Dive Brief:
- Software-as-a-service company Welltok is expanding its presence in the managed Medicaid and government markets with the purchase of Wellpass, formerly Voxiva, for an undisclosed sum.
- Wellpass customers include managed Medicaid plans, state Medicaid agencies and health departments, providers and drug companies.
- The company's evidence-based programs — Text4Baby, Text2Quit and Care4Life — have been used by more than 3 million people to deliver more than 400 million health-related messages through SMS text, according to Welltok's announcement of the deal.
Dive Insight:
With the acquisition, Welltok gains a foothold in a key healthcare cohort. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, more than half of all Medicaid enrollees receive all or most of their care from managed care providers.
Wellpass was formed last year with the merger of Sense Health and Voxiva. Both companies already provided mobile health services in the Medicaid space.
Their programs focus on prenatal care, adult and child health, diabetes and smoking cessation. Among other claims, the company touts a 26% rise in well-baby visits and two-fold increase in smoking abstinence.
Denver-based Welltok deploys machine learning to help consumers connect with providers, health plans and pharmacies. Last fall, the company paid $80 million for Tea Leaves Health, a SaaS analytics patient engagement platform used by more than 400 hospitals.
In April, Welltok raised $75 million in a Series E round to support building out that hospital and health system base.
