Sharecare

Sharecare is an Atlanta, Georgia-based health and wellness company that provides consumers with personalized information, programs and resources to improve their health. It provides personalized information to the site's users based on their responses to the RealAge Test, the company's health risk assessment tool, and offers a clinical decision support tool, AskMD. Headquartered in Atlanta, Sharecare was founded in 2010 by Jeff Arnold (founder of WebMD) and Dr. Mehmet Oz, in partnership with Remark Media, Harpo Studios, Sony Pictures Television and Discovery Communications.[2][3][4]

Sharecare, Inc.
Type of businessPrivate
FoundedOctober 7, 2010
HeadquartersAtlanta, Georgia, United States
Founder(s)Jeff Arnold, Dr. Mehmet Oz
Key peopleJeff Arnold (CEO)
Dawn Whaley (President)
Justin Ferrero (President)
IndustryDigital Health
Employees2,400[1]
SubsidiariesDailyStrength, dotFit, The Little Blue Book, WisePatient, RealAge, PKC Corporation, BACTES, QualityHealth, Feingold Technologies, Healthways
URLwww.sharecare.com

In January 2021, the company was reportedly planning to go public by merging with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC).[5]

History

Sharecare began as an interactive question-and-answer (Q&A) platform about health[6] and then expanded its products and services through internal development and strategic acquisitions of companies including DailyStrength, dotFit, The Little Blue Book, WisePatient, RealAge, PKC Corporation, BACTES Imaging Solutions, QualityHealth, Feingold Technologies, BioLucid and Healthways.[7][8][9][10][11]

Services

Sharecare.com is built on a social content platform curating the collective knowledge of vetted medical experts. Much of its content is contributed by organizations like AARP, the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, the American Red Cross, the National Academy of Sports Medicine, and medical professionals.[12] Questions are also answered by medical centers such as the Cleveland Clinic.[13] The platform allows them to answer questions and engage in conversations about health.[14]

AskMD, launched in December 2013, is a web-based application, (and a free app for iPhone and iPod touch), that helps people collect information about symptoms, learn more about causes, and find appropriate physicians. AskMD aims to help consumers get organized around their health and have a more productive doctor's visit by guiding users through a personalized questionnaire that takes into account symptoms and other factors, like medications and known conditions, and matches answers against the latest clinical research. AskMD's clinical knowledge management system was developed through Sharecare's acquisition of PKC Corporation, to bring evidence-based medicine to patients and providers, and enabling clinically-informed communications. It was named Best Medical App at the 4th Annual Appy Awards, and was named an official 2014 Webby Award honoree in Mobile & Apps: Health & Fitness.[15][16]

Sharecare expanded into population health in 2016 when the company acquired a division of business from Healthways including its Blue Zones Project. Part of the deal also included the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index.[17] In July 2019, a five-year partnership was announced between Sharecare and The Boston University School of Public Health with the stated intent to "mine social determinants of health data and enhance patient outcomes across the country." The organizations collaborated to create a Community Well-Being Index that would begin to analyze the environmental factors affecting patient health.[18] Analysts reviewed data measuring individual risk factors in five health domains: purpose, social, financial, community, and physical; they then combined the original well-being index with new social determinants of health: healthcare access, food access, resource access, housing, and transportation. The combined results comprise the Sharecare Community Well-Being Index, which ranks states and communities from "healthiest" to "unhealthiest" annually.[19][20]

In February 2020, Sharecare announced the acquisition of Visualize Health, a Population Health and Quality Measure Attainment platform based in Tennessee.[21][22][23]

In January 2021, the company was reportedly planning to go public by acquiring artificial intelligence startup Doc.ai, and then merging with special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Falcon Capital Acquisition Corp., created by investment banker Alan Mnuchin, brother of former treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin.[5]

Criticisms

Concerns have been raised regarding the bias of answers provided on Sharecare.com by “knowledge partners," or paid sponsors.[24] Such knowledge partners include (among others): Colgate-Palmolive; Pfizer; Unilever (Dove skin-care products); health insurer UnitedHealthcare; and Walgreens drug stores.[25]

Dental amalgam

In June 2013, the American Dental Association (ADA) withdrew as a knowledge partner in response to what it considered an irresponsible attack on co-owner Mehmet Oz's "Dr. Oz Show" on the use of dental amalgam. ADA President Dr. Robert A Faiella summed up the group's reaction by stating: "As a science-based organization, we should always welcome inquiry, but we should not be seen as supporting the promotion of misleading information unsupported by the best science."[26]

