U.S. patent application number 13/692664 was filed with the patent office on 2013-04-18 for lossless account compression for health care patient benefits eligibility research system and methods.
This patent application is currently assigned to E-SCAN DATA SYSTEMS, INC.. The applicant listed for this patent is E-SCAN DATA SYSTEMS, INC.. Invention is credited to Peter Douglas Beery, Michael L. Considine, Bruce C. Macartney-Filgate, John William Wester.
Application Number | 20130096952 13/692664 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 42711036 |
Filed Date | 2013-04-18 |
United States Patent
Application |
20130096952 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Beery; Peter Douglas ; et
al. |
April 18, 2013 |
LOSSLESS ACCOUNT COMPRESSION FOR HEALTH CARE PATIENT BENEFITS
ELIGIBILITY RESEARCH SYSTEM AND METHODS
Abstract
A system and method for determining eligibility for
reimbursement for medical claims for patients may be implemented
with computer software which compares a service provider's patient
information against a benefit provider's database of covered
persons to determine if the patient is eligible for benefits. The
service provider records may be compressed by grouping all of the
medical claims relating to a particular patient into one cluster
represented by a composite medical claim, which may be used to
query the benefit provider databases to determine if the patient is
recognized. If the patient is recognized, every record within the
cluster may be checked against the benefit provider's database to
determine whether one or more patient medical claims are eligible
for reimbursement.
Inventors: |
Beery; Peter Douglas; (Cedar
Park, TX) ; Considine; Michael L.; (Austin, TX)
; Macartney-Filgate; Bruce C.; (Austin, TX) ;
Wester; John William; (Austin, TX) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
E-SCAN DATA SYSTEMS, INC.; |
Austin |
TX |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
E-SCAN DATA SYSTEMS, INC.
Austin
TX
|
Family ID: |
42711036 |
Appl. No.: |
13/692664 |
Filed: |
December 3, 2012 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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12880978 |
Sep 13, 2010 |
8326656 |
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13692664 |
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11676199 |
Feb 16, 2007 |
7797165 |
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12880978 |
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11098295 |
Apr 4, 2005 |
7778850 |
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11676199 |
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60654028 |
Feb 17, 2005 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
705/3 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 10/10 20130101;
G06Q 40/08 20130101; G16H 15/00 20180101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/3 |
International
Class: |
G06F 19/00 20060101
G06F019/00 |
Claims
1-6. (canceled)
7. A method for identifying medical claims eligible for
reimbursement, comprising: sorting medical claims of a service
provider into clusters of medical claims and non-clustered medical
claims, wherein each of said clusters comprises a group of
constituent medical claims all relating to the same patient;
creating a composite medical claim for each of said clusters,
wherein each said composite medical claim comprises data
representative of all said constituent medical claims within the
respective cluster; executing a query against the benefit
provider's database for each said composite medical claim and each
said non-clustered medical claim; receiving an indication as to
whether the benefit provider's database contains a record that is
responsive to each said query; for each said indication that is
affirmative with respect to one of said non-clustered medical
claims for which the benefit provider's database comprises one or
more matching records, placing said one of said non-clustered
medical claims and said one or more matching records in a file; for
each said indication that is affirmative with respect to one of
said composite medical claims, executing an additional query
against the benefit provider's database for each said constituent
medical claim within the respective cluster associated with said
one of said composite medical claims; and for each said additional
query associated with one of said constituent medical claims for
which the benefit provider's database comprises one or more
additional matching records, placing said one of said constituent
medical claims and said one or more additional matching records in
said file.
8. The method of claim 7 further comprising: submitting said
non-clustered medical claims and said constituent medical claims
for which the benefit provider's database comprises one or more
matching records to the benefit provider for reimbursement.
9. The method of claim 7 further comprising: generating a report
indicative of a difference in information between one of said
medical claims of the service provider and one of said matching
records of the benefit provider.
10. The method of claim 9 wherein said report further comprises an
eligibility date for said one of said medical claims.
11. The method of claim 10 wherein said eligibility date is
retroactive.
12. The method of claim 9 wherein said report further comprises a
deadline by which said one of said medical claims must be submitted
for reimbursement.
13. The method of claim 9 wherein said report further comprises an
amount of an outstanding balance eligible for reimbursement with
respect to a medical claim for which a partial payment has been
made.
14. The method of claim 9 wherein said report further comprises an
indication of an incorrect service code.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 11/098,295 filed Apr. 4, 2005, which claims
the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/654,028
filed Feb. 17, 2005.
FIELD
[0002] This application relates generally to data processing
software for inquiring and determining eligibility for
reimbursement for medical claims for patients by comparing the
patient information of a service provider against a benefit
provider's database of covered persons to determine if the patient
is eligible for benefits and, if so, associating the patient record
with the matching record in the benefit provider's database so the
service provider can seek to be reimbursed for the health care
services provided to the patient.
BACKGROUND
[0003] The provision of health care services in the United States
has become the focus of much attention. With the costs of medical
malpractice insurance spiraling, and the payments being made to
health care providers from benefit providers, including private and
government insurers, being reduced continually, health care
providers are finding it necessary to get payments for all the
services they actually render.
[0004] Unfortunately, many health care providers are not receiving
compensation for the services they render. This could be due to a
number of factors, such as patients not having the ability to pay
for the services, and/or not having any medical payment system or
insurance. In other instances, medical care service providers
submit a request to determine if a patient is eligible for coverage
under a private or government insurance plan, but are told the
patient is not eligible for coverage. Often, payment for services
rendered is denied due to incorrect data entry about a patient
and/or the service rendered, through failure to associate the
information with the correct patient record in the benefit
provider's database, or other misunderstandings or
mis-associations.
[0005] For medical care service providers, being denied payment for
services rendered is problematic, and can, in some cases, mean the
difference between profitability and a business that does not show
a profit. Typically, such medical claims which are classified as
not eligible for reimbursement are written off as bad debt for
which collection cannot be achieved. Ultimately, these costs are
either passed along to other patients by means of cost increases,
or the care provided is cut back to save or reduce costs.
