Welltok Taps IBM Watson to Create Novel Health Optimization Service for Consumers

 

Welltok, Inc., the leading Social Health Management company, is partnering with IBM to bring a unique collaborative solution called CaféWell Concierge powered by IBM Watson to market. The new, easy-to-use solution will offer healthcare consumers the ability to identify personalized activities, health content and condition management programs to optimize their health and get rewarded for positive behavior change. The solution will be sponsored by health plans, health systems, accountable care organizations, health retailers, and other entities that are seeking to improve consumers’ health status and lower costs. Welltok will work with industry leaders such as Aetna to help shape the product direction and pilot test the product with members.

This collaborative solution leverages the unique capabilities of CaféWell, Welltok’s flagship Health Optimization Platform and IBM’s cognitive computing system, IBM Watson. CaféWell efficiently integrates health and wellness applications, condition specific communities, activity tracking devices, health education content, and condition management programs such as diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and has the unique ability to match the activities and behaviors with appropriate incentives and rewards. IBM Watson uses natural language processing, machine learning, and analytics to process information in a manner that is similar to the way people think. This allows Watson to answer complex questions posed in everyday language quickly and accurately, while continually learning and becoming “smarter” each time it interacts with users.

Click here to see examples of the type of information CaféWell Concierge powered by IBM Watson will be able to provide.

Welltok is a key partner within a new ecosystem of businesses that will create apps infused with IBM Watson’s cognitive computing intelligence.  In line with today’s announcement, IBM is launching the Watson Developers Cloud, where software application providers ranging from start-ups to established technology leaders, such as Welltok can collaborate with IBM to create Watson-powered apps. The cloud will feature a “sandbox” for app creation, as well as a developer toolkit, educational materials and access to IBM Watson’s application programming interface (API).

“Through our collaboration with IBM, I look forward to marrying the world’s leading cognitive computing platform with Welltok’s ever increasing volume of disparate health information such health conversations, activity data, health content and health benefit information to push innovation and activate consumers to take charge of their health and wellbeing,” said Jeff Margolis Chairman and CEO of Welltok, Inc.  “Welltok will have an unprecedented opportunity to leverage massive amounts of unstructured information to help consumers achieve healthier, happier lives by providing them with the right tools and information they need to avoid preventable health problems and to improve their overall health and wellness.”

CaféWell Concierge™, powered by IBM Watson, will allow consumers to ask their own questions or choose from a list of common health-related questions. They will receive real-time responses based on a variety of variables including location, health status, health benefits, health improvement programs and incentives available from their insurer, physician or local pharmacy.  CaféWell Concierge will also anticipate a consumer’s health needs and send targeted information based on the individual consumer profiles it has created.  CaféWell Concierge will dynamically create Intelligent Health Itineraries that guide consumers with activities that are tailored to their individual needs, goals and motivations, such as:

  • Providing dining and menu options based on an individual’s  location, health status (do they have high blood pressure, diabetes or pre-diabetes, need to lose weight, etc.), restaurant reviews, and more;
  • Steering a consumer to discussion groups, local activities and connections based on age, health status, location and system-learned preferences; and
  • Recommending relevant incentivized health and wellness activities based on health plan benefits and available incentives and rewards.

As part of the co-development process, Welltok will provide IBM Watson with data and content related to health plan eligibility, demographic information, wellness and prevention programs, CaféWell activities, and other relevant data.  Information gleaned from the management of over 4,000 health incentive programs and over 40 million transactions will also be incorporated into the data set to help establish guidelines for the most effective use of personalized incentives.  CaféWell will also enable IBM Watson to provide intelligent and personalized responses to consumers’ questions about their health conditions and activities to help them meet their health goals and explain how they can be rewarded for healthy behaviors.  Through cognitive processing, ongoing consumer questions and feedback, CaféWell will teach IBM Watson how to structure the ever-growing massive body of unstructured consumer health data generated daily.

“After spending extensive time looking for truly disruptive opportunities across the healthcare landscape, we are excited to partner with Welltok and develop a groundbreaking consumer healthcare solution,” said Claudia Fan Munce, managing director, IBM Venture Capital Group and vice president, IBM Corporate Strategy. “The healthcare vertical has always been a high priority for IBM, and we are excited to invest in helping consumers optimize their health through personalized dialogue.”