Researchers Submit Patent Application, “Systems And Methods For Pet Insurance Underwriting, Rating, Adjustments, And Enrollment”, for Approval (USPTO 20230072628): Patent Application

2023 MAR 23 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Washington, D.C., NewsRx journalists report that a patent application by the inventors Andreae, Alexander James (Punta Gorda, FL, US); Dubbaneh, Anthony C. (Punta Gorda, FL, US); Nonis, Sebastian Milton (El Dorado Hills, CA, US); Rice, Megan Madalynne (Punta Gorda, FL, US), filed on October 25, 2022, was made available online on March 9, 2023.

No assignee for this patent application has been made.

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Pet ownership in the United States has more than tripled since the 1970s with over 60% of U.S. households now including at least one pet. In general, Americans care deeply about their pets; over 80% of Americans view their pet as a member of the family. This increased popularity in and affection towards pets has resulted in increased spending on pets. More than $55 billion was spent on pets in the United States in 2013, and a 40% rise in veterinary costs has been observed in the last five years.

“Keeping pets healthy and safe can be a challenge. For example, an owner’s sedentary lifestyle may lead to a sedentary lifestyle for the owner’s pets. Over 50% of dogs and cats in the United States are overweight or obese due to improper nutrition and/or lack of daily activity. As with humans, sedentary lifestyles and obesity in pets increases the risk of developing chronic conditions such heart disease, high blood pressure, Type II diabetes, and osteoarthritis. Additionally, certain pet breeds are prone to various genetic conditions and diseases.

“In addition to preventing and treating chronic and acute illnesses, pet owners striving to keep their pets healthy and safe may have to devote considerable resources and attention to ensuring their pets do not wander away from home. Pets that wander away face serious risks; for example, such pets may be hit by a vehicle or permanently lost or stolen. In the United States, ten million pets are lost each year and fewer than ten percent ever return home.

“Pet insurance is one of the best ways to reduce healthcare costs and keep pets safe, yet pet insurance is underutilized in the United States. Only 1.5% of U.S. pets are covered by insurance. Such underutilization may contribute to inflated health insurance prices. For example, many owners who self-select for pet insurance may be those with high risk pets, and such risks are currently spread across a relatively small population pool.

“A limited amount of reliable data and a lack of advanced actuarial models may also contribute to inflated health insurance prices. Typically, insurance providers engage in insurance underwriting and rating processes in which they assess a risk level associated with the asset to be insured and determine an appropriate insurance policy price to protect against that risk. Human health insurance and auto insurance policy providers rely on highly refined actuarial models, based on tens of millions of insured bodies and reliable data from medical records, police reports, etc., to determine appropriate insurance premiums. In contrast, pet insurance premiums may be set without access to reliable data. Pet insurance policy providers often rely primarily on basic data provided by a pet owner, such as a pet’s breed, age, sex, location of residence, general health, and preexisting conditions. Pet insurance providers often lack effective means to verify the accuracy of the owner-provided data. As a result, a pet’s insurance rating may have a relatively high level of uncertainty. Insurance premiums may be inflated to protect the insurance provider from financial loss in light of this uncertainty.

“Consequently, the relatively high cost of pet insurance deters many pet owners from obtaining insurance for their pets. Moreover, for those interested in pet insurance, the process of comparing quotes and enrolling in pet insurance can be cumbersome.

“Accordingly, a need exists for improvements in the field of pet insurance.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent application, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent application: “In particular, needs exist for improved data acquisition, data verification, actuarial models, and user experiences in the field of pet insurance. The present disclosure is directed to devices, systems, and methods that fill one or more of these needs.

“One aspect of the disclosure is directed to a method of individualizing pet insurance premiums based on acquired pet monitoring data. In various embodiments, the method includes receiving pet monitoring data for a pet from at least one sensor on a pet monitoring device. The pet monitoring data may include, for example, a detected location, activity level, extreme temperature event, or impact event. The method further includes transmitting pet monitoring information to an insurer computing device. The pet monitoring information of various embodiments includes all or a portion of the pet monitoring data. For example, the pet monitoring information may include a stream of all collected pet monitoring data, a stream of one or more parameters of interest, an aggregation of pet monitoring data collected in a given timeframe, an aggregation of pet monitoring data collected from a population of pets, or plots, averages, or other metrics calculated from aggregate data. The method further includes receiving an adjusted premium rate for the pet from the insurer computing device. The adjusted premium rate of various embodiments is determined by the insurer computing device by adjusting a preliminary premium rate based on the pet monitoring information.

“In some embodiments, the method also includes: first receiving background data about the pet from a user via a user input, transmitting the background data to the insurer computing device such that the insurer can calculate the preliminary premium rate based on the background data, and presenting an insurance offering that includes the preliminary premium rate to the user for purchase via a user interface.

“In some such embodiments, transmitting the background data to the insurer computing device includes transmitting the background data to a plurality of insurer computing devices. In such embodiments, the method further includes: receiving an insurance quote from each of the plurality of insurer computing devices, and selecting the best quote and corresponding preliminary premium rate to present to the user. In some such embodiments, the method also includes negotiating, with an insurer, the best quote on the user’s behalf. The best quote may be the lowest quote and/or a quote that best matches the insurance preferences of the user.

