Beazley’s research found fewer than a third (30%) buy the essential tailored insurance covers that protect against bodily injury caused by a variety of technology-based drivers
London: Beazley, the leading specialist insurer, has today published its latest Digital Health & Wellness 2024 report. The survey of 600 industry executives in six countries across Europe, North America and Asia revealed that as digital health and wellness businesses around the world ramp up adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), executive concerns over trustworthiness and bias are rising to the top of the agenda.
To address this, digital health and wellness businesses and their insurers need to ensure the right protection is in place.
However, Beazley’s research found fewer than a third (30%) buy the essential tailored insurance covers that protect against bodily injury caused by a variety of technology-based drivers.
Supply chain and recruitment issues are also key challenges facing digital health and wellness businesses as they strive to grow, with 29% and 28% reporting this respectively.
By contrast, in 2022, only 17% and 16% identified supply chain and recruitment as their top issues impacting growth. In fact, fewer than half (43%) of firms overall expect their business to grow in 2024, though there are significant regional differences.
Looking ahead, two risks continue to dominate C-Suite agendas: cyber and competency.
Both were highlighted in the 2022 report, but in 2024 both risks loom larger than in 2022, and for the first time it’s concern over competency that dominates. 38% of executives globally worry that clients will complain that treatment or advice was not as advertised or that competency was unfairly represented – up from 24% in 2022. In 2024, 35% worry about cyber threats including ransomware and phishing, up from 27% in 2022.
Evan Smith, Product Leader, Global Healthcare, Specialty Risks, Beazley, said,“Business leaders are right to be considering the varying challenges facing their firms. For instance, it’s clear deep learning algorithms in AI offer great benefits but also pose substantial risks. Because AI seems like a “black box” it can be hard to understand how it arrives at its conclusions, making it difficult to identify and correct bias, and to fully trust in AI’s recommendations.”
“With our research finding that many businesses don’t have essential tailored insurance, it’s important insureds are considering the options available to them and ensuring the right cover is in place,” he said.
Keri Marmorek, Claims Team Leader – Healthcare, Beazley, said, “Transformative technologies, such as AI, bring both risks and rewards. With 87% of US digital health and wellness companies planning to use or increase their use of AI to diagnose or treat patients, we can expect to see an increase in claims.”
“It’s therefore essential that businesses partner with specialist insurers who have a deep bench of cyber and healthcare experts and a comprehensive, forward looking view of the risks.”