Attachment integrated claims systems and operating methods therefor

• US 20070260493A1
• Filed: 01/12/2007
• Published: 11/08/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/1996
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Integrated Claims Systems LLC
• Original Assignee: Integrated Claims Systems LLC
• Inventors: DiRienzo, Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 8,676,609 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/025 Coordination of plural reservations, e.g. plural trip segments, transportation combined with accommodation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS
• 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

Systems and methods for processing textual messages which are integrated with one or more digital attachments is described. These systems and methods are useful in the electronic filing and processing of, for example, image data, and of textual data associated with the image data. One particular application of these systems and methods would be for the electronic filing and processing of dental x-rays with patient claim forms.

Claims

1. A method of processing health insurance claims that require health-insurance-claim attachments, the method comprising:

receiving an electronic-health-insurance form associated with a health care encounter and devoid of any health-insurance-claim-attachment information associated with the health care encounter, wherein the electronic-health-insurance form comprises;

first information uniquely identifying the health care encounter associated with the electronic-health-insurance form; and

second information for accessing electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information;

accessing the electronic-health-insurance form and obtaining the second information;

on the basis of the second information, obtaining the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information and third information uniquely identifying the health care encounter associated with the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information; and

processing a health insurance claim using the electronic-health-insurance form and the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information if the electronic-health-insurance form and the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information are associated with the same health care encounter.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the health insurance claim further comprises processing the health insurance claim using the electronic-health-insurance form and the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information if the first information and the third information are compared and found to have in common at least some of the same information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the electronic-health-insurance form comprises receiving an electronic-dental-insurance prior approval claim form.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the electronic-health-insurance form comprises receiving an electronic-dental-insurance claim form.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information comprises obtaining electronic-dental-insurance-claim-attachment information.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the electronic-health-insurance form comprises receiving an electronic-medical-insurance prior approval claim form.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the electronic-health-insurance form comprises receiving an electronic-medical-insurance claim form.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information comprises obtaining electronic-medical-insurance-claim-attachment information.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first information and the third information, each of which uniquely identifies the corresponding health care encounter, both include at least the following:

patient name, provider name, and date of service.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the second information is an identification number.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic-health-insurance form is received at a first computer system operated by a health insurance payer and wherein said first computer system is comprised of first and second computer subsystems and said first and second computer subsystems are such that the electronic-health-insurance form is received by the first computer subsystem and the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information is obtained by second computer subsystem.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first and second computer subsystems are networked together.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the first and second computer subsystems are not networked together.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein said first computer subsystem contains a health-insurance-forms management computer system and said second subsystem contains a buffer computer system.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein obtaining the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information comprises obtaining the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information from a Value Added Service residing at a second computer system, said Value Added Service providing a method for storing and later retrieval of electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information and third information uniquely identifying the associated health care encounter.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein receiving the electronic-health-insurance form comprises receiving the electronic-health-insurance form from a first communications channel by the first computer subsystem and obtaining the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information comprises receiving the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information from a second communications channel by the second computer subsystem.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein receiving the electronic-health-insurance form by the first computer subsystem comprises receiving the electronic-health-insurance form from an insurance forms clearinghouse.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the clearinghouse is NEIC.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic-health-insurance form and the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information with its associated third information reference one another so that these entities can be continuously associated with one another.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the cross referencing is accomplished with the information that uniquely identifies the particular health care encounter.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the cross referencing is accomplished by having a field containing the same identification number appear in both files.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information comprises obtaining a digitized dental x-ray.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information comprises obtaining an electronic Explanation Of Benefits (EOB).

24. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information comprises obtaining one or more of the following:

x-rays, CTs, MRIs, EKGs, EEGs, strip charts, digitized video signals, transcriptions of Operating Room Notes, or additional ASCII text.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic-health-insurance forms, the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information and its associated third information all have information contained in filled identifiable fields.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein accessing the electronic-health-insurance form further comprises transferring information from at least one of its fields to a correlated field in a another software application without manual reentry.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein the contents of the electronic-health-insurance forms, the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information and its associated third information together form a complete set of information for processing a health insurance form.

28. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying the contents of the electronic-health-insurance form and the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information concurrently.

