WO 00/17800 PCT/US99/22020 APPLICATION FOR UNITED STATES LETTERS PATENT FOR: REDUCING RISK USING BEHAVIORAL AND FINANCIAL REWARDS WO 00/17800 PCT/US99/22020 1 These known methods increase the incentive for the insured entity to re 2 duce the insured-against risk. However, these methods are subject to several draw 3 backs. Where the insured-against risk is relatively inevitable (such as with life 4 insurance or long-term care insurance), the insurance company finds it difficult to 5 avoid the inevitability of a claim. Rather, it is in the underwriter's interest-to stave off 6 the claim for as long as possible. 7 Certain kinds of insurance (such as long-term care insurance) also have a 8 substantial effect on the family of the insured person. For example, the insured person 9 is often faced with the dilemma of either (1) reduction to penury to qualify for gov 10 ernment support, or (2) spending their entire estate on long-term care. The family of 11 the insured person also has interests against these options. 12 Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a method and system 13 to increase the incentive for the insured entity to reduce the insured-against risk, even 14 when that insured-against risk is relatively inevitable. In the case of long-term care 15 insurance, it is in the underwriter's interest to provide incentives for the insured person 16 and their family to maintain the insured person's health and independence for as long 17 as possible (quite apart from the emotional incentives they already have). 18 Application Serial No. ,Express Mail Mailing No. EE 261 914 19 722 US, filed September 23, 1998, in the name of Stephen J. Brown, titled "Dynamic 2 WO 00/17800 PCT/US99/22020 1 Modeling and Scoring Risk Assessment," assigned to the same assignee, attorney 2 docket number HHN-003 describes techniques for modeling and scoring risk assess 3 ment that are time-dependent, and in one embodiment are responsive to progression of 4 a disease or degenerative condition in a patient. 5 One aspect of this co-pending application is that the insurer can dynami 6 cally adjust the risk assessment of individual insured persons in response to actions 7 taken (or not taken) by those insured persons to maintain their own health. The un 8 derwriter can thus dynamically adjust the cost or the benefits of the insurance policy in 9 response to those actions. By doing so, the underwriter, the insured person, and the 10 insured person's family have the common goal of maximizing the useful life and inde 11 pendence of the insured person. 12 As described in the co-pending application, dynamic reassessment can 13 be perfornied in conjunction with a monitoring and scoring system for determining 14 risk assessment for populations and for individuals with regard to those populations. 15 It would also be desirable for the insured person (and associated others) 16 to make use of dynamic risk reassessment to monitor and influence the behavior of the 17 insured person, to reduce the risk. It would also be desirable to provide the insured 18 person, and the insured person's family with information available to the underwriter, 3 WO 00/17800 PCT/US99/22020 1 and to suggest particular prescribed or proscribed actions that would reduce short-term 2 risk and provide a greater payoff for all concerned. 3 Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide the insured person, 4 and associated others, with feedback information from dynamic reassessment of the 5 risk associated with the insured person, so that the insured person, and associated oth 6 ers, can act to minimize that risk. This advantage is achieved in an embodiment of the 7 invention in which the insured person and their beneficiaries are provided with feed 8 back information and instruction responsive to dynamic risk reassessment, and in 9 which payments from an associated set of insurance products are allocated dependant 1o on compliance with that feedback. For example, one such insurance proeluct includes 11 a long-term care component and a life insurance component, and devotes a fraction of 12 the product premium to one or the other component in response to compliance with the 13 feedback offered by the underwriter. 14 Summary of the Invention 15 The invention provides a set of techniques and products in which one or 16 more insured persons and one or more associated beneficiaries are monitored with re 17 gard to dynamic risk reassessment, are given feedback information responsive to that 18 dynamic risk reassessment, and are encouraged to comply with the feedback informa 19 tion. In a preferred embodiment, the insured persons and associated beneficiaries are 4 WO 00/17800 PCT/US99/22020 1 coupled to a client-server system that is configured to obtain dynamic measurement of 2 medical information (for example, using bio-medical devices or using a question and 3 answer format), and the client-server system is configured to alert the insured persons 4 and associated beneficiaries to suggested behaviors for reducing risk. The preferred 5 embodiment includes an insurance product in which portions of the insurance pre 6 mium are allocated to one or more components (such as a long-term care benefit or a 7 life insurance benefit), in response to compliance with the suggested behaviors. Thus, 8 the insured is provided with an incentive for compliance with the suggested behaviors 9 for reducing risk by receiving a more beneficial allocation of the premium to the com 10 ponents of the insurance product. 