WO 2013/163686 PCT/AU2013/000446 BUSINESS SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR HEALTH SERVICE RECORDING. BILLING. PROCESSING AND REBATE CLAIMING S BACKGROUND [0001] The present invention relates to methods of doing business and more particularly relates to a business system and method for medical, health, health 10 related and allied medical service billing. The present invention also relates to methods of doing business and to a business system 'in which a claim for claimable health and health related services can be processed by a practitioner communicating with a payment processing authority for processing and paying a claimable payment once a medical, health, health related or allied medical 15 service Is provided. More particularly the business system relates to automated billing to reduce the manual labour and steps in effecting billing during routine medical rounds in hospitals and while providing any claimable health or health related claimable service either inside or outside a hospital environment. 20 [0002] The present invention further relates to a business system in which a medical practitioner is able to efficiently establish billing of patients according to a system which eliminates or at least reduces the steps involved in the establishment of and transmission of patient billing for medical services. [0003] The present invention further provides a method of billing patient 25 services initiated at a point of provision of a medical service, using software to reduce manual steps to initiate and establish medical service billing. PRIOR ART (0004] Medical service billing is an involved process in public hospitals, private hospitals and in locations where health and health related claimable services are 30 provided as there is a necessary connection health insurers in association with governments which regulate rebates and sets fees for services. When doctors WO 2013/163686 PCT/AU2013/000446 and allied health processionals provide medical services to private patients, there is a providers fee and a scheduled fee set by government for a particular service. As an example, the current health and medical billing process for private hospital consultations with inpatients typically involves the following 5 steps: a doctor receives a written referral to see a patient following which the doctor is authorised to consult with the patient in the ward. Typically one doctor will have a large number of patient consultations each day which involves a large amount of paperwork to complete billing for each service. 10 1.0005) Usually the doctor vill have many patients on the ward under his/her care at any one time and will do regular ward rounds to review all of his/her patients . At the completion of the ward round (whether having reviewed one or twenty patients) the doctor will spend time at the nurses station (or a location 15 dedicated as a central area where patents Files can be accessed), to write clinical notes in the patient file. After writing the clinical notes the doctor will take a sticker for each patient, which is usually located on the front of the patient's file. The stickers are also called Bradmar labels or patient labels. Either'at home, later or sometimes while still on the ward, the doctor will peel off the 20 backing and place a sticker for each patient, one under the other, down the left side of a piece of A4 paper. Sometimes the doctor's billing service / secretary will provide custom consultation sheets indicating where the stickers should be placed. The doctor then hand writes additional information next to each sticker all of which is legally required under the relevant legislation to generate a 25 medical claim. The additional information includes; a) The name and provider number of the referring doctor; b) The referral date; c) The MBS item numbers corresponding to the service provided. [For 30 Australia, MBS is the Medicare Benefits Schedule - Federal 2 WO 2013/163686 PCT/AU2013/000446 Government schedule updated 1 November annually with CPI based fee increases.] d) For anaesthetists, the start and finish times of the anaesthetic; e) For neonatal paediatricians, the mothers name and contact details; 5 f Various other details depending on the nature of the particular services provided and the corresponding rules and regulations for that service. [0006) The doctor will then provide the completed consultation sheets to the 10 relevant person who will process the claims. The most common methods of passing this information are ordinary mail, fax or email. Email has the disadvantage that it is unencrypted and does not meet health privacy legislation requirements and medical billing records fall within the ambit of that legislation. In the case of outpatients and services provided by allied health 15 professionals the information required by the government and payment processing organisations is essentially the same general content as that required of a medical practitioner. There is a reduction in the number of processing steps when claims are made for services provided outside hospitals. 20 [0007] Once the consultation details are received by the assigned person who will generate the claims, another process begins. To generate claims electronically it is currently a legal requirement to use Medicare compliant software which doctors and hospitals licence from various approved software vendors. Many practitioners still process their claims manually by creating 25 invoices and posting them to the funds and Medicare and patients. This makes the billing and claim process time consuming and labour intensive for the task. [0008) In a case where operating software is being used, the process begins with data entry. The minimum data that must be entered is the patients' first name, 30 last name, address, date of birth, Medicare number including the reference number and expiry date, health fund name, health fund membership number, the 3 WO 2013/163686 PCT/AU2013/000446 referring doctors' name and provider number, the referral period and the referral date. [Only the health fund details are not necessary for outpatients.] Then this data goes through an online verification process to check that all details are correct. Incorrect details must be manually fixed before a claim can be 5 generated. Once the patient demographic data is verified correctly the processing person then creates the claim by