Digital health company HealthPrize Technologies is expanding an incentive program to motivate medication adherence tool that offers points towards prizes in exchange for patient engagement. It is moving beyond pharmaceutical companies which have been the main client base since its platform launch in 2010. It wants to expand its customer base with employers and payers, according to a phone interview with Dr. Katrina Firlik, the chief medical officer and co-founder.
To help with that expansion, it raised $3 million in a round led by its first institutional investor — Mansa Capital, according to a company statement. Until this financing round, angels had been the source of its financing to the tune of $6 million. The funding will also be used to support the company’s international expansion in Europe and Canada, Firlik said. Mansa managing partner, Ruben King-Shaw Jr., will get a seat on the board of directors in exchange for the investment to which it could add $2 million next year. Mansa called attention to HealthPrize’s success with boosting adherence as the reason it was compelled to invest. HealthPrize claims that patients enrolled in its programs show high engagement rates and have adherence rates that are nearly 50 percent higher than baseline on average.
Firlik explained that its clients like that its platform is customizable. It starts with how the patient is recruited to be in the program. Although the point system and rewards are part of the platform, the areas that the pharma companies choose to prioritize is up to them. For example, one company might give more points when the patient gets a prescription refill and another might award more points when patients take quizzes to test their knowledge of their condition. Also the type of reward varies. Patients can use their points at an awards bank of sorts. The prize might be an Amazon gift card, which Firlik notes is the most commonly redeemed item. Or the company may choose to use cookware or sporting equipment or clothing to reward adherence.
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When you think that HealthPrize has been in the medication adherence incentive space since 2009, it’s interesting how much expansion there’s been in the sector since then. “That whole area has mushroomed,” says Firlik. One thing that the company has done that no one has been able to duplicate is it worked really hard to nail down a prescription fill verification system. When a patient gets a refill there are several things that can be done for companies to get that notice, depending on what the pharma business wants. It has also been effective in navigating a complex regulatory environment.
One of things that has helped is the incentive-reward formula that HealthPrize uses. Patients receive co-pay cards through doctors. Patients who act on reminders get points. They can score more for taking part in quizzes testing their knowledge of their disease. They get most of their points at refill. Pharmaceutical companies decide on the rewards. For instance, they could include an Amazon or iTunes gift card.
The company currently has 15 staff but that’s going to change with the coming expansion, which will include account services and sales as well as software development.
“Before this financing we didn’t have the capability to sell to other constituencies. We have had very supportive angel investors.”
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It will also use the funding to bring software development, which it has largely outsourced, in-house. Its customers are driving many of the changes, including the conditions its platform is being used for. Although Type 2 diabetes and hypertension are popular, unsurprisingly, it is beginning to see more companies adding adherence incentives for expensive medications such as organ transplant meds, managing HIV and cancer drugs.
The complexities that stand in the way of making a difference on adherence issues require a deeper analytical dive than the company can do. That is motivating it to look for partners that can specifically address how to target the right people for the right intervention with healthcare analytics tools.
