Envera Health extends information exchange to life insurance industry

Richmond, Va.-based software firm Envera Health is launching a new cross-industry collaboration between the health care industry and the life insurance industry.

According to the firm, this collaboration will provide a market that helps to further expand the nation’s Health Information Exchanges as well as make it easier for consumers to buy life insurance. By establishing a market for authorized data transmissions and expanded interoperability, Envera continues to lead the industry in creating innovative models to deliver consumer-driven care.

Through this model, Envera offers HIEs a new way to create an expanded infrastructure while lowering investment requirements on behalf of health systems and government. For life insurers and health providers, it delivers a more efficient way to procure authorized health records. All in benefit to the consumer, who achieves both a path to better health through better care and a more straightforward path to financial well-being.

“Health Information Exchange is the backbone to improving the healthcare experience for patients and providers,” said Dan Neuwirth, CEO of Envera Health, a managed services company specializing in connecting patients with healthcare providers. “To deliver better care, we need to get the right information, to the right person at the right time. That’s why Envera is committed to supporting consumer-driven care through advancements in interoperability.”

This new collaboration provides an incredible opportunity for three different industries – life insurance, healthcare providers, and health information exchanges – to transform the consumer experience and create sustainability for all involved.

For life insurance companies, Envera’s solution helps fast-track the collection of health data they already receive from insurance applicants by providing a digital exchange platform. Today the acquisition of health history is a cumbersome part of the life insurance application process and in many cases contributes to fewer people completing the purchase.

For health information exchanges, the solution creates an alternative market for data exchange services they are already providing for physicians and healthcare providers.

For healthcare providers, the solution alleviates the burden of today’s manual process of delivering information to the insurance industry, as well as supports interoperability, which will enhance services to physicians that ultimately has a positive impact on health care delivery.

Consumers will see benefits in insurance buying through a significantly simpler process to purchase insurance. The traditional life insurance underwriting process typically takes up to six weeks to report back, delaying the application and underwriting process significantly. This means that consumers can wait weeks before they even know the cost of their policy.

“The process of buying insurance is unduly lengthy and can be cumbersome to consumers,” said JJ Carroll, SVP, New Solutions Group, Swiss Re, a leading wholesale provider of reinsurance and insurance. “In order to help more families be protected from the financial consequences of loss of life, Swiss Re is working with our clients to identify ways to streamline the underwriting process. The digitization of medical records is a critical component in streamlining the existing processes.”

Making the underwriting process faster and more efficient enables life insurers to offer less expensive, more innovative products. Swiss Re has worked with one of its clients and Envera to test the benefits of digitized data from an HIE with encouraging results.

Built on industry leading HIE

The foundation for this model has been built on Envera’s industry-leading HIE, currently known as MedVirginia. MedVirginia was the first HIE to connect with the Nationwide Health Information Network Exchange (eHealth Exchange), the Social Security Administration’s disability determination program, and the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs electronic health records systems.

“The eHealth Exchange is thrilled to see the foundation of our nationwide health data sharing network expanded to meet the needs of consumers,” said Jennifer Rosas, Director of the eHealth Exchange. “Envera is leveraging current connectivity for a broader use: patient-authorized sharing to simplify the life insurance purchase process.”

Efficiently addressing the life insurance industry’s need for authorized health data will increase utilization and bring critical investments to HIEs. This will help them to continue maintaining and updating their highly technical infrastructure as well as increase their capabilities in managing higher volumes of data and more records.