Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to machine-learning based methodologies for automatic predictions of relevancy scores indicative of the predicted level of interest to a stakeholder (e.g., person or entity) and dynamic updates for a user interface regarding the same.
Annually, there are countless transactions that occur that relate to one or more stakeholders (e.g., persons or entities). For example, in the healthcare context, there are more than 10 billion healthcare-related claims (e.g., transactions) that are submitted and processed in the United States each year. Current methodologies for predicting the relevance of each transaction and presenting the same to end users are inaccurate, inefficient, and resource-intensive. For instance, in the healthcare context, searching and ranking these claims (e.g., by date, by name, by procedure, etc.) is inefficient and affects all aspects of health insurance companies.
Accordingly, there is a latent need for a rigorous methodology that can automatically predict relevancy scores indicative of the predicted level of interest to a stakeholder (e.g., person or entity) and dynamically update a user interface regarding the same. Through applied effort, ingenuity, and innovation, the inventors have developed systems and methods that produce such predictions, scores, and dynamic interface updates. Some examples of these solutions are described in detail herein.
In general, embodiments of the present invention provide methods, apparatus, systems, computing devices, computing entities, and/or the like.
In accordance with one aspect, a method is provided. In one embodiment, the method comprises storing a communication record corresponding to a communication for a first transaction, the first communication record comprising first communication data; storing an indication with a first transaction record for the first transaction, the indication indicating that a first communication has occurred for the first transaction, the first transaction record comprising first transaction data; aggregating a set of training data to train one or more artificial neural networks, the training data comprising at least a portion of the first communication data and at least a portion of the first communication data; after training the neural network, receiving a second transaction record, the second transaction record corresponding to a second transaction and comprising second transaction data; determining a first predicted relevancy score for the second transaction record using the one or more artificial neural networks, the first predicted relevancy score indicative of the predicted relevance to a first user; determining a second predicted relevancy score for the second transaction record using the one or more artificial neural networks, the second predicted relevancy score indicative of the predicted relevance to a second user; storing the first predicted relevancy score and the second predicted relevancy score in a data structure; and dynamically providing a user interface for display of at least a portion of the second transaction data in association with the first predicted relevancy score or the second predicted relevancy score.
In accordance with another aspect, a computer program product is provided. The computer program product may comprise at least one computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code portions stored therein, the computer-readable program code portions comprising executable portions configured to store a communication record corresponding to a communication for a first transaction, the first communication record comprising first communication data; store an indication with a first transaction record for the first transaction, the indication indicating that a first communication has occurred for the first transaction, the first transaction record comprising first transaction data; aggregate a set of training data to train one or more artificial neural networks, the training data comprising at least a portion of the first communication data and at least a portion of the first communication data; after training the neural network, receive a second transaction record, the second transaction record corresponding to a second transaction and comprising second transaction data; determine a first predicted relevancy score for the second transaction record using the one or more artificial neural networks, the first predicted relevancy score indicative of the predicted relevance to a first user; determine a second predicted relevancy score for the second transaction record using the one or more artificial neural networks, the second predicted relevancy score indicative of the predicted relevance to a second user; store the first predicted relevancy score and the second predicted relevancy score in a data structure; and dynamically provide a user interface for display of at least a portion of the second transaction data in association with the first predicted relevancy score or the second predicted relevancy score.
In accordance with yet another aspect, a computing system comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code is provided. In one embodiment, the at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to store a communication record corresponding to a communication for a first transaction, the first communication record comprising first communication data; store an indication with a first transaction record for the first transaction, the indication indicating that a first communication has occurred for the first transaction, the first transaction record comprising first transaction data; aggregate a set of training data to train one or more artificial neural networks, the training data comprising at least a portion of the first communication data and at least a portion of the first communication data; after training the neural network, receive a second transaction record, the second transaction record corresponding to a second transaction and comprising second transaction data; determine a first predicted relevancy score for the second transaction record using the one or more artificial neural networks, the first predicted relevancy score indicative of the predicted relevance to a first user; determine a second predicted relevancy score for the second transaction record using the one or more artificial neural networks, the second predicted relevancy score indicative of the predicted relevance to a second user; store the first predicted relevancy score and the second predicted relevancy score in a data structure; and dynamically provide a user interface for display of at least a portion of the second transaction data in association with the first predicted relevancy score or the second predicted relevancy score.
