Embracing Cloud-Based Technology

Ten years ago, did you expect to see health plans processing claims in the cloud? It’s a significant shift the industry has experienced over the past decade.

Part of our mission at Burgess is to help drive down the cost of healthcare overall. Many health plans have disparate systems that lack interoperability between different applications, which leads to increased administrative and healthcare costs and strain on an organization’s limited resources.

In a recent survey of more than 220 health plan executives, when asked which factors would help reduce administrative costs at their organizations, 56.8% said increased interoperability across the health plan ecosystem, and 51.8% said increase financial accuracy of claims.

Cloud-based technology allows health plans to streamline their workflows and increase that interoperability to achieve a more comprehensive and cohesive ecosystem― and ultimately reduce health care costs.

At Burgess, the move to the cloud has certainly been the biggest technology shift I’ve encountered. When I started at Burgess, our first-generation solution was an installed product. Then, we moved to our second-generation product, which is all internet-based. And now, with Burgess Source, we’re processing in the cloud.

A decade ago, health plans were not completely open to the idea of processing their claims outside of their own brick and mortar. There has been a transformation in the way health plans operate and think about their business—this trend shows how quickly everything has evolved over the years.

With new technology also comes an increased focus on security. In the same executive survey, respondents cited ease of doing business, modern technology, and security as the top three priorities when evaluating a healthcare technology vendor. So, while cloud-based modern technology offers significant benefits, it’s also crucial for health plans to find technology vendors that take advanced security measures to protect personal health information and other data, all the way to achieving HITECH, SOC2 Type2, and HITRUST certifications.

Partnering with next-generation technology vendors that prioritize security will ensure that health plans can leverage the latest solutions to streamline their workflows, increase interoperability, reduce costs, and remain competitive.