Health plan solutions can help improve patient care, but will providers adopt them?

Most health plans have traditionally played a limited role in the provider and patient care experience, but this is changing rapidly. Increasing medical costs coupled with competition from disruptive players are causing many providers to rethink their care models, sources for data, and insights. These pressures are also causing health plans to rethink their growth strategies and the nature of their provider relationships. Health plans' M&A, partnership, and investment activities are shifting from horizontal to vertical, as they join forces with health care providers, retail pharmacies, and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs).¹ Some employers are experimenting with direct provider contracting and offering employees their own primary care, altogether bypassing traditional insurers.² New entrants bring a commitment to customer experience, a track record of reducing costs, and unparalleled analytics expertise, promising to reinvent the customer experience in health care.³

As health plans consider how to compete for the customer, (i.e., the member, patient, caregiver), collaborating with health care practitioners on the frontlines of delivering care can be a way to create a superior member and patient experience, improve outcomes, and lower costs.

Are health care practitioners interested in working with health plans and are they willing to adopt the solutions health plans might offer to improve patient care? The Deloitte Center for Health Solutions conducted a study to help answer this question. Explore the results here.