Compared to other stakeholders in the healthcare ecosystem, payers are late adopters of Health 2.0 technology.
While many payers are beginning to invest, a panel at the Health 2.0 Conference in San Francisco in October demonstrated how they are leading the pack.
Kaiser Permanente's electronic health record system is well known in the industry. The healthcare organization is putting the finishing touches to its EHR throughout the enterprise, said Christopher Ohman, senior vice president of health plan operations outside California for Kaiser.
Using EHRs, members can fill prescriptions, schedule appointments, retrieve test results and send messages to their physicians, among other things. "The next step is to bring those foundational pieces together," he said. Through its EHR, Kaiser Permanente is focusing on both clinical care management and consumer engagement.
Cigna underwent a transformation in 2007 from an insurer to a healthcare company. "We put the customer in the center of the universe," said Ingrid Lindberg, customer experience officer.
One of the ways Cigna is achieving this goal is by collaborating with IT companies.
Cigna partnered with Intuit to provide transparency to consumers on the cost of services. The national payer partnered with Eliza to deliver relevant data to consumers in the way they choose. Lindberg stressed the importance of using accessible language for consumer engagement.
The average American spends four hours choosing a television but only 30 minutes choosing a health plan, Lindberg said. "Our job is to give them tools to help them with the process," she said.
Regence BlueCross BlueShield redefined its strategy to address, among other things, lack of transparency in the payer industry. "Insurers have to change fast and respond quickly," said Mohandas Nair, executive vice president.
Regence is balancing medical management with consumer engagement by giving its members tools to make better decisions, he said. "The key is to marry the consumer with data."
Ultimately, Nair said, "We have to be the change we want to be." Payers are in a position to sponsor the tools that educate and incentivize consumers, he said.