11 In a preferred embodiment, an insured patient is examined at intervals by 12 medical personnel, to determine medical information that can be used as factors for 13 dynamically determining a risk assessment for that insured patient. The medical per 14 sonnel can determine a medical regimen (possibly including diet, exercise, prescribed 15 medication, or other factors) that are intended to reduce the insured-against risk. The 16 insured patient, and where appropriate, associated beneficiaries or other close rela 17 tions, use a client device with a client-server system to provide dynamic medical in 18 formation regarding the condition of the insured. For example, the client device can 19 periodically measure blood glucose, blood pressure, heart rate, weight, and the like. 20 Similarly, the client device can periodically question the insured patient or the close 5 WO 00/17800 PCT/US99/22020 1 relations for information about the insured, such as affect or mentation, diet or exer 2 cise, and the like. 3 In response to the prescribed medical regimen and information from the 4 insured patient, a server device receiving that information from the client device can 5 dynamically reassess risk factors associated with that insured patient, and can alert 6 medical personnel or close relations in response thereto. In response to dynamic risk 7 assessment, the server device can modify which portions of an insurance premium (or 8 other financial product payments) are allocated to one or more components (such as a 9 long-term care component or a life insurance component). The server device can use 10 patient compliance with the suggested medical regimen as one measure to be factored 11 into the dynamic risk assessment. 12 Description of the Drawings 13 Fig.lA shows a block diagram of a system for data collection and inter 14 pretation for a population; 15 Fig. 1B shows details of the client device shown in Fig. 1A. 16 Fig. 1 C shows devices that may be connected to client device; 17 Fig. ID shows details of the data review device; 6 WO 00/17800 PCT/US99/22020 1 Fig. 2 illustrates a data flow diagram indicating some of the data paths 2 used in a preferred embodiment; 3 Fig. 3A illustrates a process for determining dynamic risk assessment; 4 Fig. 3B illustrates a process used to evaluate patient information; 5 Fig. 4 illustrates a process used to respond to risk; and 6 Fig. 5 illustrates a process used to determine feedback information. 7 Description of the Preferred Embodiments 8 In the following description, a preferred embodiment of the invention is 9 described with regard to preferred process steps and data structures. Embodiments of 1o the invention can be implemented using general-purpose processors or special purpose 11 processors operating under program control, or other circuits, adapted to particular 12 process steps and data structures described herein. Other embodiments include com 13 puter program products that contain computer code embodied in a computer readable 14 media for causing a computer to perform the process steps. Implementation of the 1s process steps and data structures described herein would not require undue experi 16 mentation or further invention. 7 WO 00/17800 PCT/US99/22020 1 Related Applications 2 Inventions described herein can be used in combination or conjunction 3 with inventions described in the following patent applications. These patent applica 4 tions are hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein: 5 e Application Serial No. 09/041,809, filed November 21, 1997 in the 6 name of Stephen J. Brown, titled "Phenoscope and Phenobase," as 7 signed to the same assignee, attorney docket number RYA- 136; 8 e Application Serial No. , filed _ , in the name of Ste 9 phen J. Brown, titled "Health Management Process Control System," 10 assigned to the same assignee, attorney docket number RVA-1 14. 11 e Application Serial No. , filed _ , in the name of Ste 12 phen J. Brown and Erik K. Jensen, titled "On-line Health Education 13 and Feedback System Using Motivational Driver Profile Coding and 14 Automated Content Fulfillment," assigned to the same assignee, at 15 torney docket number RYA- 115. 16 e Application Serial No. ,filed _ , in the name of Ste 17 phen J. Brown, titled "Multiple Patient Monitoring System for Pro 18 active Health Management," assigned to the same assignee, attorney 19 docket number RYA- 116. 8 WO 00/17800 PCT/US99/22020 1 . Application Serial No. , filed , in the name of Ste 2 phen J. Brown, titled "On-Line Health Education Using Composites 3 of Entertainment and Personalized Health Information,'? assigned to 4 the same assignee, attorney docket number RYA- 119a. 5 e Application Serial No. , filed _ , in the name of Ste 6 phen J. Brown, titled "Monitoring System for Remotely Querying In 7 dividuals," assigned to the same assignee, attorney docket number 8 RYA-126. 9 . Application Serial No. ,filed _ , in the name of Ste 10 phen J. Brown, titled "Multi-User Remote Health Mouitoring Sys 11 tem," assigned to the same assignee, attorney docket number RYA 12 131a. 13 e Application Serial No. ,Express Mail Mailing No. EE 261 14 914 722 US, filed September 23, 1998, in the name of Stephen J. 15 Brown, titled "Dynamic Modeling and Scoring Risk Assessment," 16 assigned to the same assignee, attorney docket number HHN-003. 