These are some thoughts of Soraya Ghebleh on private health insurance's need to innovate.

1. Soraya
Ghebleh
Private
insurance
companies
know
and
understand
that
if
they
want
to
remain
important
stakeholders
they
need
to
play
the
game.
They
can
no
longer
continue
to
bring
in
high
profits
without
addressing
the
triple
aim
and
the
best
way
for
insurance
companies
to
stay
engaged
is
to
begin
to
innovate.
Insurance
companies
know
that
they
need
a
competitive
edge
before
the
healthcare
system
is
completely
turned
over
to
government
control
and
they
no
longer
have
a
claim.
There
are
still
extreme
amounts
of
money
to
be
made
from
healthcare
even
with
the
goals
of
reducing
waste
and
improving
quality.
Private
insurance
needs
to
innovate
now
and
ingrain
themselves
in
the
system
while
healthcare
changes
to
ensure
that
they
are
not
cut
out.
It
is
naïve
to
believe
that
insurance
companies
are
rushing
to
come
up
with
solutions
to
healthcare’s
bigger
problems
out
of
altruism
and
interest
in
doing
the
right
thing.
The
likely
explanation
is
that
the
more
innovative
they
are
and
the
more
carefully
they
design
new
plans
that
are
attractive
to
buyers,
employers,
providers,
and
government
officials,
the
more
marketable
the
company
will
be.
Translating
the
data
and
the
research
and
the
pilot
programs
that
have
been
tested
will
also
prove
to
be
more
difficult
in
practice.
Will
the
current
Medicare
population
really
utilize
mobile
applications
on
their
phone?
How
will
medical
device
companies
react
to
disruptive
innovation?
How
will
pharmaceutical
companies
handle
a
push
to
switch
to
generic?
Will
specialty
surgeons
stop
performing
volume-­‐based
surgeries
when
they
have
overhead
and
bottom
lines
to
meet
in
order
to
stay
afloat?
Where
will
both
rural
physicians
and
solo
practitioners
fall
under
the
new
ACO
and
wannabe
ACO
models?
Is
it
really
the
role
of
private

2. insurance
companies
to
be
addressing
these
issues?
The
amount
of
questions
could
continue
on
and
on
but
until
we
really
look
at
the
reality
of
what
drives
provider
behavior
and
take
into
account
how
these
overhauling
transitions
will
affect
them,
we
may
be
left
with
another
managed
care
fiasco
that
leaves
both
providers
and
patients
unhappy
and
in
no
better
place
than
before.