[0006] Accordingly, a continuing search has been directed to the
development of methods which can help medical care service
providers maximize identification of patients who are eligible for
private or government medical insurance so the service providers
can be reimbursed for medical claims.
[0007] Therefore, what is needed is a system and method for helping
to efficiently identify medical claims for which the patients are
eligible for health care benefits, which can be paid to the health
care provider.
SUMMARY
[0008] Normally, claims for medical care are submitted to a
patient's benefit provider for payment. Prior to submitting the
medical claim, the health care provider will need to make an
eligibility inquiry to determine whether the person for whom the
service was provided is eligible for benefits; if not, payment to
the health care provider will be denied. In many cases, the denial
is because the information entered on the medical claim submitted
to the benefit provider by the service provider cannot be
correlated with the information in the benefit provider's database
because the patient could not be located in the benefit provider's
database due to inconsistencies. In some instances, this is due to
a data entry error on the part of the service provider, benefit
provider, or both. In other instances, the patient may not be
eligible for insurance coverage at the time the services are
rendered, or when the eligibility verification inquiry is made.
[0009] While software already exists that will make an eligibility
inquiry to determine eligibility, and inquire as to correlation
between records, there has been only partial success with prior
attempts of automated eligibility verification inquiries. The
existing software has only limited functionality and is not always
effective or accurate. It will typically only search for records in
which the patient's name, social security number and date of birth
match a record in the benefit provider's database, and it returns a
list indicating only those patients for which an exact match has
been found. It will not provide information as to numerous other
issues that are related to eligibility, such as whether the service
rendered is one paid for by the benefit provider. Additionally,
manual examination is typically not practical or cost-effective,
given the volume of patient medical claims and records. Also, some
benefit provider systems and databases may not be robust enough to
handle the volume of eligibility inquiries being sent, and the
submission of a large number of medical claims can greatly increase
the response time.
[0010] The system and method disclosed herein may be implemented in
a software program that will automatically, upon request, query
benefit provider databases with a variety of different queries to
find persons who are eligible to receive benefits, and who match
patients in a service provider's database for whom services have
been or may be provided. The software may also automatically
segregate those records for which there is a match between the
databases for further processing, and it may indicate the matching
information found in the benefit provider's database. For example,
the software may inquire whether the patient is covered by the
benefit plan, whether the services provided are covered by the
benefit plan, and/or whether the provider is authorized to provide
services for persons covered by that benefit plan.
[0011] The software described herein may also provide a means for
comparing records in the benefit provider's database against a
service provider's medical claims and finding records that, while
not a complete match, have a predefined number of parameters that
match, such that upon further analysis and correction, it may be
determined that a patient medical claim is eligible for
reimbursement and can be submitted to the benefit provider, and the
service provider will be reimbursed for the services performed. The
software may easily reveal the field or fields in which there is a
difference in the information between the service provider's
medical claim and the benefit provider's database, making
correction of any claim errors much simpler and making the present
system and method much more cost-effective than previous systems
and methods, which generally did not reveal any such partial
matches, or show errors that had caused a medical claim that was
submitted to have been rejected, but only verified whether or not
there was a complete match.
[0012] The software described herein may also compress service
provider records by, for example, grouping all of the medical
claims relating to a particular patient into one cluster
represented by a composite medical claim containing all of the
relevant search parameters. The software may then query benefit
provider databases with a variety of different queries using this
composite medical claim to determine if the benefit provider's
database recognizes the patient. If the patient is recognized, the
software may then run every record within the cluster against the
database to determine whether a patient medical claim is eligible
for reimbursement and can be submitted to the benefit provider for
payment. In situations where a significant percentage of accounts
come from repeat visits by a patient to a service provider and
where the normal match rate against the benefit provider's database
is small, this account compression can result in a significantly
reduced transaction load on the benefit provider's database. This
process is lossless in that no eligibilities that would have been
found by querying the benefit provider's database using each
individual record are missed or lost by querying the database using
the composite medical claim. The software allows more accounts to
be run against the benefit provider's database without increasing
the strain on the benefit provider's system.
[0013] The software described herein may also show whether the
patient was qualified to be covered by a benefit plan at the time
the services were rendered. In some instances, the patient may not
be eligible for coverage at the time the initial inquiry is made,
but may become eligible for coverage at a later time, and the
coverage may be retroactive back to a period including the time at
which the service provider rendered treatment. If this retroactive
eligibility is discovered and identified in a timely manner, a
request for retroactive reimbursement can be made in some
cases.
[0014] In other cases, even if the eligibility qualification is not
discovered in time to seek reimbursement, the un-reimbursed medical
claims can be important for a health care service provider in
determining if it is entitled to reimbursement under various
government programs for treating uninsured persons, and to help the
service provider keep accurate track of how much of such funding
they might be entitled to.
[0015] The present system and method may also be used to generate
reports in a variety of configurations, such as to record matches
found, to assist in identifying errors, determining sources of
errors, and taking steps to prevent similar future errors. A
surprising number of matches between service provider medical
claims and benefit provider databases of persons eligible for
reimbursement were found using embodiments of the software
described herein that were not found using prior art software. Even
when the software described herein is used to query the same
benefit provider's database for the same health care provider's
medical claims, matches are found that were not found when the same
or similar queries were previously made. These matches have
resulted in tens of millions of dollars of reimbursements for
service providers that would have otherwise gone unpaid.
[0016] The foregoing summary has outlined rather broadly some of
the features of the system and method described herein in order
that the detailed description that follows may be better
understood. Additional features will be described hereinafter. It
should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the concepts
and the specific embodiments disclosed herein may be readily
utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for
carrying out the same or similar purposes. It should also be
realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent
constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the
invention as set forth in the appended patent claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0017] FIG. 1A is a high-level conceptual block diagram
illustrating an embodiment of the system described herein.
