Elevance Health offering AI certification to employees

Elevance Health is expanding its associate benefits and will be incorporating artificial intelligence skills training into its employee education and professional development programs.

Designed to help associates adapt to emerging technologies, the programs are meant to spur associates to responsibly leverage AI and other technologies in their work, with an eye on improving health outcomes.

“By expanding access to AI-focused training alongside broader learning opportunities, we are preparing our people to grow their careers while ensuring we continue to build the skills needed to lead in a dynamic business environment and deliver an enhanced healthcare experience for the people we are privileged to serve,” said Ryan Craig, executive vice president of human relations at Elevance Health.

WHAT’S THE IMPACT

The insurer is kick-starting a number of initiatives to achieve this. One is a collaboration with OpenAI, which Elevance said will give associates the opportunity to earn formal certifications in AI fluency, ranging from foundational skills like prompt engineering to advanced AI-enabled work.

New partnerships with Colorado Technical University and American InterContinental University are expected to provide associates with pathways to earn degrees at no cost, supported through tuition assistance and university grants. The program complements existing tuition assistance benefits to enable fully funded education, said Elevance.

The company is also expanding internal skills academy and learning programs, which will include courses that address topics such as AI principles, human-centered design and data literacy. More than 38,000 associates have already completed over 66,000 courses, according to Elevance.

Giancarlo “GC” Lionetti, chief commercial officer at OpenAI, said in a statement that AI can be a powerful driver of economic opportunity, given that people have the skills and training to use it.

“With OpenAI Certifications, Elevance Health associates can build practical fluency, put these tools to work in their daily roles, and grow their careers, showing how intelligence can deliver real benefits to the people and communities they serve,” said Lionetti.

The expanded benefits will roll out in phases beginning later this year, with associates encouraged to explore the new programs as they become available, the company said.

THE LARGER TREND

A new PwC analysis projects that $1 trillion in annual healthcare spending will shift away from fragmented, infrastructure-heavy models and toward empowered "super consumers" and a digital-first system of care.

The shift is already taking shape in the form of virtual-first delivery, AI-supported decision-making and interoperable, consumer-centered platforms, the report said.

Analysts’ vision of the future is that by 2035, healthcare will be proactive, automated, robot-enabled and accessible virtually anywhere.