WellPoint acquires Resolution Health

WellPoint Inc.’s acquisition of Resolution Health Inc., a data analytics-driven personal healthcare guidance company, is yet another reflection of the interest in consumer-driven tools such as EHRs, PHRs, and health-related search engines, among others.

“Personalized medical communication is exactly what we are trying to accomplish in healthcare,” Dijuana Lewis, chief executive of WellPoint’s Comprehensive Health Solutions business unit, tells Managed Healthcare Executive. “By tailoring healthcare recommendations to individual WellPoint members, and sometimes doctors, we can reach people before they get really sick or have an adverse event.”

Resolution Health’s Earl Steinberg, MD, co-founder and CEO says collecting data from insurance claims, health records and other medical and pharmacy reports “allows us to paint what we call a total patient picture. The more types of data we’re able to get access to, the more colorful that picture.”

Approximately two years ago, the pair announced a strategic alliance to help improve members’ compliance with care recommendations and reduce out-of-pocket expenses through personalized communications that empower members to take greater control of their health and healthcare decision making.

Terms of this deal have not been disclosed.

In other WellPoint news, the insurer, in close collaboration with leading government and academic institutions, including the FDA and faculty from key academic institutions, including Harvard University, the University of North Carolina and the University of Pennsylvania, has announced the development of a system to more effectively and rapidly monitor the safety of pharmaceuticals and other medical therapies after FDA approval. Starting next year, the Safety Sentinel System is expected to be capable of continually monitoring WellPoint’s 35-million member database and identifying increases in health problems among members taking a given drug, indicating a potential Serious Adverse Event (SAE).  It is anticipated that the System will also make it possible to examine whether particular combinations of treatments could cause serious medical problems, especially in patients with certain diseases or health conditions.