Patent Issued for Sensor systems and methods for evaluating activity (USPTO 11748819): Hartford Fire Insurance Company

2023 SEP 21 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent by the inventors Amigo, Andrew J. (Essex, MA, US), Gingrave, Michael (Wethersfield, CT, US), filed on May 13, 2022, was published online on September 5, 2023, according to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx correspondents.

Patent number 11748819 is assigned to Hartford Fire Insurance Company (Hartford, Connecticut, United States).

The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Many insurance companies are considering offering, or do offer, discounts or variable pricing for automobile insurance based on data collected from vehicle telematics. Safety in the workplace includes perils beyond driving, including environmental conditions, physical stress and strain, and dangerous equipment. Sensors on the marketplace and in development can identify dangerous scenarios, including environmental conditions, worker behaviors, use or lack of use of proper safety equipment, and interactions with dangerous machines, substances or areas.

“Workers’ compensation insurance provides compensation for workers that are injured on the job. This compensation may include medical expenses, death benefits, and payments in lieu of lost wages. Workers’ compensation insurance is state-mandated for most employees and is generally provided by private insurance companies, though some states operate a state fund.

“Rates for workers’ compensation insurance are set by state and are based on industry and job classification. Workers’ compensation rating starts with a base rate, derived for each of some 600 classifications. This base rate is not modified for the smallest businesses, but for others, it is. These modifications include a mandatory application of an experience rating credit or debit, depending on a business’s claims history compared to the average in that business class. Also, discretionary pricing modifications can be applied by the carrier depending on its underwriting evaluation of the account. Many large accounts share in the funding of their claims via large deductibles, policyholder dividends and retrospectively rated programs. These kinds of programs are generally referred to as “risk share” plans. For those businesses that are subject to experience rating or a “risk share” plan, their net cost of workers’ compensation insurance is decreased to the extent they can either prevent, or mitigate the value of, claims.

“Most insurance carriers that sell workers’ compensation insurance provide professional services that help businesses prevent or mitigate the values of claims, primarily by reviewing the business’s exposures and current controls, and by assessing the causes of prior claims and subsequently recommending and implementing solutions. Again, to the extent that these solutions reduce the number and dollar amount of claims, overall, the premium paid by the business will also be reduced. Loss control services are generally available to all businesses, but are most cost-effective for larger businesses.

“Typically, loss control services are part of the basic product sold by an insurance carrier. However, loss control services may be made more effective and efficient by appropriately utilizing technology. In particular, sensor technologies that allow insured businesses to quickly identify unsafe situations, thereby providing the businesses with opportunity to correct them, and technologies that give insurance carriers automatic feedback and information on the safety performance of their policyholders, may beneficially contribute to a streamlined workers’ compensation insurance evaluation system and advantageously decrease the risk of accidents in the workplace. In addition to streamlining workers’ compensation insurance evaluation systems, sensor technologies may assist in improving risk evaluation and loss control for other types of insurance, such as group, short or long-term disability insurance, professional or general liability insurance, and/or medical malpractice insurance. These sensor technologies may also be used to monitor and facilitate other aspects of insured entities, such as general employee health, post-injury return-to-work programs for injured employees, and the activity levels of patients in a healthcare facility.”

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “Accordingly, in one aspect the invention relates to an activity evaluation system for managing an insurance-related process. The system comprises at least one sensor, a data store, an activity evaluation module, a communications module, and a business computer processor. The sensor(s) are configured to monitor the activity of an individual associated with an insured entity. The data store stores demographic information about the individual. In certain embodiments, the demographic information about the individual comprises one or more of height, age, weight, and stride length of the individual. The activity evaluation module is configured to collect data from the sensor(s), analyze the data to determine activity characteristics, and output an activity evaluation based on the activity characteristics and the demographic information. The communications module may communicate the collected data and/or the recovery evaluation to a server operated by an insurance company insuring the entity. The business computer processor is configured to adjust a term of an insurance policy covering the insured entity based on the activity evaluation. The term to be adjusted includes a premium, a deductible, a limit, services associated with the insurance policy, costs of the services, rating plan parameters, and/or dividend plan parameters.

