Net settlement of subrogation claims using a distributed ledger
Aspects of distributed ledger technology are leveraged to verify subrogation settlements. In particular, two parties to a subrogation claim provide cryptographic hashes to a subrogation demand smart contract stored at an address on a blockchain. The subrogation demand smart contract determines that the parties have reached an agreement by determining that the cryptographic hashes match. A settlement amount from the subrogation claim may be appended to a set of settlement amounts to determine a net settlement amount to facilitate a single payment between the parties on a periodic basis, such as daily, to alleviate the need for the parties to send or receive a payment for each individual settlement amount.
1. A computer-implemented method for generating a subrogation demand smart contract using a distributed ledger, the method comprising, via one or more processors, servers, and/or associated transceivers:
generating the subrogation demand smart contract for the distributed ledger in a distributed ledger network maintained by a plurality of participants each executing code in the subrogation demand smart contract to reach a distributed consensus on a state of the subrogation demand smart contract, the subrogation demand smart contract configured to:
determine a proof of agreement regarding a settlement between a first party and a second party to a subrogation claim by comparing a first cryptographic hash value provided by the first party to a second cryptographic hash value provided by the second party, and determining that there is proof of agreement in response to determining that the first and second cryptographic hash values match, wherein each of the first and second cryptographic hash values are determined based upon a same set of one or more characteristics of the settlement between the first and second parties; and
record the proof of agreement regarding the settlement in the distributed ledger to allow the first and second parties to verify terms of the settlement; and
deploying the subrogation demand smart contract to the distributed ledger maintained by the plurality of participants in the distributed ledger network.
2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more characteristics of the settlement include at least one of: a demand identifier, a demand type, a settlement amount, or a company code of one of the first and second parties providing the settlement.
3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the subrogation demand smart contract is further configured to:
determine that there is no proof of agreement in response to determining that the first and second cryptographic hash values do not match; and
transmit notifications to the parties indicating that there is no proof of agreement regarding the settlement.
4. A computer-implemented method of verifying a settlement of a subrogation claim between a first party and a second party using a distributed ledger, the method comprising, via one or more processors, servers, and/or associated transceivers:
determining, by the first party, a settlement amount for the settlement of the subrogation claim between the first party and the second party;
generating a first cryptographic hash value based upon one or more characteristics of the settlement between the first party and the second party;
broadcasting the first cryptographic hash value to a subrogation demand smart contract deployed to the distributed ledger and maintained by a plurality of participants in a distributed ledger network as a proof of agreement of the settlement between the first and second party, each of the plurality of participants executing code in the subrogation demand smart contract to reach a distributed consensus on a state of the subrogation demand smart contract, wherein the subrogation demand smart contract compares the first cryptographic hash value submitted by the first party to a second cryptographic hash value submitted by the second party to determine if there is a match;
obtaining an indication from the subrogation demand smart contract that the first and second cryptographic hash values match indicating there is proof of agreement between the first party and second party; and
appending the settlement amount to a set of settlement amounts between the first party and the second party agreed upon over a threshold time period to determine a net settlement amount with the second party over the threshold time period.
5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , wherein the first party and the second party determine the first cryptographic hash value and the second cryptographic hash value, respectively, using a same set of one or more characteristics of the settlement.
6. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , wherein the one or more characteristics of the settlement include at least one of: a demand identifier, a demand type, a settlement amount, or a company code of one of the first and second parties providing the settlement.
7. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , further comprising:
determining a supplemental settlement amount for a supplement settlement of the subrogation claim between the first party and a second party based upon additional items or expenses which were not included in the settlement;
generating a third cryptographic hash value based upon one or more characteristics of the supplement settlement between the first party and the second party;
broadcasting the third cryptographic hash value to the subrogation demand smart contract deployed to the distributed ledger and maintained by the plurality of participants in the distributed ledger network as a proof of agreement of the supplemental settlement between the first and second party, wherein the subrogation demand smart contract compares the third cryptographic hash value submitted by the first party to a fourth cryptographic hash value submitted by the second party to determine if there is a match;
obtaining an indication from the subrogation demand smart contract that the third and fourth cryptographic hash values match indicating there is proof of agreement between the first party and second party; and
appending the supplemental settlement amount to the set of settlement amounts between the first party and the second party agreed upon over the threshold time period to determine the net settlement amount with the second party over the threshold time period.
