Patent ID: 7970626

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving, using a computing device, information corresponding to a claim by a healthcare provider for services rendered to a patient; placing a hold, using the computing device, on at least one account of the patient, wherein the hold is placed for a mutually agreed upon time period between a financial institution and an insurer; receiving, using the computing device, a message from the insurer including information regarding a negotiated rate of the claim, an insurer portion of the claim, and an authorization code; matching, using the computing device, the authorization code with a stored code associated with the claim; releasing, using the computing device, the hold after receiving the message from the insurer; tendering payment, using the computing device and based at least in part on the message from the insurer, of a patient portion of the claim; determining, using the computing device, whether the claim requires manual processing or whether the claim can be processed automatically; and awarding, using the computing device, incentive points to an incentive points account of the patient based at least in part on whether the claim requires manual processing.