New research from the Everest Group observed that COVID-19 acted as a forcing function for healthcare payers to future-proof their technology estate and enable more resilient care models. The pandemic pushed healthcare payers to focus on modernization, automation, data and analytics and cloud.
Top IT investment strategies in 2020
IT for operational efficiency: With the onset of COVID-19, payers had to face some serious operational challenges such as disruption of member service operations as well as multiple administrative inefficiencies around provider network management, member communication and claims management.
Payers are transitioning to intelligent operations built on the pillars of cloud, artificial intelligence, automation and data to support growth, improve the customer experience and increase quality of care.
IT for access to care: Telehealth and home care broke ground as a care channel in 2020. The pandemic pushed technology giants, governments and institutions from varied domains to pool their efforts to innovate to help fight the pandemic.
The ecosystem introduced new applications, information guides, consumer wearables and other devices. Payers have heavily invested in this area through strategic partnerships and acquisitions.
IT for member engagement: COVID-19 has irrevocably disrupted the traditional way of delivering care. Payers are developing strategies to reimagine member satisfaction by addressing challenges around communication, care access, coordination and responsiveness.
They are increasing members’ access to health information, creating next-generation service desktops, launching health applications, and building member engagement platforms.
The question to ask: can this happen to Asia's healthcare payers? What can the industry learn from their US counterparts?
