Anthem Inc, one of the world’s largest healthcare solutions company, is venturing into healthcare innovation through its Anthem Digital Incubator platform.
Earlier this month, Anthem’s Staff Vice President of Digital Care Delivery Kate Merton described the purpose behind the incubator: “This initiative matches Anthem’s knowledge, experiences and resources with innovative and nimble entrepreneurs who share the desire to deliver personalized, proactive and predictive healthcare solutions that help improve a person’s health and wellbeing.”
Merton stated that “This new initiative invites entrepreneurs and recently formed companies into the program and supports these organizations with the development and deployment of their novel solutions for healthcare consumers. Companies that are invited to participate in the program receive: Funding opportunities…Access to Anthem’s Digital Data Sandbox… Mentoring… [and] Path to Market” support.
Anthem is well suited to provide the resources and expertise for innovation. In terms of market share alone, “Anthem serves more than 107 million people, including more than 43 million within its family of health plans.”
Overall, the company’s goal is to promote early entrepreneurs in tackling healthcare’s toughest problems. In a world that has been quickly jolted with the shock of a global pandemic, increased cost pressures, and varying patient-care outcomes in the last decade, more innovation is definitely required.
Various areas in healthcare are seeing dynamic growth, including artificial intelligence services, personalized care models, digitization of care, and better access-to-care models.
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Large companies that have healthcare market experience and knowledge are well positioned to support innovators in this landscape of robust entrepreneurship. Indeed, doing so through an incubator model provides an agile and resourceful way to promote innovation as needed.
Of course, innovation comes with its difficulties. In an arena that is riddled with ever-growing regulatory challenges, data-security concerns, and increasing calls for privacy, innovation and technology are consistently scrutinized to the highest degree. But this is likely necessary, especially as a means to ultimately ensure patient safety and privacy.
Nevertheless, as the world continues to be plagued with immense difficulties in delivery of care, it is clear that innovating novel methods to address healthcare’s toughest challenges will be the only way forward to a sustainable future.
