Two Georgia healthcare giants partnered in a move to give patients a more holistic view of their health and medical records using one integrated platform.
Atlanta digital health company Sharecare, which announced plans to go public last month, and Marietta-based healthcare network Wellstar Health System will combine their resources with the aim of innovating the way people engage with their health information.
The Sharecare platform allows people to engage with their health by tracking habits, such as sleep and nutrition, recommending local physicians and care providers and supporting health and wellness goals. If a company connects their employees to Sharecare, the platform also becomes a benefits hub.
Through the partnership, the 24,000 Wellstar employees will get access to the Sharecare system in order to promote their health and wellness. In the next year, Wellstar patients will also be connected to the Sharecare platform, meaning medical records from their Wellstar providers and their health information on Sharecare will be accessible on a single platform.
“We’re combining our reach and impact together and bringing it to the community in a way that helps eliminate fragmentation [in health care] and gives decision-support tools to people so they can live their best lives,” Sharecare CEO Jeff Arnold said.
Wellstar CEO and President Candice Saunders said that integration gives people a better picture of their health information. Providers would be able to prescribe Sharecare educational materials or health goals to their patients, supplementing pharmaceutical prescriptions or in-person advice.
Wellstar will invest $10 million into Sharecare, joining insurance company Anthem and investment firm Digital Alpha as strategic partners. The Sharecare-enable system will be available exclusively to Wellstar until 2023.
Arnold said the company is "laser focused” on this partnership as a pilot to see how this type of integration will work before looking to expand into other states. All Georgia employees, including teachers enrolled in the state health plan, already have access to the Sharecare system. Wellstar provided care to 1 in 6 Georgians last year, Saunders said.
“We see this as the showcase,” Arnold said. “We have all the ingredients to do this. It’s not a 2025 vision. It’s a 2021 reality.”
Sharecare is in the process of merging with special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, Falcon Capital Acquisition Corp. (NASDAG: FCAC) to go public.
The combined company will become Sharecare Inc. and be listed under the ticker symbol SHCR. The deal is set to close in the second quarter and would put the enterprise value of the combined company at $3.9 billion.
