Methods and apparatus for healthcare payment processing

A method of processing healthcare payments, the method comprising:

• receiving from a healthcare payer, an indication of an outstanding balance for a medical claim submitted to the healthcare payer on behalf of a medical practice;
• identifying a patient associated with the medical claim;
• determining whether the identified patient is associated with a pre-authorized payment contract;
• and
• applying based, at least in part, on one or more payment terms in the pre-authorized payment contract, electronic funds to at least a portion of the outstanding balance for the medical claim in response to determining that the identified patient is associated with a pre-authorized payment contract.

A computer system, comprising:

• at least one storage medium configured to store patient information related to a plurality of pre-authorization payment contracts between patients and medical practices;
• and
• a medical practice management server including at least one processor programmed to:
• generate a pre-authorization payment contract based on authorization received from the patient and electronic account information associated with the patient, wherein the pre-authorization payment contract includes one or more payment terms governing the remittance of electronic funds for one or more future payments to a medical practice;
• and
• store the electronic account information and patient information associated with the pre-authorization payment contract on the at least one storage medium.

A medical practice management server configured to process healthcare payments in accordance with at least one pre-authorization payment contract, the medical practice management server comprising at least one processor programmed to:

• receive from a healthcare payer, an indication of an outstanding balance for a medical claim submitted to the healthcare payer on behalf of a medical practice;
• identify a patient associated with the medical claim;
• determine whether the identified patient is associated with a pre-authorized payment contract;
• and
• apply based, at least in part, on one or more payment terms in the pre-authorized payment contract, electronic funds to at least a portion of the outstanding balance for the medical claim in response to determining that the identified patient is associated with a pre-authorized payment contract.

At least one computer-readable medium encoded with a plurality of instructions that, when executed by a computer, perform a method, comprising:

• receiving from a healthcare payer, an indication of an outstanding balance for a medical claim submitted to the healthcare payer on behalf of a medical practice;
• identifying a patient associated with the medical claim;
• determining whether the identified patient is associated with a pre-authorized payment contract;
• and
• applying based, at least in part, on one or more payment terms in the pre-authorized payment contract, electronic funds to at least a portion of the outstanding balance for the medical claim in response to determining that the identified patient is associated with a pre-authorized payment contract.