Automatic authorizations
First Claim
1. An information transfer system for transferring information from and to a user about persons or entities and concerning benefits provided by at least one organization comprising:
- user inputs enabling the user to input information including voice information into the information transfer system, the information corresponding to at least an identification of at least one s and an identification of at least one user, at least one computer system for;
(a) receiving information including voice information from at least the user inputs, (b) identifying the at least one user and producing user identification based on the information, (c) identifying the at least one person or entity and producing person or entity identification based on the information, (d) accessing benefits information corresponding to the person'"'"'s or entity'"'"'s benefits provided by the at least one organization, and (e) comparing the person or entity identification to the benefits information and making automatic determinations for the person or entity concerning the benefits provided by the at least one organization for the person or entity, and a computer system output for automatically transmitting the automatic determinations to the user concerning the benefits for the person or entity.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A user inputs information identifying a person and the user. A computer system analyzes the user'"'"'s voice to verify or determine the user'"'"'s identity, and allows only valid users to access the system. The input information is compared to benefits information stored in the system to make automatic determinations concerning the benefits, and those determinations are transmitted to the user. The user is prompted to provide information in a format specified by the user and receives information in a format specified by the user. Other users, such as benefit organizations, also receive information in a format that they specify. When automatic authorization (or communication) by a facilitator computer is not appropriate, information is transmitted to a benefit organization computer, and further computer analysis or manual analysis is performed, and determinations concerning benefits are transmitted to the user. In a preferred embodiment, the user inputs diagnosis codes and action codes, and either a facilitator computer or a benefits organization computer or a benefits organization operator makes the determination that is sent to the user.
61 Citations
32 Claims
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1. An information transfer system for transferring information from and to a user about persons or entities and concerning benefits provided by at least one organization comprising:
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user inputs enabling the user to input information including voice information into the information transfer system, the information corresponding to at least an identification of at least one s and an identification of at least one user, at least one computer system for;
(a) receiving information including voice information from at least the user inputs, (b) identifying the at least one user and producing user identification based on the information, (c) identifying the at least one person or entity and producing person or entity identification based on the information, (d) accessing benefits information corresponding to the person'"'"'s or entity'"'"'s benefits provided by the at least one organization, and (e) comparing the person or entity identification to the benefits information and making automatic determinations for the person or entity concerning the benefits provided by the at least one organization for the person or entity, and a computer system output for automatically transmitting the automatic determinations to the user concerning the benefits for the person or entity. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. An information transfer system for transferring information about a person or entity from and to a provider comprising:
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provider inputs enabling providers to input at least voice information into the information transfer system, the voice information corresponding to at least the identification of a person or entity and the identification of a provider, at least one voice enabled computer system for;
(a) receiving at least voice information from the provider inputs, (b) identifying at least one provider and producing a provider identification based on the voice information, (c) identifying at least one person or entity and producing a person or entity identification based on the voice information, (d) storing coverage information corresponding to benefits provided by an organization associated with persons or entities, and (e) comparing the person or entity information to the coverage information and determining benefits information corresponding to benefits for the at least one person or entity, and a computer system output for transmitting benefits information to a provider indicating whether a person or entity is eligible for benefits. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. An information transfer system for transferring information about a patient from and to a health care provider concerning health-care benefits provided by a health care organization comprising:
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provider inputs enabling providers to transmit input information including at least voice information including a voice sample into the information transfer system, the input information corresponding to at least the identification of a person and the identification of a provider, at least one voice enabled computer system for;
(a) receiving at least input information from the provider inputs, (b) storing voice signatures with at least one voice signature being stored for each health care provider using the system, comparing the health care provider'"'"'s voice sample with the stored voice signatures and allowing or disallowing further access to the information transfer system based on the comparison, (c) identifying persons and producing person identifications based on the input information, (d) storing coverage information corresponding to the health care benefits provided by a health care organization organization, and (e) comparing the person information to the coverage information and determining health care benefit information for a particular person, and a computer system output for transmitting health care benefit information to a provider. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. An information transfer system for transferring information about a patient from a health care provider concerning health-care benefits provided by a health care organization comprising:
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provider inputs enabling providers to input information including a voice file containing information about patient into the information transfer system, the information corresponding to at least the identification of a patient and the identification of a provider, at least one voice enabled computer system for;
(a) receiving at least voice information including a voice file from the provider inputs, (b) identifying providers and producing provider identifications in a digital non-voice format, (c) identifying persons and producing person identifications in a digital non-voice format, (d) identifying a health care organization corresponding to each person identification, (e) producing output information that includes digital non-voice information corresponding at least to patient identification and provider information and that includes at least a portion of the voice file, a computer system output for transmitting the output information, and a health care organization computer system for receiving, storing and displaying at least portions of the output information from the voice enabled computer system, the health care organization computer system storing at least a portion of the voice file. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A method of certifying whether or not a health care organization covers an action that a medical service provider desires to perform on a patient, the method comprising:
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receiving a call from a medical service provider at a call processing center;
prompting the medical service provider to provide identification information that identifies the medical service provider;
prompting the medical service provider to provide identification information that identifies the patient;
prompting the medical service provider to provide identification information that identifies an action that the medical service provider desires to perform for the patient;
receiving and storing the information received from the medical service provider in memory;
examining the information received from the medical service provider in conjunction with stored information associated with the patient and an associated health care organization to determine if the medical service provider is automatically certified to perform the action for the patient and automatically informing the medical service provider that the action is certified if appropriate;
forwarding the information provided by the medical services provider to the health care organization associated with the patient if the action is not automatically certifiable;
receiving certification information from the health care organization in response to the forwarded information; and
transmitting the certification information to the medical services provider.
