Centralized eob archiving and access

Abstract

Methods and systems provide substantiation proof of claims made against medical spending accounts. Medical-insurance adjudication explanations are received at a benefits-records system, specifying a medical-insurance claim submitted to a medical insurer and identifying an adjudication decision of the medical insurance claim. The medical-insurance adjudication explanations are stored in a common format. A request is received from an insured party to apply a payment amount to a medical spending account. The payment amount corresponds to an expense associated with a medical-insurance claim submitted to one of the medical insurers but not paid. The request is posted to a third-party administrator with information from the corresponding medical-insurance adjudication explanations.

1 . A method of providing substantiation proof of claims made against medical spending accounts, the method comprising:
 receiving, at a benefits-records system, a plurality of medical-insurance adjudication explanations, each such medical-insurance adjudication explanation comprising a specification of a medical-insurance claim submitted to one of a plurality of medical insurers and identifying an adjudication decision of the medical insurance claim;   storing, with the benefits-records system, each of the plurality of medical-insurance adjudication explanations in a common format;   receiving, at the benefits-records system, a request from an insured party to apply a payment amount to a medical spending account, wherein the payment amount corresponds to an expense associated with a medical-insurance claim submitted to one of the plurality of medical insurers and identified in one of the medical-insurance adjudication explanations as not paid by the one of the medical insurers; and   posting the request to a third-party administrator with information from the one of the medical-insurance adjudication explanations.   
     
     
         2 . The method recited in  claim 1  wherein the information from the one of the medical-insurance adjudication explanations comprises the one of the medical-insurance adjudication explanations. 
     
     
         3 . The method recited in  claim 2  wherein the one of the medical-insurance adjudication explanations comprises an optically readable code summarizing details of the medical-insurance claim. 
     
     
         4 . The method recited in  claim 3  wherein the optically readable code comprises a bar code. 
     
     
         5 . The method recited in  claim 1  wherein the information from the one of the medical-insurance adjudication explanations is a subset of information extracted from the one of the medical-insurance adjudication explanations. 
     
     
         6 . The method recited in  claim 1  wherein the common format includes an optically readable code summarizing details of the medical insurance claim comprised in respective ones of the medical-insurance adjudication explanations. 
     
     
         7 . The method recited in  claim 1  wherein receiving the plurality of medical-insurance adjudication explanations comprises receiving at least one of the medical-insurance adjudication explanations from one of the medical insurers. 
     
     
         8 . The method recited in  claim 1  wherein receiving the plurality of medical-insurance adjudication explanations comprises receiving at least one of the medical-insurance adjudication explanations from a party insured by one of the medical insurers. 
     
     
         9 . The method recited in  claim 8  wherein receiving the at least one of the medical-insurance adjudication explanations from the party insured by one of the medical insurers comprises receiving the at least one of the medical-insurance adjudication explanations over a public network. 
     
     
         10 . The method recited in  claim 8  further comprising converting the at least one of the medical-insurance adjudication explanations into the common format. 
     
     
         11 . The method recited in  claim 1  wherein the medical spending account comprises a financial account selected from the group consisting of a flexible spending account, a health savings account, and a health reimbursement account. 
     
     
         12 . A system for providing substantial proof of claims made against medical spending accounts, the system comprising:
 a communications system;   a storage device, wherein the storage device maintains records of a plurality of medical-insurance adjudication explanations in a common format, each such medical-insurance adjudication explanation comprising a specification of a medical-insurance claim submitted to one of a plurality of medical insurers and identifying an adjudication decision of the medical claim;   a processor in communication with the communications system and with the storage device; and   a memory coupled with the processor, the memory comprising a computer-readable medium having a computer-readable program embodied therein for directing operation of the system, the computer-readable program including:
 instructions for receiving, with the communications system, a request from an insured party to apply a payment amount to a medical spending account, wherein the payment amount corresponds to an expense associated with a medical-insurance claim submitted to one of the plurality of medical insurers and identified in one of the medical-insurance adjudication explanations as not paid by the one of the medical insurers; and 
 instructions for posting the request, with the communications system, to a third-party administrator with information from the one of the medical-insurance adjudication explanations. 
   
     
     
         13 . The system recited in  claim 12  wherein the information from the one of the medical-insurance adjudication explanations comprises the one of the medical-insurance adjudication explanations. 
     
     
         14 . The system recited in  claim 13  wherein the one of the medical-insurance adjudication explanations comprises an optically readable code summarizing details of the medical-insurance claim. 
     
     
         15 . The system recited in  claim 14  wherein the optically readable code comprises a bar code. 
     
     
         16 . The system recited in  claim 12  wherein the information from the one of the medical-insurance adjudication explanations is a subset of information extracted from the one of the medical-insurance adjudication explanations. 
     
     
         17 . The system recited in  claim 12  wherein the common format includes an optically readable code summarizing details of the medical-insurance adjudication explanations. 
     
     
         18 . The system recited in  claim 12  wherein the computer-readable program further includes instructions for receiving, with the communications system, at least one of the plurality of medical-insurance adjudication explanations from one of the medical insurers. 
     
     
         19 . The system recited in  claim 12  wherein the computer-readable program further includes instructions for receiving, with the communications system, at least one of the medical-insurance adjudication explanations from a party insured by one of the medical insurers. 
     
     
         20 . The system recited in  claim 19  wherein the computer-readable program further includes instructions for converting the at least one of the medical-insurance adjudication explanations into the common format. 
     
     
         21 . The system recited in  claim 12  wherein the medical spending account comprises a financial account selected from the group consisting of a flexible spending account, a health savings account, and a health reimbursement account.