AHIP 2017: Shaking up the health insurance industry

By Gienna Shaw May 31, 2017 4:31pm

You might think that the health insurance industry has had quite enough disruption, thank you very much. But despite an uncertain political landscape and the up-in-the-air fate of the Affordable Care Act, health insurers and providers are still moving forward with plans to shake up the way healthcare is delivered to cut costs, improve member and patient engagement, and drive better quality and outcomes.

New entrants in both the payer and provider markets are challenging the old models—with varying degrees of success. At this year’s AHIP Institute, the “industry disruption and innovation” track will feature speakers from organizations such as Oscar Health, a technology-focused health insurance company founded in 2012, and Iora Health, a Boston-based firm that helps launch patient-focused primary care practices.

Here are some concurrent sessions at next week's meeting of America's Health Insurance Plans in Austin, Texas, that put the spotlight on innovation:

Disrupting Traditional Primary Care
Thursday, June 8

1:30 p.m.

Harry Ritter, M.D., VP of care delivery for Oscar and Marc-David Munk, M.D., chief medical officer at Iora, along with Jan Berger, M.D., president and CEO of Chicago-based consultancy Health Intelligence Partners, will lead this concurrent session on disrupting the patient care setting.

Applying Design Thinking to Health
Thursday, June 8
2:30 p.m.

Human-centered design, also known as design thinking, is a process for better understanding user needs, problem-solving and discovering growth opportunities. But it’s not just for products. In this session, Charu Juneja, Design Institute for Health director at the Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin, will explain how to apply design thinking to healthcare services and systems to improve experiences and outcomes for patients and families, providers and healthcare organizations.

“This session will share some principles of design and its successful application to health as well as challenge attendees to think differently about the problems we should be solving in health and how we approach them,” the agenda notes.

Changing the Paradigm: What Innovative Employers are Looking for and How They’re Getting it Done
Thursday, June 8
4 p.m.

Becky Atkeison, director of enterprise health and well-being at FedEx Services, Renya Spak, a partner at Mercer Health and Benefits advisory firm, and Sheree Bailey, wellness coordinator for the City of Austin, will lead this concurrent session on employee wellness and benefit plans.

Making Health Work at Work: Reimagining Employee Health Benefits in an Age of Disruption

Friday, June 9
10:15 a.m.

Adam Beck, AHIP’s vice president of employer health policy and initiatives and commercial exchange policy and operations, will lead this concurrent session that tackles the rising cost of healthcare—one of the most critical issues facing American businesses.

“Employers have the dual challenge of attracting talent through benefit offerings while using creative means to cut benefit costs wherever possible,” the session description notes. “New technologies, startup benefit providers, legal and political uncertainty and a younger workforce all pose a challenge to disruptively change the decades-old world of employee benefits.”

The session promises to delve into the strategies large employers use to lower cost and improve employee health and satisfaction.

Affordable Care Act (ACA) Finance Healthcare Costs Innovation Politics Triple Aim Adam Beck American Health Care Act America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) Becky Atkeison Health Intelligence Partners Iora Health Mercer Health and Benefits Oscar Health University of Texas Health Tech