[0018] FIG. 1B is a detailed block diagram showing the querying of
the benefit provider database, including comparison of service
provider file records against the benefit provider's database, and
generation of one or more files containing service provider's
records and matching records from the benefit provider
database.
[0019] FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C show samples of some of the types of
reports that can be generated from the file containing service
provider medical claims for which there is a matching record in the
benefit provider's database.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0020] As used herein, the following terms should be understood to
have the indicated meanings:
[0021] When an item is introduced by "a" or "an," it should be
understood to mean one or more of that item.
[0022] "Benefit provider" means an individual or entity that is
obligated to provide payments for the benefit of specified patients
for specified health care services.
[0023] "Cluster" means a group of medical claims all relating to
the same patient.
[0024] "Composite medical claim" means a collection of data
representative of all the medical claims within a cluster.
[0025] "Comprises" means includes but is not limited to.
[0026] "Comprising" means including but not limited to.
[0027] "Constituent medical claim" means a medical claim within a
cluster.
[0028] "Database" means a collection of data embodied in at least
one computer readable medium and organized in a suitable way to
permit a computer to select one or more desired portions of such
data.
[0029] "Eligibility inquiry" means a query as to whether a medical
claim is subject to an obligation of payment by a benefit
provider.
[0030] "Having" means including but not limited to.
[0031] "Health care services" means any services that are rendered
to address the health of a patient. Health care services may
include but are not limited to diagnostic, therapeutic,
preventative, and maintenance services related to the physical or
mental health of a patient.
[0032] "Medical claim" means a collection of data relating to one
or more instances of the provision of health care services to a
patient by a service provider.
[0033] "Query" means a request for information from a database.
[0034] "Recognized" means, in connection with a patient and a
benefit provider's database, that such benefit provider's database
contains data representative of such patient.
[0035] "Service provider" means an individual or entity that
provides health care services to patients.
[0036] In the discussion of the figures, the same reference
numerals will be used throughout to refer to the same or similar
components. In the interest of conciseness, various other
components known in the art, such as computer processing equipment,
and the like necessary for the operation of the software, have not
been shown or discussed.
[0037] In the following discussion, numerous specific details are
set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the system and
method described herein. However, it will be obvious to those
skilled in the art that the system and method may be practiced
without such specific details. In other instances, well known
elements have been illustrated in schematic or block diagram form
in order not to obscure the disclosure in unnecessary detail.
Additionally, for the most part, details concerning timing
considerations and the like have been omitted inasmuch as such
details are not considered necessary to obtain a complete
understanding of the system and method, and are considered to be
within the skills of persons of ordinary skill in the relevant
art.
[0038] It is noted that, unless indicated otherwise, all functions
described herein may be performed by a processor such as a computer
or electronic data processor in accordance with code such as
computer program code, software, or integrated circuits that are
coded or configured to perform such functions. Additionally, it is
noted that the software described herein may be used at a computer
remote from the benefit provider's computer system and from the
service provider's computer system, or locally to either of those
computer systems.
A. IMPROVED SYSTEM
[0039] Referring to FIG. 1A of the drawings, the reference numeral
1 generally designates an improved eligibility verification inquiry
system. The inquiry system 1 comprises unpaid medical claims 100,
software 10, benefit provider's database 500, files of matches 400,
and reports 450 from the files of matches 400.
[0040] Normally, medical claims 100 for medical care services are
paid for by a patient directly, or submitted to a patient's benefit
provider for payment, such as a private health insurance company,
or government-subsidized health care insurance, such as Medicare,
Medicaid or other government-funded programs. After processing to
verify such things as whether the person for whom the service was
provided is covered by the benefit provider, whether the services
provided are covered by the benefit plan, whether the services were
rendered during a period the patient was covered by the benefit
provider, and whether the service provider is authorized to provide
services for persons covered by that benefit plan, the benefit
provider will pay the health care service provider for the service
provided at a specified rate. However, if any of the numerous
requirements are not met, the medical claim of the health care
service provider is not submitted or processed for payment. When
such a query for eligibility status is rejected, the health care
service provider can seek to recover the fees due from the patient,
or from a patient's secondary benefit provider, if any exists.
Often, when all other recourse has been exhausted, the service
provider must absorb the loss and not receive payment for the
services provided.
[0041] Denial of eligibility for treatment is typically because the
service provider is not authorized to provide service for persons
covered by a specific benefit plan, the service provided is not
covered by the benefit plan of the patient, the date on which the
service was provided was not a covered date, or the patient is not
covered by the benefit plan. In many cases, the denial is because
the information entered on the medical claim submitted to the
benefit provider by the service provider cannot be correlated with
the information in the benefit provider's database, and therefore
the medical claim is returned as ineligible. In reality, in many of
these situations, the patient/service/date/service provider
information comprises eligible medical claims within the scope of
the benefit plan, but there is a mistake or difference in the
information on the medical claim and the information in the benefit
provider's database, and so the medical claim is not considered
eligible for reimbursement.
[0042] Additionally, while in many cases a medical claim 100 must
be submitted within a certain time period after service is
rendered, if the patient becomes eligible retroactively, but after
the allowed time period for filing medical claims, a request can be
made for payment for services that were rendered that would be
covered by the benefit plan. Thus, it may be important to make
inquiries as to eligibility status at frequent intervals to
determine if a person is eligible while still within the time
period during which a request for payment can be made.
[0043] Under certain new laws and regulations, such as the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which
regulates the insurance benefit industry, service providers are
authorized to access the benefit providers' databases 500, or to
enable other parties to access the benefit providers' databases 500
on their behalf, to make inquiries as to patient eligibility
status. In some instances, if certain specifications are met as to
the software used and other requirements, the benefit provider must
make the information in its database available for such inquiries
without charge. Additionally, HIPAA mandates that benefit
providers' databases should provide certain standard responses for
cases where an eligibility query matches with a patient in a
particular benefit provider's database, such that recognized
patients are clearly identified even in cases where active
eligibility covering the service dates does not exist. The purpose
of this response is merely to alert the inquirer that the patient
is recognized by the benefit provider's database. As an example,
the software 10 described herein may be fully compliant with the
new laws and regulations.