17 9 WO 00/17800 PCT/US99/22020 1 System for Reducing Risk 2 The invention enables dynamic risk determination of an insured's condi 3 tion. An example of when the invention can be used is if the insured has. a progressive 4 condition, which will eventually require long-term care (such as diabetes), but for 5 which in-home care is currently appropriate. Another example where dynamic risk 6 determination can be used is if the insured is at risk for a medical setback (such as an 7 MI or a stroke) but currently is capable of self-care. Yet another example is when the 8 insured is currently being cared for by family, but the care burden is increasing and the 9 insured will eventually require long-term care. The invention allows the underwriter 10 to dynamically determine the current risk to the insured and to provide incentives to 11 the insured to reduce that risk. 12 Fig. 1A shows a block diagram of a system for data collection and inter 13 pretation for a population. 14 Referring to Fig. 1A, a system 100 includes a client device 110, a server 15 device 120 including a database of information 121 and a program memory 122, and a 16 data review element 130. These devices are connected via a communication channel 17 140, such as a communication network as is well known in the art, and as more fully 18 described in the Phenoscope and Phenobase patent application (serial no. 09/041,809). 10 WO 00/17800 PCT/US99/22020 1 The communication channel 140 may be a simple point-to-point network 2 (for example a wire connecting the client device 110 with the server device 120), or a 3 complex network such as the Internet. 4 Referring to Fig. 1B, the client device 110 is disposed locally to a patient 5 111 (the insured), and includes an output element 112 for presenting information to the 6 patient 111, and an input element 113 for entering information from the patient 111. 7 As used herein, "locally" refers to a logical relationship to the patient 111, and does 8 not have any necessary implication with regard to actual physical position. In a pre 9 ferred embodiment, the client device 110 is relatively small or compact, and can be 10 disposed on a night table or otherwise near the patient 111. 11 The output element 112 includes a display screen 114, on which ques 12 tions and suggested answers can be displayed for the patient 111, to facilitate informa 13 tion entry, or on which instructions can be displayed for the patient 111, to instruct the 14 patient 111. The output element 112 can also include a speaker 115, to present infor 15 mation in conjunction with or in alternative to the display screen 114. The output ele 16 ment 112 can also include a bell or other sound element, or a bright light 119 or a flag, 17 to alert the patient 111 that the client device 110 has questions or information for the 18 patient 111. 11 WO 00/17800 PCT/US99/22020 1 The input element 113 includes a plurality of buttons 116A-D for enter 2 ing information. 3 The input element 113 can also include one or more dataports 117A-D 4 for entering information from other devices. Referring to Fig. 1 C, such other devices 5 118 can include a medical measurement device, such as a blood glucose meter or a 6 blood pressure monitor. Such other devices 118 can also include a general purpose or 7 special purpose client workstation, such as a personal computer or a hand-held digital 8 calendar. 9 The server device 120 is disposed logically remotely from the patient 10 111, and includes a database 121 of information about the patient 111 and about other 11 patients in a related population thereof. As used herein, "remotely" refers to a logical 12 relationship to the patient 111, and does not have any necessary implication with re 13 gard to actual physical position. 14 The database 121 includes medical history, medical regimen, and risk 15 progression information for the insured and a similarly situated population. The data 16 base 121 also includes the compliance background for the insured indicating how well 17 the insured follows the prescribed medical regimen and avoids the proscribed activi 18 ties. 12 WO 00/17800 PCT/US99/22020 1 The server device 120 also includes the program memory 122 that con 2 tains program code and data to cause the server device 120 to perform subsequently 3 described processes. 4 In a preferred embodiment, the server 120 and database 121 are prefera 5 bly accessible using a standard network connection (such as a.world wide web con 6 nection). The server 120 and database 121 may include single stand-alone computers 7 or multiple computers distributed throughout a network. 8 The data review element 130 is disposed logically remotely from the pa 9 tient 111, and includes an interface 131 disposed for use by an operator 132. The op 10 erator 132 can comprise medical personnel, a device operated by medical personnel, or 11 a similar device, capable of interacting with the interface 131 to receive information 12 from the data review element 130 and possibly to enter information into the data re 13 view element 130. Information entered into the data review element 130 can be en 14 tered for ultimate transmission to the server device 120 or to the client device 110. 