Monthly Archives: January 2021

Emerging technologies and innovations in digital technology are beginning to transform the insurance landscape as they enable new ways to measure, control, and price risk, engage with customers, reduce cost by improving efficiency and expand insurability. Consequently insures have enormous opportunities to bring in innovative insurance solutions and revamp their business models. Incumbent insurers and insurtech companies are now increasingly collaborating and aligning with the new digital commons to develop new business models and revenue streams by adopting a digital first, technology centric approach.

Digitization and automation driven by newer data based technologies are changing the traditional landscape of many industries. In healthcare, a data intensive industry, technology start-ups offering new products and services are creating newer opportunities for industry incumbents to solve long-standing problems and also meet the expectations of tech-savvy, new-age customers.

Availability of real-time and reliable health data from digital health tools, resolve of governments to combat non-communicable diseases and willingness of members to share health data in lieu of benefits such as a reduced premium is a perfect opportunity for insurers to enter into innovative digital health partnerships and move from being merely a payer of healthcare to partners in good health.

With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic that spread globally at an accelerated pace, healthcare resources at all levels were shifted away from the management and prevention of chronic diseases to contain the outbreak. Prolonged lock-downs have led to reduced access to healthcare, a sudden drop in the referrals to physicians, and a reduction in the hospitalization of patients for treatment of conditions other than the COVID-19 infection. Reports suggest a partial or complete disruption of services for chronic patients across many countries worldwide. Options for community-based support and care for such patients are limited, thereby leading to a serious concern about the effect of the pandemic on the long-term clinical outcomes of patients with chronic diseases.