Systems and methods for health care credit transactions

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer program media for creating, managing, backing, and transferring health care credits are described. Health care credits may be implemented as freely transferable financial instruments whose initial value can be based on costs or savings generated by an individual, or by a health care provider, that are associated with a health-related metric or a health benefiting behavior(s).

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for converting incentive points into freely transferable health care credits, the system comprising:
 a memory that contains instructions; and   a processor, operably connected to the memory, that executes the instructions to perform operations comprising:
 receiving information specifying an amount of the incentive points awarded for a health-related behavior; 
 determining a value of the health-related behavior; 
 calculating an amount of the freely transferable health care credits that is equivalent to the value of the health-related behavior; and 
 converting the incentive points into the amount of the freely transferable health care credits that was calculated. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein determining a value of the health-related behavior comprises:
 determining a par value for the health-related behavior.   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the par value comprises a previously established monetary value for the health-related behavior. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the previously established monetary value for the health-related behavior comprises a reimbursement cost for the health-related behavior set by a government entity. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the par value comprises a value derived from a government source of health care cost data. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the par value comprises a value obtained from a government source of health care cost data. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the government source of health care cost data comprises a Medicare source. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein determining a value of the health-related behavior comprises:
 determining a value of the health-related behavior based on a monetary value of the health-related behavior from at least one industry source of health care cost data.   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the at least one industry source of health care cost data comprises a health care insurer. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein determining a value of the health-related behavior based on a monetary value of the health-related behavior from at least one industry source of health care cost data comprises:
 calculating the value of the health-related behavior by taking an average, a weighted average, or a median of the monetary values of the health-related behavior from at least two different industry sources.   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the at least two different industry sources comprises at least two health care insurers. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein calculating an amount of the freely transferable health care credits that is equivalent to the value of the health-related behavior comprises:
 determining a current market value of a freely transferable health care credit; and   dividing the value of the health-related behavior by the current market value of a freely transferable health care credit to produce the amount.   
     
     
         13 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium including instructions for converting incentive points into freely transferable health care credits, which, when executed by a processor, perform operations comprising:
 receiving information specifying an amount of the incentive points awarded for a health-related behavior;   determining a value of the health-related behavior;   calculating an amount of the freely transferable health care credits that is equivalent to the value of the health-related behavior; and   converting the incentive points into the amount of the freely transferable health care credits that was calculated.   
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 13 , wherein determining a value of the health-related behavior comprises:
 determining a par value for the health-related behavior.   
     
     
         15 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 14 , wherein the par value comprises a previously established monetary value for the health-related behavior. 
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the previously established monetary value for the health-related behavior comprises a reimbursement cost for the health-related behavior set by a government entity. 
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 14 , wherein the par value comprises a value derived from a government source of health care cost data. 
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 14 , wherein the par value comprises a value obtained from a government source of health care cost data. 
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 18 , wherein the government source of health care cost data comprises a Medicare source. 
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 13 , wherein determining a value of the health-related behavior comprises:
 determining a value of the health-related behavior based on a monetary value of the health-related behavior from at least one industry source of health care cost data.   
     
     
         21 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 20 , wherein the at least one industry source of health care cost data comprises a health care insurer. 
     
     
         22 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 20 , wherein determining a value of the health-related behavior based on a monetary value of the health-related behavior from at least one industry source of health care cost data comprises:
 calculating the value of the health-related behavior by taking an average, a weighted average, or a median of the monetary values of the health-related behavior from at least two different industry sources.   
     
     
         23 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 22 , wherein the at least two different industry sources comprises at least two health care insurers. 
     
     
         24 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 13 , wherein calculating an amount of the freely transferable health care credits that is equivalent to the value of the health-related behavior comprises:
 determining a current market value of a freely transferable health care credit; and   dividing the value of the health-related behavior by the current market value of a freely transferable health care credit to produce the amount.   
     
     
         25 . A system for converting incentive points associated with a health-related metric or behavior into freely transferable health care credits, the system comprising:
 a memory that contains instructions; and   a processor, operably connected to the memory, that executes the instructions to perform operations comprising:
 receiving information specifying a quantity of the incentive points associated with an account; 
 exchanging the quantity of the incentive points for an amount of cash; 
 purchasing an amount of freely transferable health care credits using the amount of cash; 
 crediting the amount of freely transferable health care credits that was purchased to the account. 
   
     
     
         26 . The system of  claim 25 , wherein the purchasing is performed via a health care credit exchange. 
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 25 , wherein the amount of cash is determined by an issuer of the incentive points. 
     
     
         28 . The system of  claim 27 , wherein the amount of cash determined by the issuer comprises an amount equivalent to a health-care cost savings associated with the health-related metric or behavior. 
     
     
         29 . The system of  claim 25 , wherein exchanging the quantity of the incentive points for an amount of cash comprises:
 selling the quantity of the incentive points to an issuer of the incentive points.   
     
     
         30 . The system of  claim 25 , wherein exchanging the quantity of the incentive points for an amount of cash comprises:
 redeeming the quantity of the incentive points with an issuer of the incentive points.   
     
     
         31 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium including instructions for converting incentive points associated with a health-related metric or behavior into freely transferable health care credits, which, when executed by a processor, perform operations comprising:
 receiving information specifying a quantity of the incentive points associated with an account;   exchanging the quantity of the incentive points for an amount of cash;   purchasing an amount of freely transferable health care credits using the amount of cash;   crediting the amount of freely transferable health care credits that was purchased to the account.   
     
     
         32 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 31 , wherein the purchasing is performed via a health care credit exchange. 
     
     
         33 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 31 , wherein the amount of cash is determined by an issuer of the incentive points. 
     
     
         34 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 33 , wherein the amount of cash determined by the issuer comprises an amount equivalent to a health-care cost savings associated with the health-related metric or behavior. 
     
     
         35 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 31 , wherein exchanging the quantity of the incentive points for an amount of cash comprises:
 selling the quantity of the incentive points to an issuer of the incentive points.   
     
     
         36 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 31 , wherein exchanging the quantity of the incentive points for an amount of cash comprises:
 redeeming the quantity of the incentive points with an issuer of the incentive points.   
     
     
         37 . A system for converting incentive points into freely transferable health care credits, the system comprising:
 a memory that contains instructions; and   a processor, operably connected to the memory, that executes the instructions to perform operations comprising:
 receiving information specifying an amount of the incentive points associated with a health-related behavior; 
 calculating an amount of the freely transferable health care credits that is equivalent to the value of the incentive points associated with the health-related behavior; and 
 converting the incentive points into the amount of the freely transferable health care credits that was calculated. 
   
     
     
         38 . The system of  claim 37 , the operations further comprising:
 placing the amount of the freely transferable health care credits into a health care credit account.   
     
     
         39 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium including instructions for converting incentive points into freely transferable health care credits, which, when executed by a processor, perform operations comprising:
 receiving information specifying an amount of the incentive points associated with a health-related behavior;   calculating an amount of the freely transferable health care credits that is equivalent to the value of the incentive points associated with the health-related behavior; and   converting the incentive points into the amount of the freely transferable health care credits that was calculated.   
     
     
         40 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 39 , the operations further comprising:
 placing the amount of the freely transferable health care credits into a health care credit account.