“In some embodiments, the system includes an output device configured to provide an insurance recommendation to the individual and/or the insured entity based at least in part on the activity evaluation. The insurance recommendation may comprise one of a loss-control recommendation, an exposure management recommendation, an insurance risk evaluation recommendation, an underwriting workflow recommendation, and a claims management workflows recommendation. In one aspect, the insurance recommendation comprises a loss-control recommendation, and the loss-control recommendation comprises one or more of a patient intake decision for the individual, an initial diagnosis for the individual, care instructions for the individual, a patient progress determination for the individual, a determination of sufficient activity for the individual, and a determination of activity conformance for the individual. In another aspect the individual is an employee, and the loss-control recommendation comprises the determination of sufficient activity for the individual to determine if the individual is healthy, and adjusting the term of the insurance policy comprises adjusting a workers compensation premium associated with the insured entity. In some embodiments, the individual is an employee recovering from an injury, and the loss-control recommendation comprises the determination of activity conformance for the individual based on the activity evaluation being indicative of the individual’s activity conforming to one of prescribed activity guidelines and personalized threshold guidelines applicable to the individual. In other embodiments, the individual is a patient, and the loss-control recommendation comprises the determination of sufficient activity for the individual based on the activity evaluation being indicative of the individual’s activity conforming to one or more of ulcer prevention movement guidelines, prescribed movement guidelines, activity guidelines, and movement threshold guidelines applicable to the individual.

“In another aspect, the invention relates to a activity evaluation system for use in managing an insurance-related process. The system includes at least one sensor, a data store, an activity evaluation module, a communications module, and a business computer processor. The at least one sensor is configured to monitor activity of a plurality of individuals associated and distinct from an insured entity. The data store stores demographic information about the individuals. The activity evaluation module is configured to collect data from the sensor(s), analyze the data to determine activity characteristics, and output an activity evaluation based on the activity characteristics and the demographic information. The communications module may communicate the collected data and/or the activity evaluation to a server operated by an insurance company insuring the entity. The business computer processor is configured to adjust a workers compensation premium of an insurance policy covering the insured entity based on the activity evaluation, so as to provide an adjustment favorable to the insured entity responsive to the activity evaluation being indicative of healthy activity by the plurality of individuals.

“In some embodiments, the system includes an output device configured to provide an insurance recommendation to the individual and/or the insured entity based at least in part on the activity evaluation. The insurance recommendation may comprise one of a loss-control recommendation to institute policies to promote healthy activity.

“In other aspects, the invention relates to methods for using and implementing the system described above.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. An activity evaluation system, comprising: an activity evaluation module configured to: collect sensor data from at least one sensor configured to monitor activity of an individual associated with and distinct from a covered entity; analyze the collected sensor data to determine activity characteristics of the individual; and output an activity evaluation based on the activity characteristics and at least one stored activity guideline associated with the individual; a computer hardware server, in communication with the activity evaluation module via a communications device, and operated by a risk management entity remote from the at least one sensor, configured to: receive one or both of the collected sensor data and the activity evaluation; adjust data corresponding to a parameter of a risk management policy covering the covered entity based on the one or both of the collected sensor data and the activity evaluation, wherein the computer hardware server is configured to adjust the data corresponding to the parameter so as to provide an adjustment favorable to the covered entity responsive to the one or both of collected sensor data and the activity evaluation being indicative of safe activity by the individual; and responsive to the one or both of collected sensor data and the activity evaluation being indicative of unsafe activity by the individual, transmit a notification to one of a computing device of the covered entity or a device of the individual.

“2. The system of claim 1, wherein adjusting the data corresponding to the parameter of the risk management policy comprises adjusting at least one of a premium, a deductible, a limit, a service associated with the risk management policy, costs of the service, rating plan parameters, and dividend plan parameters based on at least one of the collected sensor data and the activity evaluation.

“3. The system of claim 2, wherein the service associated with the risk management policy comprises loss-control recommendation services, and the loss-control recommendation services comprise one or more of a patient intake decision for the individual, an initial diagnosis for the individual, care instructions for the individual, a patient progress determination for the individual, a determination of sufficient activity for the individual, and a determination of safe activity for the individual.

“4. The system of claim 3, wherein the individual is an employee of the covered entity, and the loss-control recommendation services comprises the determination of sufficient activity for the individual to determine if the individual is healthy, and adjusting the data corresponding to the parameter of the risk management policy comprises adjusting a workers compensation premium associated with the covered entity.

“5. The system of claim 3, wherein the individual is an employee, of the covered entity, recovering from an injury, and the loss-control recommendation services comprises the determination, based on (a) the activity evaluation and (b) one or more of (i) prescribed activity guidelines and (ii) personalized threshold guidelines applicable to the individual, of safe activity for the individual.

