Proactive Digital Healthcare
In my podcast, I explore the many different facets of the world of high tech from development to marketing, to sales, to entrepreneurship, all with the goal of collecting key insights on startups for listeners to gain value from this knowledge-sharing. So, what did I discover this week?
Elevance Health (formerly known as Anthem) has established a local Israeli company to build collaborations and integrations that can help implement and integrate important technologies that can then be used by the Elevance Health ecosystem and its members in the US. This trend of US-based companies accessing Israeli innovation is nothing new, however, in the context of health insurance, Elevance Health is attempting to create a new paradigm in healthcare. The goal for Elevance Health is to use Startup Nation to usher in a new era of health services: one where insurance companies are proactive care partners in the fight against chronic diseases, in the treatment and prevention of illnesses, and in helping their members stay healthy.
A Win-Win for Israeli and US Ecosystems
“We are taking care of more than 47 million lives in the US,” Udi highlights, “and Elevance leaders realized around 4 years ago that if they want to revolutionize the way Elevance thinks then they will need global innovation.” Multinational corporations and large enterprises such as Elevance have long looked to advanced tech hubs like Israel to find the newest, best devices and solutions on the market. As digital healthcare evolves, Israel continues to be a forerunner when it comes to adopting and developing new health technologies. Elevance Health is aiming to capitalize on Israel’s digital health space by finding the technologies that can fit with their new mission of being a health insurer that is also a partner in the treatment or care cycle.
Of course, new technologies bring better service and better service means better business, at least in the US. But Elevance Health is also helping to build out the Israeli health tech ecosystem. By incubating, adopting, and promoting technologies such as K-Health, a digital-first, virtual primary care platform, and Tytocare, a digital remote medical examination platform, amongst others, these companies have a chance to truly validate and test their solutions, with the backing of Elevance Health’s resources and membership network. Therefore, they can actually grow alongside Elevance Health and improve their solutions and businesses.
Digital Healthcare Is Now — Even for Insurance
“The system that is in place right now is dated, nurses and care staff still use phone calls to check on people — our members want solutions for the modern day, that help and give a better response,” Udi goes on to explain, “digital will not replace humans, but it can make it better.” While Elevance Health may still be just another “health insurer”, Udi wants to change the way people think of their health insurance. Rather than the awful experience of trying to figure out copayments or getting reimbursed, he wants Elevance members to know that Elevance is with them every step of their care journey. In that way, not only do you create better value for your customers but also inspire internal, and organizational innovation so that you are always on top.
It is no secret that digital healthcare is a growing trend. The coronavirus pandemic certainly accelerated its adoption by mainstream users as well. Technologies that can help develop a new care paradigm are part of this evolution in healthcare and Udi hopes to grab the attention of Israeli startups who think they have a unique solution and are looking to grow — together. “We are here to partner and come up with new solutions, so we can be proactive this year and help our members be healthier next year.”
Elevance Health is one of many companies like this in Israel, connecting distinct ecosystems. Entrepreneurs, around the world, can definitely benefit from this and need to find the right enterprise that can help them with their goals. At the end of the day, partnerships like this can be partnerships of a lifetime.
Originally published at https://www.geektime.com on November 17, 2022.