Having thus described the invention in general terms, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:
Various embodiments of the present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not all embodiments of the inventions are shown. Indeed, these inventions may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements. The term “or” (also designated as “/”) is used herein in both the alternative and conjunctive sense, unless otherwise indicated. The terms “illustrative” and “exemplary” are used to be examples with no indication of quality level. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.
Embodiments of the present invention may be implemented in various ways, including as computer program products that comprise articles of manufacture. Such computer program products may include one or more software components including, for example, software objects, methods, data structures, and/or the like. A software component may be coded in any of a variety of programming languages. An illustrative programming language may be a lower-level programming language such as an assembly language associated with a particular hardware architecture and/or operating system platform. A software component comprising assembly language instructions may require conversion into executable machine code by an assembler prior to execution by the hardware architecture and/or platform. Another example programming language may be a higher-level programming language that may be portable across multiple architectures. A software component comprising higher-level programming language instructions may require conversion to an intermediate representation by an interpreter or a compiler prior to execution.
Other examples of programming languages include, but are not limited to, a macro language, a shell or command language, a job control language, a script language, a database query or search language, and/or a report writing language. In one or more example embodiments, a software component comprising instructions in one of the foregoing examples of programming languages may be executed directly by an operating system or other software component without having to be first transformed into another form. A software component may be stored as a file or other data storage construct. Software components of a similar type or functionally related may be stored together such as, for example, in a particular directory, folder, or library. Software components may be static (e.g., pre-established or fixed) or dynamic (e.g., created or modified at the time of execution).
A computer program product may include a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing applications, programs, program modules, scripts, source code, program code, object code, byte code, compiled code, interpreted code, machine code, executable instructions, and/or the like (also referred to herein as executable instructions, instructions for execution, computer program products, program code, and/or similar terms used herein interchangeably). Such non-transitory computer-readable storage media include all computer-readable media (including volatile and non-volatile media).
In one embodiment, a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium may include a floppy disk, flexible disk, hard disk, solid-state storage (SSS) (e.g., a solid state drive (SSD), solid state card (SSC), solid state module (SSM), enterprise flash drive, magnetic tape, or any other non-transitory magnetic medium, and/or the like. A non-volatile computer-readable storage medium may also include a punch card, paper tape, optical mark sheet (or any other physical medium with patterns of holes or other optically recognizable indicia), compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM), compact disc-rewritable (CD-RW), digital versatile disc (DVD), Blu-ray disc (BD), any other non-transitory optical medium, and/or the like. Such a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium may also include read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory (e.g., Serial, NAND, NOR, and/or the like), multimedia memory cards (MMC), secure digital (SD) memory cards, SmartMedia cards, CompactFlash (CF) cards, Memory Sticks, and/or the like. Further, a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium may also include conductive-bridging random access memory (CBRAM), phase-change random access memory (PRAM), ferroelectric random-access memory (FeRAM), non-volatile random-access memory (NVRAM), magnetoresistive random-access memory (MRAM), resistive random-access memory (RRAM), Silicon-Oxide-Nitride-Oxide-Silicon memory (SONOS), floating junction gate random access memory (FJG RAM), Millipede memory, racetrack memory, and/or the like.
In one embodiment, a volatile computer-readable storage medium may include random access memory (RAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), fast page mode dynamic random access memory (FPM DRAM), extended data-out dynamic random access memory (EDO DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), double data rate type two synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR2 SDRAM), double data rate type three synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR3 SDRAM), Rambus dynamic random access memory (RDRAM), Twin Transistor RAM (TTRAM), Thyristor RAM (T-RAM), Zero-capacitor (Z-RAM), Rambus in-line memory module (RIMM), dual in-line memory module (DIMM), single in-line memory module (SIMM), video random access memory (VRAM), cache memory (including various levels), flash memory, register memory, and/or the like. It will be appreciated that where embodiments are described to use a computer-readable storage medium, other types of computer-readable storage media may be substituted for or used in addition to the computer-readable storage media described above.
As should be appreciated, various embodiments of the present invention may also be implemented as methods, apparatus, systems, computing devices, computing entities, and/or the like. As such, embodiments of the present invention may take the form of a data structure, apparatus, system, computing device, computing entity, and/or the like executing instructions stored on a computer-readable storage medium to perform certain steps or operations. Thus, embodiments of the present invention may also take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely computer program product embodiment, and/or an embodiment that comprises combination of computer program products and hardware performing certain steps or operations.
