April 29, 2021
The health crisis has shown how dependent our lives, societies and economies are on access to quality healthcare systems. It has also reminded us of the need to protect our health, a valuable asset.
3 minutes
AXA has made healthcare a strategic priority since 2016, with a service-centric approach and the ambition of going beyond its role as an insurer. More than a payer, the Group is positioned as a partner for its customers, improving the way it anticipates and covers health risks. With Driving Progress 2023, AXA is going a step further, positioning the Group as an orchestrator of health ecosystems and even becoming a health center provider in some countries.
Tracy Garrad
CEO of AXA Health
We’re proud of the support brought to our customers during the crisis.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has been particularly tough for people with underlying health issues. The crisis has shown us just how crucial healthy lifestyles, prevention and healthcare access are. This is something AXA Health has widely integrated into its ʻPayer to partnerʼ strategy. Health data analysis, handled in the strictest confidence, enables us to create more refined and effective prevention solutions. With our digital technologies and integrated care pathways, we can offer solutions that help our customers become agents of their own health. For example, AXA Health has developed numerous remote services, such as Doctor@Hand virtual GP consultations, which saw an eight fold increase in subscribers during the first lockdown.
At the same time, our Thrive mental health app was downloaded 8,000 times, demonstrating the heightened mental health pressures felt amongst members. This reflects the conclusions of AXA’s mental health survey in the summer of 2020, involving 5,800 Europeans in seven countries. This survey reported a major deterioration in the respondents psychological well-being, with the number of people in distress nearly tripling during the lockdown. It also reveals that despite being more inclined to use digital consultations than face-to-face appointments, mental health patients have little knowledge of the available solutions. This clearly provides food for thought on how to enhance our health insurance solutions.
I’m very proud of the support we’ve brought our customers during the crisis and I’m convinced we must go even further. More than ever, our customers are looking for a health partner to support them holistically. We must keep developing innovative solutions to meet their needs, and our digital health solutions enable us to pursue this goal.”
Listening to our customers
Ensuring continuity of care
With the Group’s local entities, AXA Emerging Customers rolled out telemedicine solutions enabling 1 million patients to access Covid-19 diagnoses and consultations free of charge in seven emerging countries.
Online psychological support
Building on the conclusions of the Group’s survey of Europeans’ mental health after the first lockdown, AXA Belgium has added a psychological support service to its Doctors Online e-health platform.
Emma: an app for insurance and treatment
Developed by AXA in Hong Kong and the Philippines, Emma is a mobile app enabling customers to manage their health insurance contracts and access care through the same interface.
Didier Weckner
Deputy CEO of AXA France, in charge of health and employee benefits
We’re winning over customers with our innovative services.
“AXA is a global leader in group health insurance. With Driving Progress 2023, we want to go further and become the reference partner for all companies’ employee benefits, whether guarantees or services. To achieve this, our strategy focuses on innovation, and one of our key strengths is our ability to roll out innovative solutions on a large scale. But to be convincing, we need to achieve excellence and bring value to the three ‘customers’ of group insurance: distributors, companies and employees, who are the end-beneficiaries of our solutions.
Distributors want us to offer relevant solutions and facilitate their work with simple, agile and fast underwriting processes. Meanwhile companies will choose an insurer that helps them fulfil their legal and regulatory obligations, simplify the everyday management of their health and protection policy, and best preserve their employees’ health. We want to be capable of improving people’s well-being at work and supporting them even when they have physical or mental problems or are returning to their careers after a long break. Finally, end-beneficiaries want us to help them become agents of their own and their families’ health. To satisfy these expectations, we’ve created Angel, a new-generation e-health platform that combines remote consultations and services with a physical medical center, emergency services, medical analyses, patient follow-up, and more. All this is available 24/7, enabling employees to chat with experts and ask questions about disease prevention for themselves and their families in the strictest medical confidentiality. We’re winning over customers with these innovative services.”
Orchestrator of health
In Italy, the Group has invested in Cidimu, an innovative radiology center, to integrate diagnostics into the healthcare journeys provided to customers.
Vertical integration
AXA intends to reinforce its vertical integration by creating or acquiring health centers. AXA has already opened medical centers in Colombia, Egypt and Mexico and plans to create about 50 in emerging countries by 2023.
The Digital Healthcare Platform rolled out in Europe
In partnership with Microsoft, AXA has developed a dedicated healthcare platform enabling AXA European entities to offer a single, coordinated interface for their healthcare offerings.