Pet insurance system and method

• US 10,013,530 B2
• Filed: 10/27/2015
• Issued: 07/03/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Trupanion, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Trupanion, Inc.
• Inventors: Marshall, DVM, Kerri, Rawlings, Darryl, Plowman, Kathryn, Cappelletti, Chris
• Primary Examiner(s): Reyes, Reginald R
• Application Number:
  US14/924,606
• Publication Number:
  US 20170039329A1
• Time in Patent Office: 980 Days
• Field of Search: 705 4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms

Abstract

This disclosure relates to a system and method implemented to facilitate real-time medical coverage for veterinary hospitals. More specifically, the disclosure as a pet medical insurance system and method utilizes data available in veterinary hospital practice information systems to facilitate real-time insurance enrollment and claims processing.

Claims

1. A pet medical insurance system, comprising:

a backend component;

one or more user computing devices coupled to the backend component over a communication path, each user computing device being configured for use by an owner of a patient and having a processor, memory and a plurality of lines of computer code;

a computer system at a veterinary practice connected to the backend component over the communication path, the computer system comprising;

a processor;

memory; and

a first practice information management system of the veterinary practice having one or more modules for managing the veterinary practice; and

a client having a user interface and being in communication with the practice information management system;

a plug-and-play data integration system connected to the first practice information management system of the computer system and in communication with the backend component, wherein the plug-and-play data integration system receives data from the practice management system, maps the data according to the backend system and sends the mapped data to the backed system, thereby limiting the data traffic between the backend component and the first practice information management system, the plug-and-play data integration system being plug-and-play integratable with a second or more different practice information management systems for connection thereto;

the backend component comprising;

a processor,

memory,

a database, and

a plurality of lines of computer code configured to;

communicate with the plug-and-play data integration system to request data from the secure practice management system, the plug-and-play data integration system accessing data from the secure practice management system of each veterinary practice,

receive from the plug-and-play data integration system one or more pieces of data about the one or more treatments and procedures for a particular patient by each veterinary practice from the secure practice management system, and

store the one or more pieces of data about the one or more treatments and procedures for a particular patient by the veterinary practice in the database;

each of the one or more user computing devices further configured to;

generate the user interface in the client,

communicate with the backend component to request insurance coverage for a particular patient, and

receive an electronic insurance offer from the backend component and allow activation of the insurance offer; and

the backend component further configured to;

receive the request for insurance coverage for the particular patient, generate an electronic eligibility of insurance coverage for the patient that is stored in the database when the insurance has been activated by the owner, and

communicate the electronic eligibility of insurance coverage for the patient to the veterinary practice computer system through the plug-and-play data integration system;

the veterinary practice computer system further configured to display the communicated electronic eligibility of insurance coverage as a patient insurance coverage status to the veterinary practice; and

the backend component further configured to;

programmatically process a claim for one or more treatments and procedures for the particular patient based on the insurance coverage status of the patient, and

electronically pay an amount to the veterinary practice for the one or more provided treatments and procedures at the time of completion of the one or more provided treatments and procedures.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the backend component further comprises a user interface component that is configured to generate a user interface containing information about the particular animal for the veterinary practice.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the backend component further comprises one or more databases that store one or more pieces of data about one or more of treatments and procedures for the particular animal by the veterinarian or an employee of the veterinary practice.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the user interface component is configured to generate an insurance claim form.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the backend component further comprises one or more computing resources that host the backend component.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein one or more computing resources further comprise a processor and wherein the backend component further comprises a plurality of lines of computer code that are executed by the processor.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein each of the one or more computing resources is one of a server computer and/or cloud computing resource(s).