Embodiments of the present invention are described below with reference to block diagrams and flowchart illustrations. Thus, it should be understood that each block of the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations may be implemented in the form of a computer program product, an entirely hardware embodiment, a combination of hardware and computer program products, and/or apparatus, systems, computing devices, computing entities, and/or the like carrying out instructions, operations, steps, and similar words used interchangeably (e.g., the executable instructions, instructions for execution, program code, and/or the like) on a computer-readable storage medium for execution. For example, retrieval, loading, and execution of code may be performed sequentially such that one instruction is retrieved, loaded, and executed at a time. In some exemplary embodiments, retrieval, loading, and/or execution may be performed in parallel such that multiple instructions are retrieved, loaded, and/or executed together. Thus, such embodiments can produce specifically-configured machines performing the steps or operations specified in the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations. Accordingly, the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations support various combinations of embodiments for performing the specified instructions, operations, or steps.
a. Exemplary Analytic Computing Entity
As indicated, in one embodiment, the analytic computing entity 65 may also include one or more network and/or communications interfaces 208 for communicating with various computing entities, such as by communicating data, content, information, and/or similar terms used herein interchangeably that can be transmitted, received, operated on, processed, displayed, stored, and/or the like. For instance, the analytic computing entity 65 may communicate with other computing entities 65, one or more user computing entities 30, and/or the like.
As shown in
In one embodiment, the analytic computing entity 65 may further include or be in communication with non-volatile media (also referred to as non-volatile storage, memory, memory storage, memory circuitry and/or similar terms used herein interchangeably). In one embodiment, the non-volatile storage or memory may include one or more non-volatile storage or memory media 206 as described above, such as hard disks, ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory, MMCs, SD memory cards, Memory Sticks, CBRAM, PRAM, FeRAM, RRAM, SONOS, racetrack memory, and/or the like. As will be recognized, the non-volatile storage or memory media may store databases, database instances, database management system entities, data, applications, programs, program modules, scripts, source code, object code, byte code, compiled code, interpreted code, machine code, executable instructions, and/or the like. The term database, database instance, database management system entity, and/or similar terms used herein interchangeably and in a general sense to refer to a structured or unstructured collection of information/data that is stored in a computer-readable storage medium.
Memory media 206 may also be embodied as a data storage device or devices, as a separate database server or servers, or as a combination of data storage devices and separate database servers. Further, in some embodiments, memory media 206 may be embodied as a distributed repository such that some of the stored information/data is stored centrally in a location within the system and other information/data is stored in one or more remote locations. Alternatively, in some embodiments, the distributed repository may be distributed over a plurality of remote storage locations only. An example of the embodiments contemplated herein would include a cloud data storage system maintained by a third party provider and where some or all of the information/data required for the operation of the relevancy prediction system may be stored. As a person of ordinary skill in the art would recognize, the information/data required for the operation of the relevancy prediction system may also be partially stored in the cloud data storage system and partially stored in a locally maintained data storage system.
Memory media 206 may include information/data accessed and stored by the relevancy prediction system to facilitate the operations of the system. More specifically, memory media 206 may encompass one or more data stores configured to store information/data usable in certain embodiments. For example, as shown in
As illustrated in
Continuing with
Continuing with
The data stores 206 may further store communication information/data 214 used by the relevancy prediction system. For example, the communication information/data 212 stored by the data store may comprise the type of communication, the transaction (e.g., claim) to which it relates, the date of the communication, the time of the communication, the user (e.g., provider, member, insurance company) associated with the communication, and/or the like.
In one embodiment, the analytic computing entity 65 may further include or be in communication with volatile media (also referred to as volatile storage, memory, memory storage, memory circuitry and/or similar terms used herein interchangeably). In one embodiment, the volatile storage or memory may also include one or more volatile storage or memory media 207 as described above, such as RAM, DRAM, SRAM, FPM DRAM, EDO DRAM, SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, DDR2 SDRAM, DDR3 SDRAM, RDRAM, VRAM, cache memory, register memory, and/or the like. As will be recognized, the volatile storage or memory media may be used to store at least portions of the databases, database instances, database management system entities, data, applications, programs, program modules, scripts, source code, object code, byte code, compiled code, interpreted code, machine code, executable instructions, and/or the like being executed by, for example, the processing element 308. Thus, the databases, database instances, database management system entities, data, applications, programs, program modules, scripts, source code, object code, byte code, compiled code, interpreted code, machine code, executable instructions, and/or the like may be used to control certain aspects of the operation of the analytic computing entity 65 with the assistance of the processing element 205 and operating system.
