Data is now the leading decision factor when it comes to the health and wellbeing sector, according to Dr Katie Tryon, director of health strategy at Vitality Health.
“Data is king nowadays, and we have invested a huge amount in our data science capabilities on that,” Dr Tryon said.
“We really have quite a vast array of it.”
She was speaking at the Association of Medical Insurers and Intermediaries (AMII) Health and Wellbeing Summit that took place in Westminster in London.
Tryon also said increased data was helping in product design, enabling insurers to understand from a health perspective what areas that should be addressed.
But she added “the behaviour change perspective is a huge piece” for the insurer with data helping to promote those initiatives.
She said part of that was the development of a habit index which is “really digging into what does it mean to have a habit, how do you change your habit, and how do you hold onto a habit”.
“Things like that are actually crucial when it comes to prevention,” Dr Tryon continued.
“You really need to think about how you are getting into their world and how do you take them on a journey that would really improve them in an engaging fashion.”
Further steps can be taken when working with insurers to use data and understand the health needs of their workforces.
“From a corporate side its really interesting how you use that data,” Dr Tryon noted.
“When it comes to businesses a lot of companies have a plethora of different tools at their disposal – some of which you don’t even know they have, some of which they don’t know how to target and use and that is really something to think through.
“Which challenges are your employee base having, what services are available and how do you engage people with those particular services so that they actually use them? And what are the outcomes employers are looking for? What is the expectation in six months to a year?
“That is a really important way to use data as well.”