15 The data review element 130 is preferably a personal computer, remote 16 terminal, web TV unit, Palm Pilot unit, interactive voice response system, or any other 17 communication technique. The data review element 130 functions as a remote inter 18 face for entering server 120 or client device 110 messages and queries to be communi 19 cated to the individuals. The data review element 130 also functions to provide the 13 WO 00/17800 PCT/US99/22020 i professional to evaluate the progression of the insured and to monitor the insured's 2 medical regimen. 3 Other and further information regarding the system 100 is shown in Ap 4 plication Serial No. 09/041/809, titled "Phenoscope and Phenobase," attorney docket 5 number RYA-136 and Application Serial No. ,titled "Dynamic Modeling 6 and Scoring Risk Assessment," attorney docket number HHN-003. 7 Fig. 2 illustrates a data flow diagram, indicated by general reference 8 character 200, that indicates how data flows within a preferred embodiment. The 9 nodes include an insured 201, a client device 203, a server device 205, an accounting 10 server 207, a work station 209, and a professional 211. These nodes are connected by 11 data flows that include an 'insured-client device' data stream 221, an client device 12 insured data stream 223, a client-server data stream 225, a server-client data stream 13 227, a server-workstation data stream 229, a workstation-server data stream 231, a 14 workstation-professional data stream 233, a professional-workstation data stream 235, 15 a 'workstation-accounting server' data stream 237, an 'accounting server-insured' data 16 stream 239, and an 'accounting server-server device' data stream 241. Each of these 17 data streams transfer data between the nodes connected by the data stream. 18 In particular the server device sends patient protocol and interrogatories 19 to the insured by sending this information across the server-client data stream 227 to 14 WO 00/17800 PCT/US99/22020 1 the client device 203. The client device 203 then instructs or queries the insured 201 2 utilizing the client device-insured data stream 223. The insured 201 responds to the 3 queries, instructions, or through bio-medical input devices to the client device 203 us 4 ing the 'insured-client device' data stream 221. The client device 203 passes this ac 5 quired information to the server device 205 over the client-server data stream 225. 6 The server device 205 stores the information acquired from the insured 201. 7 Feedback is provided to the insured 201 by sending feedback informa 8 tion from the server device 205 to the client device 203. This feedback information 9 can include additional medical regimens for the insured 201 to timely follow (for ex 10 ample, additional tests that are determined by the server device 205 responsive to the 11 information just gathered from the insured). 12 The professional 211 uses the work station 209 (passing data over both 13 the workstation-professional data stream 233 and the professional-workstation data 14 stream 235) to access and/or modify data received by, stored on or created on the 15 server device 205. This data is accessed using the server-workstation data stream 229. 16 The professional 211 can also modify the medical regimen for the insured or provide 17 other information for the insured. These modifications are sent to the server device 18 205 over the workstation-server data stream 231 and then to the insured using the 19 server-client data stream 227, the client device 203, and the client device-insured data 20 stream 223. The professional 211, using the work station 209 can send information 15 WO 00/17800 PCT/US99/22020 1 (reflecting benefits to the insured) to the accounting server 207 using the 'workstation 2 accounting server' data stream 237. The status of benefits can be sent directly to the 3 insured using the 'accounting server-insured' data stream 239 (for example by using 4 postal mail, FAX or other traditional mechanism) or the information can be sent over 5 the 'accounting server-server device' data stream 241 to the server device 205 and on 6 to the insured using previously discussed paths. 7 The professional 211 assesses the insured-against risk using both the 8 static data most recently collected from the insured, the progression over time of the 9 data collected from the insured and information known to, or accessible by the profes 1o sional 211. This assessment includes the insured's compliance with the prescribed 11 medical regimens and other environmental and behavioral factors. This assessment 12 can also include information and recommendations provided by artificial intelligence 13 expert systems that are accessible to the professional 211 through the work station 209. 