As indicated, in one embodiment, the analytic computing entity 65 may also include one or more network and/or communications interfaces 208 for communicating with various computing entities, such as by communicating data, content, information, and/or similar terms used herein interchangeably that can be transmitted, received, operated on, processed, displayed, stored, and/or the like. For instance, the analytic computing entity 65 may communicate with computing entities or communication interfaces of other computing entities 65, user computing entities 30, and/or the like.
As indicated, in one embodiment, the analytic computing entity 65 may also include one or more network and/or communications interfaces 208 for communicating with various computing entities, such as by communicating data, content, information, and/or similar terms used herein interchangeably that can be transmitted, received, operated on, processed, displayed, stored, and/or the like. Such communication may be executed using a wired data transmission protocol, such as fiber distributed data interface (FDDI), digital subscriber line (DSL), Ethernet, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), frame relay, data over cable service interface specification (DOCSIS), or any other wired transmission protocol. Similarly, the analytic computing entity 65 may be configured to communicate via wireless external communication networks using any of a variety of protocols, such as general packet radio service (GPRS), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (CDMA2000), CDMA2000 1X (1xRTT), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA), Long Term Evolution (LTE), Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), Evolution-Data Optimized (EVDO), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), Wi-Fi Direct, 802.16 (WiMAX), ultra-wideband (UWB), infrared (IR) protocols, near field communication (NFC) protocols, Wibree, Bluetooth protocols, wireless universal serial bus (USB) protocols, and/or any other wireless protocol. The analytic computing entity 65 may use such protocols and standards to communicate using Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Domain Name System (DNS), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), HTTP over TLS/SSL/Secure, Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), Network Time Protocol (NTP), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), Telnet, Transport Layer Security (TLS), Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), Internet Protocol (IP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Datagram Congestion Control Protocol (DCCP), Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP), HyperText Markup Language (HTML), and/or the like.
As will be appreciated, one or more of the analytic computing entity's components may be located remotely from other analytic computing entity 65 components, such as in a distributed system. Furthermore, one or more of the components may be aggregated and additional components performing functions described herein may be included in the analytic computing entity 65. Thus, the analytic computing entity 65 can be adapted to accommodate a variety of needs and circumstances.
b. Exemplary User Computing Entity
Via these communication standards and protocols, the user computing entity 30 can communicate with various other entities using concepts such as Unstructured Supplementary Service data (USSD), Short Message Service (SMS), Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency Signaling (DTMF), and/or Subscriber Identity Module Dialer (SIM dialer). The user computing entity 30 can also download changes, add-ons, and updates, for instance, to its firmware, software (e.g., including executable instructions, applications, program modules), and operating system.
According to one embodiment, the user computing entity 30 may include location determining aspects, devices, modules, functionalities, and/or similar words used herein interchangeably. For example, the user computing entity 30 may include outdoor positioning aspects, such as a location module adapted to acquire, for example, latitude, longitude, altitude, geocode, course, direction, heading, speed, UTC, date, and/or various other information/data. In one embodiment, the location module can acquire data, sometimes known as ephemeris data, by identifying the number of satellites in view and the relative positions of those satellites. The satellites may be a variety of different satellites, including LEO satellite systems, DOD satellite systems, the European Union Galileo positioning systems, the Chinese Compass navigation systems, Indian Regional Navigational satellite systems, and/or the like. Alternatively, the location information/data/data may be determined by triangulating the position in connection with a variety of other systems, including cellular towers, Wi-Fi access points, and/or the like. Similarly, the user computing entity 30 may include indoor positioning aspects, such as a location module adapted to acquire, for example, latitude, longitude, altitude, geocode, course, direction, heading, speed, time, date, and/or various other information/data. Some of the indoor aspects may use various position or location technologies including RFID tags, indoor beacons or transmitters, Wi-Fi access points, cellular towers, nearby computing devices (e.g., smartphones, laptops) and/or the like. For instance, such technologies may include iBeacons, Gimbal proximity beacons, BLE transmitters, Near Field Communication (NFC) transmitters, and/or the like. These indoor positioning aspects can be used in a variety of settings to determine the location of someone or something to within inches or centimeters.
