Has Virgin Pulse’s Acquisition of Welltok Created a New Kind of Care Navigator? – The Health Care Blog

By JESS DaMASSA, WTF Well being

Virgin Pulse has been a significant title in place of work wellness for a lengthy time – operating with overall health strategies and employers (which include 25% of the Fortune 500) to offer care navigation, nicely-being products and services, well being coaching and obtain to digital wellness point answers for many years. But, it lifted some eyebrows at the close of last 12 months when it introduced its acquisition of knowledge-driven wellness firm, Welltok. So, what happens when a single of the biggest names in employee wellbeing all of a sudden has accessibility to a dataset of 250M healthcare consumers? Virgin Pulse’s CEO Chris Michalak stops by to talk about the price of that info, which he believes will not only turbo-charge Virgin Pulse’s engagement premiums, but also offer new strategies for the business to serve as a “full-on navigation capability” for employers, ideas, and overall health devices.

As Chris places it, Virgin Pulse has often been an “engagement company” but the addition of Welltok’s data turns it into an “activation enterprise.” As Virgin Pulse proceeds to associate up with digital well being position alternatives, convey electronic therapeutics into the fold, and establish-out key treatment associations as a guide stream, the system Chris describes starts to seem more and extra like a navigation company that competes with the likes of Accolade or Incorporated Wellbeing. Will Virgin Pulse 1-working day dip into primary care by themselves and increase their personal virtual care suppliers? Will they construct their personal electronic therapeutics with information derived from that abundant Welltok database? We get into the ‘what’s next’ for the business as it integrates its newest acquisition and seeks to acquire additional C-suite focus from businesses looking for to much better control their employees’ access to health care advantages.