Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak wants the state to lead the way in trying out new health care ideas.
That sort of innovation was the focus of a summit at OSU’s Health Sciences Center on Friday.
The daylong event featured presentations on topics like transparent pricing, using wearable devices to predict health risk and using telemedicine to help primary care doctors in underserved communities treat complex conditions.
Doak said he wants Oklahoma to be a testing ground for the best ideas.
"It's my goal to see how we can impact that Oklahoma consumer with, maybe there's an idea that they're not thinking about in Washington. Maybe they're not listening to us in Washington, and maybe we need to just have a little bit louder voice," Doak said.
Vivametrica uses data from personal sensors like Fitbits to predict health risk. The company's CEO, Dr. Rick Hu, said health and life insurers are just starting to use such data in wellness programs to encourage healthier living.
"The goal, really is to improve wellness so that the claims costs toward the end of the policies are much improved, and that's where many of the insurers see the value," Hu said.
Hu said insurers aren’t really using personal sensor data in the financial side of the equation, and consumers must be able to consent to and manage the use of their data.
Oklahomans making too much for Medicaid but still at financial risk from an emergency room bill may be interested in micro insurance.
Micro insurance is for people who don’t have a couple thousand dollars on hand to pay the hospital bill for something like a broken arm. One way to offer it is through a company with lots of low- to middle-income clients, like a prepaid cell phone provider.
Their customer turnover is high, but Amanda Turcotte with Ostraa said they can spend a few ad dollars on no-cost micro insurance policies for their customers.
"These kind of micro insurance products have already been deployed in Africa," Turcotte said. "It's a different market there, but they've seen churn rates go from 15 percent a month to less than 1 percent a month."
Doak is meeting with Oklahoma’s congressional delegation next week to discuss the ideas from the summit.
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