The user computing entity 30 may also comprise a user interface comprising one or more user input/output interfaces (e.g., a display 316 and/or speaker/speaker driver coupled to a processing element 308 and a touch screen, keyboard, mouse, and/or microphone coupled to a processing element 308). For example, the user output interface may be configured to provide an application, browser, user interface, dashboard, webpage, and/or similar words used herein interchangeably executing on and/or accessible via the user computing entity 30 to cause display or audible presentation of information/data and for user interaction therewith via one or more user input interfaces. The user output interface may be updated dynamically from communication with the analytic computing entity 65. The user input interface can comprise any of a number of devices allowing the user computing entity 30 to receive data, such as a keypad 318 (hard or soft), a touch display, voice/speech or motion interfaces, scanners, readers, or other input device. In embodiments including a keypad 318, the keypad 318 can include (or cause display of) the conventional numeric (0-9) and related keys (#, *), and other keys used for operating the user computing entity 30 and may include a full set of alphabetic keys or set of keys that may be activated to provide a full set of alphanumeric keys. In addition to providing input, the user input interface can be used, for example, to activate or deactivate certain functions, such as screen savers and/or sleep modes. Through such inputs the user computing entity 30 can collect information/data, user interaction/input, and/or the like.
The user computing entity 30 can also include volatile storage or memory 322 and/or non-volatile storage or memory 324, which can be embedded and/or may be removable. For example, the non-volatile memory may be ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory, MMCs, SD memory cards, Memory Sticks, CBRAM, PRAM, FeRAM, RRAM, SONOS, racetrack memory, and/or the like. The volatile memory may be RAM, DRAM, SRAM, FPM DRAM, EDO DRAM, SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, DDR2 SDRAM, DDR3 SDRAM, RDRAM, RIMM, DIMM, SIMM, VRAM, cache memory, register memory, and/or the like. The volatile and non-volatile storage or memory can store databases, database instances, database management system entities, data, applications, programs, program modules, scripts, source code, object code, byte code, compiled code, interpreted code, machine code, executable instructions, and/or the like to implement the functions of the user computing entity 30.
c. Exemplary Networks
In one embodiment, the networks 135 may include, but are not limited to, any one or a combination of different types of suitable communications networks such as, for example, cable networks, public networks (e.g., the Internet), private networks (e.g., frame-relay networks), wireless networks, cellular networks, telephone networks (e.g., a public switched telephone network), or any other suitable private and/or public networks. Further, the networks 135 may have any suitable communication range associated therewith and may include, for example, global networks (e.g., the Internet), MANs, WANs, LANs, or PANs. In addition, the networks 135 may include any type of medium over which network traffic may be carried including, but not limited to, coaxial cable, twisted-pair wire, optical fiber, a hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) medium, microwave terrestrial transceivers, radio frequency communication mediums, satellite communication mediums, or any combination thereof, as well as a variety of network devices and computing platforms provided by network providers or other entities.
Reference will now be made to
a. Brief Overview
As indicated, there is a latent need for a rigorous methodology that can automatically predict relevancy scores indicative of the predicted level of interest to a stakeholder (e.g., person or entity) and dynamically update a user interface regarding the same. For example, there are countless transactions that occur that relate to one or more stakeholders (e.g., persons or entities). In the healthcare context, there are more than 10 billion healthcare-related claims (e.g., transactions) that are submitted and processed in the United States each year. Current methodologies for predicting the relevance of each transaction and presenting the same to end users are inaccurate, inefficient, and resource-intensive. However, the disclosed approach uses machine learning (e.g., neural networks) to predict relevancy scores for one or more users for each transactions. The relevancy scores are predictions of the level of interest or importance to a given user. The relevancy scores at least take into account user information/data (e.g., provider information/data), transaction information/data (e.g., claim information/data), and communication information/data. It should be noted that while many of the examples are provided in the healthcare context, embodiments of the invention are not so limited; rather, these examples are provided to aid in understanding the various embodiments.
A technical approach for predicting relevancy scores for transactions will help to customize interfaces for end users to present the most relevant transactions to users. This will eliminate or reduce the need for complex and resource-intensive search and provide for more user-friendly interfaces.
