System and method of economic incentives to foster behavioral changes that improve health

A method of operating a reward program, comprising the steps of;

• a) creating a reward program group of at least one participating insurance provider and at least one financial institution and a data clearinghouse;
• b) enrolling at least one insurance subscriber and providing said subscriber with an account;
• c) initiating a service by said subscriber at a health service provider;
• d) transmitting service information from said financial institution to said data clearinghouse which records said service information;
• e) said service information includes item identifiers so that obtained services can be identified;
• f) calculating the total discount based on said service by said data clearinghouse;
• g) wherein, upon receipt of said service, said data clearinghouse applies a credit to said subscriber's account.

A system for facilitating a reward program comprising:

• a) an insurance network including subscribers, health insurance providers and financial institutions;
• b) a data clearinghouse server for recording transaction data between subscribers and health service providers and financial institutions;
• c) said transaction data includes service detail information from a health service provider when a subscriber obtains health services from a health service provider;
• d) said service detail information includes item by item discounts on services;
• e) said data clearinghouse server calculates reward information and authorizes said data clearinghouse to obtain a subscriber refund from said financial institution;
• and,
• f) said subscriber receives a statement identifying said refund information.

A method of operating a reward program, comprising the steps of;

• a) creating a reward program group of at least one health service provider and at least one insurance provider and a data clearinghouse;
• b) enrolling at least one customer as a patient and providing said patient with an account;
• c) initiating a purchase by a patient at said health service provider using said account;
• d) obtaining authorization for said transaction from said insurance provider;
• e) transmitting behavior information from said insurance provider to said data clearinghouse which records said behavior information;
• f) said behavior information includes item identifiers so that purchased products and services can be identified;
• g) transmitting a request for incentives or disincentives amount from said data clearinghouse to said insurance company;
• h) calculating a total incentive or disincentive of said purchase by said data clearinghouse;
• i) invoicing by said data clearinghouse from said insurance company for the total incentives;
• j) sending to said data clearinghouse from said insurance company payment of the invoice amount;
• k) wherein, upon receipt of said payment, said data clearinghouse applies a credit to said patient's account.