B. OPERATION
[0044] As shown in FIG. 1B, the software 10 may provide an analyzer
102 for converting and sorting a service provider's medical claims
100 and for generating a file of medical claims 200 in a form
capable of being compared to the database of benefit providers 500
to find records 510 that match. The first step in the process
encompassed by the software 10 is the generation of a file 200
containing the information from the service provider's unpaid
medical claims 100 by the analyzer 102. Table 1 shows an example of
the fields of a medical claim 100, although it should be
appreciated that a variety of different numbers and arrangements of
fields is possible. The exact fields 100a to 100n contained in each
medical claim record 100 may vary, depending on what information is
available in the service provider's records, and the information
kept in the benefit provider's database 500.
TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Field Example Claim data Patient ID No.
12345678 Patient Last Name Smith Patient First name John Patient
Middle Name Q. Patient Date of Birth Jan. 01, 2000 Patient Address
123 Main St. Patient City Anytown Patient State Texas Patient Zip
Code 12345 Patient Telephone No. (214) 867-5309 Benefit Plan Name
Medicaid Benefit Plan No. Type B Insured's name Smith, John Q. Date
of Service Jan. 28, 2004 Service Code ABC1234 Service Description
Emergency Room Visit Charge Amount 250.00 Amount Paid 000.00
Balance Due 250.00
[0045] In another embodiment, the software 10 as described herein
may sort the service provider's claims 100 by any of the fields
100a to 100n contained in each claim 100, such as, for example, a
unique patient identifier and/or selected patient demographics (for
example, name, social security number, date of birth, or the like).
Such sorting of the medical claims may create one or more groupings
of medical claims wherein each such grouping constitutes a cluster
of patient claims. The software 10 may then create a composite
medical claim 100 containing all of the relevant fields 100a to
100n within the cluster, and an analyzer 102 may then convert and
sort a service provider's non-clustered medical claims 100 and
composite medical claims 100 for generating a file of claims 200 in
a form capable of being compared to the database of benefit
providers 500 to find records 510 that match. Composite medical
claims 100 may be used with a Date of Service description set to
the prior seven days, though a person having ordinary skill in the
art will understand that any date prior to the date of the query
may be used in creating the composite medical claim 100.
[0046] Once the medical claim records 100 have been converted by
the analyzer 102 to the proper format in file 200, the software 10
may employ one or more processing queries 300. These processing
queries 300 utilize medical claim records 100 and/or composite
medical claims 100 within file 200 as the basis of the collection
of one or more queries 300', 300'', and 300''', and so on of the
benefit provider's database 500. Each medical claim record 100
and/or composite medical claim 100 in the file 200 may be in the
same format so the information therein can be compared to the
records 510 in the benefit provider's database 500. The file 200
may be saved by the software 10 in a format that can be read and
compared to the fields in the benefit provider's database 500.
[0047] The queries 300 contain instructions for comparing the
fields 100a to 100n of each medical claim or composite medical
claim 100 in the file 200 with the corresponding fields 510a to
510n of each record 510 in the benefit provider's database 500 of
covered persons to determine if they contain matching information.
Table 2 is an example of some of the types of queries 300 that can
be executed using the software 10 described herein.
TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Name Query Description MC Medicaid number
only SSN Social Security number only MC SSN Medicaid & Social
Security MC DOB Medicaid & Date of Birth MC FNLN Medicaid &
First name, Last name SSN DOB Social Security & Date of Birth
SSN FNLN Social Security & First name, Last name SSN LNFNINV
SSN and First, Last Name switched SSN LNMN SSN & Last name,
Middle name replacing First name DOB FNLN G F Date of Birth &
First name, Last name & Gender (Female) DOB FNLN G M Date of
Birth & First name, Last name & Gender (Male) SSN LN Social
Security & Last name SSN LNFNMIa Social Security & full
name, MI SSN LNFNMIb Social Security & last name, first name +
MI SSN LNFNMIc Social Security & last name, first name, + " " +
MI SSN LNFNMId Social Security & last name + MI, first name DOB
FN4LN DOB & first name, 1.sup.st 4 letters of last name SSN 4LN
SSN & 1.sup.st 4 letters of last name SSN LNFNMIe Social
Security & last name + MI, first name DOB LNFNMIa Date of Birth
& full name, MI DOB LNFN MIb Date of Birth & last name,
first name + MI DOB LNFN MIc Date of Birth & last name, first
name + " " + MI DOB LNFN MId Date of Birth & last name + MI,
first name DOB LNFN MIe Date of Birth & last name + " " + MI,
first name DOB LNFN Date of Birth & last name, first name DOB
LNFNINV Date o Birth & last name, first name switched DOB LNMN
Date of Birth & last name, middle name replacing first name DOB
LNFNHA DOB & first name, 1.sup.st half of hyphenated last name
DOB LNFNHB DOB & first name, 2.sup.nd half of hyphenated last
name DOB LNFNHAB DOB & first name, hyphen/space removed from
last name DOB LNFNHS DOB & first name, hyphen-> space in
last name SSN LNFNHA SSN & first name, 1.sup.st half of
hyphenated last name SSN LNFNHB SSN & first name, 2.sup.nd half
of hyphenated last name SSN LNFNHAB SSN & first name,
hyphen/space removed from last name SSN LNFNHS SSN & first
name, hyphen -> space in last name
[0048] A query 300 can ask about a variety of information in
various fields 510a-n in the records 510 in the benefit provider's
database 500. For example, a query 300' could be as simple as
checking to determine if the information in the patient
identification number field 100a of a service provider's medical
claim record 100' in the file 200 of claims matches the
identification number field 510a in any records 510 in the benefit
provider's database 500. Or, a query 300'' could be more complex,
and search for a variety of information matches, or partial
matches, in multiple fields in the records 510 in the benefit
provider's database 500. For example, the query 300'' could check
for medical claims 100, or composite medical claims 100, and
records 510 in which both the date of birth fields 100b, 510b in
the file 200 and benefit provider's database 500 match, and also
the first 4 letters of the last name fields 100c, 510c match. It
can be appreciated that a very large variety of queries 300 can be
configured and used. The queries 300 can be virtually unlimited, as
long as the information to be queried is available in the service
provider's records 100 and in the benefit provider's database
500.