To overcome at least the above-identified technical challenges, machine learning (e.g., neural networks) can be used in a continuously learning manner to predict relevancy scores for transactions (e.g., claims) using a unique approach for presentation via a dynamically updatable user interface. By using machine learning (e.g., neural networks), vast amounts of time-independent information/data and the time-dependent information/data can be continuously analyzed to predict relevancy sores for transactions (e.g., claims). This allows for solution that is easy to deploy, accurate, up-to-date, and computationally efficient. This disclosure describes a machine learning approach that can analyze vast amounts of information/data in a computational efficient manner to train one or more neural networks, use the one or more neural networks to predict relevancy scores and dynamically update a user interface.
b. Users and User Profiles
In one embodiment, a user (e.g., provider, member, insurance carrier employee or representative, and/or the like) may interact with and navigate a user interface 900 through a user computing entity 30. Through the user interface 900, the user (e.g., provider, member, insurance carrier employee or representative, and/or the like) may view and access transaction information/data, member information/data, provider information/data, communication information/data, and/or the like. To do so, the relevancy prediction system 100 may provide access to the system via a user profile that has been previously established and/or stored. In an example embodiment, a user profile comprises user profile information/data, such as a user identifier configured to uniquely identify the user (e.g., provider identifier, member identifier, and/or the like), a username, user contact information/data (e.g., name, one or more electronic addresses such as emails, instant message usernames, social media user name, and/or the like), user preferences, user account information/data, user credentials, information/data identifying one or more user computing entities 30 corresponding to the user, and/or the like. Moreover, each user and/or user profile may correspond to a username, unique user identifier (e.g., 11111111), access credentials, and/or the like.
With the user profile providing access to information/data through the user interface 900, the user can access and navigate the same.
c. Transaction Information/Data
As indicated, embodiments of the present invention can be used with a variety of transactions. In a particular embodiment, the transactions may be healthcare or other claims. In the healthcare context, a claim represents a request for payment/reimbursement for services rendered, materials used, equipment provided, and/or the like. For example, a claim may be a request for payment/reimbursement for a consultation with a primary care doctor, a medical procedure or an evaluation performed by an orthopedic surgeon, a laboratory test performed by a laboratory, a surgery, durable medical equipment provided to an injured patient, medications or other materials used in the treatment of a patient, and/or the like. As will be recognized, though, embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the medical context. Rather, they may be applied to a variety of other settings.
In one embodiment, each claim may be stored as a record that comprises a textual description of the type of claim to which the record corresponds and comprises member features, claim features, provider features, communication features, and/or the like. The various features and feature sets can be identified in a manual, semi-automatic, and/or automatic manner for identification and/or extraction for a given claim.
Example claim features may include a claim ID and the date a claim was received—e.g., Dec. 14, 2018, at 12:00:00 pm and time stamped as 2018-12-14 12:00:00. The claim features may also include one or more diagnostic codes, treatment codes, treatment modifier codes, and/or the like. Such codes may be any code, such as Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes, billing codes, Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) codes, ICD-10-CM Medical Diagnosis Codes, and/or the like.
By way of example of billing codes, a patient may visit a doctor because of discomfort in his lower leg. During the visit, the doctor may examine the patient's lower leg and take an x-ray of the lower leg as part of an examination. The claim for the visit may have two distinct billing codes: billing code 99213 and billing code 73590. Billing code 99213 may be used to request payment/reimbursement for the visit, examination, and evaluation of the patient. Billing code 73590 may be used to request payment/reimbursement for the x-ray of the leg. Using such codes and code sets, various correlations can be determined as they related to recoverability. Each claim may have a state and status. The states may be original, pre-adjudicated, or post-adjudicated. The three states relate to where the claim is in the process of being reviewed with a corresponding determination being made as to the claim's status. In addition to a state, a claim may also have a status: paid, denied, in process, appealed, appeal denied, overpaid, and/or the like. In one embodiment, the relevancy prediction system 100 takes into account post-adjudicated claims.
From a process standpoint, once a claim is submitted, either through an online portal, through mail, one or more APIs, and/or the like, the health insurance company starts its review of the claim. Once the review is complete, the claim is either rejected, modified, or paid in full.
