Sharecare, the digital health company helping people manage all their healthcare in one place, announced it is acquiring the Population Health business of Healthways (NASDAQ:HWAY), including: Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index®; Innergy Healthier Weight, a collaboration with Johns Hopkins Medicine that provides a high-touch, personalized solution proven to sustain weight loss; its two Emerging Solutions businesses, Dan Buettner’s Blue Zones Project® and Dr. Ornish’s Program for Reversing Heart Disease™; and Healthways’ stake in Healthways Brasil Servicos de Consultoria Ltda., its Brazil-based joint venture and innovation lab with SulAmerica Servicos de Saude S.A., a subsidiary of the largest independent insurer in Brazil, Sul America S.A. (BM&FBovespa:SULA11).

“This acquisition is a pivotal move toward accelerating innovation and executing on our vision, and – with more than a quarter billion dollars in Healthways’ customer contracts annually – catapults us into a leadership position in the employer and health plan markets,” said Jeff Arnold, chairman and CEO of Sharecare. “The Healthways team are pioneers in disease management and overall population health, and will greatly complement what our company has built at Sharecare. We also are enthusiastic about the opportunity to collaborate and innovate with Healthways’ premier customers – visionary organizations with strong leadership, dominant market share and a long-standing commitment to consumerism. Together, we stand to make a profound impact on healthcare.”

By delivering Healthways’ scientifically validated clinical protocols through Sharecare’s proven engagement platform, customers will be able to meet their goals for efficiently scaling health and wellness initiatives across their organizations and into the future. Sharecare will assume Healthways’ existing population health contracts, including those with leading health plans like Anthem, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield (CareFirst), and the Hawai‘i Medical Service Association (HMSA).

“When CareFirst pioneered its Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) model – stressing care coordination, primary care, global accountability for improved cost and quality outcomes – we selected Healthways to play an integral role in the program’s success,” said Chet Burrell, CareFirst president and CEO. “Sharecare has a shared belief in our mission, and possesses the innovative vision and technology expertise to help us foster optimal engagement for our members while supporting our business model.”

“HMSA is unwavering in our commitment to advance the health and well-being of everyone in Hawai’i, and for more than 15 years, Healthways has been an indispensible partner toward that end,” said Michael A. Gold, HMSA president and CEO. “With Sharecare and its comprehensive engagement platform, I believe our relationship will grow even stronger and add even more value for our members as we work together to have a transformative effect on the health of Hawai’i’s people.”

With approximately 1700 Healthways employees transitioning to Sharecare, the company will continue to operate the Population Health business from the Healthways campus in Franklin, Tenn., where the unit’s current president Sean Slovenski will become Sharecare’s president of Population Health. Healthways’ CFO Alfred Lumsdaine also will join Sharecare and report to Slovenski as chief operating and financial officer of Population Health.  

Slovenski will report to Sharecare’s newly appointed executive chairman of Population Health, Ken Goulet, who joined Sharecare’s board of directors in March 2016, after spending more than 35 years growing and leading large health plan organizations. The former Anthem executive will assist the senior management team of Population Health with a variety of matters, including strategy, integration, product enhancement, and customer and vendor relations; and report into Arnold and the Sharecare board of directors. Additionally, Donato Tramuto, Healthways’ CEO, will join the Sharecare board of directors to ensure continuity in customer support and successful growth for the Population Health business.

Tramuto said, “Over the course of Healthways’ strategic assessment, it was important that we find the right partner to help our Population Health business realize its full potential, and ensure success for the business’ customers and employees. Sharecare has demonstrated world-class expertise in digital engagement and innovation. We also believe the combination of technologies and distribution channels of this business in the hands of Sharecare will create new growth opportunities.”