Digital Me: Insurance Re-imagined

Introduction

Personalised health insurance is leading a revolution in a world where healthcare and technology are merging. In this article we will examine how the field of health insurance is undergoing a digital change that is being driven by the most recent discoveries in metabolomics, genomics, phenomics and other -omics. In our ideal world, health insurance plans would not only be policies but also custom-tailored health solutions based on each person's distinct genetic and metabolic profile.

The Vanguard of Change: 

Cutting-edge initiatives that make use of AI-powered prediction models and blockchain technology are at the core of this revolution. These technologies improve the accuracy of risk assessment while guaranteeing the privacy and security of sensitive genetic data. This level of accuracy in determining a person's health risks opens the door to more equitable and cost-effective insurance plans, setting a new standard for healthcare administration.

Getting Through the Obstacles:

This approach, however, is fraught with complications. We will explore the potential socioeconomic obstacles that could prevent people from accessing customised plans, the moral conundrums and privacy issues associated with handling genetic data, and the urgent need for robust cyber-security in the context of our rapidly evolving digital health environment. These problems are not just impediments, but critical concerns to promote equitable and responsible innovation in health insurance.

Digital Biomarkers are key to this story

Digital Biomarkers are indicators, gathered via wearables, cellphones, and health monitors, that provide real-time information about a person's lifestyle and health. 

Unlike traditional exams, digital markers offer a comprehensive picture of health by recording everyday activities, physiological subtleties, and early health signs. This translates into more accurate risk assessments and personalised policy proposals that can cater for the most recent trends in a customer’s health condition. Imagine a situation in which adopting healthier lifestyles or managing one's health proactively results in noticeable reductions in insurance costs and coverage.The gathering and analysis of physiological and behavioural data has been revolutionised by digital biomarkers, which are produced from sensors and digital devices and have showed promise in a range of healthcare contexts. In order to investigate the clinical evidence surrounding digital biomarkers, a scoping analysis of systematic reviews was carried out (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36279171/). This research revealed that digital biomarkers have been used in a variety of study populations, interventions, and outcomes, with a particular emphasis on cardiac monitoring and physical activity. The assessment emphasised the collection of data on cardiac functions, gait patterns, and other topics using a variety of digital devices, such as wearable sensors and smartwatches. Wearables (22/31, 71%) were the most common types of digital devices. Position sensors (21/31, 68%) and heart rate sensors and pulse rate sensors (12/31, 39%) were the most prevalent types of sensors used to acquire behavioral and physiological data. The potential for their merging with genetic and metabolic data to create more precise, personalised, and preventive health solution could, with an ethically-driven approach revolutionise health insurance policies.

Reducing the Digital Divide:

However, there are challenges involved in incorporating digital indicators into health insurance. The ethical use of continuous monitoring, data protection, and making sure that everyone has access to these digital health tools — not just those who can buy the newest technology — are concerns that we need to address head-on. Solutions include: ensuring data safety through improved encryption and secure storage is essential, but so too is establishing complete ethical principles that encompass privacy, consent, and transparency in order to ethically confront the difficulties of digital health access and continuous monitoring. Improving digital literacy for every demographic can enable users to make knowledgeable decisions, and using inclusive design principles guarantees accessibility for a wide range of users. In order to ensure that everyone has access to these technologies and not just those who can buy the newest gadgets, governments and organisations should collaborate to subsidise access to them. Maintaining ethical standards in digital health and keeping up with technology changes require regular policy evaluations and stakeholder participation.

Examples of what-good-looks-like

Here is a round up of some pioneering firms that have caught our eye or we have worked with. Some of these have had challenges, not necessarily from a digital perspective, but more due to leadership re-prioritisation and the quintessential ‘why does this cost so much and I cannot see returns in year 1’. 

