Thryve Launches Strategic Playbook to Help Health Payors Cut Costs with Data-Driven Prevention

Berlin, June 2025 - As demographic pressure, lifestyle-driven chronic illness, and medical workforce shortage threaten the sustainability of healthcare budgets, Before It Hurts presents a clear and comprehensive roadmap: insurers must harness the full potential of real-world data to forecast health risks, personalize outcomes, and implement scalable prevention programs.

“Healthcare is approaching a breaking point,” said Paul Burggraf, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Thryve. “But with the right data infrastructure, payors can stop reacting to risk and start shaping it—cutting costs without cutting care.”

📘 You can download the full playbook on our resources page

What Is Inside the Playbook 

The playbook is structured in two parts:

  • Part A: The Challenge explores systemic stressors like aging populations, rising chronic disease, therapy inflation, and workforce burnout. It unpacks how Europe’s fee-for-service models are prioritizing volume over value.
  • Part B: The Opportunity offers an actionable model for demand reduction. It outlines how data-driven prevention, early diagnostics, and real-time monitoring, particularly through wearables and mobile platforms, can drive efficiency and better outcomes.

The report also highlights real-world case studies, such as home-based hypertension monitoring programs in Scotland, and wearable-enabled self-management models for diabetes in Finland.

Key Takeaways from the Playbook

  • Treat Earlier, Better, and Less: Insurers can shift the care curve by identifying high-risk individuals through biometric signals like VO₂ max and sleep variability, then intervene before conditions worsen.
  • Use Risk-Balancing Smartly: European insurers operating under risk-adjusted schemes can gain a competitive edge by attracting high-involvement patients who cost less over time than models predict.
  • Move Beyond Static Risk Scores: Patient-generated data can outperform traditional claims-based models in predicting health events, enabling insurers to engage members dynamically.
  • Scale Without Sacrificing Privacy: The playbook outlines how GDPR-compliant infrastructure enables proactive care while safeguarding user trust.

Thryve’s Role in Making Healthcare More Proactive 

Thryve’s infrastructure powers this transformation by providing a secure, interoperable API that integrates real-time data from over 500 wearables and sensors. Its platform supports consent management, partner-specific data routing, and regulatory audit-readiness out of the box, making prevention not just possible, but scalable. Check our Wearable API page to get more detailed information. 

Current partners include top European insurers like Techniker Krankenkasse, AOK, and Sanitas, who use Thryve’s technology to build personalized, high-frequency member engagement programs. On our Insurers page, you can find more cases with detailed descriptions. 

About Thryve

Thryve is Europe’s leading continuous health data platform, helping insurers and digital health providers unlock real-time insights from wearables, mobile health apps, and connected devices. Thryve’s infrastructure is GDPR-compliant, plug-and-play, and built for scale, powering the transition to preventive, value-based care.

Book a demo with Thryve and help form not only an effective, but also efficient new healthcare model!