88  and reporting the claim number  70  to the database server  48 . The package receiving module  18  also performs a step  524  of determining which documents  84  within the RFID-tagged insurance claim package  12  include associated RFID devices  88 , and taking an incoming inventory of the RFID-tagged insurance claim package  12  based on the associated RFID devices  88 . As part of the incoming inventory, the package receiving module  18  determines whether the RFID-tagged insurance claim package  12  includes an RFID-tagged check  90  having a check-embedded RFID device  92 . When the RFID-tagged insurance claim package  12  includes an RFID-tagged check  90 , the package receiving module  18  performs a step  526  of routing the RFID-tagged insurance claim package  12  to the package check module  20 . When the RFID-tagged insurance claim package  12  does not include an RFID-tagged check  90 , the package receiving module  18  performs a step  528  of routing the RFID-tagged insurance claim package  12  back to the package dispatching module  16  and a step  530  of sending an alert to the claims administrator interface  45 . 
     For each RFID-tagged insurance claim package  12  received from the package receiving module  18 , the package check module  20  performs a step  532  of querying the associated RFID device  88  to obtain the claim number  70  of the RFID-tagged insurance claim package  12  and a step  534  of querying the check-embedded RFID device  92  to obtain a payment value  94  of the RFID-tagged check  90 . The package check module  20  also performs a step  536  of querying the database server  48 , or the associated RFID device  88 , to obtain the claim amount  72  corresponding to the claim number  70 . The package check module  20  also performs a step  538  of comparing the claim amount  72  to the payment value  94 . When the payment value  94  is equal to the claim amount  72 , the package check module  20  performs a step  540  of depositing the RFID-tagged check  90  and a step  542  of sending the RFID-tagged insurance claim package  12  for storage. When the payment value  94  is less than the claim amount  72 , the package check module  20  performs the step  540  of depositing the RFID-tagged check  90  and a step  544  of inserting a supplemental demand  96  into the RFID-tagged insurance claim package  12 , then performs a step  546  of routing the RFID-tagged insurance claim package  12  back to the package dispatching module  16 . When the payment value  94  exceeds the claim amount  72 , the package check module  20  performs the step  546  of routing the RFID-tagged insurance claim package  12  back to the package dispatching module  16 . 
     One advantage of the present invention is that the RFID-tagged insurance claim package  12  can be easily tracked by the system  10 , so that the processing status  78  of each RFID-tagged insurance claim package  12  can be reliably updated in the database  44 . Thus, each RFID-tagged insurance claim package  12  can easily be located based on the corresponding processing status  78 . 
     Another advantage of the present invention is that, by providing alerts to the user based on monitoring the modules  14 ,  16 ,  18 ,  20  and the database  44 , the claims administrator interface  45  can prompt expedited processing of any RFID-tagged insurance claim package  12  that might otherwise be delayed in handling. Additionally, through analysis of the claim records  68 , the data server  48  can provide actionable performance statistics regarding each respondent  82  (for example, the respondent&#39;s average time to provide payment on an RFID-tagged insurance claim package), enabling accurate business decisions. 
     A further advantage of the present invention is that each RFID-tagged check  90  can be automatically processed by the system  10  so that the RFID-tagged insurance claim package  12  can be appropriately routed. 
     Yet another advantage of the present invention is that the associated RFID device can be encoded with encrypted confidential information not otherwise present in the RFID-tagged insurance claim package, thereby enhancing the protection of sensitive data. 
     Another advantage of the present invention is that the RFID-tagged insurance claim package can include multiple documents, each document having an associated RFID device encoded with document identifiers, such that an inventory of the documents can be accomplished by querying the associated RFID devices. 
     Although this invention has been shown and described with respect to the detailed embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail thereof may be made without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention. 
     For example, automated mail handling equipment can be incorporated into the system  10  for operation by the various modules of the system  10 . The modules of the system  10  can be grouped together or further subdivided. Each RFID-tagged insurance claim package  12  can include a single insurance claim, or aggregate claims. The system  10 , including the data server  48 , can be placed in communication with similar systems maintained by other parties. The data server  48  can be implemented within the network host computer  28 . Other variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art.