First launched in December 2020 through a partnership with Google Cloud, Highmark's Living Health Dynamic Platform is offering members personalized and equity-focused health plans through enhanced data analytics and a social determinants of health strategy, PittsburghInno reported July 8.
The custom health plans are backed by a six-year agreement between Highmark and Google Cloud company Verily. The Living Health platform provides personalized healthcare recommendations to patients through data that can be customized by providers.
"That kind of application of agile principles and, most importantly, cross-functional teams working as a single unit to achieve the outcome has helped increase trust and transparency," Highmark Health Chief Analytics Officer Richard Clarke, PhD, said in a TechVibe Radio podcast. "We believe fragmentation is one of the biggest challenges in healthcare. Frankly, a lot of the digital health solutions coming out now actually make that worse."
Dr. Clarke said that while the healthcare data analytics industry is growing quickly, the complexity of the data and its implementation is still a major challenge, especially in relation to a single member's health outcomes.
The Living Health strategy includes a member survey on social determinants of health, including access to housing, transportation, job opportunities and nutrition. Through the data, the payer can then connect members with subsidized and free food programs or digital health services to ensure equitable outcomes.
"We have to make sure whatever we're doing continues to be … scalable, but also incredibly inclusive," Dr. Clarke said in the TechVibe Radio podcast. "That's where we're going to keep pushing ourselves to say, 'How do we roll out some of these things, especially those that are digital-first, to make sure they are inclusive and reach all the communities we serve across West Virginia, New York, Delaware and Pennsylvania, so everyone can benefit from the positive impact we know we can have?'"