Peoplehave been depositing checks for years on their phones, so whywouldn't they pay medical bills on them? (Photo:Shutterstock)

Under intense pressure to cut costs, insurers are aggressivelymoving to embrace digital solutions in health care.

Major insurer Anthem recently unveiled a new app that will allowpatients to pay medical bills, schedule visits and conduct allmanner of medical business that may otherwise require a lengthyconversation with an operator (human or robot).

The app will also include an artificial intelligence-poweredchatbot that will essentially function as a much more sophisticatedversion of WebMD. It will suggest conditions in response tosymptoms patients enter. Patients can follow up with a doctor bytext.

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The app will be available to those who aren't on Anthem plans.The insurer sees the app not only as a means to reduce costs forits current members, but as an asset that might attract futurecustomers.

“We want to be able to expand access to care and help withnavigation, and we want to do it for all consumers, not just Anthemmembers,” Rajeev Ronanki, Anthem's chief digital officer, tells theWall Street Journal. “Clearly, this is anopportunity to innovate on the business model.” People have beendepositing checks for years on their phones, so why wouldn't theypay medical bills on them?

The answer likely lies in the fact that the health careindustry, sometimes for good reasons relating to privacy concerns and patient safety, movesslower than other industries in adopting digital technology.

Beyond encouraging patients to opt for telemedicine options,some insurers are experimenting with cheaper plans that are tied tothe use of telemedicine.

Humana offers a lower-premium plan that provides its memberswith equipment, such as blood pressure cuffs, that transmits theirvital information to their primary care physician. By monitoringthat data, the doctor can identify a patient who should come in fora visit, potentially heading off an expensive medical condition. Italso reduces the number of unnecessary visits.

These strategies don't work without the participation of healthcare providers. Fortunately, doctors, clinics and hospitals havedramatically increased their support for telemedicine, even thoughit continues to account for a minuscule portion of all medicalclaims. A study by FAIR Health, a nonprofit that oversees adatabase of private medical claims, found that from 2014 to 2018,the “use of non-hospital-based provider-to-patient telehealth grew1,393 percent, from 0.007 percent to 0.104 percent of all medicalclaim lines.”

Read more: 

• Can apps slay the medical billdragon?
• Digging deeper: Health data mining platforms surgeahead
• Hospitals and health systems too slow In respondingto consumer demands