Patent ID: 7769606

Claim:
A method of administering reimbursement for services furnished by providers to individuals, the method comprising: storing, in a dynamic cost-sharing database, a fee schedule specifying an administrator-determined amount an administrator will reimburse a provider after the provider provides a specified service; storing, in the dynamic cost-sharing database, a provider-determined cost-share level that an individual must pay to the provider to receive the specified service, where the cost-share level is based upon cost-share selection data entered by the provider, is alterable at any time by and only by the provider to change total reimbursement to the provider, and is independent of premium costs paid by the individual; receiving inputs about specified services and provider criteria from the individual; determining current provider cost-share levels based on the stored provider-determined cost-share level and alterations made by the provider to the cost-share level; transmitting information from which the individual may select a provider based upon inputs from the individual and database information including the current provider cost-share levels stored in the dynamic cost-sharing database; and receiving a provider selection from the individual for specified services, wherein the individual can select any provider in the database at any time and receive the specified service by paying the provider-determined cost-share level in effect when the specified service is provided, and wherein premium costs paid by the individual are independent of the provider selection.