Facilitating integrated behavioral support through personalized adaptive data collection

Abstract

The present invention includes various embodiments of a BSA system that facilitates the collection of relevant health-related data on a continuous basis, integrates such data with pertinent personal and aggregate information, enables users to purchase (directly and indirectly) health-related goods and services, and provides credit, discounts and other economic benefits in connection with such purchases that are determined dynamically based upon the nature and extent of users' interaction with the system. The BSA system facilitates a dynamic feedback process by continually monitoring user interaction and medical and financial behavior, which results in dynamic adjustments to their credit levels and offers of discounts and other promotions, which in turn incentivizes users to continue participating in the process (thereby modifying their system interactions and behavior, and thus perpetuating this feedback loop). As a result, users are incentivized to actively participate in the process and thereby enhance their wellness while reducing healthcare costs.

1 . A method for performing adaptive data collection to enhance the quality of data and efficiency of collection and utilization of data related to one or more users with accounts on a behavioral support agent system, the method comprising the following steps:
 (a) collecting information from one or more users of the system on an ongoing basis during a first state,   wherein the information includes a first type of data collected at a first frequency;   (b) identifying a first set of triggers that warrant transitioning the system to a second state with respect to a subset of users,   wherein the first set of triggers is discerned in whole or in part from the information collected from the users in step (a);   (c) adjusting, during the second state, the type of information collected from the subset of users in step (b) by collecting a second type of data from the users,   wherein the second type of data differs from the first type of data and is targeted at a potential condition relating to the first set of triggers; and   (d) adjusting, during the second state, the frequency with which the second type of data is collected from the subset of users in step (b) to an adjusted frequency,   wherein the adjusted frequency differs from the first frequency.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first set of triggers includes symptoms evidencing a possible medical condition. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the information is obtained both from users of the system and from external data sources. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first adjusted frequency with which information is collected from the first set of users is greater than the first baseline frequency, and is decreased in a third state to a second adjusted frequency below the first adjusted frequency but still above the first baseline frequency, and then returned to the first baseline frequency. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first set of users includes a plurality of users from whom information is collected during the second state. 
     
     
         6 . A method comprising:
 collecting, at a first frequency on an ongoing basis, a first type of data from at least one of one or mom users of a system;   identifying a first set of triggers corresponding to a subset of the one or mom users,   wherein the first set of triggers is determined in whole or in part from the first type of data,   collecting, at the first frequency, a second type of data from at least a first subset of the one or mom users,   wherein the second type of data differs from the first type of data, and   wherein the second type of data is targeted at a potential condition relating to the first set of triggers and   collecting, at a second frequency, the second type of data from at least a second subset of the one or more users,   wherein the second frequency differs from the first frequency.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the first set of triggers comprises symptoms corresponding to a medical condition. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising collecting, at the first frequency, the first type of data from an external data source, 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the first subset of users comprises a portion of the second subset of users. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the first subset of users is a single user. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the second subset of users is a single user. 
     
     
         12 . An apparatus comprising:
 a processor; and   a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions operative, when executed by the processor, to cause the apparatus to:
 collect, at a first frequency on an ongoing basis, a first type of data from at least one of one or more users of a system; 
 identify a first set of triggers corresponding to a subset of the one or mom users, 
 wherein the first set of triggers is determined in whole or in part from the first type of data; 
 collect, at the first frequency, a second type of data from at least a first subset of the one or mom users, 
 wherein the second type of data differs from the first type of data, and 
 wherein the second type of data is targeted at a potential condition relating to the first set of triggers; and 
 collect, at a second frequency, the second type of data from at least a second subset of the one or more users, 
 wherein the second frequency differs from the first frequency.