29. A method of processing health insurance claims that require health-insurance-claim attachments, the method comprising:

receiving an electronic-health-insurance form associated with a health care encounter between a patient and a healthcare provider and devoid of any health-insurance-claim-attachment information associated with the health care encounter, wherein the electronic-health-insurance form comprises at least;

first information uniquely identifying the health care encounter that the electronic-health-insurance form is associated with;

accessing the electronic-health-insurance form and obtaining the first information;

on the basis of the first information, obtaining at least electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information and second information uniquely identifying the health care encounter associated with the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information; and

processing a health insurance claim using the electronic-health-insurance form and the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information if the electronic-health-insurance form and the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information are associated with the same health care encounter.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein processing the health insurance claim further comprises processing the health insurance claim using the electronic-health-insurance form and the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information if the first information and the second information are compared and found to have in common at least some of the same information.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein the electronic-health-insurance form also includes information indicating that electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information along with second information, both associated with the electronic-health-insurance form, is in available for obtaining.

32. The method of claim 29, wherein receiving the electronic-health-insurance form comprises receiving an electronic-dental-insurance prior approval claim form.

33. The method of claim 29, wherein receiving the electronic-health-insurance form comprises receiving an electronic-dental-insurance claim form.

34. The method of claim 29, wherein obtaining the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information comprises obtaining electronic-dental-insurance-claim-attachment information.

35. The method of claim 29, wherein receiving the electronic-health-insurance form comprises receiving an electronic-medical-insurance prior approval claim form.

36. The method of claim 29, wherein receiving the electronic-health-insurance form comprises receiving an electronic-medical-insurance claim form.

37. The method of claim 29, wherein obtaining the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information comprises obtaining electronic-medical-insurance-claim-attachment information.

38. The method of claim 29, wherein the first information and the second information, each of which uniquely identifies a corresponding health care encounter, both include at least the following:

patient name, provider name, and date of service.

39. The method of claim 29, wherein the electronic-health-insurance form is received at a first computer system operated by a health insurance payer and wherein said first computer system is comprised of first and second computer subsystems and said first and second computer subsystems are such that the electronic-health-insurance form is received by the first computer subsystem and the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information is obtained by second computer subsystem.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the first and second computer subsystems are networked together.

41. The method of claim 39, wherein the first and second computer subsystems are not networked together.

42. The method of claim 39, wherein said first computer subsystem contains a health-insurance-forms management computer system and said second computer subsystem contains a buffer computer system.

43. The method of claim 39, wherein obtaining the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information comprises obtaining the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information from a Value Added Service residing at a second computer system, said Value Added Service providing a method for storing and later retrieval of electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information and second information uniquely identifying the associated health care encounter.

44. The method of claim 39, wherein receiving the electronic-health-insurance form comprises receiving the electronic-health-insurance form from a first communications channel by the first computer subsystem and obtaining the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information comprises receiving the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information from a second communications channel by the second computer subsystem.

45. The method of claim 39, wherein receiving the electronic-health-insurance form by the first computer subsystem comprises obtaining the electronic-health-insurance form from an insurance forms clearinghouse.

46. The method of claim 45, wherein the clearinghouse is NEIC.

47. The method of claim 29, wherein the electronic-health-insurance form and the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information with its associated second information cross reference one another so that these entities can be continuously associated with one another.

48. The method of claim 47, wherein the cross referencing is accomplished with the information that uniquely identifies the particular health care encounter.

49. The method of claim 47, wherein the cross referencing is accomplished by having a same identification number appear in both the electronic-health-insurance form and the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information with its associated second information.

50. The method of claim 29, wherein obtaining the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information comprises obtaining a digitized dental x-ray.

51. The method of claim 29, wherein obtaining the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information comprises obtaining an electronic Explanation Of Benefits (EOB).

52. The method of claim 29, wherein obtaining the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information comprises obtaining one or more of the following:

x-rays, CTs, MRIs, EKGs, EEGs, strip charts, digitized video signals, transcriptions of Operating Room Notes, or additional ASCII text.

53. The method of claim 29, wherein the electronic-health-insurance forms, the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information and its associated second information have all information contained in filled identifiable fields.

54. The method of claim 53, wherein accessing the electronic-health-insurance form further comprises transferring information from at least one of its fields to a correlated field in a another software application without manual reentry.

55. The method of claim 29, wherein the contents of the electronic-health-insurance forms, the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information and its associated second information together form a complete set of information for processing a health insurance form.

