What is a Health Intelligence Platform?

At Springbuk, we use the phrase “health intelligence platform” a lot.

This is an intentional choice.

While other descriptors may help describe our platform, such as health analytics software, employer-facing analytics, or broker analytics. But in all honesty – we aspire to be more than an analytics solution. We believe that our software, when combined with forward-thinking insurance brokers and wellness professionals, can provide insights and intelligence into your data in ways than an analytics solution alone could never provide.

In this post, we wanted to elaborate a bit on what we mean when we say “health intelligence platform” and why we draw a distinction between intelligence and analytics.

If you’re looking for a new “data warehouse,” this nominal difference may seem trivial.

Many health data solutions are still focused on data warehouses. They’re built to compile your health data in one place, and some will slap a nice-looking dashboard on top. They’re not doing much heavy lifting to make your life easier. Instead, they’re a better-looking cousin of their predecessor. Health intelligence platforms, however, are a whole new species.

We define a “Health Intelligence Platform” as a software solution that provides actionable insights and direction, from real health data.

Let’s break that down, piece by piece. Springbuk is:

• A Software Solution: it has an easy, user-friendly interface that you can access from anywhere, while remaining secure and HIPAA-compliant

• Providing Actionable Insights: health intelligence platforms don’t simply show you what’s already happened, they provide you with real, actionable insights so that you can make changes to your health and wellness programs

• From Real Health Data: all of these insights tie back to real health data. They’re not made up and they’re not presented with bias. You can draw a straight line from your data to your insights

In the rest of this post, we’ll dive a layer deeper to understand what makes a health intelligence platform different, beneficial, and in some cases, necessary.

How is Health Intelligence Different from Health Analytics?

Measuring and analyzing your health data is essential to determine the efficacy of your organization’s health and wellness initiatives. To that end, health analytics should be an important part of your overall wellness strategy. If you don’t have a solution in place that can identify and track things like your top medical claims or costly gaps in care within your population, you should invest in a health analytics solution.

If you’re interested in going a layer deeper, however, you’re likely in the market for a health intelligence solution.

Unlike a health analytics solution, which helps you measure and analyze your health data, a health intelligence solution answers two simple questions:

So what? Now what?

This means that, when you invest in a health intelligence platform, you receive all of the analysis associated with an analytics platform, but with actionable insights that allow you to impact change within your population.

How Does Health Intelligence Help Organizations?

When deployed appropriately, health intelligence helps organizations identify problem areas before they have the opportunity to crop up. Instead of focusing on what’s already happened, health intelligence focuses on what’s likely to happen. This is possible by monitoring problem areas like gaps in care, risk stratification, and forecasting future costs based on current medical conditions.

This means that organizations that leverage a health intelligence platform like Springbuk are able to more accurately forecast next year’s medical spend and take preventative action when they spot a potential problem area.

Is a Health Intelligence Platform Right For Me?

If you’re curious about how a health intelligence platform may be able to impact your organization, consider the following:

• In our experience, the most successful employers on our platform have a self-funded health insurance plan and active wellness initiatives within their organizations.
• Usually, health intelligence platforms are most effective when paired with an onsite clinic or wellness vendor who is able to see Protected Health Information.
• Health intelligence platforms are becoming more common for health insurance brokers to pair with their current offerings.
• Typically, health intelligence platforms make the most sense for organizations with 500 employees and up.

A Springbuk Series: Are You Ready for Health Intelligence? 

Employers implementing health intelligence are reaping the benefits of targeted engagement, cost management, and actionable next steps. To learn more about the 5 questions to ask and see if your organization is ready for health intelligence, check out in our blog series: Read Part 1: “Is This Your Reality?”