Description: Actuaries are currently familiar with the impact of new technologies used primarily by clinicians and health care providers, such as new drugs and devices. The common theme emerging from many of the articles points to a technological revolution in health care accelerated by the COVID-19 crisis this year. Actuaries need to understand these technologies, their impact, learn how to drive this technological change and guide the response of their profession and their own health care organizations.

Description: This article discusses the positive aspects of E-prescribing, a transaction in which a physician transmits a prescription directly to a pharmacy through an electronic device. Issue No. 60

Description: Digital Long-Term Care Insurer for the Post-Coronavirus World.

Description: Blockchain technology has the potential to significantly improve the quality of life and overall health of the members of a health system, while also adding to administrative efficiencies. For the first time, we will have access to members’ entire diagnoses and prescription history, consumer behavioral attributes, and other socio-economic determinants which that are valuable inputs to designing appropriate benefits and proper care management plans. Through the blockchain, we will be able to access data not just of the existing members of the health system but also of potential enrollees and new entrants. The data can be accessed by querying the blockchain through a permissioned granted by the member. This information can be very useful in performing feasibility studies for evaluating entry into newer markets and/or newer products, developing customized care plans, and designing efficient value-based contracts. By executing smart contracts on the blockchain, we will be able to achieve administrative efficiencies like never before. The applications of blockchain technology are numerous and ground-breaking. Organizations that do not pay heed to the benefits that blockchain can bring may find themselves left behind as the rest of the industry marches forward in its quest for efficiency and member satisfaction.

Description: Overview of market trends impacting the group benefits space in Canada and the implications for insures as they prepare for future evolving industry dynamics.

Description: Cognitive tests used in the long-term care insurance industry differ in cognitive domains tested, time required for testing, ease of test administration, sensitivity and specificity. Recently, new approaches to scoring or testing have improved test utility for screening for cognitive impairment.

Description: This article focuses on the recent surge of digital medicine data being seen in the healthcare industry. While an increase in data can generally be perceived as good, it is important to remember that current privacy practices need to be maintained, if not strengthened, to continually protect healthcare members. The COVID-19 pandemic helped fuel digital medicine data, but it also created new avenues for privacy to potentially be compromised (i.e. healthcare employees using personal devices while working from home). Digital medicine data is a very powerful asset, but it is also a massive responsibility. If mishandled, this data can cause more harm than good.

Description: CMS provides ACOs with monthly claims data for members, including their medical visits and ACO program eligibility. This data can be divided into Membership and Claims tables through the ETL process. However, when calculating PMPY at specific levels of detail using these tables, issues arise due to unrelated dimensions, leading to inaccurate and understated results. This article presents a solution to this problem by utilizing Tableau's data blending capabilities.

Description: As the insurance industry continues to evolve due to a pandemic and rapidly changing economic and regulatory conditions, the role of data scientists and actuaries has become increasingly important. In an interview with the Atidot data science and actuarial team, we discuss what it is like to work at an InsurTech, how data scientists and actuaries can collaborate, and look at some concrete technical examples of where the innovation is having an impact. This article explores what collaboration can look like and how the role of data science and actuary may evolve in the InsurTech industry in the future.

Description: The barrier between humans and machines continues to blur, but curiously, this may have been prediction thousands of years ago in ancient myths. This article looks to how some of the early legends are becoming manifest in modern technology, particularly in the area of elder care. From automation, to humanoid assistants, to mind clones will the age of technology bring a new utopia?