WebMD acquires Healthwise to strengthen patient engagement and growth
WebMD Health announced this past week that it has acquired the operating assets of Boise, Idaho-based Healthwise, a nonprofit organization that develops patient engagement technology that integrates with care management platforms through online patient portals, at the point of care or digitally.
WHY IT MATTERS
Under terms that were not disclosed, WebMD said it has purchased Healthwise’s assets, including content, products, technology, customer relationships and certain trademarks, and will incorporate them into its Ignite platform.
Dr. Healthwise CEO Adam Husney said in the announcement that the nonprofit has been developing patient engagement and evidence-based health education products since 1975.
The content-as-a-service platform is accessible via a healthcare organization’s apps, digital front doors, websites, social media, email campaigns and other tools. The company also developed an FHIR-based point-of-care tool for healthcare providers using Epic electronic health records to deliver patient educational content in 20 languages.
βWe now have the opportunity to expand our mission through the broader solutions and delivery platforms offered by WebMD Ignite,β he said.
In April, WebMD launched its patient engagement and growth platform as part of a consolidation of brands including Mercury Health’s technology and data analytics platform. purchased in July 2022with a focus on increasing member engagement in relevant, easy-to-understand and interactive consumer health education.
βThis transaction will bring best-in-class content to the point of care for significantly more than half of America’s hospital patients, as well as the membership of most major payer organizations,β said Ann Bilyew, president of the Healthcare Solutions Group at parent company Internet Brands from WebMD, in a statement.
Healthwise said in a statement that the nonprofit will continue to explore new ways to empower people to make better health decisions.
THE BIG TREND
Healthwise is ranked number one for patient education among value-based care in the Best in KLAS 2024 report. When the nonprofit announced its rankings earlier this month, it boasted that 95% of KLAS respondents said they would purchase Healthwise again.
In October, WebMD Ignite partnered with Freshpaint, a healthcare privacy platform, to help healthcare organizations avoid sharing protected data with non-HIPAA compliant tools.
WebMD said that through that partnership it can help organizations remove non-compliant tracking technologies, de-identify and mask individual visitors, and control the flow of data across their entire marketing technology.
ON THE RECORD
βThe addition of Healthwise’s business increases our already significant scale across content, technology, data and (artificial intelligence),β Bilyew said.
Andrea Fox is editor-in-chief of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.