Last year, health insurer Blue Cross Blue Shield Association spun off its data intelligence entity, known as Blue Health Intelligence. This year, the separate company is looking to raise $13.1 million.
Blue Health Intelligence — referred to as Health Intelligence Company LLC in regulatory filings — aggregates de-identified, claims-based data from more than 110 million Blue Cross and Blue Shield members nationwide in a secure database. BHI uses benchmark data to improve quality of care and measure provider outcomes.
So far in this round of funding, it’s already raised more than $9 million from 15 investors.
With the Rise of AI, What IP Disputes in Healthcare Are Likely to Emerge?
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
A rep for the BCBSA declined to comment for this story, but a spokesman told MedCity News last January that spinning off the company would make that data available to more stakeholders, including healthcare research organizations, other insurance companies or hospitals.
Claims data is a hot commodity right now in efforts to cut healthcare costs. In September, four other major health insurers (Aetna, Humana, Kaiser Permanente and UnitedHealth Group) announced they would pool more than $1 trillion in claims data to create an institute to help identify drivers of high health spending. Several states and the federal government also collect claims data.
But some have suggested that claims data is only useful to a certain extent. Because claims are generated for billing purposes, they don’t necessarily contain valuable information about diseases, illnesses or treatments. Instead, they reveal which treatments and providers are cheapest, some doctors say, and aren’t reliable for drawing any conclusions about health outcomes.
Led by CEO Swati Abbott, Blue Health Intelligence is headquartered in Chicago. More than $28 million in funding was devoted to spin off the company, according to regulatory filings.
