Patent ID: 8396796

Claim:
A system for establishing a healthcare network across businesses comprising: one or more computing processors; and one or more memories coupled to the one or more computing processors, the one or more memories having stored therein instructions which, when executed by the one or more computing processors, perform a process comprising: enrolling two or more businesses in a business employee healthcare insurance network; enrolling one or more healthcare insurance providers in the business employee healthcare insurance network; offering one or more healthcare insurance plans to the two or more businesses enrolled in the business employee healthcare insurance network at respective initial prices and under respective initial healthcare insurance conditions, resulting in respective offer prices associated with respective ones of the one or more healthcare insurance plans; reviewing the offered one or more healthcare insurance plans and the initial price and initial healthcare insurance conditions associated with the one or more healthcare insurance plans; opting, during a time frame, at least one of the two or more businesses into participation in at least one of the one or more healthcare insurance plans, a length of the time frame being variable according to when a threshold number of employees opt into the one or more healthcare insurance plans, wherein to participate in a given healthcare plan, a business at least offers that given healthcare plan to its employees wherein opting, during a time frame, at least one of the two or more businesses into participation in at least one of the one or more healthcare insurance plans comprises obligating the opted in one or more businesses to accept coverage under the at least one of the one or more healthcare insurance plans for at least a defined number of the business's employees so long as the offered price associated with the at least one of the one or more healthcare insurance plans is at, or below, a price that was listed at a time the opted in one or more businesses were opted into participation in the at least one of the one or more healthcare insurance plans; changing the offer price associated with at least one of the healthcare insurance plans during the time frame, the change being based on profile data associated with employees opted into a given healthcare insurance plan whose offer price is being changed; determining, following expiration of the time frame, a healthcare insurance provider of the one or more healthcare insurance providers enrolled in the business employee healthcare insurance network that has offered a lowest price for at least one of the one or more healthcare insurance plans, the healthcare insurance provider offering a lowest price being a lowest price healthcare insurance provider; and providing coverage, by the lowest price healthcare insurance provider, to employees of the opted-in businesses, the coverage being under the at least one of the one or more healthcare insurance plans the businesses opted into during the time frame.