Making healthcare data consumer friendly: Chatting with Andrew Miller of Cambia Health Solutions

Andrew Miller, Cambia Health Solutions Making Healthcare Data Consumer Friendly

Andrew Miller is the director of digital solutions at Cambia Health Solutions, a total health solutions company focused on delivering health insurance and other healthcare innovations to the marketplace. He is the marketing leader responsible for the strategy and development of consumer-facing digital channels and marketing operations platforms. He has been a key driver in Cambia's transition from a B2B company to a B2C company, transforming their technology, data, and experiences to be consumer friendly.

What do you see as the biggest challenge in the healthcare industry today?

As a digital professional, my biggest challenge is consumers’ general lack of interest in being engaged with their healthcare. “Healthcare” is typically thought of as a thing you need when you’re sick or hurt, rather than a system to keep you healthy. As such, individuals are typically only engaged when they’re experiencing either a chronic or acute health problem. And when consumers are engaged, it’s typically not because they want to be, it’s because they need to be.

In this industry, you don’t have the luxury of dealing with consumers who are happy and excited to be using your product. Instead they’re sick, in pain, struggling to pay for services they wish they didn’t need – it’s typically a low point for them emotionally and physically. It’s difficult to build positive engagement in those moments.

What digital health trends are you seeing that you are most excited about?

The incorporation of data intelligence and insights into consumer experiences. Technology has already brought a significant amount of transparency of data into the consumer’s hands (Although, there’s still tons of room for improvement!), but once we take that data and apply some data science wizardry, it starts to become more interesting. Knowing if a doctor is in your network is nice. Knowing that a doctor is in your network, regularly sees people in your demographic, scores high ratings from people with similar conditions to you, is accepting new patients and has a typical appointment lead time of 3 days is a whole lot better.

Now apply that same level of analysis to treatment options, medication suggestions, cost-savings opportunities, plan selection, etc -- there are some very interesting opportunities out there.

What trends are you seeing in the shift to mobile and how are you using it to build momentum for your organization?

The trends are typical to other industries. We’re seeing rapid growth in all mobile channels. One interesting pattern is that mobile appears to be broadening our entire user base – our desktop numbers haven’t declined while our mobile numbers have risen dramatically. We’re also seeing higher levels of satisfactions and more engagement from mobile users. The numbers are so straight-forward that it’s a no-brainer for additional investment.

What challenges do you see for the industry and for healthcare organizations specifically as they look to define and implement their digital strategies?

Healthcare is complicated. The data is complicated. You’re typically dealing with legacy systems for primary applications. If you’re going to adopt an aggressive digital strategy you need to attack the entire stack, top to bottom. A flashy new app doesn’t mean much if the data is unreliable. Start with cleaning the data, then with making the data available, and work from there.

What advice would you give to other healthcare leaders who are looking to embark on the digital journey within their own company?

Start with the fundamentals! You absolutely, positively need to get the facts 100% correct every time. Once you can show members their factual information correctly (benefits, claims, providers) you can move onto functions that make it easier to do business with you – online chat, self-service forms, a document library, extensive and accurate FAQs, and so on.

Really nail these basics, then you can get into discovering your Mobile Moments and other innovative features. I’m sure that Virtual Reality Medicine Cabinet is ultra cool, but it doesn’t matter unless you can show me the correct status of my claims.

One of West Monroe’s core values is social responsibility, and we know Cambia also have a strong commitment to giving back. What’s one community activity your company is doing that you’re most excited about?

Cambia has a very active program to help their leadership get placement on the boards of non-profit organizations. Before Cambia, I had never served on the board of a non-profit. Through their urging, I’ve joined two boards for smaller organizations in my local community. I have learned so much through my work with these boards! It’s a great feeling to give back to my community!