AXA announced it is collaborating with Microsoft to build a digital healthcare platform, enabling a virtual healthcare system that is open to all. The partnership will be built on AXA’s global reach, extensive experience in healthcare and insurance, business and technology architecture skills, and Microsoft’s deep expertise in cloud-based computing, artificial intelligence, and array of partnerships with clinical partners and third-party vendors. The new platform will rely on the extensive portfolio of technology in the Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare, including Azure API for FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources), that enables patient insights without compromising patient privacy.
The digital healthcare platform will link digital health services offered by AXA to support its customers at every stage of their e-health experience. The range of services offered will include a self-assessment and prevention tool, a medical concierge, a teleconsultation interface, a digital document vault, home care services (e.g. medicine delivery) or a directory of healthcare professionals. Furthermore, the platform will break down health service silos to improve research, treatments and prevent diseases.
This ecosystem is tailored to the care offerings and specificities of local health networks. A pilot program, which included a self-assessment tool, teleconsultation and a medical concierge to facilitate appointment-setting, was successfully launched in late 2020. The platform is open to all customers from AXA in Germany and Italy, with tailored services. The service will be deployed by 2022 in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Spain and Switzerland to be followed by other countries around the globe. Microsoft and AXA will collaborate with partners to further enrich the platform and to deliver value-added services to all stakeholders.
In the long-term, the platform aims to allow integration of third-party services, with the ambition of creating an open, global service for healthcare providers and patients, regardless of whether they are AXA customers.
With health expenditure outpacing GDP growth over the next 15 years in almost every OECD country (from OECD), all health players involved in the patient journey, from providers to payers, must adjust their services and deliver on the promise of lower cost and more personalized services.