entering the type of billing (bulk bill, no-gap claim, known-gap claim, direct to patient claim), the date of service and the item numbers. Once all claims have been processed, the processing person will usually cross check the claims against the doctors' original 10 consultation records before sending. This is a critical step as doctors and other authorised allied health and health related service providers art legally responsible for the item numbers claimed under their name and provider number and there are serious professional consequences and financial penalties for incorrect claiming. Once finalised the claims can be transmitted and / or 15 manually sent. [0009] In the case of hospital bcd consultations by Doctors, the Doctors typically collect patient stickers or collect demographic data in an alternative manual form from the hospitals and pass this information to the person or 20 organisation that will then process the claims and transmit the data to for example the Australian department of Medicare, Veterans Affairs and the Private Health funds. Because existing systems are manual, there are significant human resource requirements and it is therefore expensive. It can be seen from the above processing steps that medical billing is an involved and time 25 consuming process. There is currently no claims and payment system other than the manual system which causes time consuming billing which cannot be done concurrently at time of service. [0010] Currently there is no business model, apparatus or method which 30 provides efficient medical service billing by removing many of the manual steps described above associated with medical billing. There is a need to address the 4 WO 2013/163686 PCT/AU2013/000446 aforesaid problems in order to increase efficiency of medical billing and to provide an alternative to the known methods and to reduce the time and labour in current billing processing. . INVENTION 5 r0011] The present invention provides an alternative to the known largely manual billing systems and more particularly provides a business system for collecting and transmitting patient data for billing and other purposes. The present invention also provides improved methods for health and medical service billing. More particularly the business system provides for automated 10 billing to reduce the manual labour and steps in effecting billing during routine medical rounds both in and outside hospitals and when allied health services arc provided to recipients. The present invention further provides a business system in which a medical service practitioner and a wide variety of health service providers authorised to claim payment from a processing authority is able to 15 efficiently establish billing of patients according to a system which eliminates or at least reduces the steps involved in the establishment of and transmission of patient billing for medical, allied health and related services. [0012] The present invention further provides a method of billing patient 20 services initiated at a point of provision of a medical service, using software to reduce manual steps to initiate and establish medical service billing. [0013] In attempting to ameliorate or eliminate the prior art problems identified above, and to provide an alternative to known business systems, the present invention seeks to provide a more efficient method of hospital patient billing by 25 reducing tine and labour in making claims following consultations. [0014] It is an object of the present invention to increase the efficiency of payment of health service claims and particularly though not limited to for doctors in hospitals by reducing reliance on manual steps in billing and streamlining the billing process. 5 WO 2013/163686 PCT/AU2013/000446 [00151 In one broadest form the present invention comprises: a business system for billing of hospital patient consultations provided by at least one medical service provider and submitting billing claims; the system comprising the following steps; 5 providing the medical service provider with an electronic device capable of collection of patient and medical consultation billing data; entering/inputting new data into a newly established or existing data base of patient data in the electronic device for a potentially unlimited number of patients; 10 uploading the collected patient and related data to a receiving station for data processing; the receiving station communicating with a payment processing body to render payment for services provided by the medical service provider. [0016) According to a preferred embodiment the data processing station is a 15 centralized provider which processes uploaded data and after a checking process uploads the consultation data to a health fund for payment to the originating medical service provider [00171 According to one embodiment the electronic device For medical service data input is a computer. In an alternative embodiment the electronic device is a 20 mobile phone having an application for processing medical service input data. In a further embodiment the electronic input device is an ipad or mobile tablet. [0018] According to one embodiment a medical practitioner scans a patient tag at the patient's bedside whereupon the data scanned is delivered /uploaded to a receiving station which processes the data for uploading to a health insurer or 25 government authority responsible for rebates or payments. [0019) In another broad form the present invention comprises 6 WO 2013/163686 PCT/AU2013/000446 a business system enabling automated data collection and billing of hospital patient and outpatient consultations provided by at least one medical service provider; the system comprising the following steps; providing the medical service provider with an electronic device capable of S receiving scanned data collected at a patient location related to patient consultations; entering/inputting scanned data into a newly established or existing data base of patient data via in the electronic device for a potentially unlimited number of patients; 10 uploading the collected patient and related data to a health insurer or payment processing body to process automatic payment for medical services provided by the medical service provider alter a verification process. [0020] In another broad form the present invention comprises: an assembly for collecting and downloading data related to the provision of 15 medical services by a medical service provider at a patient consultation, the assembly comprising; a data input device capable of receiving, processing and storing data related to a patient medical service provider consultation; means associated with the device to upload the medical service and related data to a first data receiving station; 20 means at the first data receiving station to process receive, store and verify accuracy of data particulars and parameters; means at the first receiving station to communicate with a second receiving station for processing fee for service payments to said medical services providers based on a predetermined payment schedule. 