Health insurer Cigna has launched a tool company executives say uses "anticipatory computing" to help covered patients find doctors, understand health care finance, and meet health goals.
It is currently being piloted by JPMorgan Chase and will expand to a select number of U.S. employers in 2015. Cigna plans to offer the tool, called Cigna Compass, to a broader segment of its employer sponsored health plan customer base in 2016 and beyond.
The tool synthesizes data related to a consumers medical plan use, biometric data, incentive information, claims history, and coaching program involvement. Those insights create personalized alerts to notify customers of their top opportunities to improve their health and lower their health care costs.
The tool is designed to simplify the complexity of health care decision making for consumers. In a 2012 study commissioned by the company, consumers ranked making health care system less confusing through benefit navigation as their highest priority.
By pairing proprietary algorithms with a very clean, simple user experience, the company says Cigna Compass delivers personalized information to customers to:
- Help them build a proactive personal health team of quality, cost-efficient health care professionals and services by guiding customers to stay in network and choose local cost-effective options such as urgent care, preferred labs, and free-standing radiology facilities;
- Educate them on how plan funds work together (HRA/HSA, Incentives, FSA) to lower their out-of-pocket costs;
- Remind them about ongoing reward programs;
- Encourage use of available benefits such as personal health coaches and other programs and resources to improve health;
- Benchmark them against their peer group for the identified opportunity selected and/or how that peer group has benefited from the recommendation, for example, Did you know that 70% of people who work with a coach make progress toward their goals?
The tool is also designed to reach out to any customer who has an identified opportunity like alerting someone who has not received preventive care with a note that the individuals plan offers an incentive for a yearly checkup or recommended lab test. As customers make progress toward their health goals and incentive rewards, they can see their updated personal information as well as new recommendations every time they log in, whether from a desktop, tablet, or mobile device.
Greg Goth writes for Health Data Management, a SourceMedia publication.
