What is Health Analytics Software?

As a member of the tech community in Indianapolis, I’m used to giving elevator pitches at networking events, but joining Springbuk presented a challenge. While we’re doing some incredible things, many outside the industry have no idea what we’re talking about. This exact scenario has happened to me at least a dozen times.

“So I hear you’re at Springbuk now. That’s great! What do you guys do, exactly?”

“Springbuk is a health analytics software platform.” 

*Blank Stare*

So, in an effort to better educate some of my techy friends, I wanted to write a post that can articulate this idea a little better than I can in a crowded event center. In this post, I’ll run you through what health analytics software is, who uses it, and why it’s important. Moreover, I’ll walk you through what makes Springbuk so awesome and why organizations choose to partner with us.

Health Analytics Software - An Overview

First things first, what is health analytics software? This term is actually used by a few different kinds of solutions, and its use is largely determined by the type of organization using it. Health Analytics Software can be used to describe:

• Software used by hospitals to gain business, clinical and programmatic insights.
• Software used by doctors offices and other healthcare providers to analyze their financial, organizational, and clinical performance.
• Software used by organizations, such as large employers, to track the health of their employee population and inform their decisions moving forward.

At Springbuk, we fall squarely into the last definition. So, with that in mind, let’s dive into that definition a bit further. 

Health Analytics Software is defined in this context as a software solution that helps large organizations, including corporations, municipalities, and collections of smaller employers (called “captives”) monitor the health and financial outcomes of the populations they insure.

This provides organizations with the ability to make more data-driven decisions around things like:

• What types of wellness initiatives they should launch to improve their population’s health.
• What initiatives they should invest more money in, and what initiatives fail to drive health outcomes.
• How to tailor health resources with relevance and accuracy
• What type of vendor or partners to hire to help move the needle of health and costs

In plain English, this means that organizations like to try to prevent disease before it happens. That’s why large corporations encourage their employees to participate in things like exercise programs, healthy cooking classes, and provide them with free step counters. Unfortunately, for years, these initiatives have gone largely unmeasured. The actual data around these initiatives was confined to binders and PDFs, which were hard to parse and segment by things like program participation. 

Springbuk’s health analytics platform allows organizations to measure the effect of these programs and improve their population’s health by investing in what works and divesting from what doesn’t.

Why Organizations Use Health Analytics Software

Based on our time in the market, we’ve observed two primary use cases for end employers who like to use platforms like Springbuk. Usually, these employers either:

• Spend a lot of money on things like wellness initiatives and onsite clinics, but can’t prove to their CFO that they’re actually saving money.
• Spend some money on wellness initiatives, but aren’t sure what’s working, and therefore want more information before committing to a larger budget. 

In addition to these use cases, health analytics software tends to be really popular among the following groups:

• Health Insurance Brokers love health analytics platforms because a large portion of their job is built around reporting and delivering advice. These software platforms make the reporting that they already do much easier. Also, by teaming up with a solution like Springbuk, they can use things like predictive analytics and plan modeling tools to provide value for their clients that other brokers can’t match with standard methods.
• Onsite Clinic Providers love health analytics platforms because one of their primary responsibilities is showing the employers who hire them that they can effectively improve the health of at-risk employees. Springbuk allows them to show the return on that investment more effectively.
• Wellness Vendors love health analytics platforms because it can be hard for them to measure the direct outcomes of their efforts. Springbuk gives them the opportunity to put actual metrics to their work.

Who Uses Springbuk’s Health Analytics Software

Imagine you’re an HR professional whose primary focus is improving the health of the employees at your company. Usually, you’d have a title like “Director of Wellness.” Maybe you’re the Chief Human Resources Officer. Either way, a large part of your job is reporting to your CFO on the financial impact that your health initiatives have on the organization. Much like the CMO of 25 years ago, who struggled to connect inputs and outputs of their efforts, CHROs face big challenges in reporting financial and health outcomes.

That’s why over 900 forward-thinking health and benefits professionals across the country partner with Springbuk. They want to: 

• Bring their population health measurements into the 21st century. With a platform that updates more frequently than traditional carrier reports and the ability to slice-and-dice data in real-time, Springbuk arms them with the tools they need to stay in the driver’s seat financially.
• Design more effective insurance plans for their population. Not every company is built the same, but far too many employers structure benefits generically based on what standard package they can afford, instead of leverage analytic insights to craft the best bang-for-the-buck insurance plan for their team.
• Predict future healthcare costs. Healthcare is moving at 100 MPH, and too many wellness professionals are driving while only looking in the rear-view mirror. Our predictive modeling allows them more visibility around their future costs.
• Find ways to improve their team’s health. That’s what we’re really all about. By leveraging analytics, employers can be more effective than ever at identifying and preventing health issues before they pop up. 

If you know someone who would be a good fit for the Springbuk platform, such as a forward-thinking HR pro or a health insurance broker looking for a competitive edge, have them request a demo and learn more about our platform.

This article originally appeared on Springbuk's blog. For more research and data on health analytics, subscribe to the Springbuk Insights series.