Medical payment system
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method of determining healthcare prices, comprising:
- prompting a medical provider with an interactive voice response system to enter information about a patient encounter wherein said interactive voice response system is configured to verbally prompt said medical provider for patient identification information, medical provider identification information, and goods or services information;
receiving, via said interactive voice response system said patient identification information, said medical provider information, and said goods or services information;
determining a contracted payment amount associated with said goods or services wherein determining said contracted payment amount comprises;
selecting a fee schedule, from amongst a hierarchy of fee schedules, to use for calculating said payment amount by accessing a priority list that assigns a ranking to said fee schedules; and
calculating said contracted payment amount based on said selected fee schedule; and
communicating via said interactive voice response system said contracted payment amount to at least said medical provider.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A medical payment system is described in which a provider of medical goods and/or services submits, via telephone or other communications medium, a request for payment amount determination for a patient encounter. A price determination system determines which of a plurality of fee schedules negotiated by the provider applies to the patient encounter and calculates, based at least in part on information entered by the provider, a payment amount for the encounter, which it communicates to at least the provider. In one embodiment, the provider receives the payment amount information while the patient is at the point of service. In one embodiment, the provider may use the system to submit a claim for payment by at least one responsible party.
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Citations
79 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method of determining healthcare prices, comprising:
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prompting a medical provider with an interactive voice response system to enter information about a patient encounter wherein said interactive voice response system is configured to verbally prompt said medical provider for patient identification information, medical provider identification information, and goods or services information; receiving, via said interactive voice response system said patient identification information, said medical provider information, and said goods or services information; determining a contracted payment amount associated with said goods or services wherein determining said contracted payment amount comprises; selecting a fee schedule, from amongst a hierarchy of fee schedules, to use for calculating said payment amount by accessing a priority list that assigns a ranking to said fee schedules; and calculating said contracted payment amount based on said selected fee schedule; and communicating via said interactive voice response system said contracted payment amount to at least said medical provider. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A computer-implemented method of determining healthcare prices, comprising:
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prompting a medical provider with an interactive voice response system to enter information about a patient encounter wherein said interactive voice response system is configured to verbally prompt said medical provider for patient identification information, medical provider identification information and goods or services information; receiving via a telephone keypad said patient identification information, said medical provider identification information and said goods or services information; determining at least one provider organization affiliated with said medical provider; selecting a fee schedule amongst a hierarchy of fee schedules for said patient encounter based on a priority list of provider organizations wherein said priority list assigns a ranking to said fee schedules and based on said provider organization affiliated with said medical provider; calculating a payment amount associated with said patient encounter based on said selected fee schedule; and communicating via said interactive voice response system said payment amount to at least said medical provider. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. a computer-implemented method of determining healthcare prices, comprising:
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receiving information entered about a patient encounter with a medical provider, wherein said information identifies a patient, said medical provider and goods or services; determining with a computer a plurality of provider organizations that are affiliated with said medical provider; selecting with a computer at least one fee schedule associated with said patient encounter from amongst a hierarchy of fee schedules, by accessing a priority list that assigns a priority ranking to said fee schedules, wherein said selecting of said fee schedule is based on said priority ranking of fee schedules and based on said provider organizations that are affiliated with said medical provider; calculating said contracted payment amount associated with said patient encounter based on said selected fee schedule; and communicating said calculated contracted payment amount to at least said medical provider. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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40. A computer-implemented healthcare price determination system, comprising:
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an interactive voice response system that is configured to verbally prompt a medical provider to enter information about a patient encounter, said information comprising patient identification information, medical provider identification information, and goods or services information and wherein said interactive voice response system is further configured to receive said patient identification information, said medical provider information and said goods or services information; a price determination processor that is configured to calculate said contracted payment amount associated with said patient encounter wherein said price determination processor is further configured to select a fee schedule from amongst a hierarchy of fee schedules to use in calculating said payment amount by accessing a priority list that assigns a ranking to said fee schedules and wherein said price determination processor is further configured to calculate said contracted payment amount based on said selected fee schedule; and wherein said interactive voice response system is configured to communicate said calculated contracted payment amount to at least said medical provider. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53)
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54. An apparatus for determining healthcare prices, the apparatus comprising:
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an interactive voice response system that is configured to verbally prompt said medical provider for patient identification information, medical provider identification information and goods or services information; processor circuitry configured to receive from a telephone keypad said patient identification information, said medical provider information and said goods or services information; wherein said processor circuitry is further configured to determine a plurality of provider organizations affiliated with said medical provider; wherein said processor circuitry is further configured to select at least one fee schedule amongst a hierarchy of fee schedules for said patient encounter based on a priority list of provider organizations wherein said priority list assigns a ranking to said fee schedules and based on said provider organization affiliated with said medical provider; wherein said processor circuitry is further configured to calculate a payment amount associated with said patient encounter based on said selected fee schedule; and wherein said processor circuitry is further configured to communicate via said voice response system said payment amount to at least said medical provider. - View Dependent Claims (55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64)
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65. An apparatus for determining healthcare prices, the apparatus comprising:
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processor circuitry configured to receive information entered about a patient encounter with a medical provider, wherein said information identifies a patient, said medical provider, and goods or services; wherein said processor circuitry is further configured to determine a plurality of provider organizations that are affiliated with said medical provider; wherein said processor circuitry is further configured to select at least one fee schedule associated with said patient encounter from amongst a hierarchy of fee schedules, by accessing a priority list that assigns a priority ranking to said fee schedules, wherein said selecting of said fee schedule is based on said priority ranking of fee schedules and based on said provider organizations that are affiliated with said medical provider; wherein said processor circuitry is further configured to calculate said contracted payment amount associated with said encounter based on said selected fee schedule; and wherein said processor circuitry is further configured to communicate said calculated contracted payment amount to at least said medical provider. - View Dependent Claims (66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77)
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78. A system for determining healthcare prices, comprising:
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interactive voice response means for receiving information entered about a patient encounter with a medical provider, wherein said interactive voice response means prompts a medical provider to enter patient identification information, medical provider identification information, and goods or services information and wherein said interactive voice response means receives said patient information, said medical provider information and said goods or services information; means for selecting with a computer at least one fee schedule from amongst a hierarchy of fee schedules associated with said patient encounter based on a priority ranking of fee schedules by accessing a priority list that assigns a ranking to said fee schedules; means for calculating a payment amount associated with said patient encounter based on said selected fee schedule; and means for communicating said calculated payment amount to at least said medical provider. - View Dependent Claims (79)
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Specification