56. The method of claim 29, further comprising displaying the contents of the electronic-health-insurance form and the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment information concurrently.

57. A system designed to assist in the creation, submission, and processing of health insurance claims that require health-insurance-claim attachments, the system comprising:

a first computer system for use by a health care provider;

a second computer system for providing value added services between the health care provider and a health care payer;

a clearinghouse computer operated by a health-insurance-claims clearinghouse; and

a third computer system for use by the health care payer;

wherein the first computer system is configured to generate a user interface for entry of health-insurance-claim data and health-insurance-claim-attachment data, the health-insurance-claim data and health-insurance-claim-attachment data being related to a particular patient/provider health care encounter;

wherein the first computer system, in response in part to entry of the health-insurance-claim data and the health-insurance-claim-attachment data through the user interface, is configured to generate a first file containing at least health-insurance-claim-attachment data, and a second file containing health-insurance-claim data, but not containing any of the health-insurance-claim-attachment data;

wherein the first computer system is configured to transmit the first file to the second computer system and to transmit the second file to the claims clearinghouse computer system;

wherein the first file and the second file are each associated with a same identification number;

wherein the claims clearinghouse computer system is configured to transmit a third file to the third computer system, said third file comprising identification-number data derived from the identification number of the second file and information generated as a function of the information in the second file; and

wherein the third computer system is configured to access at least the health-insurance-claim-attachment data of the first file, stored in the second computer system, on the basis of the identification-number data from the third file.

58. The system of claim 57, wherein the health insurance claim is a dental insurance prior approval claim form.

59. The system of claim 57, wherein the health insurance claim is a dental insurance claim form.

60. The system of claim 57, wherein the health insurance claim is a medical insurance prior approval claim form.

61. The system of claim 57, wherein the health insurance form is a medical insurance claim form.

62. The system of claim 57, wherein the health-insurance-claim data is dental-insurance-claim data.

63. The system of claim 57, wherein the health-insurance-claim-attachment data contained in the first file is dental-insurance-claim-attachment data.

64. The system of claim 57, wherein the health-insurance-claim data is medical-insurance-claim data.

65. The system of claim 57, wherein the health-insurance-claim-attachment data is medical-insurance-claim-attachment data.

66. The system of claim 57, wherein the second file and the third file contain the same information.

67. The system of claim 57, wherein the system contains a first communications channel connecting the first computer system to the second computer system, a second communications channel connecting the first computer system to the clearinghouse computer system, a third communications channel connecting the clearinghouse computer system to the third computer system, and a fourth communications channel connecting the second computer system to the third computer system.

68. The system of claim 57, wherein the third computer system comprises first and second computer subsystems.

69. The system of claim 68, wherein the first and second computer subsystems are networked together.

70. The system of claim 68, wherein the first and second computer subsystems are not networked together.

71. The system of claim 68, wherein said first computer subsystem contains a health-insurance-claims management computer system and said second computer subsystem contains a buffer computer system.

72. The system of claim 57, wherein the value added service of the second computer provides for storing and later retrieval of health-insurance-claim-attachment data.

73. The system of claim 57, wherein the second computer system is adapted to screen the first file for errors and to produce reports based on the contents of the first files sent to it.

74. The system of claim 57, wherein when the first file reaches the second computer system, the second computer system automatically transmits a message file back to the first computer system notifying the health care provider that the first file has been received.

75. The system of claim 57, wherein the health-insurance-claim-attachment data is a digitized dental x-ray.

76. The system of claim 57, wherein the health-insurance-forms-attachment data is an Explanation Of Benefits (EOB).

77. The system of claim 57, wherein the health-insurance-forms-attachment data is any of the following:

x-rays, CTs, MRIs, EKG, EEG, recordings, digitized video signals, transcriptions of Operating Room Notes, or additional ASCII text.

78. The system of claim 57, wherein the first computer system is located at a dental health care provider'"'"'s office.

79. The system of claim 57, wherein the user interface further comprises blank identifiable fields for entry of health-insurance-claim data and health-insurance-claim-attachment data.

80. The system of claim 79, wherein software used to fill in the blank identifiable fields of the user interface with data and to create the first and second files is integrated into a health care provider'"'"'s practice management software.

81. The system of claim 79, wherein the first computer system is further adapted to enter data into at least one member of the blank identifiable fields, of the user interface, automatically from an existing database in the first computer system.

