Influenza vaccine administration payment device processing

• US 10,614,458 B2
• Filed: 08/12/2010
• Issued: 04/07/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Citicorp Credit Services Incorporated (Citigroup Incorporated), Visa USA, Inc. (Visa, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Visa USA, Inc. (Visa, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cervenka, Karen L., Pourfallah, Stacy, Taylor, Mary Theresa, Radlow, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Durant, Jonathan
• Application Number:
  US12/855,584
• Publication Number:
  US 20110145008A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,526 Days
• Field of Search: 705 2, 705 3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/28 Pre-payment schemes, e.g. "pay before"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/385 using an alias or single-use codes
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/10 relating to drugs or medications, e.g. for ensuring correct administration to patients

Abstract

A payment device has identifiers, read in a magnetic strip or visual indicia by a healthcare provider, for an influenza vaccine and an account issued by an issuer to a party (e.g.; a governmental entity) upon which a transaction can be conducted that is limited to administering the influenza vaccine. The healthcare provider sends an authorization request for the transaction for delivery through its acquirer and a transaction handler to the issuer. The issuer uses the identifiers to authorize the healthcare provider to administer the influenza vaccine and to conduct the transaction, and sends an authorization response to the authorization request back through the transaction handler and the acquirer. After the receiving of the authorization response, the healthcare provider administers the influenza vaccine and conducts the transaction on the account for the sale of the service of the administering of the influenza vaccine.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a server computer, through an acquirer and from a Point-of-Sale (POS) terminal associated with a healthcare provider, an authorization request message which requests authorization to conduct a transaction on an account for the sale of a service of an administering of an influenza vaccine after a bearer of a prepaid card associated with the account and comprising a computer readable memory storing data including an identifier for an influenza vaccine and an identifier associated with the account causes the Point-of-Sale terminal to read the data from the prepaid card,

wherein the authorization request message includes the identifier for the influenza vaccine and the identifier for the account, and wherein the identity of the bearer of the prepaid card is anonymous by not encoding data sufficient to identify the bearer of the prepaid card on the prepaid card;

determining, by the server computer, an issuer of the account based on the identifier for the account;

routing, by the server computer, the authorization request message to the issuer of the account, wherein the issuer operates an issuer computer that is configured to;

determine, using the identifier for the account and the identifier for the influenza vaccine that the transaction is authorized,

deactivate the identifier associated with the account after the transaction is authorized such that further authorization request messages that include the identifier associated with the account will be declined,

deactivate the prepaid card upon determining that there are no active identifiers associated with the account included in the prepaid card,

generate an authorization response message indicating approval of the transaction, and

transmit the authorization request message to the server computer;

receiving, at the server computer the authorization response message indicating approval of the transaction from the issuer;

sending, by the server computer, the authorization response message to the POS terminal, wherein after the receiving of the authorization response message, the healthcare provider thereafter administers the influenza vaccine; and

clearing and settling, by the server computer, the transaction between the account associated with the prepaid card and an account associated with the healthcare provider.

2. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the issuer determines that the transaction is authorized even when the account has an insufficient balance, whereby an amount associated with the transaction will be collected by the issuer from a third party after the transaction has been conducted between the bearer of the prepaid card and the healthcare provider.

3. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the prepaid card comprises a magnetic strip and visual indicia on a surface of the prepaid card, the visual indicia indicating that the prepaid card is only used for the influenza vaccine.

4. A computer comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transient computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to the method of claim 1.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the prepaid card further includes a location of where the influenza vaccine can be obtained.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the prepaid card further comprises an account identifier associated with the bearer for use on items other than the influenza vaccine.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the computer readable memory further stores an expiration date of the prepaid card, an influenza vaccine type, and an influenza vaccine quantity.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the server computer is in a transaction handler.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the authorization request message comprises a cost of providing the influenza vaccine to the bearer of the prepaid card.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising, entering, the cost of providing the influenza vaccine into the Point-of-Sale terminal by the healthcare provider.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the prepaid card comprises indicia indicating that the prepaid card is for an influenza vaccine and indicates one of a nasal or injection mode of administration.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the prepaid card is a single use prepaid card.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the prepaid card includes one or more identifiers associated with the account and further comprising deactivating the prepaid card upon determining that all of the one or more identifiers associated with the account included on the prepaid card have been deactivated.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the prepaid card is one of a plurality of prepaid cards associated with the account, each of which is issued to a different bearer of a plurality of bearers.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the account is funded and maintained by a sponsor separate from the plurality of bearers.

16. A method comprising:

receiving, at a Point-of-Sale (POS) terminal associated with a healthcare provider, an identifier for an influenza vaccine and an identifier for an account by an issuer after a bearer of a prepaid card associated with the account and comprising a computer readable memory storing data including an identifier for an influenza vaccine and an identifier associated with the account causes the Point-of-Sale terminal to read the data from the prepaid card, and wherein the identity of the bearer of the prepaid card is anonymous by not encoding data sufficient to identify the bearer of the prepaid card on the prepaid card;

generating, by the POS terminal, an authorization request message including the identifier for the influenza vaccine and the identifier for the account;

sending the authorization request message to the issuer via an acquirer and a transaction handler, wherein the issuer thereafter determines, using the identifier for the account and the identifier for the influenza vaccine that the transaction is authorized, and subsequently deactivates the account identifier after the transaction is authorized such that further authorization request messages that include the account identifier will be declined, and wherein the issuer subsequently deactivates the prepaid card upon determining that there are no active account identifiers associated with the prepaid card;

receiving, at the POS terminal and from the issuer via the transaction handler and the acquirer, an authorization response message, wherein the healthcare provider thereafter administers the influenza vaccine.

17. The method as defined in claim 16, wherein the issuer authorizes the transaction on the account even when the account has an insufficient balance, whereby an amount associated with the transaction will be collected by the issuer from a third party after the transaction has been conducted.

18. The method as defined in claim 16 wherein the prepaid card comprises a magnetic strip and visual indicia on a surface of the prepaid card, the visual indicia indicating that the prepaid card is only used for the influenza vaccine.

19. A POS terminal comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transient computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform the method of claim 16.