[0049] The software 10 described herein may perform more queries
300, and more flexible queries, of the benefit provider's database
500, and may perform comparison and analysis to determine if there
is a match between a medical claim 100, or composite medical claim
100, and a record in the benefit provider's database 500. It is
this expanded scope and flexibility that results in a greater
number of matched records than would otherwise be found.
[0050] If a query 300 matches a composite medical claim 100 to a
record 510 in the benefit provider's database 500, then the
software 10 described herein may add the underlying constituent
medical claims 100 of the associated cluster to the file of
remaining medical claims 200 to be compared to the benefit
provider's database 500. Under the provisions of HIPAA, benefit
providers' databases should provide certain affirmative standard
responses for cases where an eligibility query matches with a
patient in a particular benefit provider's database, and recognized
patients are clearly identified even in cases where active
eligibility covering the service dates does not exist. The software
10 may be capable of recognizing these affirmative standard
responses, and when such responses are received, may add the
underlying constituent medical claims 100 to the file of remaining
medical claims 200 to be compared to the benefit provider's
database 500. The clustering of medical claims 100 is useful
because the same number of medical claims 100 may be compared with
the benefit provider's database 500 using a smaller number of
queries 300.
[0051] The software 10 described herein, in addition to finding
matching records, because it does more queries 300, can also
determine additional data about a medical claim 100, such as
whether or not the claimed service is covered, the balance due on a
medical claim 100, and even the amount of the balance due that is
eligible for reimbursement. A surprising number of matches between
service provider medical claims 100 and benefit provider databases
500 were found using embodiments of the software 10 described
herein that were not found using other software. In one instance, a
hospital, making just one set of queries 300, identified several
million dollars in medical claims that were not previously found to
be eligible for reimbursement.
[0052] Repeated execution of the queries 300 of the same benefit
provider's database 500 at regular intervals, such as monthly or
bi-weekly, continued to reveal medical claims 100 that were not
eligible for reimbursement at the time the initial queries 300 were
run, but subsequently became eligible for reimbursement. It can be
appreciated that if these queries 300 were not subsequently run,
the medical claims 100 found would not be reimbursed. Additionally,
because there is typically a limited time period after a patient
becomes eligible for benefits in which a medical claim 100 can be
filed, it can be appreciated that if the queries 300 are not run at
regular intervals, while matches could be found, they might be
found too late for the service provider to seek reimbursement.
[0053] Additionally, it can be appreciated that identifying medical
claims which would qualify for reimbursement under certain
government medical programs would be important, even if
reimbursement were not actually received, in order to help
determine qualification for other government programs, and/or
whether budget and funding estimates are accurate. For example,
hospitals and other service providers that provide services to a
large number of patients qualifying for Medicaid and/or Medicare
could receive funding from another government fund for service
providers who treat a disproportionate share of low-income
patients. By using the results of the queries to identify
qualifying patients, even if recovery cannot be made under the
initial program, the treatment can be used for reporting and
submitting requests for funding under secondary programs, such as
the disproportionate share programs. For example, some patients who
are treated who might qualify for reimbursement under state
government managed programs may be from out of state, and therefore
such a medical claim 100 may not be entitled to reimbursement.
However, such unreimbursed medical claims may be used to qualify
the service provider for reimbursement under secondary programs.
The software 10 can be used to provide reports as to the patients
treated, anticipated and projected funding, whether the service
provider is treating more or less low-income patients than
projected, and potential entitlement for future programs. This
information is very useful to a service provider, as knowing this
information can be used to project budgets, deficits and
qualification for additional funding.
[0054] Typically, the first query 300' might be to check for a
person in the benefit provider's database 500 having a social
security number/other unique identification number, and/or last
name and first name that matches that of a patient for whom the
hospital had provided services. Exactly which query 300 would be
the first query 300' would depend on how the benefit provider
structures its database records.
[0055] Additionally, a query 300 can also be a series of sequential
queries. For example, a query 300' could be done to match the
patient identification field 100a in a medical claim 100 with the
patient identification field 510a for any matching record 510 from
the benefit provider's database 500. If the patient ID number
matches, then a second query 300'' can be made between these
matching records found in response to query 300' to determine if
the date on which the service was provided falls within the dates
of coverage provided by the benefit provider to that patient, and
only if the answer to the second query 300'' is also positive will
the record be set aside in the file 400 for further processing.
Alternatively, the system could be configured so that if there is a
match in the first electronic query 300', the records could be
flagged and set aside, and the second query 300'' could be done
separately in a different query 300 or in or by a different system,
or could even be done manually.
[0056] Note the software 10 can be configured so that all the
queries 300 which are selected to be made could be run
simultaneously or sequentially, or they could be grouped together
and run sequentially. The purpose of different orders of queries or
grouping of queries is to maximize efficiency of the software 10.
The process in making such queries 300 of generally comparable
records can also employ a variety of techniques, such as fuzzy and
soundex searches, for example. It should be appreciated that the
queries 300 selected, the order in which they are performed, and
the groupings of queries can be adapted or modified, depending on
results returned from the queries 300.
[0057] Once the queries 300 to be run have been selected and
generated by the software 10, the benefit provider's database 500
is accessed, and the software 10 executes the first selected query
300' thereon. If one or more matching records 510' are found in the
benefit provider's database 500 for a medical claim 100', the
medical claim 100' is distinguished or flagged, removed from the
file 200, and stored separately from the remainder of the medical
claims 100 in the service provider's database 200 in a file 400,
along with the information from matching records 510' from database
500. The purpose of removing the matched medical claim 100' from
the file 200 is to streamline efficiency of the queries 300.
