UnitedHealth Buys Stake in mHealth Startup

UnitedHealth Group's Optum business unit announced on February 19 that it has acquired a majority interest in startup Audax Health Solutions Inc. (Washington, DC).

Audax's flagship (and seemingly only) product is an app called Zensey, which Audax says seeks to make fitness both a game and a social experience. Zensey, which aims to sell into the insurer and corporate employee wellness markets, is said to be a guide to healthier living. Audax's website is long on hype and virtually devoid of facts about or the features of its product. Since there are no links to app stores or other download or buy-it-here availability, it would seem that Zensey hasn't actually launched yet. But they have  "teamed up" with other companies in the mobile personal fitness space, such as FitBit, BodyMedia, Polar, and Withings.

Still, Optum saw something there. UnitedHealth has not disclosed the dollar amount or percentage acquired in the deal, however, we note that in the Federal Register (FR:79 No. 42, dated March 4), UnitedHealth applied to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) back in January for, and was granted, early termination of the waiting period under the premerger notification rules of the Clayton Act.

Meanwhile, Optum has also announced the launch of their Optum One analytics platform, which is said to deliver "comprehensive insights, patient engagement and care coordination capabilities in a single integrated platform."

While Optum One is targeted at healthcare providers, there may be a connection between these two events. According to their February 25 press release, Optum One "enables health care providers to analyze data extracted from their electronic medical record (EMR) systems and enriched by claims data and take action on those insights, using intuitive applications connected through a single platform."

While healthcare providers aren't likely to be very interested in the social chatter that is intended to be part of the Zensey experience, it doesn't take a great leap to see how individual fitness data from Zensey could easily be imported into the Electronic Health Record of the participant, where it could be available to the healthcare provider through Optum One.

While this potential integration of Zensey with Optum One is pure speculation on our part, it does seem to be a logical next step. If it happens, remember that you read it here first.

Stephen Levy is a contributor to Qmed and MPMN.