14 Fig. 3A illustrates a dynamic risk assessment process, indicated by gen 15 eral reference character 300, for determining dynamic risk assessment. The dynamic 16 risk assessment process 300 is cyclic in normal circumstances. A 'gather patient in 17 formation' step 301 obtains medical information (such as bio-medical information) 18 from the insured (using the client device 110) by using a series of questions or by us 19 ing bio-medical sensors. The medical information is gathered according to a protocol 20 provided by the server device 120. This medical information is sent to a server device 16 WO 00/17800 PCT/US99/22020 1 that performs an 'evaluate patient information' step 303 that determines one or more 2 risk factors for the insured as is subsequently described with respect to Fig. 3B. Next, 3 the dynamic risk assessment process 300 delays for an appropriate time at-a delay step 4 305. This delay can be varied as appropriate for the insured, the insured's condition, 5 the caregivers, and the insurance provider. The delay step 305 determines the time 6 interval between gathering information from the insured and is appropriately set to be 7 (for example and without limitation) some number of days, weeks or months. Eventu 8 ally, the delay ends at an 'delay complete' step 307 and the dynamic risk assessment 9 process 300 repeats at the 'gather patient information' step 301 to re-determine the in 10 sured-against risk for the insured. 11 The medical information gathered by the 'gather patient information' 12 step 301 is specific to the insured's current risk and progression of the condition. For 13 example, the insured or caregiver may be periodically instructed to check for sores on 14 extremities if the insured is diabetic. In addition, the caregiver can provide informa 15 tion about affect or mentation. If the insured interacts with the client device 110, the 16 response time to questions can also be gathered. 17 The 'gather patient information' step 301 and the 'evaluate patient in 18 formation' step 303 can be repeated dependent on the data acquired from the insured 19 by the previous iteration. Thus, if the previous iteration returned data that indicates 20 that a subsequent test should be performed, the server device 120 can send the client 17 WO 00/17800 PCT/US99/22020 1 device 110 a protocol to cause the client device 110 to obtain the new information 2 from the insured, caregiver, or other person. 3 Fig. 3B illustrates an 'evaluate patient information' process; indicated by 4 general reference character 320 that reassesses the risk based on the gathered informa 5 tion and responds to that risk. The 'evaluate patient information' process 320 is in 6 evoked by the 'evaluate patient information' step 303 of Fig. 3A and initiates at a 'start' 7 terminal 321. The 'evaluate patient information' process 320 continues to a 'send data 8 to server device' procedure 323, performed by the client device 110, that sends the 9 medical information gathered by the client device 110 to the server device 120. The 1o medical information is stored on the database 121 by a 'store data' procedure 325. 11 Once the medical information is stored, a 'reassess risk' procedure 327 12 (as disclosed in Application Serial No. ,attorney docket number HHN-003) 13 can use the medical information, a risk-assessment model and the database 121 to de 14 termine the current risk of the insured. The risk includes one or more risk factors. 1 These risk factors are used to determine an insured-against risk. 16 Example risk factors include information such as "patient smokes," "pa 17 tient has diabetes," "patient has diabetes and doesn't bother to check his blood sugar 18 regularly," etc. 18 WO 00/17800 PCTIUS99/22020 .1 Once the insured-against risk has been determined, the 'evaluate patient 2 information' process 320 continues to a 'respond to risk' procedure 329 (subsequently 3 described with respect to Fig. 4). The 'respond to risk' procedure 329 determines one 4 or more medical regimens for the insured. These medical regimens are selected to re 5 duce the risk factors and thus to reduce the insured-against risk of the insured. The 6 'respond to risk' procedure 329 can also adjust the proportion of the insurance cost 7 allocated to components of the financial product used by the insured. The 'reassess a risk' procedure 327 and the 'respond to risk' procedure 329 need not be performed 9 every time data is received by the server device 120. These procedures can be exe 10 cuted independent of the following procedures. 11 Once the medical information is stored by the 'store data' procedure 325 12 the dynamic risk assessment process 300, can also continue to a 'determine feedback 13 information' procedure 331 that develops feedback for the insured that can include one 14 or more medical regimens, display of bio-medical information, encouragement to fol 1s low the suggested medical regimen or follow-on protocols. The feedback information 16 is sent back to the client device 110 by a 'send feedback information' procedure 333. 17 A 'present feedback information' procedure 335 then presents the feedback informa 18 tion to the insured and/or the caregiver. The 'evaluate patient information' process 19 320 completes through an 'end' terminal 337. 19 WO 00/17800 PCT/US99/22020 1 The 'determine feedback information' procedure 331 can also provide 2 the client device 110 with additional data gathering protocols that are dependent on the 3 just-gathered information - to obtain additional information. In addition, the 'deter 4 mine feedback information' procedure 331 checks to determine whether the just 5 gathered information is out-of-limit, indicates a trend, or should be forwarded to a 6 medical professional. 