Health insurers in the United Kingdom face many challenges that will only be combated by bold new strategies. In this foreword to the Health & Care Cover UK Market Report 2005, Accenture's Eric Sandor argues that IT will transform health care delivery models, and that National Health Service reforms will challenge the industry to reinvent itself to achieve high performance.
The challenges facing the global health care industry—escalating cost pressures, growing patient demands, heightened awareness of quality care and increasingly complex conditions—are well known.
Much of the investment and emphasis in health care IT currently is focused on critical systems, such as electronic patient record systems, or the use of Internet-based health information. However, there is also an increasing recognition that the real benefits of health care IT will come from a transformation of health care models. This is a more proactive and informed approach to health care interventions.
How does this all impact the insurer? Accenture believes that private health insurers will continue to succeed if they have a sound understanding of the key industry drivers and emerging health care models, and are therefore able to inform future business strategy.
We are approaching a defining moment for the industry.
Health care solutions are replacing financial products that simply provide health insurance. High-performance health insurers will be those that develop, market and deliver health care solutions rather than simply insurance products.
There are three trends:
Accenture believes bold new strategies are required by private health insurers in the United Kingdom to address the market developments and achieve high performance.
To embed themselves in the new health care model by delivering health care solutions rather than simply financial products, health insurers will need to transform themselves through capability development programs, acquisitions, outsourcing or alliances. For many years, the health insurance industry has profited by developing and selling products based on market insights and the analysis of risk data. Tomorrow's profits will also be dependent on insight and data analysis—just a different kind.
Eric Sandor leads Accenture's health insurance group in the United Kingdom.