After a year that left many health systems scrambling to communicate with their patients, data analytics firm Health Catalyst struck a deal to buy patient engagement startup Twistle.
Health Catalyst will pay $104.5 million to acquire the company, with the potential for up to $65 million more based on certain performance targets, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The deal is expected to close next quarter.
Salt Lake City-based Health Catalyst offers analytics and process improvement tools for several big health systems, including Banner Health, Intermountain Healthcare and UPMC, according to its website. It plans to pair Twistle’s patient engagement tools with its population health software.
Not only would this bring a broader user base to Twistle, but it would also build on its current capabilities.
“Health Catalyst’s patient insights can trigger personalized outreach, and the patient’s unique profile will allow Twistle’s communication pathways to adapt to their preferences and attributes in unprecedented ways,” Twistle CEO Kulmeet Singh said in a news release. “We are excited about the prospects of our joint solutions proactively engaging at-risk populations, advancing health equity, and improving patient activation in their care.”
Albuquerque, New Mexico-based Twistle was founded in 2011. It lets care teams text patients for daily “check ins” and helps patients set up medical devices. During the pandemic, Providence St. Joseph Health used Twistle to monitor patients with Covid-19 symptoms at home, by texting them a short form to share their daily temperature and oxygen saturation levels with ICU nurses.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Aaron Martin, managing general partner of Providence Ventures, which is an investor in Twistle, said he expects the deal to speed up innovation in making outreach to patients more personalized.
“Health Catalyst’s acquisition of Twistle highlights our belief that the most promising technology in healthcare is combining AI and data with ‘digital endpoints’ for patient services to deliver value,” he said in a news release.
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