“In some embodiments, background data about the pet includes at least one of an age, sex, breed, place of residence, proportion of time spent outdoors, vaccine record, neuter record, microchip record, preexisting health condition, other medical history, or owner insurance preference. In some embodiments, the background data about the pet is manually entered by a user through a graphical user interface on a personal computing device. In some embodiments, the background data about the pet is automatically pulled from a web-based medical record or an image of a physical medical record. In some embodiments, the pet monitoring data received from the sensor is used to verify and supplement the background data received from the user.

“Additionally or alternatively, the method of some embodiments further includes: transmitting the pet monitoring information and the background data to an alternative insurer; receiving an alternative quote from the alternative insurer based, at least in part, on the pet monitoring information and the background data; comparing the adjusted insurance rate and the alternative quote to determine which insurance package is better for the user; and transferring the user’s insurance coverage to the alternative insurer if the alternative quote is better for the user than the adjusted insurance rate.

“In some embodiments of the method, the detected location is received from a GPS tracker. In some embodiments, the activity level is received from at least one of a gyroscope or an accelerometer. In some embodiments, the extreme temperature event data is received from a thermistor or other temperature-responsive sensor. In some embodiments, the impact event data is received from an accelerometer. In some embodiments, the pet monitoring data further includes a repetitive motion of the pet, which may be detected, for example, by an accelerometer. In some such embodiments, the repetitive motion is selected from a group consisting of: breathing, heart beating, and scratching.

“In some embodiments, the method further includes building an actuarial model based on the pet monitoring data.

“In some embodiments, the method is repeated periodically to update the adjusted premium rate based on recently acquired pet monitoring data.

“In some embodiments, the method is performed by a server or a computing device connected via a wired or wireless communication connection to the server.

“An additional aspect of the disclosure is directed to another method of individualizing pet insurance premiums based on acquired pet monitoring data. The disclosed method may be performed, for example, by a server functioning as both a pet management application server and an insurance server. Such a server may be managed or overseen by an insurance provider. In various embodiments, the method includes: receiving background data about a pet from a user via a user input; calculating a preliminary premium rate based on the background data; presenting an insurance offering, which includes the preliminary premium rate, to the user for purchase via a user interface; receiving a selection from the user to purchase an insurance plan associated with the insurance offering; enrolling the user in the insurance plan; receiving pet monitoring data for the pet from at least one sensor on a pet monitoring device; and adjusting the preliminary premium rate based on the pet monitoring data. In some such embodiments, the pet monitoring data includes at least one of a: detected location, activity level, extreme temperature event, impact event, and repetitive motion.

“Another aspect of the disclosure is directed to a system configured to perform one or more of: providing, enrolling a user in, and adjusting, a pet insurance offering. In various embodiments, the system includes a wireless pet monitoring device, a mobile computing device, a pet management application server, and optionally, an insurer computing device.

“In various embodiments, the wireless pet monitoring device has one or more sensors. The one or more sensors are configured to detect pet monitoring data, including at least one of a: current location, activity level, extreme temperature event, impact event, and a repetitive motion.

“In some embodiments, the pet monitoring device is configured to transmit the detected pet monitoring data to a mobile computing device for further transmission to the application server. In other embodiments, the pet monitoring device is configured to transmit the detected pet monitoring data directly to the server.

“In some embodiments, the mobile computing device is configured to receive user inputs indicative of background data about a pet and transmit the background data to the server. The mobile computing device may additionally be configured to receive the detected pet monitoring data from the pet monitoring device and transmit the pet monitoring data to the server. Additionally, the mobile computing device may be configured to receive information about insurance offerings, including a preliminary premium rate and an adjusted premium rate, from the server and display the information about insurance offerings to the user via a user output device. The mobile computing device may be configured to receive a user’s selection of an insurance offering and transmit the selection to the server.

“In some embodiments, the pet management application server is configured to receive the background data, calculate a preliminary premium rate based on the background data, receive the detected pet monitoring data, adjust the preliminary premium rate based on the detected pet monitoring data, and transmit the adjusted preliminary premium rate to the mobile computing device. In some embodiments, the server is configured to develop, refine, or apply an actuarial model based on the pet monitoring data.

“In other embodiments, the server is configured to receive the background data from the mobile computing device and transmit the background data to the insurer computing device for calculating a preliminary premium rate. The server of some such embodiments is further configured to: receive pet monitoring data from the pet monitoring device or the mobile computing device; transmit pet monitoring information, including at least a portion of the pet monitoring data, to the insurer computing device; and receive an adjusted premium rate from the insurer computing device, the adjusted premium rate having been determined by the insurer computing device by adjusting the preliminary premium rate based on the pet monitoring information. The server may further transmit the adjusted premium rate to the mobile computing device and transmit a user-selected insurance offering to the insurer computing device.

