Brief overview of Healspan and its mission in the insurance technology sector?
Healspan is an insurtech/fintech company and our mission is to enable a better cashless health insurance claim experience at hospitals, and provide better healthcare experiences to people.
What inspired the founding of Healspan, and what gap in the Current market
Much of Healspan’s approach stems from the personal journey of its founders. The founders faced a significant health challenge a few years ago, necessitating numerous hospital visits. Despite sincere efforts from all quarters, the experience was incredibly cumbersome and distressing. Importantly, it’s not just patients who encounter difficulties; hospitals also face challenges in managing these processes. Therefore, our focus lies in leveraging technology to streamline and optimize these procedures, thereby enhancing efficiency and revenue generation for hospitals.
How does Healspan leverage technology to bring innovation to the insurance industry?
Our current platform is a claim filing and tracking aggregator platform – it enables a consolidated view of all health insurance claims at the hospital. What’s more, we have been able to build in a smart QC process to ensure that documents are submitted correctly and completely the first time, reducing the back and forth between the insurer and the hospital. This produces a 30-50% gain in TAT for discharge and payments.
Technological advancements or features that set Healspan apart from traditional insurance providers?
We have developed a completely flexible RPA based stack that enables us to manage as many players on the platform as needed, with minimal onboarding time – which means we have probably the largest base of payers (insurers/TPAs) on the platform. We have also built several usability /UX features on the portal that makes it extremely easy to file a claim.
What specific insurance products or services does Healspan offer to its customers?
We offer a claim filing/tracking SaaS which has built in QC. However, in future we will also have additional revenue cycle management products.
How does Healspan customize its offerings to cater to the evolving needs of clients in the healthcare sector?
Ultimately this boils down to listening to your customer – we have done probably over a dozen minor pivots to our product based on market feedback. We don’t build anything unless a client expresses interest, and conversely if a client provides feedback on what they need, we take that on priority.
How does Healspan prioritize and enhance the overall customer experience in the insurance process?
For a patient, the most important thing is to go home as soon as possible. Nobody likes being in a hospital – and we enable people to get home faster, we prevent worries of deductibles and short payments, and provide clear and timely information during the hospitalisation.
Can you share any success stories or testimonials from clients who have benefited from Healspan’s services?
A major secondary care chain in Chennai has been able to reduce the timeline of average payment from roughly 47 days to approximately 20 days by following the process on the healspan portal.
In what ways does Healspan contribute to the broader landscape of insurance technology, and what impact does the company hope to make in the market?
We hope to make insurance more user friendly – we hope to make it easier to use health insurance, and therefore encourage more people to buy health insurance. Even today health insurance penetration in India is less than 15%, and I believe the complexity of usage is a big part of it.
How does Healspan stay ahead of emerging trends in both the insurance and technology industries?
We make it a point to keep ourselves up to date with the emerging trends by ensuring our team has access to the latest information. We already have industry stalwarts on our team and advisory panel on both insurance and tech, to ensure we have visibility into the latest best practices.
Are there any strategic partnerships or collaborations that Healspan has formed to strengthen its position in the market?
Yes- we are working with NBFCs and banks to bring a full-fledged RCM solution to the market.
How does Healspan collaborate with healthcare providers and other stakeholders to create a comprehensive insurance ecosystem?
We are at the end of the day a tech platform – we are capable of ensuring (Claims) data is clean, coded as per international standards enabling a smoother processing for insurers and TPAs as well.
How does Healspan prioritize data security and ensure the privacy of customer information in its operations?
This is critical to us as we deal with confidential healthcare data of the patients. We have put in several security measures and are constantly upgrading the platform. We are also currently pursuing multiple global certifications for data security and will soon be compliant with HIPAA, DPDP etc. We have also started doing regular pentests and incorporating the feedback on our systems.
What measures are in place to address potential cybersecurity challenges in the insurance-tech domain?
To mitigate potential cybersecurity challenges in the insurance-tech domain, we have implemented a comprehensive set of measures:
Advanced Encryption: All sensitive data, including customer information, financial records, and communication channels, are encrypted using industry-standard protocols to prevent unauthorized access.
Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): We enforce MFA across all access points, requiring users to provide multiple forms of verification before accessing sensitive systems or data.
Regular Security Audits and Penetration Testing: We conduct regular security audits and penetration tests to identify vulnerabilities in our systems and address them proactively.
Employee Training and Awareness: We provide regular training and awareness programs to our employees to educate them about cybersecurity best practices, such as recognizing phishing attempts and maintaining strong password hygiene.
Real-Time Monitoring and Incident Response: Our systems are equipped with real-time monitoring tools that continuously track for any suspicious activities. In the event of a security breach, we have a dedicated incident response team ready to act swiftly to contain the threat and minimize any potential damage.
Secure Development Practices: We follow secure coding practices and conduct rigorous code reviews to ensure that our software is free from vulnerabilities that could be exploited by cyber attackers.
How does Healspan plan to scale its operations and reach a wider audience in the future?
We are at the moment building our product suite, releasing one feature at a time- we are confident that with a wider array of features, we will have something to cater to for all kinds of Hospitals, making the entry to a hospital a lot easier.
Are there any upcoming features, products, or expansions that the company is currently working on?
Yes, we are working on a fintech product that will further reduce the working capital requirements at the hospital, and we are also about to launch an OCR module for automated tabulation of bills.
Challenges does Healspan foresee in the insurance-tech industry, and how does the company plan to navigate them?
While regulations currently work in our favor, it’s inevitable that they will become more stringent in the future. It’s imperative for us to consistently stay ahead of these changes to remain compliant and successful.
How does Healspan adapt to regulatory changes and evolving industry standards?
Honestly at this stage for us the only option is to anticipate. Thankfully we have an extremely strong core team with several veterans of the industry who are able to sense the potential changes at that level, and we try to be prepared for them. We were able to correctly foresee the push towards cashless & HCX (national health claims exchange) for example.
Insights into Healspan’s company culture and how it contributes to the success of the team?
It is a very purpose driven team – we understand that we are in health and we are helping our clients manage/navigate some of the most difficult times in the lives of their patients. We understand that we are making a difference, and I believe this is what drives the team.
How does Healspan invest in the professional development and well-being of its employees?
For a company that’s barely a year and half old, I think we have come a long way in terms of building support networks for employees – be it in terms of mentorship (we have outside consultants and coaches engaged to help provide various forms of guidance), learning (we build agile teams with considerable cross training to enhance their skills) and wellbeing While we are still building policy, we do have a generous leave practice, we provide insurance cover, salary advances, local conveyance and other benefits to employees.