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30. An automated system for transmitting medical information between a medical services provider and health care organization, the system comprising:
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an identification memory for storing identification information that identifies a user of the automated system as an authorized user of the automated system;
a caller identifier for identifying callers based upon the identification information stored in the identification memory;
a profile memory for storing multiple profiles wherein at least a portion of the profiles are associated with selected users of the automated system;
a voice response unit for answering an incoming call to the automated system, prompting a caller to enter identification information associated with the caller and prompting the caller to enter information in accordance with a format specified by the identification information;
a voice recognition unit for receiving voice signals and converting the voice signals into digital information;
a message storage memory for storing information received from callers;
an automated response unit for examining information provided by a caller, determining if an automated response can be provided to the caller, and providing an automated response to the caller if appropriate;
a reformatting unit for altering a format of received data that is to be sent to a third party in accordance with a profile associated the third party;
a message forwarding unit for forwarding information received from a caller to a selected third party; and
a reply unit for receiving a reply from a third party in response to a forwarded message and forwarding the reply to a designated party in a format selected by the designated party.
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31. A method of transferring information between two parties, the method comprising:
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identifying a sending party that wants to send a message to a receiving party;
prompting the sending party to enter information in a format associated with the sending party;
saving the information provided by the sending party;
examining the information to determine if an automated response can be provided to the sending party and providing an automated response if appropriate;
reformatting the information in accordance with a format specified by a profile associated with the receiving party and forwarding the reformatted information to the receiving party specified by the sending party if an automated response is inappropriate;
receiving a response to the reformatted information from the receiving party; and
forwarding the response from the receiving party to the sending party in a format specified by the sending party.
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32. An information transfer system for transferring information about a patient from a health care provider concerning health-care benefits provided by a health care organization comprising:
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provider inputs enabling providers to input information including a voice file containing information about patient into the information transfer system, the information corresponding to at least the identification of a patient and the identification of a provider, at least one voice enabled computer system including one or more computers for;
(a) receiving information from the provider including at least voice information including a voice file from the provider inputs, (b) identifying providers and producing provider identifications in a digital non-voice format, (c) identifying patient and producing patient identifications in a digital non-voice format, (d) identifying a health care organization corresponding to each patient identification and producing health care organization identifications, (e) storing voice signatures with one of the the voice signatures corresponding to each provider, (f) identifying a particular voice signature corresponding to the provider of identification, (g) comparing the particular voice signature to the voice file of the provider and determining whether there is a correlation between the particular voice signature and the voice file based on correlation criteria, (h) allowing further access to the information transfer system when there is sufficient correlation between the particular voice signature and the voice file to satisfy the correlation criteria, (i) disallowing further access to the information transfer system when there is insufficient correlation between the particular voice signature and of the voice file to satisfy the correlation criteria, (j) storing a plurality of actions including an eligibility action and a pre-certification action, (k) prompting the provider by voice to choose between one of a plurality of actions, receiving a choice from the provider corresponding to a chosen action and performing the chosen action, (l) when the eligibility action is chosen, determining whether a patient is eligible for health care benefits based upon the patient identification and the health care organization identification and producing an automatic eligibility determination, (m) when the pre-certification action is chosen, prompting the provider by voice to provide at least a diagnosis and at least an action code, determining whether a particular action may be automatically authorized for a patient based on the diagnosis code and the action code, and producing and automatic authorization determination, and (n) based on the automatic authorization determination, generating an automatic authorization message for the provider or an authorization request for the health care organization, a voice enabled computer system output for transmitting to the provider automatic eligibility determinations and automatic authorization messages and for transmitting to the health care organization patient identifications, provider identifications, diagnosis codes, action codes, at least a portion of the voice file, and authorization requests, a health care organization computer system including a database for receiving information from the voice enabled computer system and for storing in the database alphanumeric characters based on at least one of the patient identification, the provider identification, the diagnosis code, and the action code, and for storing in the database at least a portion of the voice file, a user input for providing manual inputs into the health care organization computer system, a health care organization display for displaying at least some of the alphanumeric characters stored in the database, a health care organization sound output for audibly playing at least a portion of the sound file; and
health care organization computer output for transmitting to the provider information concerning patients including at least some manual authorizations of actions based on the diagnosis codes, the action codes and the manual inputs.
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Specification