Technology has been changing at a rapid pace, and we’re barely being able to keep up. Companies and businesses are automating any process that has room for automation. It is not surprising, then, that several technology trends in health insurance are changing how the industry works. And that’s not all, as they are revolutionizing the way we think and manage insurance completely.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning are becoming an essential part of automation and digital technologies. This will also be a part of health insurance in the future. Wearable devices and fitness tracking are a reality now and adding them to your policy seem to bring several benefits. Also, big data and data analytics will transform the way companies evaluate their policyholders. These three technological trends in health insurance represent a huge shift in the industry’s model.
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
There are many possible uses for artificial intelligence and machine learning in almost every industry. However, AI and ML are some of the technology trends in health insurance that can have a significant impact. Several hospitals and health centers are implementing AI and ML in order to automate repetitive tasks or routine processes. Specialists expect to see AI taking care of more complex tasks in the future, though, through diagnostic tools.
Some examples include processing claims, assessing and evaluating new policyholders, determining risk level, as well as predicting future incidents. AI is also powering different chatbots that can provide efficient customer service through websites and mobile apps.
Wearable Devices and Fitness Tracking
Since 2015, Vitality Group started implementing their popular interactive insurance model, which included fitness tracking as its main idea. Using wearable devices that can record and share fitness and health status information, the company offers several benefits to policyholders. These include lower premiums, special rates, discounts, and even gift cards redeemable at stores like Amazon, Hotels.com, and more.
This way, policyholders get extra motivation to pursue a healthier lifestyle, and insurers obtain useful data regarding their customers. However, privacy advocates worry about how the companies will manage and store such data, and whether they will end up selling to third parties or not. Despite the criticism, wearable devices are one of the many technology trends in health insurance that are reshaping the business model.
Big Data and Data Analytics
The insurance industry has always followed a data-driven business model. Thanks to the digitalization of data that has become to take over almost every business, insurance companies have access to huge databases. Thus, being able to properly gather, store, manage and analyze such data has become an essential part of the insurance industry.
There are several benefits of big data technologies within the health insurance industry. Some of them include improving the customer experience, predict epidemics, prevent diseases from spreading, and calculating insurance costs accurately.