The mobile health platform is no longer focused on simply connecting the consumer to the doctor outside the walls of the clinic or hospital. Now it's bringing in information from other points of the health compass – health plans and insurance providers, personal coaches, trainers and specialists, even fitness monitors – to paint a more complete picture of a person's health.
As the mHealth Summit kicks into gear this week at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center just outside Washington D.C., developers of mHealth platforms are demonstrating just how far this so-called "ecosystem" can go. Among them is Validic, a Durham, N.C.-based partner to dozens of health systems and wellness providers whose cloud-based platform is designed to connect the disparate digital dots.
The company is looking to make a splash at this year's summit with a number of new partners, extending their reach to more than 100 million lives. It's one of a growing number of technology integrators looking to connect the healthcare community with mHealth developers and innovators.
“In looking at the growing mHealth landscape, there is a lot of technology entering the healthcare market, and even more promises for technology that will not be unfulfilled," company co-founder and chief technical officer Drew Schiller said in a press release issued at the mHealth Summit. "Combine that with the lack of standards in healthcare data interoperability, and it can be nearly impossible to navigate the complex world of digital health. But advancements in connectivity are being made, and companies like Validic are leading the way by allowing healthcare companies to connect to mobile health and clinical technology without having to guess where the market is headed, what devices will survive and thrive, or how to standardize and normalize the various data points.”
Validic's partners range from health systems like UPMC and Sutter Health to technology integrators like Withings, Jawbone and Telcare. This week the company announced an expansion to its platform with new partners Everyday Health, which provides health and wellness solutions for a wide range of customers, and the sports apparel giant adidas.
These are two unique and growing markets. Payers and health plans are partnering with companies like Everyday Health to push fitness and wellness programs out to their members in an effort to improve their health management and reduce costly healthcare issues down the road. Part of that process lies in engaging with members at any time and offering resources and encouragement for better health management.
"We found Validic’s easy, single-point connection helps us advance our analytics technology to provide highly personalized and differentiated content," Premal Parikh, Everyday health's chief technical officer, said in a press release. "This supports our efforts to deliver the personalized, daily tools our … audience needs to make the best health choices, actively manage their conditions and live healthier lives every day.”
Sports apparel manufacturers are also finding value in connecting with their customers – and in helping those customers push data from sports monitors and fitness sensors to their coaches, caregivers and healthcare providers. And while the personal fitness device market is booming, healthcare hasn't taken that leap yet because providers don't want to be swamped with data they don't need or can't use.
A partnership like that between Validic and adidas looks to moderate that stream of data so that consumers get what they want and providers, payers and other parties get what they want (or what the consumer wants them to receive).
"Connecting our sports and fitness apps and devices with Validic’s digital health ecosystem gives us great access to a growing population of healthcare organizations, technologies and helps us accelerate our strategy to motivate consumers to live a more active life,” Qaizar Hassonjee, vice president of innovation for the digital sports group at adidas, said in the release.
Schiller and Ryan Beckland, Validic's co-founder and CEO (both are also speaking at the mHealth Summit separate sessions), say their company provides a HIPAA-compliant, FDA-approved platform that can connect all the different players in the mHealth sandbox. They serve as the go-between to connect the tech innovators and app developers to health systems, payers and business executives. Also among the new partners announced at the mHealth Summit are WebMD, Pfizer, Medhost and NexJ.
"We have a unique position in the industry given that we are connecting the technology developers with the healthcare companies," Beckland said in a separate release. "Our digital health platform brings both sides together, and our clients tell us that we play a significant role in helping guide them through executing on their use cases and accelerating their strategic mobile health objectives.”
