The insurance industry continues to be a hotbed of innovation, with activity driven by growing demand for digitalization and personalization. With the growing importance of technologies such as telematics, machine learning, big data, deep learning, and data science, insurers are overcoming demographic challenges, low penetration rates, cybercrimes, and fraudulent claims.  In the last three years alone, there have been over 11,000 patents filed and granted in the insurance industry, according to GlobalData’s report on Artificial intelligence in Insurance: Medical event scoring. Buy the report here.

However, not all innovations are equal and nor do they follow a constant upward trend. Instead, their evolution takes the form of an S-shaped curve that reflects their typical lifecycle from early emergence to accelerating adoption, before finally stabilising and reaching maturity.

Identifying where a particular innovation is on this journey, especially those that are in the emerging and accelerating stages, is essential for understanding their current level of adoption and the likely future trajectory and impact they will have.

90 innovations will shape the insurance industry

According to GlobalData’s Technology Foresights, which plots the S-curve for the insurance industry using innovation intensity models built on over 65,000 patents, there are 90 innovation areas that will shape the future of the industry.

Within the emerging innovation stage, AI-assisted underwriting and treatment expense prediction are disruptive technologies that are in the early stages of application and should be tracked closely. Vehicle motion estimation, vehicle forensic analysis, and AV insurance risk analysis are some of the accelerating innovation areas, where adoption has been steadily increasing. Among maturing innovation areas is the driving skill evaluation, which is now well established in the industry.

Innovation S-curve for artificial intelligence in the insurance industry

Medical event scoring is a key innovation area in artificial intelligence

Medical event scoring is the process of determining the severity of a patient's medical situation using predefined criteria or scoring systems. It involves assigning a numerical score based on a patient's vitals, laboratory findings, and symptoms. 

AI-based scoring systems for medical events can assist doctors in identifying patients who are at high risk and triggering early interventions to avert complications. When a patient's state changes, these systems can also send real-time alerts to doctors, allowing for quick action.

GlobalData’s analysis also uncovers the companies at the forefront of each innovation area and assesses the potential reach and impact of their patenting activity across different applications and geographies. According to GlobalData, there are 50+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established insurance companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of medical event scoring.

Key players in medical event scoring – a disruptive innovation in the insurance industry

‘Application diversity’ measures the number of different applications identified for each relevant patent and broadly splits companies into either ‘niche’ or ‘diversified’ innovators.

‘Geographic reach’ refers to the number of different countries each relevant patent is registered in and reflects the breadth of geographic application intended, ranging from ‘global’ to ‘local’.

Patent volumes related to medical event scoring

Company Total patents (2010 - 2022) Premium intelligence on the world's largest companies
J Fitness 60 Unlock Company Profile
Expanse Bioinformatics 52 Unlock Company Profile
Omron 47 Unlock Company Profile
Oracle 36 Unlock Company Profile
Microsoft 33 Unlock Company Profile
Theator 27 Unlock Company Profile
Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation 25 Unlock Company Profile
CVS Health 22 Unlock Company Profile
UnitedHealth Group 22 Unlock Company Profile
Hi.Q 21 Unlock Company Profile
Hartford Financial Services Group 19 Unlock Company Profile
Swiss Re Asia Pacific 19 Unlock Company Profile
Allstate 18 Unlock Company Profile
Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China 17 Unlock Company Profile
SomaLogic 17 Unlock Company Profile
hc1.com 16 Unlock Company Profile
Taikang Insurance Group 16 Unlock Company Profile
DAYA Medicals 15 Unlock Company Profile
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance 12 Unlock Company Profile
SoftBank Group 12 Unlock Company Profile
Intersections 12 Unlock Company Profile
Humana 11 Unlock Company Profile
OptumHealth Care Solutions 11 Unlock Company Profile
Moody's 11 Unlock Company Profile
Express Scripts Insurance Company 11 Unlock Company Profile
International Business Machines 10 Unlock Company Profile
Swiss Reinsurance 10 Unlock Company Profile
Terumo 9 Unlock Company Profile
Advanced Medical Solutions Group 9 Unlock Company Profile
Quality Standards 9 Unlock Company Profile
Fujifilm Holdings 8 Unlock Company Profile
Bank of America 8 Unlock Company Profile
Healthcare Interactive 7 Unlock Company Profile
Koninklijke Philips 7 Unlock Company Profile
Quality Healthcare Intermediary 7 Unlock Company Profile
Rite Aid 7 Unlock Company Profile
Clarify Health Solutions 6 Unlock Company Profile
Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company 6 Unlock Company Profile
Amino 6 Unlock Company Profile
dacadoo 6 Unlock Company Profile
3M 6 Unlock Company Profile
Furukawa 6 Unlock Company Profile
USAA 6 Unlock Company Profile
Cochlear 6 Unlock Company Profile
Salesforce 5 Unlock Company Profile
PulseData 5 Unlock Company Profile
Verisk Analytics 5 Unlock Company Profile
Sony Group 5 Unlock Company Profile
Swiss Re 5 Unlock Company Profile
Accenture 5 Unlock Company Profile

Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics

Oracle is one of the leading patent filers in medical event scoring technology. The company’s technique evaluates the re-admission risks of patients admitted to a healthcare facility, determined using a general re-admission risk algorithm. It identifies patients who are more likely to require re-admission and places them on a worklist for re-admission prevention, making it simpler to manage their risk. Some other key patent filers in medical event scoring include J Fitness, Expanse Bioinformatics, Omron, Microsoft, and Theator.

In terms of application diversity, SomaLogic leads the pack, with J Fitness and The Hartford Financial Services Group in the second and third positions, respectively. By means of geographic reach, Furukawa holds the top position, followed by Swiss Re and DAYA Medicals. 

To further understand the key themes and technologies disrupting the insurance industry, access GlobalData’s latest thematic research report on Insurance.

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GlobalData, the leading provider of industry intelligence, provided the underlying data, research, and analysis used to produce this article.

GlobalData’s Patent Analytics tracks patent filings and grants from official offices around the world. Textual analysis and official patent classifications are used to group patents into key thematic areas and link them to specific companies across the world’s largest industries.