Retail Meets Healthcare for Consumer-Focused Data Analytics

A new Humana initiative brings attention to a growing data-analysis trend.

Humana CEO Bruce Broussard recently announced that the health insurance giant uses retail consumer behavior analytics to classify patients, according to MedCityNews. Speaking at the September 2016 Mayo Clinic Transform conference, Broussard explained that Humana has been applying retail-style data analytics to categorize patients into 15 different personality types. These customer “personas” are used to help the company target both care and the products it sells. Although all 15 categories were not revealed, Broussard said member descriptors include “health nut,” “control-seeker,” “stubborn” and “follower.”

Broussard emphasized the importance of personalization in healthcare, particularly as the expansion of remote monitoring and telehealth generate increasing amounts of patient information. “These personas are no different from consumer packaging with personas of how people engage, or make decisions or some other mechanism around their product or service,” Broussard said of the retail-like approach Humana is using to achieve greater personalization and treat customers “the way they want to be treated.” He admitted, however, that the personas are kept secret from customers, raising questions about another major issue in healthcare information: transparency.

As Health Management Technology explains, “Long used by the retail and financial services sectors, psycho- and socio-demographic group profiles such as ‘soccer moms’ or ‘shotguns and pick-ups’ are rich with details about the typical characteristics or buying patterns of particular market segments. Healthcare insurers are just beginning to successfully launch custom products for niche markets using psycho-demographics correlated with health data.” Blue Cross of California, for example, recently introduced three new plans for the young adult market, each one tailored according to a different “plan flavor.”

This arena of consumer analysis merges healthcare, data analytics and retail consumer behavior to create sophisticated predictive models. The analysis works by identifying unseen relationships and trends—broad strokes that indicate patterns. It is unclear whether it is entirely accurate, or entirely fair, to categorize individual consumers according to large-scale labels.

While questions about transparency and efficacy remain, one thing is certain: Humana’s project is a large-scale and visible example of a broader trend. For digital information strategists, a deeper perspective on this issue is important, because there will only be more data—and more analysis—generated in the coming years.

Here are five things to know about the intersection of retail techniques and healthcare, including links to further reading. This information will provide life science industry professionals with a deeper perspective and actionable information on this important healthcare trend.

1. Healthcare and retail are becoming one and the same. In a downloadable report, “Healthcare Is the New Retail™: How to Think Through Your Consumer Strategy with a Retail Approach,” JLL Healthcare Solutions argues that patient-centered care, combined with the current emphasis on consumer experience, brings retail models to the forefront. The report provides a thorough analysis of the key trends, terminology and practices that enable the adoption of “consumer-centric retail strategy” in healthcare.
2. Predictions and trend-spotting are key. As H&HN Magazine explains, “With the near universal adoption of electronic health records, large hospitals and health systems have begun to recognize something that consumer retailers have relied on for more than a decade: With the right analytics, data can predict the future and help organizations get out in front of consumer trends.”
3. Retail strategies may enhance the consumer experience. Evariant asks, “What Can the Healthcare Industry Borrow From Retail Marketing?” The piece argues that a retail solution “puts the consumer at the center of care,” offering benefits such as stronger engagement between patients and physicians; holistic patient experiences; and the ability to meet rising patient expectations and embrace technological advances.
4. Analytics = power. Managed Healthcare Executive encourages health plan leaders to embrace data analytics, explaining that effective use of data can help companies to plan and perform better in a tight marketplace. And applying analytics models that have been successful in other arenas, particularly retail markets, is an effective strategy: “While consumerism and transparency have been key themes, few health plans have truly integrated big data analytics into their strategies. That’s a shame, since the insights derived from key metrics have transformed other industries online.”
5. The timing is right for retail analytics. In a MedCityNews interview, SAS chief medical officer Dr. Graham Hughes argues that healthcare analytics is “finally maturing,” and that includes the use of retail-based models. Healthcare is “getting serious about population health management—including patient engagement—and about retail-style analytics,” the piece explains, noting that retail-style use of location technology can also be used in healthcare.

In the ever-changing landscapes of healthcare, technology and data analytics, perhaps only one thing is certain: There will always be more data, and with it a greater need for effective data analysis.

As the retail sector continually refines its analytic capabilities, and as healthcare continues to shift toward a consumer-focused model, the intersection of retail and healthcare becomes increasingly likely, perhaps inevitable. Healthcare professionals benefit from an awareness of retail-centric techniques, particularly those that may enhance the consumer experience or the delivery of care.  Whatever their given personas, consumers are likely to be placed into one category or another. As the prediction stage gives way to the implementation stage, the outcome of these new analytics experiments will certainly be instructive for professionals throughout the industry.