25 [0021] The present invention eliminates the prior art systems which arc personnel based and use manual steps for patient identification and data input. 7 WO 2013/163686 PCT/AU2013/000446 The invention also provides a portable assembly or kit for use by a health practitioner to initiate billing at the point of patient consultation, thereby eliminating the numerous manual steps in the current process. (0022] The portable data collection system is user friendly and convenient for a 5 practitioner, eliminates duplication of inputs and allows retention of patient data for access at the point of the consultation in a local area device carried by the practitioner. The portable electronic device minimises the numbers of steps to generate billing data for down line processing and payment and reduces errors by reduction of the number of processing and input steps. The pathway to 10 payment processing is wireless, more accurate, faster and eliminates the prior art bureaucratic steps in setting up of billing data and the multiple hand in manual processing. The electronic portable system allows integration with the relevant national health payment system and its coding databases such as that distributed annually by Medicare Australia. It will be appreciated by persons 15 skilled in the art that the system and enabling apparatus and software is adaptable to the regulatory framework and legislation for a particular jurisdiction. For example in Australia the Medicare regime and its associated regulatory frameWork sets the schedules and rules for medical billing for Doctors and Hospitals and allied health professionals. The enabling app can be 20 integrated with the national medical killing coding tables of all healthcare systems. [00231 In another broad form of a method aspect the present invention comprises: a method for initiating billing for health service consultations, the method 25 comprising the steps of: a) providing a patient tag at a patient location such as in in a hospital or clinic; b) providing a portable electronic device for use by a health service provider to read, store and process data from said patient tag. c) uploading data read from said tag to a first receiving station for verification 30 of dataand testing for compliance with a predetermined minimum data criteria; WO 2013/163686 PCT/AU2013/000446 d) after verification of data uploaded to said first processing station, uploading said data to a second processing station; e) processing automatic payments at the second station after verification of compliance of input data. 5 [00241 In another broad form the present invention comprises: a method for conducting business which allows immediate billing of patient consultations provided by at least one health service provider; the method comprising the steps of; 10 a) providing the health service provider with an electronic device capable of collection of patient and health service consultation and/or billing data; b) performing a claimable health service for one or more patients; c) entering/inputting into the electronic device, new data into a newly established or existing data base of patient data for a potentially unlimited 15 number of patients; d) uploading the collected patient and related health service data via a link to a remote receiving station For processing the data; e) establishing communication between the receiving station and a payment processing body; and 20 f) making a payment to the health service provider from the payment processing body based on the claimable service provided to the patient by the medical service provider. [00251 In another broad form according to an apparatus aspect, the present invention comprises; 25 a computer software application in a portable electronic. device for use in remote billing of a health service provided to or for a hospital patient, outpatient or other recipient of a claimable health service; the application in the electronic .9 WO 2013/163686 PCT/AU2013/000446 device capable of receiving, storing, processing, altering, updating, amending data input regarding patient health and account status and particulars, wherein the application allows a provider to input data into the application preloaded into an electronic device such as a phone, ipad, computer, television or tablet; 5 the application allowing received data to be uploaded to a first processing station for data processing including data verification and checking, uploading the verified data to a second processing station, the second processing station enabling payment of the practitioner for said health service according to a predetermined payment schedule. 10 [00261 The present invention provides an alternative to the known prior art and the shortcomings identified. The foregoing and other objects and advantages will appear from the description to follow. In the description reference is made to the accompanying representations, which forms a part hereof, and in which is 15 shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments will be described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilised and that structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the invention. The following detailed 20 description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is best defined by the appended claims. DETAILED DESCRIPTION 25 [0027] The present invention will now be described in more detail according to a preferred but non limiting embodiment and with reference to the accompanying illustration wherein; Figure 1 shows a schematic layout of the system steps at the point of local data 30 capture according to a preferred embodiment. 