• Oscar Health : Distinguished for its inventive method of providing health insurance, Oscar Health has been utilising technology to customise medical encounters. They employ a range of data points to deliver individualised health recommendations and preventive care to their members. Health tracking, personalised health coaching, and telehealth services are easily accessible through their app and digital platform.
• UnitedHealth Group : Leading the way in the health insurance industry, UnitedHealthcare has been investigating how data analytics and digital health solutions may improve patient care and health plan administration. They have been funding programmes for illness management and personalised health assessments that involve the use of digital biomarkers.
• Vitality Group Inc. : This health insurance provider, located in the UK, is well-known for its Vitality programme, which offers incentives for adopting healthy habits that are monitored digitally. Members can track their activities and health indicators with wearables and other digital health technologies. They can also earn prizes for reaching certain health goals. This strategy uses digital biomarker analysis to encourage members to lead healthier lifestyles.
• Ping An Health : Pioneering the use of technology in healthcare, Ping An Health is a division of China's Ping An Insurance Group, the largest insurer in the world. Their technology offers a complete health management system by integrating many health services. With a focus on big data, AI, and mobile platforms, they provide effective and individualised healthcare services.
• Cigna Healthcare has been making significant investments in digital health solutions. They have created a number of platforms and apps that leverage health data analytics to promote illness management and wellbeing. They include digital biomarkers into their strategy to provide members with more individualised health guidance and assistance.
• FWD Insurance : The lifestyle app "Omne by FWD" was created by FWD Group Holdings Limited and provides a thorough platform for managing insurance and health. Through the app, customers conveniently manage a variety of insurance operations, including handling claims, updating personal information, and changing beneficiaries. In addition, the app monitors the customer biomarkers to provide rewards and incentives for reaching wellness and health objectives, as well as health and lifestyle tools including sleep aids and health assessments. 
• Wellx : Wellx provides a digital platform that offers challenges, illness management, and fitness to help customers live a healthier life. Their app is divided into ‘Feel’,concerned with mental and emotional well-being, ‘Live’ for physical health, and ‘Work’ for resilience in the workplace. This strategy seeks to lower expenses, enhance health outcomes, and maximise insurance benefits by leveraging live customer information.

So where do we start?

An obvious place to start would be to envision an insurance omnichannel approach including the use of an app that connects with the API of health tracking applications. Digital biomarker-infused apps are a huge step forward in the use of technology to improve healthcare and provide individualised services. These apps must be designed with behavioural insights and economics in mind. By comprehending the psychological elements that impact decision-making, such as biases and heuristics, the apps can, for example,  utilise customised notifications and rewards to encourage users to make healthier decisions and follow treatment regimens. Economic concepts such as rewards and penalties can be strategically used to encourage long-term user participation and adherence to health advice. Furthermore, tailoring health objectives and feedback according to user preferences and data can raise the app's perceived value and encourage a base of more involved and health-conscious users. By encouraging healthier lifestyles, this strategy not only helps users but also serves the interests of health insurance by perhaps lowering healthcare costs through preventative measures.

Here's a structure to guide your thought process:

1. Vision and Value Proposition: To start, make sure your app has a distinct and appealing vision. This vision should encompass the value the app hopes to provide to its users as well as the integration of digital biomarkers that it hopes to accomplish. Offering individualised health information, improving lifestyle options, or expediting access to healthcare services are just a few examples of how the value proposition must align with the goals and objectives of the end users. Stress how the app will improve their everyday life, provide individualised health solutions, and offer preventive health methods.

2. Collaboration and Stakeholder Engagement: Creating an app calls for coordinated efforts from a range of stakeholders, including end users, legislators, technologists, and healthcare providers. Establish a collaborative environment where each stakeholder's knowledge and insights are recognised. Interact with policymakers for regulatory compliance, tech specialists for creative solutions, healthcare providers for clinical validation, and, most importantly, potential consumers for their requirements and input. To guarantee that the app is comprehensive and user-focused, cultivate a culture of open innovation and co-creation.

3. Data Integrity and Security: These two factors are critical when working with personal health information and digital biomarkers. Provide a solid structure that complies with the strictest security and privacy requirements for the gathering, storing, and processing of data. Utilise cutting-edge encryption techniques, safeguard cloud services, and make sure that international data protection laws are being followed. Trust and credibility will increase if users are informed about how their data is handled and safeguarded.

4. Technology and Innovation: An app's technological capability is its fundamental component. Invest in state-of-the-art technology such as IoT, AI, and machine learning to efficiently collect and evaluate digital biomarkers. Concentrate on developing a fluid and understandable user interface that turns complicated health data into useful insights. Update the app frequently with the newest technological developments and never stop looking for creative ways to improve its usability and functionality.

5. Flexibility and Scalability: Consider scalability when designing the app. It ought to be flexible enough to accommodate increasing user counts, increased datasets, and changing healthcare requirements. A flexible design that can incorporate new functions, biomarkers, or services without upsetting the ecosystem's balance is one way to achieve this. Consider how healthcare and technology will develop in the future and make sure the app is ready to change with it.

6. Regulatory Compliance and Ethical Considerations: Navigating the intricate web of healthcare regulations is vital. Verify that the app conforms with all applicable ethical standards, legal requirements, and legislation pertaining to healthcare. Particular emphasis should be paid to matters such as cross-border data flow, telemedicine laws, and digital health records. Talk about the moral implications of using data, bias in AI systems, and fair access to the app's features.