In terms of relevance, from a provider's perspective, the provider might be interested in a claim that did not fully pay out the procedures (e.g., high relevancy score relative to the provider). From a member's perspective, this might not be as important because he or she understands his or her benefits and what is covered (low relevancy score relative to the member) on the same claim. Thus, the relevance of a claim can be different based on the stakeholder. When an insurance company is contacted regarding a claim that was not paid in full, an appeal process might take place. Even at this point, the relevancy for each individual claim to a business function is relative to its stakeholders. A provider with hundreds of claims might take a small loss and not follow through with an appeal (low relevancy relative to the provider). As will be recognized, a variety of other approaches and techniques can be used with embodiments of the present invention.
Similar to claim features, provider features can continuously change (e.g., be time-dependent) for several reasons. For instance, within a given provider, the software, policies for submitting claims, personnel, strategies for submitting claims, experience, and/or the like may change in an unpredictable manner and result in a sudden change to the recoverability associated with that provider.
d. Communication Information/Data and Logging
In one embodiment, users (e.g., providers, members, insurance carrier employees or representatives, and/or the like) can review, access, inquire about, interact with, and/or the like with transaction information/data (e.g., claim information/data). For example, a user (e.g., provider, member, insurance carrier employee or representative, and/or the like) may navigate a user interface 900 by operating a user computing entity 30 to view and access transaction (e.g., claim) information/data, member information/data, provider information/data, communication information/data, and/or the like.
In one embodiment, the relevancy prediction system 100 (e.g., via an analytic computing entity 65) can track and store data (e.g., communication records) regarding communications for particular transactions, such as mail communications, phone communications, fax communications, internet communications, and/or the like (step/operation 800, 801 of
As shown in
In addition to creating and/or updating a communication record as a result of a communication (step/operation 802, 804 of
As will be recognized, the member information/data or features, claim information/data or features, provider information/data or features, and communication information/data or features can be used to manually, semi-automatically, or automatically establish, update, and/or modify feature sets for training or retraining one or more neural networks. As will be recognized then, a feature set may comprise one or more features from the member features, claim features, provider features, communication features, and/or the like.
e. Data Aggregation
As indicated operation/step 806 of
f. Train Neural Network
As will be recognized, artificial neural networks are designed to recognize patterns using machine learning algorithms. Typically, the patterns they recognize are numerical, contained in vectors, into which real-world data is translated. With regard to embodiments of the present invention, the real world data may comprise provider information/data, member information/data, transaction information/data, and/or communication information/data. The desired features of the relevant information/data are extracted and formatted into multidimensional vectors to be input into one or more neural networks. The neural networks comprise one or more layers for that receive, amplify or dampen the input, and provide an output. For multiple layers, each layer's output is simultaneously the subsequent layer's input. With regard to predicting a relevancy score for a given claim, the neural network assigns a numerical weight to a healthcare claim with the purpose of “measuring” the importance of the claim to a particular stakeholder. The predicted relevancy score can vary based on a variety of factors.
As will be recognized, training and/or retraining a neural network involves providing a training dataset to the neural network (steps/operations 808, 810 of
As a result of the training or retraining, one or more neural networks are generated to subsequently predict relevancy scores of unseen transactions (e.g., claims). For instance, using the neural network, the relevancy prediction system 100 (e.g., via an analytic computing entity 65) generates one or more predicted relevancy scores for unseen transactions (e.g., claims).
In one embodiment, the relevancy prediction system 100 (e.g., via an analytic computing entity 65) can retrain the neural network on a regular or continuous basis or in response to certain triggers. This may be necessary because claim features and influencing factors can vary over time. In one embodiment, the relevancy prediction system 100 (e.g., via an analytic computing entity 65) may retrain a neural network when actions occur for a claims (e.g., being denied, paid, accessed, appealed, and/or the like) on a regular basis.
As will be appreciated, the hidden and/or weak correlations found as a result of the neural network are simply not practical for human-implementation. In addition to outputting predicted relevancy scores of unseen transactions (e.g., claims), the neural networks can be retrained on a continuous, regular, or triggered basis.
g. Predicting Relevancy Scores using Neural Network
As indicated by step/operation 812 of
The features can then be input into the neural network (e.g., step/operation 818 of
In various embodiments, predicting a relevance score for a transaction (e.g., claim) can be implemented using a variety of approaches. For example, claims can be scored in real-time as they are received (individually or in batch). Thus, responsive to the relevancy prediction system 100 (e.g., via an analytic computing entity 65) receiving one or more unseen transactions (e.g., claims), the relevancy prediction system 100 (e.g., via an analytic computing entity 65) can score (e.g., generate a predicted relevancy score for) the one or more unseen transactions (e.g., claims). The predicted relevancy score may be in the domain of [000,100]. In this example, the higher the output integer, the higher the relevance the claim has to a particular stakeholder. Similarly, the lower the output integer, the lower the relevance the claim has to a particular stakeholder.