7 Other preferred embodiments can allocate these processes between the 8 client device 110 and the server device 120 in a different manner. For example as the 9 relative cost/performance ratio changes for the client device 110 and the server device 10 120, more of these procedures can be moved to the client device 110. 11 Fig. 4 illustrates a 'respond to risk' process, indicated by general refer 12 ence character 400, that is configured to adjust the cost of the financial product be 13 tween the components of the financial product for the insured. The 'respond to risk' 14 process 400 is invoked by the 'respond to risk' procedure 329 and initiates at a 'start' 1s terminal 401. The 'respond to risk' process 400 then continues to a 'risk change' deci 16 sion procedure 403 that determines whether the current insured-against risk has suffi 17 ciently changed from the existing insured-against risk retrieved from the database 121. 18 If the insured-against risk has not sufficiently changed, the 'respond to risk' process 19 400 completes through an 'end' terminal 405. Otherwise, the 'respond to risk' process 20 400 continues to an 'allocate benefits' procedure 407 that reallocates the cost to the 20 WO 00/17800 PCT/US99/22020 1 insured between the components of the financial product to correspond to the new in 2 sured-against risk. Where the insured-against risk is reduced, the new allocation re 3 wards the insured. However, if the insured-against risk has increased, the insured is 4 penalized. Next, an 'inform' procedure 409 generates information that will be pro 5 vided to the insured and/or the caregiver either using postal mail or as information 6 provided to the insured by the 'present feedback information' procedure 335. This 7 procedure also provides the new allocations to an accounting database and/or the pay 8 - out system for the financial product. Next, the 'respond to risk' process 400 completes 9 through the 'end' terminal 405. 10 In a financial product that has at least two components (such as a long 11 term care component and a life insurance component) the 'allocate benefits' procedure 12 407 determines a cost for the long term care component and allocates a first payment 13 to that component of the financial product. The 'allocate benefits' procedure 407 then 14 allocates a second payment to the life insurance component of the financial product, to 1s an annuity, or to another benefit for the insured (such as a refund). The second pay 16 ment is a function of the first payment. This payment allocation is structured to pro 17 vide an incentive to the insured to conform to the currently suggested medical 18 regimen. 19 Fig. 5 illustrates a 'determine feedback information' process, indicated 20 by general reference character 500, used to assemble the feedback information. The 21 WO 00/17800 PCT/US99/22020 1 'determine feedback information' process 500 is invoked by the 'determine feedback 2 information' procedure 331 and initiates at a 'start' terminal 501. A 'correlate regimen 3 with risk factors' procedure 503 uses the risk factors determined by the 'reassess risk' 4 procedure 327 to select one or more. medical regimens that can be provided to the in 5 sured. An 'evaluate regimen history' procedure 505 then uses the history of medical 6 regimens suggested to the insured and stored on the database 121 to determine the pre 7 ferred selection of medical regimens. Then a 'modify regimen' procedure 507 modi 8. fies the existing medical regimen if the existing medical regimen is different from the 9 preferred medical regimen. The 'modify regimen' procedure 507 may change the data 1o collection protocol used by the client device 110. These procedures 503, 505, and 507 11 are all dynamic in that they use historical information collected from the insured and 12 are responsive to the progressive nature of the information collected about the insured. 13 This is particularly important for those having a progressive condition or degenerative 14 disease (for example, diabetes, and CHD). 15 Next, a 'select feedback language' procedure 509 selects the language 16 used to present the feedback information to the insured. Often, the selected language 17 is a natural language such as English. However, the 'select feedback language' proce 18 dure 509 can also control how much technical jargon is to be included. Thus, the lan 19 guage can be customized for the educational and experience level of the insured and/or 20 the caregiver. A 'prepare feedback information' procedure 511 assembles the feed 22 WO 00/17800 PCT/US99/22020 1 back information including the suggested medical regimens coded for the language of 2 the insured. The 'determine feedback information' process 500 completes through an 3 'end' terminal 513. 4 The 'correlate regimen with risk factors' procedure 503 evaluates the 5 risk factors, the insured's progression and the information gathered from the insured to 6 identify medical regimens best suited to gather additional information from the insured 7 or to help the insured to reduce the insured-against risk. One embodiment of the in 8 vention uses Bayesian statistical techniques to perform this correlation. 9 Alternative Embodiments 10 Although preferred embodiments are disclosed herein, many variations 11 are possible which remain within the concept, scope, and spirit of the invention, and 12 these variations would become clear to those skilled in the art after perusal of this ap 13 plication. 23