Method of optimizing healthcare services consumption
DCFirst Claim
1. A method of optimizing healthcare services consumption, including the steps of:
- assessing a healthcare situation of a population of patients, the assessing step including the steps ofidentifying a plurality of geographic regions,associating with a computer an address of each patient with a geographic region,associating with the computer a location of each provider with a geographic region, andaggregating with the computer the geographic regions into a geographic zone;
performing a computerized analysis of information about the health of the patients and stored in a database to identify a first group of patients likely to have a higher consumption of healthcare services than other patients in the population;
accessing a computerized analysis of information about the practices of the providers in the geographic zone that identifies a first group of providers who provide high quality, cost efficient healthcare services; and
initiating a communication with a patient who has obtained services from a provider who is not in the first group of providers before the patient consumes additional services from the provider to urge the patient to obtain the additional services from a provider in the first group of providers.
1 Assignment
Litigations
1 Petition
Accused Products
Abstract
A method of optimizing healthcare services consumption according to the invention includes the steps of assessing the healthcare situation of an employer providing healthcare benefits to a population, identifying a first group of patients from the population likely to generate expensive healthcare claims based on data representing past claims, periodically determining whether patients in the first group have satisfied certain predetermined healthcare requirements, identifying a first group of providers who provide high quality, cost efficient healthcare services based on the practice patterns of the providers, prompting patients who have not satisfied the predetermined healthcare requirements to obtain services from providers in the first group, and responding to healthcare requests from patients by determining whether the requesting patient is seeking services from a provider in the first group, and, if not, urging the patient to obtain such services from a provider in the first group.
61 Citations
57 Claims
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1. A method of optimizing healthcare services consumption, including the steps of:
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assessing a healthcare situation of a population of patients, the assessing step including the steps of identifying a plurality of geographic regions, associating with a computer an address of each patient with a geographic region, associating with the computer a location of each provider with a geographic region, and aggregating with the computer the geographic regions into a geographic zone; performing a computerized analysis of information about the health of the patients and stored in a database to identify a first group of patients likely to have a higher consumption of healthcare services than other patients in the population; accessing a computerized analysis of information about the practices of the providers in the geographic zone that identifies a first group of providers who provide high quality, cost efficient healthcare services; and initiating a communication with a patient who has obtained services from a provider who is not in the first group of providers before the patient consumes additional services from the provider to urge the patient to obtain the additional services from a provider in the first group of providers. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A method of optimizing healthcare services consumption of patients receiving benefits administered by a healthcare quality management firm in a geographic region that corresponds to residences of the patients and locations of providers used by the patients, the method including the steps of:
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receiving a ranking of providers in the geographic region based on an analysis of information about the practices of the providers the ranking of providers including a first plurality of providers, a second plurality of providers, and a third plurality of providers; using a computing device to determine which patients have obtained services from a provider in one of the second plurality of providers and the third plurality of providers; attempting to communicate with patients who have obtained services from a provider in the second plurality of providers to urge the patients to obtain future services from a provider in the first plurality of providers; attempting to communicate with patients who have obtained services from a provider in the third plurality of providers to urge the patients to obtain future services from a provider in the second plurality of providers; conducting a first set of intervention actions corresponding to a first degree of involvement of the healthcare quality management firm in the provision of services by providers in the second plurality of providers; and conducting a second set of intervention actions corresponding to a second degree of involvement of the healthcare quality management firm in the provision of services by providers in the third plurality of providers, the second degree of involvement being greater than the first degree of involvement. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25)
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26. A method of optimizing healthcare services consumption by patients of a population, the method including the steps of:
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for each healthcare provider in a geographic region, using a computing device to perform an individual calculation based upon past information to determine a cost efficiency index; assigning a non-certified designation to each provider having a cost efficiency index that fails to satisfy a first predetermined condition; for each provider, using a computing device to perform an individual analysis based upon the past information to determine a service rating; assigning a non-certified designation to each provider having a service rating that fails to satisfy a second predetermined condition; using a computing device to evaluate practice patterns of each provider based upon the past information; assigning a non-certified designation to each provider having practice patterns that fail to satisfy a third predetermined condition; assigning a qualified designation to each provider having a cost efficiency index, a service rating, and practice patterns that satisfy the first, second, and third predetermined conditions, respectively; and attempting to communicate with patients who have obtained healthcare services from a provider having a non-certified designation to urge the patients to obtain services from a provider having a qualified designation. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A method of optimizing health services consumption of patients in a geographic area, the method including the steps of:
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using a computing device to rank providers located in the geographic area based on an analysis of information about the practices of the providers; using the computing device to divide the ranking of providers into a first level of providers and a second level of providers; identifying a patient who has received services from a second level provider; accessing the ranking of providers to identify providers having a first level ranking located within a selectable distance from the patient; and contacting the patient to urge the patient to use one of the identified first level providers. - View Dependent Claims (35)
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36. A method of optimizing healthcare services consumption of patients, the method including the steps of:
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receiving a computerized ranking of all healthcare providers who participate in the program based on historical data; based on the rankings, using a computing device to identify a first subset of providers, a second subset of providers, and a third subset of providers; participating in the provision of healthcare services at a first level when a patient obtains services from a provider in the second subset; and participating in the provision of healthcare services at a second level when a patient obtains services from a provider in the third subset, the second level corresponding to a greater degree of participation than the first level.
