Our work with healthcare organizations like Abarca Health and this Blue Cross Blue Shield provider constantly reminds us that the digital solutions landscape is changing for healthcare insurance providers and the patients and staff who rely on them.
In the fast-paced, ever-changing world of healthcare, maintaining the status quo with digital solutions is rarely enough. It’s vital that the tech you lean on is built for today and tomorrow.
Is your organization positioned for increased engagement, decreased churn, and greater confidence in your future?
Consider Incorporating These 5 Practices for Healthcare Insurance Providers
- Start Human and Think User Experience
It’s human nature to make assumptions. We are actually hardwired to do it as a way to simplify our decision-making process. With any digital product you create or use, thinking in terms of user experience helps us push back against those assumptions.
It’s crucial to focus any software or AI solution on the people who will use it–patients, providers, or even staff. Identifying their pain points and crafting clear insights empowers you to map an end-to-end experience that leads to better outcomes.
Consider asking questions like:
- What is the user actually trying to do when making a health insurance claim?
- Does the product solve the pain felt by the human using it?
- What policies and practices will promote these optimized experiences?
- Interrogate Your Data
Every company has mounds of data. Demographics, psychographics, surveys–the list goes on and on. It’s easy to gloss over it all because it’s hard to interpret.
The big mistake brands make is only to ask, “what does the data say?”. That question is inherently flawed because the data doesn’t say anything. Humans say things.
There is immense value in diving deep into your data to uncover hidden problems, behavioral patterns and potential opportunities. Combining human-centered qualitative research with data-driven quantitative research illuminates the path forward. Thoughtfully interrogate your data and position your business to move within reach of your most important objectives.
- Stretch Your Perspective, Build Bridges, and Set a Purpose
Imagine what’s possible. Too many brands we work with limit themselves to looking at competitors for inspiration. The best ideas come from expanding beyond your vertical and fostering open-ended conversations.
Famed hockey legend Wayne Gretzky once said, “I skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been.” Assuring better digital outcomes in the ever-changing landscape of healthcare comes from embodying this mantra.
Consider Covid. Throughout the pandemic, families stuck at home have relied on digital products and solutions in new ways. This has radically changed user experience and expectations and spurred growth in telehealth to address the health needs of patients and providers.
Building better things requires stretching our perspectives. True digital transformation is about innovation. Do things that lead your organization toward opportunity, not just current ability. The key is to incorporate a purpose everyone can rally around to decrease resistance and increase buy-in. That’s where we see the most return on investment for the healthcare brands we serve.
- Prototype and Validate in the Wild
Working in regulated environments presents challenges. Those roadblocks understandably deter many healthcare insurers from embracing failure and prototyping. The irony, in our experience, is that the best way to de-risk any operation is to locate and address problems early through low-cost prototyping and user validation. Digital solutions that wait to launch with little end-user validation encounter more problems.
Now, we are not suggesting that you validate things in the wild with real patient data. It’s important to thoughtfully build out a plan that incorporates best practices to meet your regulated environments.
While you can never anticipate everything, proactive testing reduces risks of violations, and costly updates. According to Forbes, the farther into the launch process you go, the more expensive and time-consuming it is to make changes that could have been corrected with proper testing.
- Unleash the Power of Radically Collaborative Teams
All digital transformation projects need multifunctional teams to guide them. Siloed, single departments making all the decisions rarely result in the best possible outcome. Pulling from a cross-section of people brings a broader perspective, leads to more robust solutions, and creates better experiences for end-users and people throughout the organization. Diverse teams produce better products which mean leaders need to empower small teams to make decisions and advocate for users.
Today’s digital-first world demands healthcare professionals build solutions that predict and react to the end-users increasing demand for user-friendly and convenient experiences.
A Plan for Execution
If you’re constantly assessing how to stay ahead of the curve and assure better outcomes, you’re not alone. We have helped large and emerging healthcare brands identify the right digital solution to build and then go about building it right.
The most important thing you can do is start conversations with your team about principles and practices like these. Assess where you are and begin to chart a path forward.
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