Google Cloud and Prudential plc (“Prudential”) have today announced a partnership where Prudential pioneers the use of MedLM.
MedLM is Google’s family of foundation models fine-tuned for healthcare industry use cases, to improve the accuracy and efficiency of medical insurance claim decisions.
Prudential is one of the first insurance providers globally to use MedLM, which healthcare organisations typically use to build solutions for doctors, hospitals, and other medical providers to deliver better experiences for healthcare workers and patients.
The tech giant said in a statement that starting in Singapore and Malaysia, Prudential will use MedLM to analyse documents submitted alongside health insurance claims, such as diagnostic reports, prescriptions, and invoices.
Google said MedLM supports human decision-making with its ability to extract relevant information and code it accurately for claims.
This, it added, helps to reduce the potential for errors caused by manual data entry, so claims can be processed faster and more accurately.
The announcement follows several proof-of-concept tests by Prudential that showed its use of MedLM doubled the automation rate of claim reviews and assessments.
Additionally, this improved the accuracy of claim decisions, allowing the insurer to handle a higher volume and velocity of claims while improving overall customer experience.
Prudential Plc CEO Health Arjan Toor said that the insurance provider’s early tests with MedLM demonstrate that generative AI can play a major role in efficiently tackling the growing volume of health insurance claims.
This, he added, results in more frictionless processing and a faster turnaround time for customers.
“We’re proud to pioneer this innovative approach to using MedLM to support our operational efficiency as we continue to expand our health insurance offering, while delivering our mission to be the most trusted health partner for customers in Asia and Africa,” Toor said.
Prudential is expected to apply MedLM to select medical insurance claims made in Singapore and Malaysia over a period of 3-4 months, then compare the AI’s analysis and advice to actual decisions using current approvals processes during this time.
Google said doing so will help Prudential identify areas where MedLM can deliver the greatest productivity improvements and most useful advice to claims assessors while maintaining a “human in the loop” at critical stages of the decision-making process.
Toor said in a fragmented and often confusing healthcare landscape, data and AI are enabling them to provide care beyond coverage for their customers.
“Our strategic partnership with Google Cloud has given us a valuable first-mover advantage in adopting generative AI to improve the customer experience at an important moment of truth,” he said.
“This is just the first step in using generative AI to deliver seamless, digitally enabled healthcare experiences at every step of our customers’ health journey; from the point of diagnosis, through treatment, recovery and prevention.”
On his part, Google Cloud VP in Asia Pacific Karan Bajwa said Prudential has taken a truly innovative approach by adapting MedLM’s advanced healthcare and medical-specific capabilities to one of its core business processes.
“This collaboration exemplifies how our strategic partnership with Prudential can empower its workforce to drive confident decision-making, improve the overall experience for policyholders, and create meaningful innovation in healthcare and finance,” Bajwa said.
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