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37. A method of optimizing healthcare services consumption by a population of patients, the method including the steps of:
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for each provider servicing the population, using a computing device to perform an individual assessment of past information to determine a cost efficiency index, a service rating, and a practice patterns challenge rate; using the computing device to assign a qualified designation to each provider having an acceptable cost efficiency index, service rating, and practice patterns challenge rate; and performing an action after a patient obtains healthcare services, the action being directed specifically to the patient in an attempt to persuade the patient to obtain future services from a provider having a qualified designation.
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38. A method of optimizing healthcare services consumption of patients in a geographic region that corresponds to residences of the patients and locations of providers used by the patients, the method including the steps of:
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executing software to access data representing past practice patterns of the providers; performing a computerized ranking of each provider based on quality and cost efficiency characteristics of the past practice patterns associated with the provider; using a computing device to divide the ranking of providers into a first plurality of providers, a second plurality of providers, and a third plurality of providers; determining the plurality of providers into which a provider associated with a patient'"'"'s consumption of healthcare services falls; when the provider of the determining step is in the second plurality of providers, initiating a communication with the patient to urge the patient to obtain services from a provider in the first group of providers; when the provider of the determining step is in the third plurality of providers, initiating a communication with the patient to urge the patient to obtain services from a provider in one of the first plurality of providers and the second plurality of providers; when a patient obtains services from a provider in the second plurality of providers, conducting a first set of intervention actions corresponding to a first degree of involvement of a healthcare quality management representative in the provision of services by the provider in the second plurality of providers; and when a patient obtains services from a provider in the third plurality of providers, conducting a second set of intervention actions corresponding to a second degree of involvement of the healthcare quality management representative in the provision of services by the provider in the third plurality of providers, the second degree of involvement being greater than the first degree of involvement.
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39. A method of optimizing healthcare services consumption of a population of patients who receive healthcare services from a group of healthcare providers as a benefit administered by an entity, including the steps of:
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identifying a subset of patients from the population likely to have a higher consumption of healthcare services than other patients in the population by using a computing device to analyze information about the past health of the patients in the population; accessing an identification of a subset of providers from the group of providers who provide high quality, cost efficient healthcare services relative to other providers in the group, the subset being identified by using a computing device to analyze information about the past practices of the providers in the group; and attempting to contact patients in the subset of patients who have obtained healthcare services from providers not in the subset of providers to urge those patients to obtain future healthcare services from providers in the subset of providers. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53)
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54. A method of optimizing healthcare services consumption of a population of patients who receive services from providers, including the steps of:
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performing a computerized analysis of information about the past health of the patients to identify a group of patients having a high likelihood of requiring healthcare services; accessing a computerized analysis of information about the practices of the providers to identify a group of preferred providers; and attempting to contact a patient in the group to urge the patient to obtain future services from a preferred provider.
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55. A system for optimizing healthcare services consumption of a population of patients who receive services from providers, including:
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a first computing device; a database coupled to the first computing device; and a second computing device coupled to the first computing device via at least one network; wherein the first computing device receives patient information about the past health of the patients over the at least one network, stores the patient information in the database, and executes software which analyzes the patient information to identify a group of patients having a high likelihood of requiring healthcare services; wherein the first computing device receives provider information about the practices of the providers, stores the provider information in the database, and receives via the at least one network an analysis of the provider information performed by the second computing device that identifies a group of preferred providers; and wherein the first computing device generates at least one report identifying the group of patients and the preferred providers to facilitate attempts to contact a patient in the group to urge the patient to obtain future services from a preferred provider.
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56. A system for optimizing healthcare services consumption by a population of patients, including:
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a first computing device coupled to a database and configured to receive past information from a second computing device via a network, the past information including information about practices of healthcare providers who provide services to the patients; wherein the first computing device further includes software having instructions which, when executed by the first computing device, cause the first computing device to perform an individual assessment for each provider of past information to determine a cost efficiency index, a service rating, and a practice patterns challenge rate assign a qualified designation to each provider having an acceptable cost efficiency index, service rating, and practice patterns challenge rate, and perform an action after a patient obtains healthcare services, the action being directed specifically to attempt to persuade the patient to obtain future services from a provider having a qualified designation.
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57. A system for optimizing healthcare services consumption of a population of patients who receive services from providers, including:
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a first computing device; a database coupled to the first computing device; a second computing device coupled to the first computing device via at least one network; and a third computing device coupled to the first computing device via the at least one network; wherein the first computing device receives patient information about the past health of the patients over the at least one network, stores the patient information in the database, and executes software which analyzes the patient information to identify a group of patients having a high likelihood of requiring healthcare services; wherein the first computing device receives provider information about the practices of the providers, stores the provider information in the database, and executes software which analyzes the provider information to identify a group of preferred providers; and wherein the first computing device generates at least one report identifying the group of patients and the preferred providers to facilitate attempts to contact a patient in the group to urge the patient to obtain future services from a preferred provider.
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Specification