Royal Philips has acquired population health management software vendor Wellcentive for unspecified terms, the companies said Wednesday.
The deal will allow Netherlands-based Philips to augment its offerings in population health, though Wellcentive may be calling the shots in this area. Tom Zajac, CEO of Atlanta-based Wellcentive is joining Philips as head of the Dutch company’s population health management business.
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“Wellcentive gives us the ability to analyze certain populations,” particularly those with chronic diseases, Philips spokesman Steve Klink said by phone from Amsterdam. The software can import, analyze and stratify data from multiple sources, he said.
Philips, of course, already has a strong position in remote patient monitoring, home care, telehealth and diagnostics. It plans on integrating Wellcentive’s technology into the Philips HealthSuite cloud.
“Our sweet spot is at the point of care as we give consumers, patients, care teams and clinicians the tools, such as remote monitoring solutions and therapy devices, to optimize care,” Philips Connected Care & Health Informatics CEO Jeroen Tas said in a press release. “Wellcentive’s solutions will provide our customers with the ability to collect data from large populations, detect patterns, assess risks and then deploy care programs tailored to the needs of specific groups,” Tas added.
“Combining forces with Philips and its broad portfolio of health technologies and global reach will create a great foundation to accelerate growth in connected care – from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care – enabling consumers, providers and health organizations to benefit from our combined, stronger offering in population health management,” Zajac said in the same release.
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Initially, Philips will operate Wellcentive exclusively in the U.S., but likely will look to spread the technology to other markets in the future, according to Klink.
“Acute care is no longer sufficient” around the world, Klink said. “You really need to proactively manage the health of populations.”
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