HEALTH CARE ELIGIBILITY VERIFICATION AND SETTLEMENT SYSTEMS AND METHODS

• US 20140316798A1
• Filed: 04/21/2014
• Published: 10/23/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: First Data Corporation (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: First Data Corporation (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Inventors: LUTZEN, RENEE ELAHI, NAUMAN, GEORGE, WEIS, DAVID G., KENNEDY, BEVERLY, BARTLETT, ROBYN
• Granted Patent: US 9,898,581 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/0018 Constructional details, e.g. of drawer, printing means, input means
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/12 electronically operated digital data processing aspects G06Q20/00
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/65 stored on portable record carriers, e.g. on smartcards, RFID tags or CD
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/00 ICT specially adapted for medical diagnosis, medical simulation or medical data mining; ICT specially adapted for detecting, monitoring or modelling epidemics or pandemics

Abstract

Devices, systems, and methods for processing healthcare and financial transactions are provided. A point-of-care terminal for processing a healthcare transaction by a healthcare provider includes a reader configured to read information from a healthcare eligibility and settlement presentation instrument associated with a patient, and a processor configured to process a healthcare transaction based on the information, wherein the healthcare transaction includes at least one of a healthcare eligibility verification transaction and a healthcare settlement transaction.

Claims

1. (canceled)

2. A point-of-care device, comprising:

a display;

one or more processors; and

a memory communicatively coupled with and readable by the one or more processors and having stored therein processor-readable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

present, via the display, a menu allowing selection from multiple types of transactions, the multiple types of transactions comprising;

a financial transaction and a healthcare eligibility transaction;

receive a selection of the healthcare eligibility transaction;

receive an identifier associated with a patient;

transmit a message to a host system initiating the healthcare eligibility transaction; and

receive, in response to the message, an accepted eligibility receipt that indicates a co-pay amount corresponding to a healthcare service.

3. The point-of-care device of claim 2, the point-of-care device further comprising:

a magnetic-stripe reader configured to read a magnetic stripe present on a transaction instrument, wherein the processor-readable instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to receive the identified associated with the patient comprise processor-readable instructions which, when executed, cause the one or more processors to;

receive, via the magnetic-stripe reader, the identifier associated with the patient from the magnetic stripe of the transaction instrument.

4. The point-of-care device of claim 3, wherein:

the magnetic-stripe reader is configured to obtain the identifier associated with the patient from a third track of the magnetic stripe of the transaction instrument; and

the first track and second track of the magnetic stripe of the transaction instrument are associated with financial transaction information.

5. The point-of-care device of claim 2, wherein the processor-readable instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to present, via the display, the menu allowing selection from the multiple types of transactions comprise processor-readable instructions which, when executed, cause the one or more processors to:

present, via the display, a first option associated with the financial transaction and a second option associated with the healthcare eligibility transaction, wherein the first option and second option are presented simultaneously.

6. The point-of-care device of claim 2, wherein the processor-readable instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to transmit the message to the host system initiating the healthcare eligibility transaction comprise processor-readable instructions which, when executed, cause the one or more processors to:

transmit the message to the host system via a credit card processing network.

7. The point-of-care device of claim 2, wherein the processor-readable instructions, when executed, further cause the one or more processors to:

receive a second selection of the financial transaction;

receive payment information from a transaction instrument; and

conduct a financial transaction using the payment information from the transaction instrument.

8. The point-of-care device of claim 7, wherein the processor-readable instructions, when executed, further cause the one or more processors to:

assign a first message type to the message initiating the healthcare eligibility transaction; and

assign a second message type to the financial transaction, wherein the first message type and the second message type are different and are used by a remote computer system to determine a type of transaction being conducted.

9. The point-of-care device of claim 2, wherein the accepted eligibility receipt further indicates a primary care physician of the patient.

10. A method for conducting a health care transaction, the method comprising:

presenting, by a point-of-care device, a menu allowing selection from multiple types of transactions, the multiple types of transactions comprising;

a financial transaction and a healthcare eligibility transaction;

receiving, by the point-of-care device, a selection of the healthcare eligibility transaction;

receiving, by the point-of-care device, an identifier associated with a patient;

transmitting, by the point-of-care device, a message to a host system initiating the healthcare eligibility transaction; and

receiving, by the point-of-care device, in response to the message, an accepted eligibility receipt that indicates a co-pay amount corresponding to a healthcare service.

11. The method for conducting the health care transaction of claim 10, wherein receiving the identified associated with the patient comprises:

receiving, via a magnetic-stripe reader of the point-of-care device, the identifier associated with the patient from a magnetic stripe of a transaction instrument.

12. The method for conducting the health care transaction of claim 11, wherein the identifier associated with the patient is received from a third track of the magnetic stripe of the transaction instrument, the first track and second track comprising financial account information.

13. The method for conducting the health care transaction of claim 10, wherein presenting the menu allowing selection from the multiple types of transactions comprises:

presenting a first option associated with the financial transaction and a second option associated with the healthcare eligibility transaction, wherein the first option and second option are presented simultaneously.

14. The method for conducting the health care transaction of claim 10, wherein transmitting the message to the host system initiating the healthcare eligibility transaction comprises:

transmitting the message to the host system via a credit card processing network.

15. The method for conducting the health care transaction of claim 10, the method further comprising:

receiving, by the point-of-care device, a second selection of the financial transaction;

receiving, by the point-of-care device, payment information from a transaction instrument; and

conducting, by the point-of-care device, a financial transaction using the payment information from the transaction instrument.

16. The method for conducting the health care transaction of claim 15, the method further comprising:

assigning, by the point-of-care device, a first message type to the message initiating the healthcare eligibility transaction; and

assign, by the point-of-care device, a second message type to the financial transaction, wherein the first message type and the second message type are different and are used by a remote computer system to determine a type of transaction being conducted.

17. The method for conducting the health care transaction of claim 10, wherein the accepted eligibility receipt further indicates a primary care physician of the patient.

18. A non-transitory processor-readable medium comprising processor-readable instructions configured to cause one or more processors to:

cause presentation of a menu allowing selection from multiple types of transactions, the multiple types of transactions comprising;

a financial transaction and a healthcare eligibility transaction;

receive a selection of the healthcare eligibility transaction;

receive an identifier associated with a patient;

transmit a message to a host system initiating the healthcare eligibility transaction; and

receive, in response to the message, an accepted eligibility receipt that indicates a co-pay amount corresponding to a healthcare service.

19. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the processor-readable instructions are further configured to cause the one or more processors to:

receive, via a magnetic-stripe reader, the identifier associated with the patient from a magnetic stripe of a transaction instrument.

20. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the processor-readable instructions configured to cause the one or more processors to receive the identifier comprise processor-readable instructions configured to cause the one or more processors to receive the identifier associated with the patient from a third track of the magnetic stripe of the transaction instrument;

wherein the first track and second track of the magnetic stripe of the transaction instrument are associated with financial transaction information.

21. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the processor-readable instructions configured to cause the one or more processors to cause presentation of the menu allowing selection from the multiple types of transactions comprise processor-readable instructions configured to cause the one or more processors to:

cause presentation of a first option associated with the financial transaction and a second option associated with the healthcare eligibility transaction, wherein the first option and second option are presented simultaneously.