“6. The system of claim 3, wherein the individual is a patient, the covered entity is a healthcare entity providing care to the individual, and the loss-control recommendation services comprises the determination, based on the (a) activity evaluation and (b) one or more of (i) ulcer prevention movement guidelines, (ii) prescribed movement guidelines, (iii) activity guidelines, and (iv) movement threshold guidelines applicable to the individual, of safe activity for the individual.

“7. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer hardware server is further configured to adjust a renewal decision of a risk management policy covering the covered entity based on at least one of the collected sensor data and the activity evaluation.

“8. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer hardware server is further configured to adjust data corresponding to a parameter associated with the use of a healthcare provider as a vendor based on at least one of the collected sensor data and the activity evaluation.

“9. The system of claim 1, wherein the individual is an injured employee of the covered entity and the at least one activity guideline comprises a lifting behavior threshold selected for the injured employee.

“10. The system of claim 1, wherein the individual is a motion-restricted person, the covered entity is an entity providing care to the motion-restricted person, the activity characteristics are at least partially representative of caregiver-initiated physical movements of the motion-restricted person, the at least one activity guideline comprises a prescribed movement guideline for the motion-restricted person, and the notification is indicative of the degree to which the caregiver-initiated physical movements meet the prescribed movement guideline.

“11. A computer-implemented method for activity evaluation, comprising: collecting, by an activity evaluation module, sensor data based on at least one sensor configured to monitor activity of an individual associated with and distinct from a covered entity; analyzing, by the activity evaluation module, the collected sensor data to determine activity characteristics of the individual; outputting, by the activity evaluation module, an activity evaluation based on the activity characteristics; receiving, by a computer hardware server in communication with the activity evaluation module, operated by a risk management entity remote from the at least one sensor, the collected sensor data and the activity evaluation; responsive to the one or both of collected sensor data and the activity evaluation being indicative of safe activity by the individual, adjusting, by the computer hardware server, data corresponding to a parameter of a risk management policy so as to provide an adjustment favorable to the covered entity; and responsive to the one or both of collected sensor data and the activity evaluation being indicative of unsafe activity by the individual, transmitting, by the computer hardware server, a notification to one of a computing device of the covered entity or a device of the individual.

“12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein adjusting the data corresponding to the parameter of the risk management policy comprises adjusting at least one of a premium, a deductible, a limit, a service associated with the risk management policy, costs of the service, rating plan parameters, and dividend plan parameters based on at least one of the collected sensor data and the activity evaluation.

“13. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the service associated with the risk management policy comprises loss-control recommendation services, and the loss-control recommendation services comprise one or more of a patient intake decision for the individual, an initial diagnosis for the individual, care instructions for the individual, a patient progress determination for the individual, a determination of sufficient activity for the individual, and a determination of safe activity for the individual.

“14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the individual is an employee of the covered entity, and the loss-control recommendation services comprise the determination of sufficient activity for the individual to determine if the individual is healthy, and adjusting the data corresponding to the parameter of the risk management policy comprises adjusting a workers compensation premium associated with the covered entity.

“15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the individual is an employee, of the covered entity, recovering from an injury, the loss-control recommendation services comprise the determination, based on (a) the activity evaluation and (b) one of (i) prescribed activity guidelines and (ii) personalized threshold guidelines applicable to the individual, of safe activity for the individual.

“16. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the individual is a patient, and the covered entity is a healthcare entity providing care to the individual, and the loss-control recommendation services comprise the determination, based on (a) the activity evaluation, and (b) one or more of (i) ulcer prevention movement guidelines, (ii) prescribed movement guidelines, (iii) activity guidelines, and (iv) movement threshold guidelines applicable to the individual, of safe activity for the individual.

“17. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, further comprising adjusting, by the computer hardware server, a renewal decision of a risk management policy covering the covered entity based on at least one of the collected sensor data and the activity evaluation.

“18. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, further comprising adjusting, by the computer hardware server, data corresponding to a parameter associated with the use of a healthcare provider as a vendor based on at least one of the collected sensor data and the activity evaluation.”

URL and more information on this patent, see: Amigo, Andrew J. Sensor systems and methods for evaluating activity. U.S. Patent Number 11748819, filed May 13, 2022, and published online on September 5, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11748819)&db=USPAT&type=ids

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)