PROVIDER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT SYSTEM THAT FACILITATES INTERACTION BETWEEN AN INDIVIDUAL AND ORGANIZATIONS
A provider relationship management system (“PRM system”) is disclosed that enables an individual to manage information about and electronically interact with organizations. The PRM system presents an individual with a list of organizations that the individual may have a relationship with. The individual selects one or more organizations from the list to add the selected organizations to a personal provider directory. The individual uses the personal provider directory to manage information associated with each organization. The individual may seek to establish an interactive connection with one or more organizations in the personal provider directory. If a selected organization agrees to establish an interactive connection with the individual, the organization is permitted to communicate with and send electronic documents to the individual. Each document is associated with a document type, and the document type is associated with certain actions that may be taken with respect to the corresponding document.
1 . A method for enabling delivery of an electronic document from a sending organization to an individual, the method performed by a computing system having a processor and a memory, the method comprising:
receiving from an individual an indication of a desire to receive electronic documents from a sending organization;
receiving from the individual information that identifies the individual to the sending organization;
providing to the sending organization the indication of the desire of the individual to receive electronic documents from the sending organization and the information that identifies the individual to the sending organization;
receiving from the sending organization an approval of the individual; and
enabling the sending organization to send electronic documents to the individual after the approval from the sending organization has been received,
wherein the sending organization is relieved of an obligation to send paper documents to the individual after approval of the individual.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving an electronic document from the sending organization that is addressed to the individual; and
presenting the received electronic document to the individual.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the information that identifies the individual includes at least one of a name, an account number, a physical address, an email address, a username, a password, a phone number, and a social security number.
4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving from the sending organization a request for additional information that identifies the individual;
sending the request for additional information to the individual;
receiving the additional information from the individual; and
providing the sending organization the additional information received from the individual prior to receiving the approval of the individual from the sending organization.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the individual may communicate with the sending organization after the approval of the individual has been received.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the sending organization may communicate with the individual after the approval of the individual has been received.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the sending organization is part of a provider directory associated with the individual.
8 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the electronic document is of a document type, and wherein the document type is associated with one or more allowed actions that are permitted to be taken by an individual in conjunction with the associated document type.
9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the individual has an existing relationship with the sending organization.
10 . A system for enabling delivery of an electronic document from a sending organization to an individual, the system comprising:
a user interface module that is configured to:
receive from an individual an indication of a desire to receive electronic documents from a sending organization; and
receive from the individual information that identifies the individual to the sending organization;
an organization interface module that is configured to:
provide to the sending organization the indication of the desire of the individual to receive electronic documents from the sending organization and the information that identifies the individual to the sending organization; and
receive from the sending organization an approval of the individual; and
an interaction management module that is configured to enable the sending organization to send electronic documents to the individual after the approval from the sending organization has been received, wherein the sending organization is relieved of an obligation to send paper documents to the individual after approval of the individual.
12 . The system of claim 10 , further comprising a document management module that is configured to receive an electronic document from the sending organization that is addressed to the individual, wherein the user interface module is further configured to present the received electronic document to the individual.
13 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the information that identifies the individual includes at least one of a name, an account number, a physical address, an email address, a username, a password, a phone number, and a social security number.
14 . The system of claim 10 , wherein:
the organization interface module is further configured to:
receive from the sending organization a request for additional information that identifies the individual; and
provide the sending organization the additional information received from the individual prior to receiving the approval of the individual from the sending organization; and
the user interface module is further configured to:
send the request for additional information to the individual; and
receive the additional information from the individual.
15 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the individual may communicate with the sending organization after the approval of the individual has been received.
16 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the sending organization may communicate with the individual after the approval of the individual has been received.
17 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the sending organization is part of a provider directory associated with the individual.
18 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the electronic document is of a document type, and wherein the document type is associated with one or more allowed actions that are permitted to be taken by an individual in conjunction with the associated document type.
19 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the individual has an existing relationship with the sending organization.
20 . A computer-readable medium containing instructions for execution by a processor, the instructions causing the processor to implement a method for enabling delivery of an electronic document from a sending organization to an individual, the method comprising:
receiving from an individual an indication of a desire to receive electronic documents from a sending organization;
receiving from the individual information that identifies the individual to the sending organization;
providing to the sending organization the indication of the desire of the individual to receive electronic documents from the sending organization and the information that identifies the individual to the sending organization;
receiving from the sending organization an approval of the individual; and
enabling the sending organization to send electronic documents to the individual after the approval from the sending organization has been received,
wherein the sending organization is relieved of an obligation to send paper documents to the individual after approval of the individual.
21 . The computer-readable medium of claim 20 , further comprising:
receiving an electronic document from the sending organization that is addressed to the individual; and
presenting the received electronic document to the individual.
22 . The computer-readable medium of claim 20 , further comprising:
receiving from the sending organization a request for additional information that identifies the individual;
sending the request for additional information to the individual;
receiving the additional information from the individual; and
providing the sending organization the additional information received from the individual prior to receiving the approval of the individual from the sending organization.