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IDC Report Predicts Trends for Health Payer Market

January 13, 2015

A recent report from IDC Health Insights predicts the top 10 trends that may take place in the coming year within the health-related payer industry.


The report, “U.S. Payer Health IT 2015 Top 10 Predictions”, says payer organizations will need to prepare for changes in the market that could occur as a result of alterations to the U.S. health sector. More than anything else, IDC predicts that payers will begin to embrace omni-channel strategies to better engage with individual customers. Deanne Primozic Kasim, the research director of payer health IT strategies at IDC Health Insights, says varied customer populations will challenge payers simply because of their diversity and says payers must adopt analytical tools to determine how to best meet those populations' needs.

“Payers are particularly challenged in 2015 to select and implement new processes and related analytical tools to better assess their operational performance, overall effectiveness, and understand their multifaceted consumer populations,” Kasim said. “These ten prediction areas provide a road map for payer decision makers to assess their related operational and technology areas and prepare their strategies and resources to leverage changing market conditions and create new opportunities.”

The ten predictions include the ideas that payers will use omni-channel delivery models and will, necessarily, increase their collective understanding of such models. This should place them on an even playing field with their customers – the individuals who already immerse themselves in digital technologies and know what they expect, regarding communications, from payer companies who handle their medical accounts. Moreover, IDC predicts that payers will use cloud-based software to engage with their customers and will also outsource basic IT services to manage their own business processes.

In addition, the report expects that payer organizations will work more with government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, will develop non-insurance lines of business such as IT-related health innovation, and will work more with private health exchanges to address national changing needs for individual health coverage.

Given the intent to adopt new technologies and the ability to view details of their own operations through the lens of analytics, payers should be more prepared than ever to meet the needs of the insured. If the predictions listed in the IDC report come to pass, payers should get an intimate look at how their own businesses operate and should be well prepared for customer demands that will undoubtedly manifest in a greater desire for mobile functionality and instant access to services.

The IDC announcement and top ten list can be found here.




Edited by Maurice Nagle



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