Because one or more matches have already been made, there is no
need to make additional queries 300 about this particular medical
claim 100'. The query 300' will then be performed for the next
medical claims 100'' in the file 200 of service provider's medical
claims, if any. If matches are found, then this medical claim 100''
and the matching records 510'' from the benefit provider's database
500 will also be stored in the file 400. If no match is found for
medical claim 100'', the medical claim remains in the file 200.
Query 300' will be performed for each medical claim 100 in the file
200.
[0058] The software 10 may format composite medical claims 100' in
the EDI 270 batch file format recognized by HIPAA, for example. A
query 300 may then be used to transmit the EDI 270 batch file,
representing the composite medical claim 100', to the benefit
provider's database 500, which under the provisions of HIPAA should
then return an EDI 271 batch file response stating that the patient
was either found, or not found, in the benefit provider's database
500. If the benefit provider's database 500 recognizes the patient
associated with composite medical claim 100', then the composite
medical claim 100' is removed from the file 200, and each clustered
medical claim 100 represented by the composite medical claim 100'
is added to file 200. The added clustered medical claims 100 may
then be run against the benefit provider's database 500 using the
selected queries 300 as described above.
[0059] If, after making the initial query 300' of the benefit
provider's database 500, there are still medical claims 100 in the
service provider's file 200 that were not correlated with records
510 in the benefit provider's database 500, there are a variety of
optional processes that could occur. In some embodiments, no
additional actions could be taken, and the medical claims 100
remaining in the file 200 would remain in an ineligible status.
[0060] Alternatively, if there are additional queries 300'',
300''', etc., that are in the selection of queries 300 to be made,
the next query 300'' can be made of the benefit provider's database
500 to try and find additional matches with medical claims 100 in
the service provider's medical claims file 200. Again, for each
medical claim 100 in the file 200, query 300'' will be made of the
benefit provider's database 500, and if any matches are found, that
medical claim 100''' is flagged, placed in the file 400 and removed
from the file 200 of unmatched medical claims. The software 10 then
continues to make the same query 300'' for each remaining medical
claim 100 in the service provider's file 200. This cycle of
querying/record flagging will continue until all medical claims 100
in the service provider's medical claims file 200 have been matched
to at least a record 510 in the benefit provider's database 500, or
until all queries specified have been made of the benefit
provider's database 500 for all medical claims 100 in the service
provider's medical claims file 200.
[0061] Once all the queries 300 of the benefit provider's database
500 have been run, the file 400 of all matched records is
generated. In the file 400, each medical claim 100 is associated
with the related matching record 510 from the benefit provider's
database 500. For example, medical claim 100', from the file 200
which was associated with a record 510' from the benefit provider's
database 500, will be grouped together in the file 400. The file
400 can be saved on a computer, or delivered via other methods,
such as via the internet, as an attachment to an e-mail, as a
facsimile, or as a physical document. A report 450 of contents of
the file 400 can be generated and provided to the service provider
so that the eligible medical claims can be submitted for payment by
the service provider.
[0062] The report 450 can be delivered to the service provider in a
variety of methods, depending on their preference, including
delivery by e-mail, in paper form, or by internet or a variety of
other forms. Reports 450 can include a variety of information such
as the information from each medical claim 100 in the service
provider's database for which any matching record 510 in the
benefit provider's database 500 was found. FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C
show samples of some of the many reports that can be generated
using the software described herein.
[0063] As can be seen in the report in FIG. 2A, a listing is
provided of medical claims for which a match was found in the
benefit provider's database. Any information in the service
provider's database that was incorrect or differed from that in the
benefit provider's database may be shown in different print for
assistance in easily identifying the problem so the medical claim
can be corrected.
[0064] As can be seen, the report 450 shown in FIG. 2A is organized
so that the service provider can easily review the information to
determine those records having errors, and exactly what the errors
are, so the medical claims can be corrected and resubmitted. In
contrast, other existing software generated reports that simply
listed names and identification numbers of patients for which a
match was found in the benefit provider's database 500. No sorting
of records was done as in the reports of the present disclosure,
and no additional information was provided from the benefit
provider's database 500, such as eligibility dates and billing
deadlines, so additional manual analysis was required to determine
if a medical claim could be submitted for payment. Additionally,
because the other existing software did not do any multi-field
comparisons or partial matches with analysis, records such as the
first three shown in the sample report in FIG. 2A would not have
been discovered at all.
[0065] A record such as the fourth record shown in the sample
report in FIG. 2A, which would have appeared as eligible for
reimbursement using other existing software, which only checked for
a match of identifying information for the patient, would have
resulted in a medical claim that was submitted being rejected,
because the service type code was entered incorrectly. Using the
software 10 described herein, which checks to see if the service
rendered is eligible for reimbursement, would find the incorrect
service code, which could be corrected before the medical claim 100
was submitted for reimbursement.
[0066] The fifth record shown in the sample report in FIG. 2A shows
a medical claim 100 for which partial payment has been received,
but for which there is still an outstanding balance. The software
described herein has performed analysis to determine that the
patient is covered by the benefit provider, and that the service is
eligible for reimbursement. Therefore, the service provider can
submit the medical claim 100 to seek to recover the outstanding
balance. The report also shows the amount of the outstanding
balance that is eligible for reimbursement. In this case, it is
less than the full amount because the deductible for the benefit
provider has not yet been met by this patient. This medical claim
is also an example of a medical claim which has become eligible for
benefits since the last time a report was run, and lists the date
by which any claim must be made.
[0067] The last entry on the sample report of FIG. 2A shows a
medical claim 100 that would have been qualified for reimbursement,
had it been found and submitted in a timely manner. Such results
would occur if the queries 300 described herein were not made on a
regular basis.
