HealthTurnup has learned that one-week fantasy sports titans Draft Kings and Fan Duel are both about to unveil competing fantasy provider narrow network applications, developed in collaboration with major health plans.

Sources state that the competing apps will be offered through partnering health plans, enabling consumers to build their own provider narrow networks for their health plan coverage one week at a time, with their provider draft subject to contractual payment caps, similar to salary caps imposed in fantasy sports drafts.

"Just as fantasy sports applications were built upon strategic partnerships and licensing agreements with major sports organizations, industry leaders Draft Kings and Fan Duel are leveraging their platforms in a new industry where consumers interact with rosters with much at stake, through strategic partnerships with health plans," comments longtime health insurance industry analyst Seth Rogaine of Rogaine Franko Group. "What's more, this opportunity is exciting, as the health plan season is all year long, unlike sports seasons that limited to just part of the year."

In addition to building a provider roster, the fantasy provider networks can also be used in competitions similar to Draft Kings and Fan Duel one week sporting fantasy matchups - in which consumers can vie against their health plans with premium rates and out of pocket expenses at stake. "The matchups against sponsoring health plans just seem like a natural, given that consumers are often already going head-to-head with their health plans," Rogaine notes.