Patent ID: 7925518

Claim:
A computer-implemented method comprising: prior to an adjudication of a health care claim by an insurer for a health care service rendered by a health care provider: receiving a first transmission, at a computing device of a processor within a payment processing system, including information about the health care service, wherein the processor processes a transaction within the payment processing system between a holder of an account and a health care provider engaging in the transaction for the health care service upon the account issued to the holder by an issuer; using, at the computing device, the received information about the health care service to determine an estimated amount estimating a post adjudication amount that the holder of the account will be responsible to pay after the adjudication; and sending, at the computing device, an authorization request to the issuer of the account requesting authorization for the issuer to suspend the estimated amount of funds from an available balance of the account until the health care claim is adjudicated; and subsequent to the adjudication of the health care claim: receiving, at the computing device, a second transmission including the post adjudication amount; and sending, at the computing device, a third transmission addressed to the issuer requesting the issuer to disburse a payment of the post adjudication amount from the suspended estimated amount of funds to the health care provider.