10 WO 2013/163686 PCT/AU2013/000446 [0028] Throughout the specification a reference to billing can be taken to man a reference to invoicing and charging a fee for performing a service. A medical service can be taken to mean a surgical, pathological, medical or diagnostic service performed on a patient. A claimable health service is one thatentitles a 5 service provider to receive a payment based on a claim ror providing a service included on a specified schedule associated with the payment processing authority (private or government) from which the payment is claimed and then paid. Throughout the specification a reference to-the term app can be taken to mean a reference to software whether proprietary or specific for the purpose of 10 initiating billing upon provision of a health service. The term medical practitioner or Doctor can be taken to mean and person who provides a medical or related service which allows billing through a fee processing body such as a health fund or government health department. The term health service provider can be taken to mean any person qualified or otherwise who provides 15 a health service including a claimable service drawn -from the health service areas of: A non who provider health services drawn fro the following non exhaustive list of health services and who can apply the app to their particular filed of claimable healthcare practice including: physiotherapists, dietitions, nurse practitioners, psychologists, social. workers, occupational therapists, 20 aboriginal health workers, exercise physiologists, speech pathologists, podiatrists, mid wives, dentists, veterinary scientists, pharmacists, general practitioners. Payment processing authorities include health funds, dental benefits schemes, veterinary insurance schemes, governments backed health rebate schemes such as Medicare in Australia according to its current or future 25 modified form. Medicare for instance has stopped the use of bulk bill vouchers. This system acts as a replacement which can be supported by medicare who itself desires to reduce the high cots of processing manual claims. The present invention described herein accommodates objective which aim to reduce paperwork, manual handling and administrative processing. 30 11 WO 2013/163686 PCT/AU2013/000446 (00291 The examples referred to herein are illustrative and are not to be regarded as limiting the scope of the invention. While various embodiments of the invention have been described herein, it will be appreciated that these are capable of modification, and therefore the disclosures herein arc not to be 5 construed as -liinting of the precise details set forth, but to avail such changes and alterations as fall within the purview of the description. Although the method and apparatus aspects of the invention will be described with reference to their application to medical consultation billing, it will be appreciated that the invention has alternative applications. Although the invention and non limiting 10 embodiments are described herein with particular reference to a medical practitioner (doctor) providing a service to a patient in a hospital (followed by invoicing to a payment authority and subsequent payment) the system and associated computer application can be adapted for use by a variety of allied health service practitioners, including veterinary practitioners, in a variety of 15 locations who are able to provide a claimable health or health related service. [0030] Referring to figure 1 there is shown a typical hospital room setting I in which a patient 2 lies on a bed 3 and is surrounded by.health professionals 4, 5 who perform services on behalf of the patient 2. Each medical service provider 20 4, 5 are provided with an electronic device 6, 7 respectively capable of collection and/or storage of and/or processing of and/or uploading of patient data related to the provision of medical services and including patient data related to medical consultation and service billing. Typically practitioner 4 will provide a service for patient 2 . Once a medical service has been provided to 25 patient 2, medical practitioner 4 ( or his assistant) inputs patient data into electronic device 7. As shown in figure 1 electronic device 7 may be an ipad 8, computer terminal 9, iphone 10 or table I I [00311 An app may be downloaded to devices which accommodate apps such as the ipad 8 and iphone 10 and tablet i1. Where computer terminal 9 is used for 30 input the computer will also have enabling data processing software. A readable tag 12 including patient data may also be located at the patient bed 3 to 12 WO 2013/163686 PCT/AU2013/000446 'facilitate input of patient identity data or other patient related data. Data can be added to tag 12 or the tag can be scanned to upload patient data. Tag 12 may have existing data or may be programmed with new patient data as required. Data from a potentially unlimited number of patients may be entered into the 5 electronic device. Tag 12 may have its own barcode which relates to a The data can be new data or newly established or augmenting existing data bases of patient data. Once collected by manual input, reading or scanning, it is uploaded via a link 13 to a remote receiving station 14 for data processing. Receiving station may be located in a hospital or remote from the setting 1 at which 10 billable services are performed. A link is established between remote receiving station 14 and a payment processing body 15 located remotely. Payment processing body 15 is an organisation such as a health fund or government authority responsible for payment of medical practitioner claims. Payment processing body 15 makes a payment to the medical service provider 16 once 15 processing of the claim is completed. In this way payments can be effected almost instantaneously in real time but even ifr there is a delay, payment will be made automatically when processed. Receiving station 14 performs the step of checking and verifying uploaded patient and medical service data. Link 17 enables remote receiving station 14 which is either at a hospital or at a remote 20 location to communicate back to the service provider in the event for instance that inaccurate information has been uploaded from setting I. [0032] Station 14 may be accessed by the electronic device 7 via a wireless or adsl router . A plurality of servers like station 14 may be used on site at the hospital or at a location remote from the hospital. Alternatively the processing 25 servicer station may be accessed via cloud technology accessible by user ID and password. [0033) According to a preferred embodiment the system is integrated with an application (computer app) which facilitates expedient establishment of records, recall of existing records and processing of billing and submission of billing 30 claims. A consumer obtains an app which can be provided free as part of the 13 WO 2013/163686 PCT/AU2013/000446 business package. The app may include data such as, but not limited to, billing coding, medical benefits schedule of fees and integrated listing of health funds. When a computer app is used it allows interactive communications between the processing station 14 and the payment authority 15. 