The predicted relevancy scores can be stored in a relevancy score data structure intended for the same (step/operation 820 of
As will be recognized, because claims features are highly dynamic and change continuously during a given time period, claim scoring can occur in a similar manner.
As will be recognized, predicted relevancy scores can be updated and vary based on time (step/operation 822 of
Additionally, the relevancy scoring will also allow for in-depth reviews of transactions (e.g., claims), members, providers, communications, and/or the like. For example, this may allow for determinations of when and why certain provider specialty codes call insurance companies, identification of rejection codes in claims that are relevant to certain provider specialties, identification or rejection codes in claims that are relevant to provider geographical locations, payment discrepancies more relevant to provider specialty codes, and/or the like. Similarly, it will allow for the overlay of data to understand members are affected by the transaction process. Members behave differently than providers and insurance companies. By aggregating their behavior into models, more accurate predictions of claim relevancy can be made.
h. Dynamically Update User Interface
As indicated above, the relevancy prediction system 100 can provide access for viewing, investigating, and/or navigating via a user interface 900 being displayed by a user computing entity 30. Thus, the user interface 900 can be dynamically updated to show the claims associated with the user sorted in relevance order (step/operation 824 of
With the relevant transaction information/data (e.g., claim information/data), the relevancy prediction system 100 can sort the transactions (e.g., claims) in descending or ascending order. In one embodiment, the transactions (e.g., claims) are ordered in a descending manner so the most relevant claims are provided to the user. As will be recognized, a variety of other approaches and techniques can be used to adapt to various needs and circumstances. For example, the relevancy prediction system 100 (e.g., via an analytic computing entity 65) may continuously determine predicted relevancy scores for unseen transactions (e.g., claims), continuously update the interface based on newly scored transactions (e.g., claims), and/or the like.
As shown via the user interface 900 of
In one embodiment, the user interface 900 may display one or more member elements 905A-905N, member elements 905A-905N, provider elements 905A-905N, and/or the like. The present example provides five separate provider elements 905A-905N that, when selected, cause the most relevant claims for the provider to be displayed. The terms elements, indicators, graphics, icons, images, buttons, selectors, and/or the like are used herein interchangeably. In one embodiment, each element 905A-905N may only represent claims that satisfy a threshold, such as being greater than 050 in their predicted relevancy. In yet another embodiment, the elements 905A-905N may comprise represent all claims for the user (e.g., provider, member, insurance carrier representative). In one embodiment, each element 905A-905N may be selected to control what the user interface 900 displays as the information/data in elements 915, 920, 925, 930, 935, 940, 945, 950, and/or the like. For example, if element 905A is selected via a user computing entity 30 (for provider 1), elements 915, 920, 925, 930, 935, 940, 945, and 950 are dynamically populated with information/data corresponding to claims for “PROVIDER 1.”
In one embodiment, each element 905A-905N may further be associated with elements 910A-910N. The elements 910A-910N may be selected via the user computing entity 30 to control how the user interface 900 sorts and displays the information/data in elements 915, 920, 925, 930, 935, 940, 945, 950, and/or the like.
In one embodiment, element 915 may represent the transaction (e.g., claim) submission date), and element 920 may represent the transaction (e.g., claim) process date. Selection of these elements may sort the claims based on the corresponding information. Elements 925 and 930 may be selectable elements for sorting and represent member names and claim identifiers for claims that were submitted, processed, and/or flagged. Element 935 may be selectable for sorting and represent the provide name corresponding to the claim. Elements 940, 945, and 950 may be selectable for sorting and represent the status of the claim, the amount of the claim, and the relevancy score of the claim. As will be recognized, the described elements are provided for illustrative purposes and are not to be construed as limiting the dynamically updatable interface in any way. As indicated above, the user interface 900 can be dynamically updated to show the most current priority order of claims at an inventory level, a queue level, and/or the like.
Many modifications and other embodiments of the inventions set forth herein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which these inventions pertain having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the inventions are not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.