82. The electronic system of claim 79, wherein data from at least one field of the set of filled identifiable fields is automatically copied to a correlated field in a software application in the first computer system in response to the first and second files being selected for transmission.

83. The electronic system of claim 82, wherein the software application is a health care provider'"'"'s practice management system.

84. The electronic system of claim 79, wherein both the first and the second files contain at least one field in common and that this set of common fields contains information that uniquely identifies the particular patient/provider health care encounter.

85. The system of claim 57, wherein the third file comprises filled identifiable fields and is such that when the third file reaches the third computer system, the third computer system is configured such that data from at least one of its filled identifiable fields is transferred directly into a correlated field in a software application of the third computer system without manual reentry.

86. The system of claim 85, wherein the software application is the claims management software of the payer.

87. The system of claim 57, wherein the clearinghouse is NEIC.

88. The system of claim 57, wherein the first and second files cross reference one another so that the data in these files can be continuously associated with one another.

89. The electronic system of claim 57, wherein the first computer system contains a digitizer that produces health-insurance-claim-attachment data and the health-insurance-claim-attachment data is entered into the first file.

90. The electronic system of claim 89, wherein the digitizer produces a digital x-ray directly from the patient.

91. The electronic system of claim 89, where the digitizer is a scanner.

92. The electronic system of claim 57, wherein one or more of the computer systems is adapted to provide security measures to restrict access of the files to authorized persons.

93. The system of claim 57, wherein the user interface is adapted to generate a message notifying the first user if there is missing data.

94. The system of claim 79, wherein the user interface, with its blank identifiable fields, resides at an online site accessible by the first computer system.

95. The system of claim 94, wherein the first and second files are transmitted directly from the online site to the second and third computer systems, respectively.

96. The system of claim 57, wherein the system facilitates a coherent global exchange enabling the digital exchange of health-insurance-claim data and health-insurance-claim-attachment data between many providers and many payers.

97. The system of claim 57, wherein the first and second files are compressed before transmission.

98. A computer network, which creates, submits, and processes electronic-health-insurance claims and electronic-health-insurance-claim attachments, the network comprising:

a first computer system for use by a health care provider;

a second computer system for providing value added services between health care providers and health care payers;

a clearinghouse computer system associated with a health-insurance-claims clearinghouse; and

a third computer system for use by a health care payer;

wherein the first computer system is configured to generate a first file containing first data relating to a health care encounter between a patient and the health care provider and a second file containing second data relating to the same health care encounter between the patient and the health care provider, the first data including health-insurance-claim-attachment data and the second data including no health-insurance-claim-attachment data;

wherein the first and second files each contain information that uniquely identifies the corresponding health care encounter;

wherein the first computer system is configured to transmit the first file to the second computer system and to transmit the second file to the clearinghouse computer system;

wherein the clearinghouse computer system is configured to transmit a third file to the third computer system, said third file containing at least some information generated from the information of the second file that uniquely identifies the healthcare encounter; and

wherein the third computer system is configured to access at least the health-insurance-claim-attachment data from the first file, stored in the second computer system, on the basis of the at least some information generated from the information of the second file that uniquely identifies the healthcare encounter, and to display at least some of the third file and at least the health-insurance-claim-attachment data from the first file to a user.

99. The computer network of claim 98, wherein the identifying information of the first file and the identifying information of the third file include at least some identifying information common to both files.

100. The computer network of claim 98, wherein the first file and third file are displayed in a manner to permit the user to compare at least the identifying information common to both files.

101. The computer network of claim 98, wherein the second file and the third file contain the same information.

102. The computer network of claim 98, wherein the information that uniquely identifies the corresponding health care encounter includes at least the following information:

patient name, provider name, and date of service.

103. The computer network of claim 98, wherein the electronic-health-insurance claim is an electronic-dental-insurance prior approval claim form.

104. The computer network of claim 98, wherein the electronic-health-insurance claim is an electronic-dental-insurance claim.

105. The computer network of claim 98, wherein the electronic-health-insurance-claim attachment is an electronic-dental-insurance-claim attachment.

106. The computer network of claim 98, wherein the electronic-health-insurance claim is an electronic-medical-insurance prior approval claim form.

107. The computer network of claim 98, wherein the electronic-health-insurance claim is a electronic-medical-insurance claim.