“The illustrated embodiments are merely examples and are not intended to limit the invention.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1-20. (canceled)

“21. A computer-implemented method for individualizing pet insurance premiums , the method comprising: receiving background data about a pet, the background data including: an age, a sex, a breed, a vaccine record, and a neuter or spay record; determining, based on the background data, a preliminary premium rate; obtaining, over a predefined period of time, additional data about the pet; determining, using the background data, the additional data, and at least one actuarial model, a risk level for the pet; and providing, based on the risk level, an adjusted premium rate for the pet, wherein the adjusted premium rate is determined by adjusting the preliminary premium rate.

“22. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, further comprising: receiving, from an owner of the pet, an indicated preference for an insurance type; presenting an insurance offering to the owner of the pet for purchase in a user interface, wherein the insurance offering comprises the preliminary premium rate according to the indicated preference.

“23. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein determining the preliminary premium rate based on the background data comprises: obtaining an individual insurance quote from each of a plurality of insurance providers and selecting a best quote and corresponding preliminary premium rate to present to an owner of the pet.

“24. The computer-implemented method of claim 23, further comprising negotiating, with an insurance provider, the best quote on behalf of the owner of the pet.

“25. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein the method is performed at an insurance provider computing device.

“26. The computer-implemented method of claim 21,wherein the background data is manually entered by a user through a graphical user interface of a pet management application, the pet management application being configured to provide access to the additional data.

“27. The computer-implemented method of claim 26, wherein the additional data is obtained from the pet management application.

“28. The computer-implemented method of claim 26, wherein the pet management application is further configured to receive, store, and display tracked historical data including a food intake, an exercise routine, and a sleep schedule, and to provide the tracked historical data as the additional data.

“29. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein the additional data comprises pet records that include one or more of: an immunization record for the pet, a veterinary record for the pet, veterinary bills associated with the pet, and pet photographs.

“30. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein the additional data comprises pet tracking data that includes one or more of: a calendar or record of future events including future pet walker schedules, pet sitter schedules, pet daycare schedules, pet veterinary appointments, and pet scheduled playdates.

“31. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein the additional data comprises pet monitoring information from the predefined period of time, aggregated pet monitoring information from the predefined period of time, or a stream of one or more parameters of interest captured during the predefined period of time.

“32. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein the background data is automatically pulled from a web-based medical record or an image of a physical medical record.

“33. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein the background data further comprises at least one of: a place of residence, a proportion of time spent outdoors, an indication of a preexisting health condition, medical history associated with the pet, and owner insurance preference.

“34. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein the background data further includes at least one of: a pet name, a pet address, a pet species, indicated allergies, dietary restrictions, emergency contact information, veterinarian contact information, and a date of last veterinary visit.

“35. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein the background data is supplemented by pet monitoring data to verify an accuracy of the background data, the pet monitoring data being obtained from at least one sensor on a pet monitoring device worn by the pet and comprising an activity level for the pet retrieved from at least one of a gyroscope or an accelerometer installed in the pet monitoring device.

“36. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein the method is repeated periodically to update the adjusted premium rate based on recently acquired additional data.

“37. A computer-implemented method of individualizing pet insurance premiums, the method comprising: receiving background data about a pet that comprises an age, a sex, a breed, a place of residence, a proportion of time spent outdoors, a vaccine record, a neuter or spay record, a preexisting health condition, and owner insurance preference, wherein the background data is obtained from a web-based medical record or an image of a physical medical record; transmitting the background data to an insurer computing device; receiving, based on the background data, a preliminary premium rate; providing the preliminary premium rate, for an insurance plan, in a user interface for the owner of the pet to purchase; and in response to verifying payment for the insurance plan, enrolling the owner of the pet in the insurance plan.

“38. A computer-implemented method of individualizing pet insurance premiums, the method comprising: receiving pet monitoring data indicating an activity level of a pet; transmitting at least a portion of the pet monitoring data to an insurer computing device; receiving background data about the pet, wherein the background data comprises at least one of: an age, a sex, a breed, a place of residence, a proportion of time spent outdoors, a vaccine record, a neuter or a spay record, a preexisting health condition, other medical history, or owner insurance preference; transmitting the background data to the insurer computing device,; receiving an adjusted premium rate for the pet from the insurer computing device, wherein the adjusted premium rate is based at least in part on the pet monitoring data and the background data;; and adjusting an auto-pay amount associated with a previously provided preliminary premium rate to correspond to the adjusted premium.

“39. The computer-implemented method of claim 38, wherein the pet monitoring data comprises tracked historical data including a food intake, an exercise routine, and a sleep schedule.

“40. The computer-implemented method of claim 38, wherein the background data is automatically pulled from a web-based medical record or an image of a physical medical record.”

For additional information on this patent application, see: Andreae, Alexander James; Dubbaneh, Anthony C.; Nonis, Sebastian Milton; Rice, Megan Madalynne. Systems And Methods For Pet Insurance Underwriting, Rating, Adjustments, And Enrollment. U.S. Patent Application Number 20230072628, filed October 25, 2022 and posted March 9, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(20230072628)&db=US-PGPUB&type=ids

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