7. Marketing and User Adoption: Lastly, create a thorough marketing plan that emphasises the special advantages of the app. To reach your target demographic, use traditional and digital marketing platforms. Adoption can be accelerated by educational initiatives that educate people about the value and advantages of digital biomarkers. Gather user opinions and success stories to improve the app and create a vibrant user base.

Caution is required in designing these apps

Although it is a groundbreaking endeavour, developing an app that incorporates digital biomarkers is not without its challenges. Effectively navigating these obstacles is essential to the project's success and long-term viability. 

1. Data Privacy and Security dangers: There are a lot of dangers involved with handling sensitive health data. Breach can result in a decline in trust as well as legal implications. Here is where underestimating the complexity of cybersecurity measures is problematic. Investing in cutting-edge security methods and keeping them up to date are vital to protect against ever-changing cyber threats.

2. Complexity of Regulatory Compliance: Digital health poses unique regulatory obstacles to an already tightly regulated healthcare sector. Especially if the app has a global user base, a common mistake is underestimating the complexity of compliance across multiple areas or failing to keep up with changing rules.

3. Over-reliance on technology: Although the foundation of these apps is technology, relying too much on it might be harmful. Biases can exist in algorithms, and the complexity of human health may not always be taken into consideration by AI models. The mistake is to undervalue human judgement and experience in addition to technology, especially when making delicate judgements pertaining to health.

4. User Data Overload: Users may become overwhelmed by the copious volumes of data that are gathered. Users who are less tech-savvy may become disengaged if you provide them too much information or information that is too complex. Achieving a balance between data comprehensiveness and usability and simplicity is essential.

5. Accessibility and Equity Issues: There's a chance that the app will only be useful to users who can afford particular technology or who possess a certain level of tech proficiency, leading to a digital gap. Maintaining fair access and creating inclusive designs are ongoing challenges that require attention.

6. Scalability and Performance Issues: As the app's user base expands, scalability problems may arise. Issues with performance, such as poor loading times or app crashes, can have a big effect on how happy and loyal users are. Anticipating and preparing for scalability from the outset is key.

7. Misinterpretation of Health Data: Users may misinterpret the health information offered by the app, which could cause them to worry unnecessarily or make them self-diagnose and treat themselves improperly. It is essential to make sure that the information is accurate, clear, and supported by the right advice.

8. Ignoring User-Centric Design: When developing apps, it's easy to focus too much on technology capabilities and too little on the needs and experiences of the user. To guarantee mass adoption and continued usage, the app needs to be user-friendly, entertaining, and customised to user preferences.

9. Colleague and Concerned Party Misalignment: When a project calls for cooperation between different industries, a mismatch in objectives, standards, and methods can provide a serious challenge. Setting shared goals and implementing effective communication are essential.

10. Ignoring Feedback and Continuous Improvement: Lastly, if an app doesn't have a system in place for ongoing enhancement based on user input and changing market trends, it may eventually become obsolete or irrelevant.

Strong risk management, a flexible and forward-thinking mindset, and a purposeful, user-centric approach are necessary to minimise these hazards. For the app to succeed in the long run, regular reviews, user interaction, and maintaining current with technological and legal developments are essential.

Finally

By embracing the role of digital markers, we are a part of a more sophisticated, progressive progression in the way we view health and insurance, not merely a shift in health insurance. There is great promise for this digital change but there are difficulties. We are at the brink of a dramatic change in the way that healthcare and insurance are related, as we work through this complex web of technical innovation, moral dilemmas, and accessibility concerns. Through a discussion of the opportunities and challenges in this fascinating sector, this blog has attempted to offer a view into that future.

We have observed the excitement and trepidation surrounding this new era of personalised health insurance through discussions with insurance clients and industry insights. The way forward combines accountability, creativity, and inclusivity. Our goal must stay building a cutting-edge, secure, and fair healthcare system even as we continue to develop and adapt new technologies. 

Developing an app that integrates digital biomarkers is a challenging but incredibly significant endeavor. Businesses can take advantage of the potential and overcome obstacles in this cutting-edge industry by following this strategy approach. This framework acts as a roadmap for building an ecosystem that revolutionises healthcare delivery and gives people unparalleled control over their health and wellness, in addition to developing a technical solution.

The era of health insurance is upon us, and it is more connected, personal, and technological than in the past. Let's embrace this adventure with open minds and a desire for greater health for all.

Ready to embark on this transformative journey? Connect with us at Monstarlab to initiate the conversation and shape a future where healthcare and insurance meet innovation seamlessly.