Method and system for information retrieval and transfer

Abstract

A method for providing medical insurance information corresponding to a consumer of medical services can include receiving consumer medical insurance information from a consumer. This information includes one or more identity fields. A request is sent to network sources of identity information for the consumer, the requests including one or more of the identity fields. The identity information that is received is compared to the consumer medical insurance information using matching rules to store data which satisfies the rules. The identity data which satisfies the matching rules is used to generate requests for insurer medical insurance information. The insurer information is compared to the consumer medical insurance information using matching rules to store only data which satisfies the matching rules. A processor can be used to generate different permutations and combinations of the data for the identity requests and for the insurer requests until a satisfactory response has been received.

1 . A computer-implemented method for determining and providing to a medical service provider medical insurance information corresponding to a consumer of medical services, the method comprising:
 (a) receiving via a processor consumer medical insurance information for the consumer from the consumer, the consumer medical insurance information comprising a plurality of consumer data items in a plurality of consumer medical insurance information fields, wherein each field corresponds to a different one of a plurality of attributes of the consumer and each data item comprises at least one character defining a character string, the consumer medical insurance information fields including at least one identified insurance carrier field and at least one identity field for the consumer;   (b) obtaining consumer identity information for the consumer by searching information stored at a plurality of network locations of identity information sources located remotely from one another, from the network location of the medical service provider, and from the network location of the identified insurance carrier, the search of consumer identity information being based upon data from at least one of the identity fields of the consumer medical insurance information, the consumer identity information comprising data items in fields corresponding to a plurality of fields of the consumer medical insurance information and including at least one identity field;   (c) comparing data in identity fields of the consumer identity information with data in corresponding identity fields of the consumer medical insurance information, and applying matching rules to store consumer identity information from ones of the network locations where the consumer identity information satisfies the matching rules, and to eliminate consumer identity information which does not satisfy the matching rules;   (d) creating a superset of consumer identity information with fields comprising data items from the consumer medical insurance information and data items from the consumer identity information which satisfies the matching rules;   (e) requesting from a network location source of insurer medical insurance information, the network location source being a different network location remote from the network location of the medical service provider, insurer medical insurance information for the consumer from the identified insurance carrier based upon a subset of data items from fields of the superset of consumer identity information, the requested insurer medical insurance information including at least a coverage status information for the consumer for the identified insurance carrier and at least one identity field for the consumer;   (f) if coverage status information is obtained, receiving from the identified insurance carrier data items from a plurality of fields corresponding to a plurality of fields of the consumer medical insurance information including the at least one identity field, and applying the matching rules to at least the identity fields of the insurer medical insurance information, and if the identity fields satisfy the identity rules, storing coverage status of the identified insurance carrier;   (g) if coverage status information is not obtained from the identified insurance carrier responsive to the request, or if the received insurer medical insurance information does not satisfy the matching rules, automatically generating a different combination or permutation of data items from the superset and repeating the requesting step using the different combination or permutation of data items, and repeating the applying matching rules step for any received insurer medical insurance information, until coverage status information is obtained from the identified insurance carrier which satisfies the matching rules or until all combinations and permutations have been tried;   (h) requesting insurer medical insurance information from a plurality of additional network location sources of insurer medical insurance information, the requested insurer medical insurance information including coverage status for a plurality of additional insurance carriers and at least one identity field for the consumer, the request being based upon data items from a subset of fields of the superset of consumer identity information;   (i) if coverage status information is obtained from an additional insurance carrier, receiving from the additional insurance carrier data items from a plurality of fields corresponding to a plurality of fields of the consumer medical insurance information including the at least one identity field, and applying the matching rules to at least the identity fields of the insurer medical insurance information, and if the identity fields satisfy the identity rules, storing the coverage status of the additional insurance carrier;   (j) if coverage status information is not obtained from an additional insurance carrier responsive to the request, or if the received insurer medical insurance information does not satisfy the matching rules, automatically generating a different combination or permutation of data items from the superset and repeating the requesting step using the different combination or permutation of data items, and repeating the applying matching rules step for any received insurer medical insurance information, until coverage status information is obtained from the additional insurance carrier which satisfies the matching rules or until all combinations and permutations have been tried;   (k) wherein steps (a)-(j) are performed by a computer processor.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising the step of applying correction rules to the superset of the consumer identity information which satisfies the matching rules and to the consumer medical insurance information to produce corrected consumer identity information including at least one identity field that satisfy the matching rules. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the step of requesting insurer medical insurance information for the identified insurance carrier is based upon a subset of the corrected consumer identity information. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the step of requesting insurer medical insurance information for the plurality of additional insurance carriers is based upon a subset of the corrected consumer identity information. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the consumer identity information is third party consumer identity information. 
     
     
         6 . A computer-implemented method for collecting and providing to a medical service provider medical insurance information corresponding to a consumer of medical services, the method comprising:
 (a) requesting from a plurality of different network locations remote from one another medical insurance information for said consumer of medical services based upon a plurality of data items, wherein each data item corresponds to a different one of a plurality of attributes of the consumer of medical services and comprises at least one character defining a character string;   (b) retrieving said requested consumer medical insurance information-corresponding to said identified consumer from at least one of said plurality of different network locations, said retrieving including a search of eligibility information stored at each of said plurality of different network locations, said search being based upon said plurality of data items and performed to determine whether said consumer has medical insurance coverage and, if so, with which of a plurality of different insurers;   (c) verifying the identity of said consumer of medical services from at least one other network location, said verifying including a search of consumer identity verification information stored at a different plurality of network locations located remotely from one another, said search of identity verification information being based upon at least one additional data item;   (d) using a transfer agent containing a plurality of different data structures associating different requestors of medical insurance information with different computer programs, organizing and formatting the retrieved medical insurance information based upon a predefined data structure uniquely associated with a particular requestor who requested the medical information, and transferring at least one of said data items to a corresponding field in a user interface of a computer based upon the predefined data structure, the predefined data structure indicating one or more types of information and a data presentation format pre-selected by the requestor; and   (e) if at least a portion of said medical insurance information or said verification information retrieved from said different network locations does not match or is inconsistent with medical insurance or verification information retrieved from another of said plurality of different locations or with medical insurance or verification information previously supplied by said consumer of medical services, automatically generating a different combination or permutation of characters of a character string of at least one of said data items and repeating steps (a)-(d) using the different combination or permutation of characters until a match occurs.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 authenticating a user of said computer for performing said steps of  claim 6 .   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein said data items comprise consumer demographic information. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein said verification step comprises searching at least one selected from the group consisting of credit information, medical information, or public record information. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 generating consumer medical insurance information based upon said data items; and   presenting said consumer medical insurance information to said consumer of medical services for verification.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein said step (d) uses screen scraping technology.