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Insurers must find the path to data mastery

Tools

As data takes on an increasingly important role in healthcare, insurers need to leverage their data as a strategic asset aligned with business goals, according to Insurance & Technology. However, many insurance companies are falling behind in their progress toward data mastery, with most classified as laggards or beginners.

"In today's new digital world, data is increasingly critical to the future," Denise Garth, partner and chief digital officer at SMA, told the publication. "We've always understood that data is the lifeblood for the industry, but we've never quite managed it as the strategic asset that it really is."

Insurers first need to develop a data strategy that has C-suite support and eliminates silos for data integration. Achieving data mastery involves incorporating governance, data quality, business intelligence and analytics into core business processes, the article noted.

"The longer that insurers wait to get a handle on their data mastery maturity, including their strategy and data model, the more difficult it will become to leverage the exploding amount of data coming from the new and emerging technologies that are redefining the new digital world," Garth said.

On the path to data mastery, insurers should direct greater investments toward data analytics to generate new ideas and improve overall outcomes as well be open to trying new data sources, FierceHealthPayer previously reported.

Moreover, insurers faced with ever-growing mountains of data each day would be wise to invest in technology and data sharing. Doing so could accelerate accountable care success--both improving patient health and saving money, according to Aetna's CEO of Accountable Care Solutions Charles Kennedy, M.D.

The road to success requires good data health, meaning insurers need a data team tasked with checking data quality, according to Insurance Networking News. With clean, high-quality customer data, insurers can make better marketing and service decisions.

For more:
- read the Insurance & Technology article
- here's the Insurance Networking News article

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