Startup Island Taiwan Podcast talks future of health care with Lydia.AI

新創之島台灣Podcast與 Lydia.AI 探討醫療保健的未來

Lydia.AI creates 'health score' to assess an individual's overall health


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) —Technology startup Lydia.AI harnesses artificial intelligence and global health data to create a risk-scoring engine that is able to quantitatively evaluate an individual’s overall health, per Startup Island Taiwan Podcast.

An individual's "health score" can be utilized by the insurance industry, which in the past was typically dependent on individual underwriters to manage thousands of cases with limited time for assessment. The founders of Lydia.AI, Christina Cai and Anthony Lee, originally based in Toronto, Canada, found a unique opportunity to launch in Taiwan.

According to Lee, medical information in the U.S. is very siloed, meaning health information is rarely shared. "I think that Taiwan healthcare, from a data perspective or a pure engineering perspective, is like one of the most amazing and complete research data sets," said Lee.

Cai agrees, noting that "the rest of Asia actually looks to Taiwan to inform their e-Health strategies and infrastructures." While Taiwan is quite developed regarding health data, Lydia.AI can offer support, pointing out where some healthcare services may be overused or where patients may fit a larger pattern. In both cases, savings or operating efficiencies can be achieved.

Cai adds that many may not know that Taiwan is the third-largest insurance market in Asia, with many companies eagerly eyeing developments in Taiwan and applying them to their own countries. Ultimately, the mission statement of Lydia.AI is to protect the health and prosperity of the next billion people around the world.

"To protect the next billion people, we have to protect Asia as a whole. We are looking at US$1 trillion in out-of-pocket health expenses in the future. What this means for a family in Asia, whether in China or Indonesia, is not being able to pay for cancer treatment for your grandpa, your wife, or your kids. So this is a very big problem. When we look at mortality and cancer rates, it's almost inevitable. So how do we prepare people for this?" Lee said.

As a start, Lydia.AI created the concept of a health score, which is similar to a credit score in that it measures and assesses the overall health of an individual and what types of health problems they can expect to encounter in the future. Through this assessment, Lee hopes individuals can undertake earlier planning and engage in other areas of health improvement.

Lydia. AI is also trying to provide customized services for the Asian market, which is fundamentally different from North America. "In Asia, we began with universal health care, but many don't know how far it will go. Actually, this may only cover 55% of healthcare and not include things like salary loss," said Lee.

So far, Lydia.AI is attracting a lot of interest from insurance companies. In 2023, MetLife announced Lydia.AI as one of the top three winners of its Collab 6.0 program.

Lydia. AI also counts Taiwan Life as an important partner in implementing its AI Health Score App. This use of its technology has led this Taiwanese insurance company to become the first domestic company to win a CELENT Award in the fields of data, analytics, and AI.