Payers take advantage of consumer technology
Health insurers are embracing social media, mobile health applications and even games as they position themselves for accountable care and try to encourage their members to take more interest in their wellness, according to a recent report from Chilmark Research.
Having struggled for years to encourage plan enrollees to change unhealthy behaviors with only mixed results, payers are now leveraging innovative, easy-to-use consumer technologies to increase the success of their member engagement strategies, say Chilmark researchers. While most of the projects are still in the early going, some are showing promise, according to the report.
"The passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is forcing a major restructuring of the healthcare sector and health insurers must innovate to demonstrate value to their customers (employers) and improve margins," said John Moore, Chilmark's founder and managing partner.
"As the industry shifts from a fee-for-service to outcomes-based reimbursement models, insurers are implementing several strategies to survive in this new world order," he added.
The study, Benchmark Report: Payer Adoption of Emerging Consumer Tech, examined more than 40 programs where insurers are putting common consumer technologies - such as social media, games and mobile apps - to work to encourage consumers to participate in wellness and disease management programs.
Those findings are in keeping with another recent study, sponsored by the TriZetto group, which showed that consumerism - and the empowerment of those consumers - would be a key driver for payers in the post-reform era.
The survey found one key fact, common among the 500 consumers it polled: They all wanted access to "actionable and personalized" information and tools.
"Consumers want to be empowered," says Eric Grossman, a vice president in TriZetto's enterprise strategy unit - noting that, in the wake of the ACA, some 70 million to 100 million Americans will be "active consumers of health and ancillary services."
He said payers should move beyond simply deploying innovations such as consumer-focused mobile technology and instead work towards more sophisticated data analytics, leveraging that knowledge to provide personalized intelligence and help influence consumer and provider behaviors.
"Consumers really do want health plans to act as their advocates in helping them find the right solutions and make smarter healthcare decisions," said Grossman.
The Chilmark report finds that improvements in consumer technologies, their growing adoption and use and the introduction of low-cost, biometric devices are making it easier for health insurers to see results from their deployment. Many payers are partnering with third parties or developing applications in-house. A few have even acquired software companies.
Still, said Moore, "The industry is still very much in the early-innovator, adoption stage. The vast majority of health insurers remain sitting on the sidelines."
