German private insurers join IBM and TK to offer electronic health records to 17.5M clients on the IBM Cloud - Seite 2

"The eGA offers us a health platform that can provide many value-added services of the wider health care ecosystem for our customers," said Dr. Mirko Tillmann, Chief Operating Officer and board member of Central, the private health insurance of Generali Deutschland. "Our customers currently have a lot of data that they do not know exactly, understand or use. This can change fundamentally with the eGA and the customer will be able to opt for the healthcare services that are relevant to him or her. This can offer our customers real new opportunities to actively shape their health topics."

In addition, Dr. Karl-Josef Bierth, Chairman of SIGNAL IDUNA Krankenversicherung, said: "For us, the existing network of IBM's eG health platform with service providers, hospitals, medical practises, laboratories, care facilities and clearing centers is an important starting point and success factor for the user experience of our insured customers. Based on this ecosystem we want to intensify the secure and standardized exchange of digital data and documents – from the service provider to the insured and from the insured to the service provider. This can lead to a better knowledge of our insured, but also to a better insight of the respective doctor, who can access health data of the insured person from the past, if the insured authorizes him."

The use of eGA and its value-added services is voluntary for the insured person. The insured decides sovereign and self-determined about the use of his data.

"Health data is particularly sensitive and we have taken great precautions to protect it," said Matthias Hartmann, GM of IBM Deutschland GmbH.  "Only the insured person can grant access to the data, and in the event of a change of health insurer or doctor, the data remains with that person.  It is their data."

"We are committed to an efficient and secure electronic health record that considered German and international standards," says Dr. Clemens Muth. "With IBM Germany, we have an established and responsible partner in the German insurance and healthcare marketplace, with whom we have been implementing successful projects for digital and mobile solutions for many years."

IBM Cloud: powering transformation of the Insurance industry

The insurance industry faces challenges that insurers must address with new and increasingly innovative approaches. Margins are down, fraud is up, regulations are growing more complex and today's empowered customers can quickly and easily switch providers. Within this ever-changing landscape, cloud computing offers a new path for sustainable, efficient, flexible growth.