CarePay looking at Blockchain, AI and ML to improve M-TIBA

CarePay Limited recently announced that they are looking into innovating around emerging technologies such as Blockchain, AI and Machine Learning in a bid to improve their M-TIBA platform, which is the preferred health financing technology platform for the government, retail and private health sector, for their 4 million plus users.

This was stated by Kees Van Lede, CEO, CarePay Limited, during a media briefing held at the Intercontinental Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya. Also present at the occasion was Jagi Gakunju – Board member, CarePay Limited.

“There are a few logical technologies for us to look at and Blockchain is one of them. If you think about trust, our platform tries to guarantee to all the stakeholders that what you pay for is what you get, and Blockchain is an obvious solution for this as it is supposed to act as a single source of truth for everyone. Apart from Blockchain, we will be looking into AI and Machine learning particularly for claims and fraud issues,” said Van Lede.

“Our team is working on different technologies as we continue to collect data, as the more data you get the better the technologies can work for you. Machine learning is one of the technologies we are focussing on for two things, for fraud detection and to make claims vetting a more efficient process; the two go hand in hand, you can save a lot of costs by letting machines do some things and it can also help you to detect suspicious situations you need to look into,” he added.

Data analysis is key

With M-TIBA, CarePay has developed a smart payment distribution platform on the foundations of the mobile money ecosystem that permanently connects patients, premium payers, insurers and providers in a standardized way. Harnessing their data has enabled M-TIBA to thrive in the market and this has been, according to Van Lede, made possible by their data analysis team.

“We have a dedicated team that looks at data, which are about five people at the moment. The team consists of data scientists, analysts and people from the medical field. We look at the power of data in healthcare in sort of a three pronged approach,” he said.

“So, you need people who are really good at science data analysis, you need people who know about the medical field (as there are too many technology companies that go to doctors to tell them how to do their jobs better with no medical background) and you also need people who understand business, because in the end whether it’s a public or private entity it needs to make sense money wise.” Van Lede concluded.