Humana Leads Us Into the Next Frontier of Digital Health
September 26, 2019
Tech continues to unlock the potential of health care, and Humana is first to talk about how they, too, are a tech company.
“Insurance is an important part of what we do, but we actually feel that we’re more about integrated health care,” said Heather Cox, chief digital health and analytics officer at Humana. “We want to be that partner who can help you live a better, healthier life, and we see technology as the vehicle helping us deliver that.”
Focused particularly on providing seniors with the tools to live healthily and happily, Humana is deeply invested in the benefits and potential of digital health. For example, they’re using tools like telehealth, remote monitoring and data analytics to help us care for a more vulnerable population.
"Digital health is the next frontier for us,” Cox said.
Cox and Humana CEO Bruce Broussard believe that technology and data are the building blocks of new tools that can continue to transform health care, and they emphasize analytics as a driver of customer experience.
Humana Studio H
With data-driven digital health as an emphasis for Humana, the company recently established Humana Studio H, a center for digital health and analytics focused on creating new products and services that will be developed for use across the organization.
Studio H marks an investment in the future of digital health and connected, personalized health care.
“It’s about what [we are] going to do to help you find those insights to be there to dance at your granddaughter’s wedding,” Cox said.
Humana describes itself as working on differentiated health care experiences, and the establishment of projects and centers like Studio H are enhancing the company’s abilities to provide that for their members.
Describing an example, Cox said on the CES Tech Talk podcast, “We’ve got to get to a place where if you’ve been diagnosed with a pretty tough situation, we’ve got to find ways to help you. And getting to the cloud where we can have that compute power, where we can create the machine learning models that can help you live longer...we’ve got to get there.”
Years Down the Road
Looking toward the future of digital health, the goal is for every Humana interaction with its members to be driven by personal records populated with data that can drive the engagements between patient and their providers, clinicians and other care teams.
Cox hopes for and anticipates the development of commercial applications of artificial intelligence, providing predictive outcomes that will save lives.
In 15 to 20 years, Humana’s vision is for data-driven and machine-learning health care to be the norm, and for individuals to use personalized data to understand and plan for healthy living.
“I think it’s going to be possible for you to understand at age 20 what your future looks like, and be able to manage your own path,” Cox said.
Visit Humana at CES 2020
No stranger to the CES show floor, Cox said of CES, “It opens your eyes to just how rapidly the world is moving every year. [Humana is] excited to be there. We are aiming to show up and have product on the floor to show off.”
The Humana team is looking forward to finding the next business opportunity and partnership at CES 2020 to help bring new tools and resources to their customers.
“You always find the next great idea,” she said of CES.
