Before year-end, GreenShield plans to offer an app called GreenShield+, which will provide a centralized offering to group insurance plan members. The insurer, which offers benefits and health services plans alike, says app users will be able to check their coverage, access their benefits, connect with health care providers and get reimbursed for claims.
The health care and services specialty insurer describes the GreenShield+ app as a virtual health care and insurance ecosystem. The solution will bring together insurance, benefit administration and claims payments with mental health, pharmacy and telemedicine services, among others.
GreenShield believes this new digital environment will bridge the typical gaps in the marketplace between claims payers and providers.
A pressing need
In Canada, 60 per cent of people would like to be able to access all the health care they need in one place, according to a recent GreenShield survey of more than 3,500 of its policyholders or patients. Knowledge of Canada’s healthcare system is high, but expertise on how to navigate the system is low, the survey finds.
Having multiple services is one thing, but it is even better if they are integrated, says Steve Laberge, Senior Vice-President, Enterprise Growth and Quebec Region Leader at GreenShield Canada. “If it’s hard for the insured to access services from different links and multiple passwords, they’ll end up not using them,” he told The Insurance Portal.
No need to repeat
According to the survey, 61 per cent of people would rather not have to re-explain all their conditions every time they talk to a new health care practitioner.
GreenShield presents a scenario where a user contacts a doctor who prescribes a medication that the online pharmacy delivers to the insured’s door. The doctor identifies the problem as stress-related, and connects the user to a therapist. “There’s no need to repeat your story because it’s already in the system,” the payer-provider explains.
Recently acquired links
Bolstered by the survey results, the insurer is now looking to transform its recently consolidated ecosystem into an application. “In the last two years, GreenShield has made eight acquisitions; it had not made any in the previous 63 years,” says Laberge. The insurer has focused on acquisitions that provided missing links, he explains.
These acquisitions have enabled the insurer to offer a range of services, including BCH Consultants’ Employee Assistance Programs (EAP), Inkblot’s digital mental health platform, Tranquility’s cognitive behavioural therapy, and The Health Depot Pharmacy’s digital pharmacy (outside Quebec). GreenShield also has partnerships with independent providers, including Maple, which offers a telemedicine solution. Laberge says his system boasts a network of more than 5,000 clinicians: physicians, pharmacists, nurses, physiotherapists, psychologists, social workers, etc. Each has a service agreement with GreenShield.
People are ready for this ecosystem, Laberge believes. “Clients are very receptive to the idea of getting digital health care. Coming out of the pandemic, the number of telemedicine meetings has quadrupled. The key is to provide access in one place where the user is recognized by all the services. Ultimately, the services will talk to each other so no one has to tell their story over and over.”
Data privacy
Steve Laberge says the strength of this initiative is the user support his organization will be able to provide, because all user data will be shared with every partner integrated into the application. For this solution to work, the user will have to agree to this sharing, Laberge agrees. “Then I will be able to help them navigate the system,” he says.
For now, data are not being shared, he says. “Insurers have after-the-fact data from submitted claims. Health care providers have data directly from their patients, but not from group insurance. When the two entities talk to each other, I can understand the user’s journey. In a diabetes case, I can recommend that the patient see a dietician within hours,” Laberge says.
He brings up another finding from his survey: 70 percent of GreenShield’s patient customers trust the insurer to provide them with health care. When it comes to data privacy, GreenShield uses Google Cloud and Microsoft technologies to secure data sharing. “Data that do not leave our walls are easier to protect,” Laberge says, referring to the ecosystem.
