The largest insurance company in the state is tapping more than 100 techies and entrepreneurs to create apps that will help solve some of the biggest health care issues.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts will hold a one-and-a-half month program with as many as 120 “innovators” to tackle health care for millennials, the rising number of elderly who will need health care and how to improve community engagement, said Jason Robart, senior vice president and head of human resources for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts.
“We want fresh perspective coming at these issues,” Robart said. “We want to tap into the expertise and experience in a way we don’t (normally) have an opportunity to.”
The U.S Census estimates there are more than 80 million Americans between 13 and 32, many of whom soon will be in charge of their own health care.
Robart said getting ideas from people who are not entrenched in an insurance company will hopefully pay dividends.
“These are people who are thinking about new and innovative ideas in their leisure time,” he said.
One of the main goals of the program, which will pair up techies to work on one of the issues until mid-November, will be to produce an app — or something like an app.
Chris Edell, CEO of Elevar, which is helping Blue Cross with the program, said health care doesn’t have the same one-stop app as banks.
“It’s not as simple as building an app and saying use it,” Edell said. “(We want) health insurance and your visits to the hospital to have the whole end-to-end experience.”
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