8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein determining a settlement amount includes determining a partial settlement amount based upon a subset of items or expenses in the subrogation claim.
9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein:
generating a first cryptographic hash value includes generating the first cryptographic hash value based upon one or more characteristics of the partial settlement between the first party and the second party; and
appending the settlement amount includes appending the partial settlement amount to the set of settlement amounts between the first party and the second party agreed upon over the threshold time period.
10. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein the subset of items or expenses in the subrogation claim are a first subset of items or expenses in the subrogation claim and wherein the additional items or expenses are a second subset of items or expenses in the subrogation claim which were not agreed upon in the settlement.
11. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein the additional items or expenses are submitted by the first or second party after the settlement has been agreed upon.
12. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , wherein the subrogation claim further includes at least a third party, and the subrogation demand smart contract compares the first cryptographic hash value submitted by the first party, the second cryptographic hash value submitted by the second party, and at least a third cryptographic hash value submitted by the at least third party to determine if there is a match.
13. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , wherein the first cryptographic hash value is generated by a third-party aggregator or service provider.
14. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , further comprising:
transmitting a message to a messaging smart contract deployed to the distributed ledger and maintained by the plurality of participants in the distributed ledger network, wherein the message is viewable by the second party.
15. A computer system for verifying a settlement of a subrogation claim between a first party and a second party using a distributed ledger, the computer system comprising:
a network interface;
one or more processors; and
a non-transitory computer-readable memory storing instructions thereon, that when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
determine, by the first party, a settlement amount for the settlement of the subrogation claim between the first party and the second party;
generate a first cryptographic hash value based upon one or more characteristics of the settlement between the first party and the second party;
broadcast, via the network interface, the first cryptographic hash value to a subrogation demand smart contract deployed to the distributed ledger and maintained by a plurality of participants in a distributed ledger network as a proof of agreement of the settlement between the first and second party, each of the plurality of participants executing code in the subrogation demand smart contract to reach a distributed consensus on a state of the subrogation demand smart contract, wherein the subrogation demand smart contract compares the first cryptographic hash value submitted by the first party to a second cryptographic hash value submitted by the second party to determine if there is a match;
obtain an indication from the subrogation demand smart contract that the first and second cryptographic hash values match indicating there is proof of agreement between the first party and second party; and
append the settlement amount to a set of settlement amounts between the first party and the second party agreed upon over a threshold time period to determine a net settlement amount with the second party over the threshold time period.
16. The computer system of claim 15 , wherein the first party and the second party determine the first cryptographic hash value and the second cryptographic hash value, respectively, using a same set of one or more characteristics of the settlement.
17. The computer system of claim 15 , wherein the one or more characteristics of the settlement include at least one of: a demand identifier, a demand type, a settlement amount, or a company code of one of the first and second parties providing the settlement.
18. The computer system of claim 15 , wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to:
determine a supplemental settlement amount for a supplement settlement of the subrogation claim between the first party and a second party based upon additional items or expenses which were not included in the settlement;
generate a third cryptographic hash value based upon one or more characteristics of the supplement settlement between the first party and the second party;
broadcast, via the network interface, the third cryptographic hash value to a subrogation demand smart contract deployed to a distributed ledger and maintained by a plurality of participants in a distributed ledger network as a proof of agreement of the supplemental settlement between the first and second party, wherein the subrogation demand smart contract compares the third cryptographic hash value submitted by the first party to a fourth cryptographic hash value submitted by the second party to determine if there is a match;
obtain an indication from the subrogation demand smart contract that the third and fourth cryptographic hash values match indicating there is proof of agreement between the first party and second party; and
append the supplemental settlement amount to the set of settlement amounts between the first party and the second party agreed upon over the threshold time period to determine the net settlement amount with the second party over the threshold time period.
19. The computer system of claim 18 , wherein the settlement amount is a partial settlement amount based upon a subset of items or expenses in the subrogation claim.