FRESNO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–HealthComp, the largest independent health benefits administrator in the country, today announced the appointment of Sanoj Balakrishnan to the position of Chief Technology Officer (CTO). In this role, Balakrishnan will oversee HealthComp’s overall technology strategy, ensuring that it supports the company’s objectives for growth and to serve a greater number of brokers and their mid- to large-sized employer groups across the country.
“We’re thrilled to welcome a technologist of Sanoj’s caliber to our executive team,” said Jose Rivero, CEO of HealthComp. “He has a powerhouse combination of leadership skills and technology expertise. His entrepreneurial and innovative mindset makes him a natural fit with our business and vision. For the past 15 years, he’s led digital transformation projects for Fortune 500 companies in healthcare and other industries. Through his tenure in healthcare, he’s leveraged technology to drive growth, increase member engagement, better manage rising costs, and foster a superior experience for health plan members.”
“I’m excited to join HealthComp, as the company is poised for growth and expansion,” said Sanoj Balakrishnan. “To accommodate this trajectory, I want to ensure our architecture is scalable, digitally optimized, and interoperable across our locations and with our various healthcare partners. We want to fully leverage analytics and AI to provide employer groups with the insights they need to truly impact employee health and wellness – which in turn helps reduce healthcare spending.”
Prior to coming to HealthComp, Balakrishnan served as head of digital business and technology for the healthcare practice at Cognizant. “I helped launch and build their healthcare practice. We went from a startup to a multibillion-dollar practice,” noted Balakrishnan.
Prior to that, Balakrishnan worked in Cognizant’s financial services division. “When I made the switch to healthcare, I saw tremendous potential for technology to impact costs, efficiency, and member experience. Healthcare has traditionally lagged behind in adopting technology because it’s such a complex environment with multiple stakeholders and various regulatory issues. But I view these challenges as opportunities to provide additional value.”
With continued increases in healthcare costs, health benefits administration has become a fast-growing industry. Many brokers and benefit advisers are helping employer groups to make the shift from fully-insured to self-insured health plans, which utilize a third-party administrator (TPA) to help them save costs – as well as handling claims, care management, and member engagement.
“In this market, HealthComp has emerged as a leader. It has built a highly effective model that utilizes technology and care management programs to actually lower the healthcare cost trend for customers. It’s a nimble organization that acts quickly, and our technology strategy must be agile enough to adapt to changing conditions. We’ll be working to build a collaborative platform so we can serve as the center of the health benefits ecosystem. This will allow us to work closely with our customers, members, and partners to further reduce costs and improve outcomes.”
Earlier in his career, Balakrishnan worked at Keane Consulting (now NTT) and other technology organizations in a variety of software engineering and architecture roles. He has deep knowledge of cloud technology, digital transformation, and intelligent automation, and he’s built, led and inspired strong technology teams.
About HealthComp
HealthComp, a New Mountain Capital company, is the nation’s largest independent health plan administrator for self-funded employer groups, serving over 450,000 medical members and 1.1 million total members. Our solution brings together concierge-level service, best-in-class operations, powerful analytics and expert medical cost management and integrates seamlessly with any benefits ecosystem. The result is an industry-leading experience that delivers better clinical outcomes for our members and higher savings for our book of business.