With personalization at theforefront of the health care and benefits conversation, AI willproliferate the industry and become a welcomed change. (Photo:Shutterstock)

Each new year brings with it challenges and opportunities forthe health care and benefits space, and 2020 is no exception. Withtechnical innovation rapidly evolving the wayconsumers connect to and pay for their health care, organizationsneed to look to the future to prepare their business to provide anexperience that helps them better attract and retain talent.

Here are the top five trends I expect to shape health care andbenefits in 2020 and beyond.

1. Personalization will take center stage.

For far too long, the health care market has taken a "peanutbutter-spread" approach to deliver services and solutions. Thismeans all consumers have been painted with the same brush,regardless of their unique needs and characteristics. This methodisn't sustainable, and, in 2020, the industry will switch focus tooptimize consumer engagement and leverage data-driven insights to deliver personalizedguidance that consumers have become accustomed to across most otheraspects of their lives.

2. Disruptive technologies, especially artificial intelligence(AI) and machine learning, will be vital to deliver a next-levelconsumer health care experience.

With personalization at the forefront of the health care andbenefits conversation, AI will proliferate the industry and become a welcomedchange that's been long overdue. Solution and service providerswill use AI to analyze robust data sets with speed and accuracythat has yet to be achieved in the space. Access to data pointsthat encompass a consumer's health history, income, personal riskfactors, and various other personal traits, will enable marketleaders to deliver holistic and micro-personalized health carerecommendations.

3. Health savings accounts (HSAs) will continue to gaintraction.

As consumers become more familiar with the value of HSAs,account adoption will continue to rise and consumers will becomemore engaged in their health care. I'll go so far as to say thatthere is a real potential for HSAs to become more popular than401ks, especially when employers encourage adoption through accountseeding, matching, and other incentive strategies.

4. Market consolidation will continue to make headlines.

As we've seen through recent deals like UnitedHealth Group'sacquisition of PatientsLikeMe and the Cigna and Express Scriptsmerger, market consolidation is top of mind for major players, andwe can expect that trajectory to continue in 2020. Somepartnerships, like CVS, Aetna and PayFlex, bring together healthcoverage, care and payments. This model is perfectly positioned totransform the health care experience because of the trifecta'sability to simplify and optimize every touch point across aconsumer's health care journey.

In addition to industry consolidation, I expect to see morenon-health care players enter the market, bringing with them viableinnovations that they've already perfected within theirindustry.

5. Consumer satisfaction will be a key initiative across theindustry.

When we think about all the previous predictions holistically,one thing is clear: the health and benefits industry has finallyshifted their focus to the consumer. I am enthused by the strideswe are making, and I'm confident that these changes will generatebetter outcomes and more engaged health care consumers who willultimately realize better health outcomes and more value from everydollar they spend or save.

Health care has traditionally been one of the most complicatedtopics for consumers to navigate, but the industry has begun tomake a concerted effort to collaborate and remove some of itsbiggest pain points. If we continue to prioritize the consumer andmeet them where they are with micro-personalized guidance, we cantransform the market and bend the cost curve. The trajectory isencouraging, and we look forward to leading the revolution as wehead into 2020.

Steve Auerbach is CEO of Alegeus.

Read more: 

• 5 tech trends to watch in 2020
• Health care leaders expect more disruptions, surveysays
• Reading the tea leaves: Insights and predictions onbenefits and health care in 2020