Home Health Care Sharecare strikes new partnership with large Arizona insurer

Sharecare strikes new partnership with large Arizona insurer

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Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona (BCBSAZ) struck a partnership with digital health startup Sharecare. The payer will offer the app to its more than 1.5 million members across the state.

Created by WebMD Founder Jeff Arnold and Dr. Mehmet Oz, the premise of Sharecare is that users fill out a health survey that gives them a “RealAge” score. It then gives them suggestions to improve their health, which when met, are recorded as “green days.”

BCBSAZ members will be able to receive incentives for meeting these goals through the app. They will also have access to their claims data, be able to view in-network providers, and custom challenges, and have access to lifestyle coaching.  Arnold said the company has 500 coaches and nurses, and has programs for users with chronic conditions, such as diabetes.

“Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona has a strong commitment to improve the value of healthcare for not only our members, but every single Arizonan. Sharecare embraces our same dedication to helping people build longer, better lives by enabling health transformation at the individual, organizational and community levels,” Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona CEO Pam Kehaly said in a news release.

Founded in 2009, Sharecare has raised a total of $425 million to date. BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners led a $70 million funding round in the company in January. Other investors include Wells Fargo Strategic Capital, Wellington Management, Discovery Communications, HCA and Quest Diagnostics.

The company has also made a string of acquisitions, including Biolucid, a company that makes VR technology for healthcare, and Feingold Technologies, which makes a voice analysis tool.

“We have spent the last 10 years raising over $400 million from strategic partners and buying companies to deliver a comprehensive platform,” Arnold said in a phone interview.

Outside of the core RealAge feature, Sharecare has a host of other features. Some are WebMD-like, including a symptom checker and health articles served to users. It also includes a step counter, a drug pricing tool, and a feature that can purportedly detect stress in a user’s voice when they speak over the phone.

Of course, with all of those features come permissions. In its terms of service, Sharecare said it doesn’t sell users’ health data, but may provide aggregated datasets to third parties without any personally identifiable information. It also can serve users targeted ads.

In addition to BCBSAZ, Sharecare has partnerships with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, Walmart and the State of Georgia.  Arnold said the company’s strategy was to work with one major payer in each state, particularly those with strong ties to the health of their local communities.

“We look at market influencers that have large market share and a trusted brand that we can take platform to market with,” he said. “We invest in people, places and policy. We have mapped in Arizona where we think we can have the most impact.”

Photo credit: Sharecare

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