[0068] FIG. 2B shows a pie chart break-out of an example of one
instance in which the software 10 described herein was used showing
the amount of medical claims eligible for reimbursement for a
benefit provider, broken out by class of benefit provider, the
number of medical claims for each class, and the amount of money
for the medical claims for each class. Additional information from
the service provider's and benefit provider's records that would be
useful to the service provider in submitting the medical claim is
also provided, such as the deadline, if any, by which the medical
claim must be submitted.
[0069] FIG. 2C shows a report that provides information about
medical claim eligibility verification for a variety of service
providers, including the amounts identified for the medical claims,
broken out for queries made on a regular basis. As can be seen,
while the number for subsequent queries 300 typically decreases, it
can be seen that additional eligible medical claims are identified
when the software 10 is used to make subsequent queries 300.
[0070] It should be appreciated that a variety of different
reports, report formats, and information can be used, depending on
the needs of the service provider. The information in the reports
450 can be used for a variety of functions, such as to track
errors, and possibly reduce similar future errors made when
submitting medical claims. Additionally, the reports 450 can be
used to monitor query results to determine the effectiveness of a
particular query 300. If a particular query 300 does not ever
produce any record matches, a decision could be made to not
continue to make that query 300, or to enhance it in some way so as
to increase the likelihood of obtaining a match.
[0071] Depending on the benefit provider's system, medical claims
for which a match was found can be filed on-line, and/or a manual
submission of medical claims for which payment is requested can be
made.
[0072] The software 10 can be modified continually or periodically
to ensure compliance with various local, state and/or federal laws,
depending on where it is used. Additionally, because the world of
medical service and benefit providers is rapidly and continuously
changing and evolving, the software 10 described herein may be
designed to be flexible and adapt to ongoing changes in the
industry.
C. EXAMPLES
[0073] It is appreciated that some examples may be helpful in
illustrating the features of the system and method described
herein. If a service provider, such as a hospital, had a large
number of medical claims 100 for services it had provided to
patients (for example, an emergency room visit, a hospital stay, or
the like), the software 10 could be used to inquire as to the
status of the medical claims 100. The software 10 would first be
used to generate a file 200 in the appropriate form that contained
information for each medical claim 100. For purposes of this
example, it is assumed that there are 90 (ninety) medical claims
100 in the file 200.
[0074] The software 10 may also be used to develop a series of one
or more queries 300 that could be made of the benefit provider's
database of members to find members of the benefit provider's plan
for whom the service provider had rendered service, but has not yet
been reimbursed. Again, only for purposes of this example, it is
assumed that there are two queries to be made against the benefit
provider database 500, sequentially, and a third query to be made
for all records which were entered in file 400.
[0075] Typically, the first query 300' might be to check for a
person in the benefit provider's database 500 having a social
security number/other unique identification number, and/or last
name and first name that matches that of a patient for whom the
hospital had provided services. Exactly which query 300 would be
the first query 300' would depend on how the benefit provider
structures its database records.
[0076] Such an initial standard query is useful to patients
eligible for reimbursement. In some situations, there is a delay in
a patient being entered into a benefit provider's database, so if
the medical claim is submitted to the benefit provider for payment
before the patient has been added to the database, the medical
claim 100 status will be returned as ineligible. Additionally, for
some medical benefit programs, such as Medicaid and the
Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA), coverage
can be retroactive. Similarly, in these situations, the patient may
not appear in the database of persons qualifying for benefits under
that plan when the patient is treated, or the database may indicate
that the patient was not covered on the date the service was
rendered. However, if the patient is added to the benefit
provider's database subsequently, the medical claim will only be
shown as "eligible" if the medical claim is re-submitted after the
patient is in the benefit provider's database 500. In some
instances, it has been found that several years can elapse before a
medical claim 100 becomes eligible for reimbursement. However, in
many cases, there is only a limited time allowed after a patient
becomes eligible that medical claims 100 can be submitted to the
benefit provider. Thus, queries 300 of the benefit provider's
database 500 must be made on a regular basis so that eligible
medical claims 100 can be identified in a timely manner, while the
medical claims 100 can still be filed.
[0077] Another example of situations in which the patient may not
appear in the benefit provider's database 500 when a medical claim
is first submitted is for newborn babies. Such patients do not
always have a unique ID number, such as a social security number,
at birth. In some cases, there is even a delay in the patient being
given a name, and the hospital records may simply refer to the
child as "Baby Boy Smith." Thus, the hospital may not have the
proper information available to it to be able to generate a medical
claim with information that matches the benefit provider's database
500. Even if the hospital had the correct name or identifying
information, these patients are not added to the insurer's database
until after the child is born, and there is typically a delay in
such information getting entered into the database. Thus, the
hospital could submit a medical claim 100 immediately after the
child is born, and there could be no related record 510 in the
benefit provider's database 500 at that time. Thus, these medical
claims 100 are often not paid because they cannot be matched up
with a patient in the benefit provider's database 500. Again,
making eligibility inquiries of the benefit provider's database on
a regular basis will reveal that the patient has been added to the
database 500 and the medical claim 100 is eligible for
reimbursement.
[0078] Another example of medical claims 100 that this query 300'
might find a match for would be an instance where the benefit
provider matches records by patient name, rather than patient
identification, and the benefit provider has a patient in its
database 500 as John Smith, but the service provider submitted a
medical claim for service provided to John Smithe. Because the
benefit provider did not find John Smithe in its database, it
originally rejected the medical claim as ineligible; however,
because the patient IDs match, this query would make a match.
[0079] Once the queries 300 have been selected, the software 10 can
be configured to run the selected queries 300 against the benefit
provider's database 500 to find records that match any of the
medical claims 100 in the file of the service provider's unpaid
claims 200. Again, for purposes of this example, it is assumed that
the first query 300' is to find an exact match between the patient
ID fields of any medical claim 100 in the file of the hospital's
medical claims 200, and any patient record 510 in the benefit
provider's database 500. For example, assume that when query 300'
has been run, and the data in each of the ninety medical claims 100
in the service provider's file 200 has been compared to the records
510 in the benefit provider's database 500, twenty of the medical
claims 100 are found to have matching records 510 in the benefit
provider's database, therefore being eligible for reimbursement.
