Medibank signs digital health partnership with Canadian tech firm League

Australia’s biggest health insurer has signed a three-year agreement with Toronto-based League to offer ‘more personalised healthcare’ to its 4.2 million customers.

League connects people to a network of health services and benefits that can be accessed digitally via a wallet or app, providing ‘next best actions and content’.

Medibank has signed a three-year agreement with Toronto-based League to offer “more personalised healthcare” to its 4.2 million customers.

League – which attracted more than $US220m in venture capital funding, including from Australian-founded TDM Growth Partners – connects people to a network of health services and benefits that can be accessed digitally via a wallet or app.

Medibank is League’s first client outside North America and its “artificial intelligence-driven technology platform” will be “embedded directly” into the health insurer, offering customers “next best actions and content”.

Health insurers have been seeking to be more than just funders, expanding more into offering healthcare services, sparking criticism from hospital groups that argue it’s a step towards US-style managed care.

Medibank began investing in hospitals in August 2020 when it acquired a 49 per cent stake in East Sydney Private Hospital at Woolloomooloo, and has since struck a joint venture with a group of 42 doctors to build a new $64m hospital in Melbourne.

It has also offered incentives to customers who wear smartwatches and other wearables to encourage healthier lifestyles and potentially avoid expensive hospital claims.

A Medibank staff training session with Steve Moneghetti. Picture: Lawrence Pinder

Medibank lead for digital and ventures Rob Deeming said the League partnership was about giving people “greater access, choice and control of their own healthcare”.

“We have a clear ambition to better connect health for 10 million Australians. This means better connecting health services and – for our existing customers – integrating those seamlessly with your health insurance membership,” Mr Deeming said.

“League’s capability will provide the infrastructure to enable these experiences and deliver greater value for our customers and the community.”

Mr Deeming said the partnership would initially focus on Medibank’s corporate digital health and wellbeing services, with the aim of “transforming the employee health and wellbeing experience for corporate Australia”.

It comes as Medibank will double the number of employees who can work four days a week with no loss of pay, having found staff were more willing to “go above and beyond” after a six-month trial of the “gift day”.

Medibank head of people and sustainability Kylie Bishop said a four-day working week made staff healthier, with staff reporting a 29.9 per cent decline in sleep disturbances, a 17.5 per cent fall in unhealthy eating and a 16.3 per cent jump in overall health.

“Our four-day work week experiment is just one of the ways we’re innovating to drive greater autonomy in the workplace and support better decision making for customers,” Ms Bishop said.

“Australia is undergoing a health transition and Medibank has an enormous role to play. Our health system needs innovation, and we all need to move faster to respond. The key to this is transforming how we work.”

Originally published as Medibank signs digital health partnership with Canadian tech firm League