Can digital health turn payers into preventers? By Peter Ohnemus - May 22, 2020
Despite valiant efforts, health insurers today are, for the most part, still viewed by consumers as a payment system for their illness bills – period. They’ve yet to win the hearts and minds of consumers as the caring partner – with their best interests in mind – striving to help them achieve happier, healthier lives. But with a carefully crafted digital health strategy focused on prevention, health insurers can change this negative perception and move up the value stream – a win-win for the insurer and member. The insurer’s digital health strategy must focus on transforming the current disjointed offering of dozens of health-tech services into a single integrated ecosystem of solutions residing on one digital health platform. Illness vs. Wellness Historically, health insurers have invested in digital health solutions focused on treatment of illness and management of chronic conditions. (i.e., disease management, care management, etc.), aimed at reducing the high costs associated with them. For example, a telemedicine call is less expensive than a live doctor visit, and a diabetes management program can reduce episodic events and hospitalizations. While these are valid applications for digital health technology with a calculable ROI, the absence of a robust focus on preventing these conditions in the first place surrenders an enormous opportunity to increase personal engaging touch-points with members and reshape the insurer’s image (we care partner – predict & prevent), while reducing health care spend. In fact, the American Medical Association’s research has shown that lifestyle modifications can reduce annual health care costs by nearly $2,700 per participant and have a 3-year ROI as high as 42%. A Revised Digital Health Strategy