When a match is found for a medical claim 100' in the benefit
provider's database, that medical claim 100' and the information
from the matching record 510' in the benefit provider's database
500 is placed in a file 400. Each medical claim 100 which has been
matched to a record 510 from the benefit provider's database 500 is
removed from the file 200 after query 300' has been run and
completed. Thus, after the first query 300' has been run, only
seventy medical claims 100 will remain in the file 200.
[0080] For purposes of this example, assume the second query 300''
is a query to find medical claims 100 in the seventy remaining
medical claims in the file 200 for which the date of birth field is
the same as the date of birth field in a record 510 in the benefit
provider's database 500, the first name fields are the same, and
the first four letters of the last name field are the same. This
query would find patients for whom the patient ID was entered
incorrectly, but the name and date of birth information was
correct. Thus, if for patient Thomas Jones, his ID number was
incorrectly entered in the service provider's medical claim as
12345679, but the actual ID number was 12345678, the first query
300' would not find a matching record 510 in the benefit provider's
database 500. However, the second query 300'' would find a matching
record 510.
[0081] After the first query 300'' has been run, the second query
300'' is run for the remaining seventy medical claims 100 in the
file 200. Assume this query results in another twenty medical
claims 100 being matched with one or more records 510 in the
benefit provider's database 500. Each of these twenty medical
claims is also removed from file 200 and placed in file 400,
leaving only fifty medical claims 100 in the file 200. It can be
appreciated that with queries 300'' such as this, multiple matches
could be found with persons having the same date of birth, first
name, and last four digits of the last name, and therefore,
multiple records 510 could be returned that potentially match a
medical claim 100.
[0082] When all the queries 300 have been run, the software 10 will
exit the query of the benefit provider's database 500, and a file
400 of all matched records is generated. In the case of this
example, file 400 contains forty medical claims 100 for which one
or more matches have been made in the benefit provider's database
500. The file 400 contains the information from each medical claim
100 for which a matching record 510 in the benefit provider's
database 500 was found, and the information from the matching
record(s) 510 in the benefit provider's database. A report 450 of
contents of the file 400 can be generated and provided to the
service provider so that the matched medical claims can be
submitted to the benefit provider.
[0083] However, in the case of this example, the software runs a
query 300''' on all forty records in the file 400 to determine if
the date by which a medical claim must be submitted for
reimbursement is later than the present date. If not, that claim
could be flagged in the file 400 as being a past deadline medical
claim. Or, it could be a query that would check for additional
matching fields between medical claims 100 that have generated more
than one matching record 510 from the benefit provider's database
500. It can be appreciated that this query could have been made as
part of the first or second queries 300', 300'' of the benefit
provider's database 500, or as a separate query 300 of the benefit
provider's database 500. However, again, only for the purposes of
this example, assume that it was found to be much more efficient to
make this date query 300''' after file 400 had been generated,
rather than as a query to the benefit provider's database 500.
Additionally, such information about medical claims qualifying for
payment could be important for tracking whether a health care
service provider qualifies for reimbursement from other programs,
such as disproportionate share Medicaid or Medicare reimbursement
funds, as discussed above. If this query was performed before the
medical claim 100 was placed in the file 400, the medical claim 100
might not be placed in the file 400, and therefore it could be
difficult to track this type of information when preparing reports
to determine qualification for the additional programs.
Alternatively, it can be appreciated that further inquiries such as
this could be made manually upon review of the report 450 of
matching files 400. Again, how such analysis is performed depends
on the specific needs of a user.
[0084] If appropriate, additional analysis can be made of the
service provider's medical claims 100 and any matching records 510
from the benefit provider's database 500 to determine if there are
additional fields that match between the record in the benefit
provider's database and the medical claim to ensure the patient is
the same entity. For example, if multiple records 510 are returned
that same date of birth, first name, and first 4 digits of the last
name, additional analysis can be done to look for additional
matches in other fields, or determine the probability that a
specific record 510 matches a specific medical claim 100'.
[0085] In another embodiment, some of the medical claims 100 in the
examples discussed above may be clustered together based on a
unique patient identifier and/or patient demographics (name, social
security number, date of birth, or the like) and a composite
medical claim 100 may be created which contains this patient
information. If a query 300 returns a matching record 510 from the
benefit provider's database 500, or if the database 500 recognizes
the patient as per HIPAA protocols, for example, then the software
10 may add the underlying clustered medical claims 100 to the file
of remaining claims 200 and may then run every remaining medical
claim 100 against the database 500 to determine whether a patient
claim is eligible for reimbursement and can be submitted to the
benefit provider for payment. In this way, the same number of
medical claims 100 can be compared to the database 500 using fewer
queries.
[0086] In one arrangement, queries 300 can be run of the benefit
provider's database 500, with charges being incurred on a per query
basis. In another arrangement, because the software 10 complies
with the requirements of the new laws governing such queries 300,
the queries 300 can be run without charge for the number of queries
run, or the number of times queries are run. If the queries 300 are
made by a third party on behalf of the service provider, payment to
the third party can be made based on the number of medical claims
100 that are matched to database records 510, and for which payment
is received by the service provider.
[0087] It is understood that the present invention can take many
forms and embodiments. Accordingly, several variations may be made
in the foregoing without departing from the spirit or the scope of
the invention. Having thus described certain embodiments, it is
noted that the embodiments disclosed are illustrative rather than
limiting in nature and that a wide range of variations,
modifications, changes, and substitutions are contemplated in the
foregoing disclosure and, in some instances, some features of the
present invention may be employed without a corresponding use of
the other features. Many such variations and modifications may be
considered obvious and desirable by those skilled in the art based
upon a review of the foregoing description of illustrative
embodiments. Accordingly, it is appropriate that the appended
claims be construed broadly and in a manner consistent with the
scope of the invention.
* * * * *