So you may have heard that WebMD acquired health IT startup Avado — a company that developed a patient portal to help physicians communicate with their patients using messaging and reminders. It is an interesting development for a company that has until recently focused on content. So what other health IT companies is WebMD (Nasdaq: WBMD) looking at?
A WebMD spokeswoman’s responses suggested the company is keeping an open mind.
Is Avado WebMD’s first health IT acquisition that’s not focused on content or improving health literacy?
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“We believe there is significant opportunity to pursue both partnerships and/or acquisitions, which leverage our brands and audiences in a way that will both accelerate our entry into new markets and differentiate us from the other players.”
What other health IT companies/services is WebMD looking to add?
“WebMD will pursue opportunities to strengthen our offerings and will look to partner with mobile app developers, healthcare IT developers, biometric device manufacturers, and health service providers to build connected care tools for patient engagement.”
The company said Obamacare is accelerating changes in healthcare that are creating opportunities for its physician and consumer audiences. Those opportunities “will enable us to accelerate growth in our existing revenue streams as well as create new diversified revenue streams.”
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Developing tools to help consumers understand health insurance options: The spokeswoman added that the company is working on a platform to help health insurers market to consumers, which sounds a lot like a private exchange/portal. She added:
“From a consumer perspective, people will be looking for a trusted source of information to understand health insurance costs and the critical information needed to compare and purchase a health plan.”
“From a healthcare provider perspective, many of the tools we’re developing provide resources to doctors who are looking for ways to digitally communicate with their patients and create programs to help manage their care.”
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