5 [0034] An initial screen invites a user to enter new data related to a patient consultation and other data such as a photo of the patient, the referring doctor, ancillary material such as patient status, treatment and requirements. If a patient has already been established in the data base the screen will invite input of the 10 patient identity and show the patient profile including past billing history, date of provision of services and referring doctor. The current invoicing cycle for the current consultation is added to the patient data. [0035] The associated app allows a user to import doctor and patient listings 15 and adds to the data base list each time a new patient is consulted. new doctors and new patients to an existing list. [0036] An advantage of the present invention is that a medical practitioner or other allied health service provider can initiate billing at a time of service so as 20 to minimise errors or omissions and increase their remuneration through better efficiency and reduced billing leakage. A further advantage is that the costs of processing are minimised so that will allow medical billing companies and agents to keep costs to a minimum and to enhance profits. This will reduce the costs to public hospital revenue departments who employ staff to perform those 25 manual tasks. A further advantage is that the system makes the passage of payments to doctors and allied health professionals more efficient thereby improving cash flow, minimising interest charges and the costs of credit for doctors. A further advantage of the present invention is that it reduces errors which currently cost the health budget millions each year as the electronic 30 apparatus allows reduced human contact with the data collection and processing, hence a reduced error rate. As a result, the less people touching the 14 WO 2013/163686 PCT/AU2013/000446 data means less errors and reduced human resource costs. A further advantage of the system is that it protects privacy and acts as an aide memoire to assist doctors to see all patients that require attention or are currently under their care. 5 [00371 As an example, typically a doctor will attend a patient in a hospital and perform a service for a scheduled fee which must ultimately be recovered. It collects patient data and medical billing data, which is essential to the processing of private practice claims for both individual medical practitioners and hospitals. The practitioners fill in a datasheet on their phone, portable 10 computer, ipad, tablet or like device and send it electronically to synapse who process it so the doctors can get paid for their work by insurers and Medicare. This replaces the current manual entry systems used by doctors and hospitals. The practitioner can input data into the electronic device by manual input or scanning a patient tag including patient data. Once the data is in the electronic 15 data storage device, the data is delivered directly to an online provider which can check and as required further process the data for uploading to in the case of the Australian system a health insurer or direct to Medicare. The aforesaid process avoids the short comings of the prior art processing which involves multiple personnel and weeks and even months of processing. This removes the 20 current use of unsecure eiailing, manual inputs and processing. faxing or ordinary mailing of claims. [0038] The system allows the doctors to receive and store have portable data regarding their current patients and their attendances, financial data relating to 25 their attendances and details regarding the patients' basic demographics. The enabling app allows billing to be done at time of service make it more efficient accurate, cost effective and versatile. The pathway to payment processing is wireless, more accurate, faster and eliminates the prior art bureaucratic steps in setting up of billing data and the multiple hand in manual processing. 30 15 WO 2013/163686 PCT/AU2013/000446 [0039] The present invention streamlines and fully integrates a data process that is critical to the operation of all private medical and allied health care practice globally. This relates to both the private practice of individual doctors as well as private patients being seen in public hospitals and for whom the hospital will 5 collect the relevant private revenue and allied health service providers. The cost saving to the national health expenditure as a result of the system according to the invention is substantial. [0040] A major advantage is the time saving and portability of the data and 10 equipment used to process data. Use of electronic data input removes the need to carry bundles of papers, stickers and forms and removes the need for after hours processing of manually recorded data for later submission for billing, Accurate data input removes billing leakage and captures all items which can be legitimately billed which avoid unwanted omissions to bill some services 15 performed. This ensures that doctors, allied health professionals and other professions are paid for all services provided and that none are lost in a cumbersome manual system prone to error. Also the risk of making servicing errors are minimised so that the practitioner is less likely to dome to the attention of regulatory bodies for errors in billings. 20 [0041] It should be understood that various changes and modifications to the presently preferred embodiments described herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present subject matter and without 25 diminishing its intended advantages. It is therefore intended that such changes and modifications be covered by the appended claims. 30 16