PriceDoc has recently hit the news announcing its national launch – offering the general public a chance to search for health care, and negotiate for prices. PriceDoc is also making news with the pending issue of a US Patent for innovative technologies. When thinking of patents, most people think of widgets or devices. The idea of applying for a patent for an online medical website that allows the public to negotiate for health care services was certainly “out of the box” – even for the patent examiners.
Why is this news? Internet patents protect a particular way of doing business online. It makes it very time consuming, and very expensive, for anyone else to copy your idea. Patents are not easy to come by, particularly the “business method” patents in the internet industry, which have been tightly reviewed over the last few years, with very few issuances.
The idea for PriceDoc is dated back a full decade, when Dr. Julian Henley, one of PriceDoc’s founders, designed a system that uses some of the same principles of online auctions like eBay, or “bid for service” sites like Priceline, and created a free market for health care. Even back in 2001 when the patent was first filed, physicians were frustrated with the amount of overhead the insurance industry was creating, and patients were fed up as well. Everyone was looking for a better way.
The novelty of PriceDoc is the ability to negotiate for health services online, as well as to have full transparency of the medical provider’s qualifications. This is new to the industry, and is quite complex to achieve. Further, PriceDoc patents reflect innovation in the ability to compensate for varying medical conditions that may increase or decrease the amount of time, and interventions, required by the medical provider.
In the past, companies like Priceline have received patents for their novel method of doing business in the travel industry. Jay Walker, inventor of Priceline, describes the value of a patent: “It proves the power of intellectual property, at some level, to provide space for a startup that is truly novel, that is warranting a patent, or we had several patents in this case, to give it the breathing room to invent something new, create value.”
With the health care crisis at a fever pitch, PriceDoc began charging onto the scene last year; even before a patent was issued. The number of providers has grown by leaps and bounds, even after a single month since the official launch.
For more information on how to search for a medical provider in your area, visit www.pricedoc.com.
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