108. The computer network of claim 98, wherein the electronic-health-insurance-claim attachment is a electronic-medical-insurance-claim attachment.

109. The computer network of claim 98, wherein the third computer system comprises first and second computer subsystems.

110. The computer network of claim 109, wherein the first and second computer subsystems are networked together.

111. The computer network of claim 109, wherein the first and second computer subsystems are not networked together.

112. The computer network of claim 109, wherein said first computer subsystem contains a health-insurance-claims management computer system and said second computer subsystem contains a buffer computer system.

113. The computer network of claim 109, wherein the health-insurance-claim-attachment data is downloaded from the second computer system by the second computer subsystem and the second file is received from the clearinghouse computer system by first computer subsystem.

114. The computer network of claim 98, wherein the Value Added Service of the second computer system provides for storing and later retrieval of electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment data and the associated information that uniquely identifies the particular health care encounter the health-insurance-claim-attachment data is associated with.

115. The computer network of claim 98, wherein the second computer system is adapted to screen the first file for errors and to produce reports based on the contents of the first files sent to it.

116. The computer network of claim 98, wherein when the first file reaches the second computer system, the second computer system automatically transmits a message file back to the first computer system notifying the health care provider that the first file has been received.

117. The computer network of claim 98, wherein the electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment is a digitized dental x-ray.

118. The computer network of claim 98, wherein the electronic-health-insurance-claim attachment is an Explanation Of Benefits (EOB).

119. The computer network of claim 98, wherein the electronic-health-insurance-claim attachment is any of the following:

x-rays, CTs, MRIs, EKG, EEG, recordings, strip charts, digitized video signals, transcriptions of Operating Room Notes, or additional ASCII text.

120. The computer network of claim 98, wherein the first computer system is located at a dental health care provider'"'"'s office.

121. The computer network of claim 98, wherein the first computer system is configured to generate a user interface for entry, into blank identifiable fields, of health-insurance-claim data and health-insurance-claim-attachment data, the health-insurance-claim data and the health-insurance-claim-attachment data being related to a particular patient/provider health care encounter.

122. The computer network of claim 121, wherein the first, second, and third files are comprised of filled identifiable fields of data.

123. The computer network of claim 122, wherein software used to fill in the blank identifiable fields of the user interface with data and to create the first and second files is integrated into a health care provider'"'"'s practice management software.

124. The computer network of claim 121, wherein the first computer system is further adapted to enter data into at least one member of the set of blank identifiable fields automatically from an existing database in the first computer system.

125. The computer network of claim 121, wherein data from at least one field of the filled set of identifiable fields is automatically copied to a correlated field in a software application in the first computer system in response to the first and second files being selected for transmission.

126. The computer network of claim 125, wherein the software application is a health care provider'"'"'s practice management system.

127. The computer network of claim 122, wherein when the third file reaches the third computer system the data from at least one of its filled identifiable fields is transferred directly into a correlated field in a software application of the third computer system without manual reentry.

128. The computer network of claim 127, wherein the software application is the claims management software of the payer.

129. The computer network of claim 121, wherein the user interface is adapted to generate a message notifying the first user if there is missing data from the files that are generated.

130. The computer network of claim 121, wherein the user interface, with its blank identifiable fields, resides at an online site accessible by the first computer system.

131. The computer network of claim 98, wherein the clearinghouse is NEIC.

132. The computer network of claim 98, wherein the first and second files cross reference one another so that they can be continuously associated with each other.

133. The computer network of claim 122, wherein the first and second files are cross referenced with each other with the information that uniquely identifies the particular health care encounter.

134. The computer network of claim 122, wherein the first, second, and third files are cross referenced with each other by having the same identification number appear in all three files.

135. The computer network of claim 99, wherein the first computer system contains a digitizer that produces electronic-health-insurance-claim-attachment data.

136. The computer network of claim 135, wherein the digitizer produces a digital x-ray directly from the patient.

137. The computer network of claim 135, where the digitizer is a scanner.

138. The computer network of claim 98, wherein one or more of the computer systems is adapted to provide security measures to restrict access of the data to authorized persons.

139. The computer network of claim 98, wherein the computer network facilitates a coherent global exchange enabling the digital exchange of electronic-health-insurance-claim data and health-insurance-claim-attachment data between many providers and many payers.

140. The computer network of claim 98, wherein the first and second files are compressed before transmission.