One of the clearest ways to understand what buyers value is to look at what they are already doing. (Stay tuned for the rest of the strategy maps in the coming weeks. Follow Akros on LinkedIn to stay up to date!) When you review recent strategy maps across major payers including CVS/Aetna, Cigna/Evernorth, Humana, UnitedHealthcare/Optum, and Molina, a pattern starts to emerge. These organizations are not simply collecting vendors. Across the payer landscape, the same themes s

I was walking the exhibit floor at Becker’s, weaving through the noise of bright booths and polished sales pitches, when something unusual stopped me. A vendor was promoting a platform designed to help health plans manage product and benefit data. Automation, compliance support, efficiency gains. Nothing surprising on the surface. Then the realization landed with a kind of somber force. If a payer cannot manage its own product and benefit data (i.e. the foundational function

Inside health plans, the proposed change to semiannual reporting may rewire the clockwork of financial, actuarial, and commercial decision-making. For digital health tech founders, understanding these internal clocks isn’t optional. It’s how you time your outreach, structure your pilots, and shape the proof points you deliver. If you know when payers make decisions, you stop knocking on closed doors and start arriving exactly when they open. Let’s take a look at the three int

Semiannual reporting offers more than a compliance shift. It extends an opening for payers to rethink not only what they invest in, but how they invest. Semiannual reporting won’t, on its own, change the cadence of actuarial or finance cycles, since those teams will continue running on their own internal timelines. But the shift creates breathing room, allowing for executives to reframe how capital is allocated and how innovation is judged. Traditional capital frameworks a

What happens when health insurers report less often? When President Trump revived his call for U.S. companies to move from quarterly to biannual earnings reporting, the headlines practically wrote themselves. Wall Street worried that fewer updates would make the markets less transparent. Others cheered at the thought of freeing executives from the tyranny of the ninety-day countdown. But in healthcare, and especially among publicly traded insurers like UnitedHealth Group, Hu

By the third day of HLTH in Las Vegas, I realized something that’s hard to admit out loud. Payers aren’t allergic to innovation. They’ve just outgrown the hype. In my conversations with leaders from Humana, UPMC, Avalon, and HealthWorks, the tone felt different from the scripted, panel-stage optimism that fills the expo hall. Gone were the catchphrases about “meeting members where they are” or “harnessing the power of AI.” Behind closed doors, the tone was sharper, more disc

By Akros Advisory in collaboration with HTEC Group The New Frontier for Payers At HLTH 2025, Akros Advisory and HTEC Group convened two closed-door lunches for payer, provider, and technology leaders. One explored Pain Points to Performance ; the other unpacked AI, Quality, and Care Management. Across both rooms, the message was clear: Payers are no longer just financial intermediaries. They are becoming system designers. This shift requires a new mindset. Technology isn’t ju