8. A method of providing insurance for one of veterinary treatment and veterinary procedures using a backend component implemented on a computer, comprising:

receiving, by a services component of the backend component from an insurance component used by each veterinary practice that is remote from the backend component, one or more pieces of data about one of a treatment and a procedure for a particular animal;

storing the one or more pieces of data about the one or more treatments and procedures for a particular patient by the veterinary practice in a database of the backend component;

generating, on one or more computing devices capable of being coupled to the backend component, a user interface to communicate with the backend component to request insurance coverage for an animal and to receive an insurance offer from the backend component;

mapping data from a first practice system of the veterinary practice to the insurance component, by a plug-and-play data integration system connected to the first practice system and in communication with the backend component, the plug-and-play data integration system;

receiving data from the first practice system;

mapping the data according to the insurance component; and

sending the mapped data to the insurance component, thereby limiting the data traffic between the insurance component and the first practice system to create efficient correspondence between the insurance component and the practice system and improve the enrollment and claim processing of the animal, the plug-and-play data integration system being plug-and-play integratable with a second or more practice systems for connection thereto;

enrolling, by an enrollment processing component, the owner of the animal for insurance for the animal upon receipt of the request for the insurance of the animal and issuing the insurance offer for the animal;

programmatically generating, using a claims processing component of the backend component, an eligibility of insurance coverage for the animal when the insurance has been activated by the owner, the eligibility of insurance coverage being stored in the database displaying, at both the veterinary practice that provided one or more treatments and procedures for the animal and at the user computing device, a insurance coverage status; and

programmatically processing, using the a claims processing component of the backend component, a claim for one of the treatment(s) and the procedure(s) for the animal, wherein the claim based on the eligibility of insurance coverage status of the animal and paying an amount to the veterinary practice for the one or more provided treatments and procedures.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising generating a user interface containing information about the animal.

10. The method of claim 8 further comprising storing the one or more pieces of data about the treatment and procedure for the animal.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising generating an insurance claim form.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein enrolling the owner of the animal further comprises activating the offer for insurance coverage.

13. A pet insurance system, comprising:

a first veterinary practice system of a veterinary practice having a pet insurance component;

a backend component remote from the veterinary practice comprising a processor, memory, a database and a plurality of lines of computer code configured to;

communicate with the insurance component used by the first veterinary practice system over a communications path, receive from the insurance component over the communications path, one or more pieces of data about one of a treatment and a procedure for an animal by the veterinary practice and store the

one or more pieces of data about the one or more treatments and procedures for the animal by the veterinary practice in the database;

one or more user computing devices capable of being coupled to the backend component, each computing device comprising a processor, memory and a plurality of lines of computer code configured to;

generate user interface, communicate with the backend component to request insurance coverage for the animal and receive an insurance offer from the backend component;

a computing device at each veterinary practice having a processor, memory and a plurality of lines of computer code in a data integration component configured to;

connect to the first veterinary practice system of the veterinary practice and communicate between the practice system and the backend component;

the backend component further configured to receive the insurance coverage request for the animal, programmatically issue the insurance offer to the owner of the animal for insurance for the animal, generate an eligibility of insurance coverage for the animal when the insurance has been activated by the owner that is stored in the database and displayed at the veterinary practice that provided one or more treatments and procedures for the animal as patient insurance coverage status and displayed at the user computing device as patient insurance coverage status, programmatically process a claim for the treatment(s) and procedure(s) for the animal based on the eligibility of insurance coverage status of the animal and pay an approved claim amount to the veterinary practice for the one or more provided treatments and procedures; and

a plug-and-play data integration system connected to the first veterinary practice system of the veterinary practice and in communication with the backend component, the plug-and-play data integration system receives data from the veterinary practice system, maps the data according to the backend system and sends the mapped data to the backed system, thereby limiting the data traffic between the backend component and the first veterinary practice system, the plug-and-play data integration system being plug-and-play integratable with a second or more different practice systems of the veterinary practice for connection thereto.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the backend component further comprises a user interface component that is configured to generate a user interface containing information about the particular animal for the veterinary practice.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the backend component is configured to generate an insurance claim.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the user interface component is configured to generate an insurance claim.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the backend component further comprises a processor and wherein the backend component further comprises a plurality of lines of code that are executed by the processor.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein each of the one or more computing resources is one of a server computer and/or cloud computing resource(s).

19. The system of claim 17, wherein each of the one or more computing resources is one of a server and/or cloud computing resource(s).

20. The system of claim 13 further comprising one or more computing devices wherein each computing device is configured to allow the owner of the particular animal to activate insurance coverage.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein each computing device further comprises a processor and a browser application executed by the processor to interact with the backend component.

22. The system of claim 13 wherein the pet insurance component further comprises a plurality of lines of computer code.