Delayed reporting of data breach

A data breach that occurred with Sharecare Health Data Services (SHDS) as early as May 2018 was not reported to users until February 2019. No explanation was given for the delayed reporting.[27][28][29] HIPAA, the federal law governing healthcare data privacy, requires that data breaches be reported within 60 days.[30] The breach included the personal information of at least 18,416 Blue Shield of California and at least 5,500 AltaMed members. Patients affected were offered 12 months of free credit monitoring and identity theft protection services.[27][28]

See also

References
  1. "Sharecare Company Profile". Craft. Retrieved 2020-11-20.
  2. "Quarterly Report on Remark Holdings". SEC. 2019-11-12. Retrieved 2020-04-30.
  3. Elliott, Stuart (2010-10-06). "Web Site to Offer Health Advice, Some of It From Marketers". New York Times. Retrieved 2011-04-02.
  4. "Dr. Mehmet Oz and Internet Entrepreneur, Jeff Arnold, Announce Sharecare Inc., a Web 3.0 Platform, Organizing and Answering the Questions of Health". Bloomberg. November 2, 2009. Retrieved 2011-04-02.
  5. "Sharecare acquires Doc.ai, reportedly plans to go public via SPAC". Med City News. January 28, 2021. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  6. "Sharecare aims to be humble host for health apps". MobiHealthNews. 2010-10-21. Retrieved 2011-04-02.
  7. "Sharecare Announces $14 Million Growth Equity Financing Led by Galen Partners, the Acquisition of The Little Blue Book Physician Reference and Jeff Arnold to be CEO". Sharecare. 2012-01-17.
  8. "Sharecare Announces the Acquisition of RealAge". Sharecare. 2012-03-12.
  9. "Sharecare Announces the Acquisition of PKC Corporation". Sharecare. 2012-06-18.
  10. "Sharecare Announces Acquisition of BACTES". Sharecare. 2013-07-01.
  11. "Wellness platform Sharecare to buy health business from Healthways". Reuters. 2016-07-27.
  12. Elliott, Stuart (2010-10-06). "Web Site to Offer Health Advice, Some of It From Marketers". ’’The New York Times’’.
  13. Moukheiber, Zina (2010-11-16). "Names You Need To Know In 2011: Sharecare". Forbes.
  14. "Dr. Mehmet Oz and Jeff Arnold launch Sharecare.com, where experts share their knowledge with consumers". Health in 30. 2010-10-08. Retrieved 2011-03-28.
  15. "Sharecare's AskMD Wins Appy Award for Best Medical App". VentureBeat. 2014-05-23.
  16. "Mobile health apps from EHR to diabetes picked as Webby award honorees". MedCityNews. 2014-04-18.
  17. Fletcher, Holly (July 27, 2016). "Healthways to sell division, brand to Sharecare in major corporate shake-up". Tennessean. Retrieved December 15, 2020.
  18. Kent, Jessica (July 16, 2019). "New Community Index Will Mine Social Determinants of Health Data". Health IT Analytics. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
  19. Gooch, Kelly (September 3, 2020). "50 states ranked from healthiest to unhealthiest". Becker's Hospital Review. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
  20. Morse, Susan (September 2, 2019). "Boston University SPH and Sharecare launch well-being index looking at impact of environment on health". Healthcare Finance. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  21. Lee, Chanel (2020-02-25). "Sharecare Acquires Tennessee-Based Healthcare Company Visualize Health". Hypepotamus. Retrieved 2020-03-03.
  22. "Sharecare acquires Visualize Health". MobiHealthNews. 2020-02-24. Retrieved 2020-03-03.
  23. "Sharecare Acquires Value-Based Care Platform Visualize Health". 2020-02-24. Retrieved 2020-03-03.
  24. Burkitt, Laurie (2009-11-19). "WebMD Founder Matches Marketers With Consumers Who Have Health Concerns". Forbes.
  25. Elliott, Stuart (2010-10-06). "Web Site to Offer Health Advice, Some of It From Marketers". The New York Times.
  26. Soderland, Kelly (2013-06-10). "ADA and Sharecare part ways". ADA News.
  27. Adler, Steve (February 19, 2019). "Patients Receive Notifications of PHI Theft 8 Months After Business Associate Data Breach was Detected". HIPAA Journal.
  28. "Sharecare Health Data Services Issues Alert 8 Months After Breach Discovery". NetSec.news. March 16, 2019.
  29. Garrity, Mackenzie (April 29, 2019). "AltaMed alerts 5,500 patients of data breach". Becker Hospital Review.
  30. "March 1, 2019: Deadline for Reporting Small Healthcare Data Breaches". February 14, 2019.
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