What Health Plans Really Want: Key Conversations from AHIP 2025
By Eric Frizell, Vice President of Sales, Imagenet
Walking the AHIP 2025 expo floor offered more than vendor noise—it gave direct insight into what health plans are actually prioritizing, questioning, and pushing back against. Over three days of conversations with payers of all sizes, a few clear themes stood out. These weren’t just trends—they were pain points still waiting on better solutions.
Below are three recurring takeaways from those conversations, all pointing to the same core truth: operational efficiency, interoperability, and meaningful member engagement remain critical—and elusive—for many health plans.
1. Digital Operations Must Deliver—Not Just Digitize
Day 1 conversations revealed a shared sentiment: health plans want more from their digital partners. Especially in foundational areas like document intake, claims routing, and member communications, payers are no longer impressed by digitization alone—they want measurable outcomes.
Many noted that legacy processes continue to drag down efficiency, especially in mailroom operations and paper claims intake.
“We are eliminating manual processes wherever possible. They are simply more expensive and less efficient.”
— VP of Claims, Large Regional Health Plan
True transformation isn’t about adding digital layers—it’s about rethinking the process from the ground up, with compliance, accuracy, and speed all built in.
We’re seeing health plans reduce turnaround times dramatically by redesigning mailroom operations—not just digitizing, but fully optimizing them. Imagenet’s Digital Mailroom Suite is one example of that approach in action.
2. AI Hype Is High—but Substance Matters More
Artificial intelligence was one of the most discussed topics at AHIP—but many payer leaders expressed growing skepticism. The concern? Too many vendors are showcasing AI as a feature without demonstrating meaningful impact.
Across conversations, a consistent thread emerged: health plans aren’t looking for more technology—they’re looking for better outcomes. They’re asking tougher questions:
How does this reduce our administrative burden?
Will it scale with our internal processes?
Does it actually improve compliance confidence?
This gap between AI’s promise and its real-world value is driving more deliberate, outcome-based evaluation of new tools.
At the end of the day, results—not acronyms—will drive adoption.
3. Member Experience is Growing More Complex—And More Critical
Engagement tools are proliferating, but real integration remains a major barrier. Health plans are struggling to coordinate communications across systems, benefit packages, and vendors.
A common challenge: ensuring that members receive accurate, accessible, and timely materials—especially during surge periods.
“We’re moving away from claims data as our guiding light. We’re creating hyperdynamic experiences informed by member interactions and coupled with member data. It results in more relevant patient journeys.”
— Vice President of Strategy, Large National Payer
“Our data strategy is simple. Exchange less data! To ensure privacy, protect data assets, and minimize risk.”
— COO, Large Blues Plan in Northeast
What payers want is clear: centralized data, configurable content workflows, and fulfillment support that ensures every member interaction is accurate, compliant, and consistent.
We’ve supported payers in unifying print, reconciliation, and communications process under a single framework—improving both accuracy and operational continuity. See how our Member Communications & Reconciliation Suite helps coordinate across print, benefits reconciliation, and compliance.
Final Thought: Health Plans Aren’t Looking to Be Sold To—They Want Partners Who Can Solve Problems
The most repeated phrase I heard at AHIP? “We don’t need another vendor—we need a solution.”
Payers are beyond the point of being wowed by pitch decks or vague tech promises. They want measurable, operationally sound answers to the challenges they’re facing right now—whether that’s reducing claim backlogs, accelerating intake, or improving member communications.
And increasingly, buying decisions are no longer made in isolation.
“We no longer evaluate vendors in a silo. If we don’t have a pre-vetted solution, we go straight to an RFI or RFP.”
— COO, Large Blues Plan
That shift underscores what payers expect today: accountability, integration, and clear value.
At Imagenet, we’re solving exactly these kinds of problems every day—with the people, processes, and infrastructure to back it up.
From claims and contact center to digital mailroom and member communications, we’re helping over 150 payers solve real problems with purpose-built solutions that perform.
If you’re rethinking how your plan handles intake, claims, or member communications, I’d be glad to connect. Visit imagenetglobal.com or connect me directly via email at efrizell@imagenetllc.com, or schedule a call here.
About the Author:
Eric Frizell is Vice President of Sales at Imagenet, where he leads national sales strategy and execution across the company’s healthcare solutions, including digital mailroom, claims adjudication, contact center, and workflow automation. With a background in data science and more than 20 years of experience driving growth for health tech organizations, Eric is passionate about helping payers optimize operations, improve outcomes, and deliver better member experiences. He is a graduate of the University of Kansas with credentials in public health and patient experience measurement from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Harvard’s Picker Institute.