Vitality has acquired Icario, creating a combined health engagement platform that will serve approximately 19 million members and 30% of U.S. health plans, including eight of the country’s 10 largest plans.
Icario specializes in digital health engagement and helping payers reach and activate members who may otherwise be difficult to engage.
The acquisition combines Icario’s member activation capabilities with Vitality’s behavioral change, health intelligence and ongoing engagement platform.
The combined model is designed to connect outreach and activation with longer-term health behavior change, prevention and clinical outcomes.
Vitality said people who engage with its platform demonstrate 34% higher engagement with primary and preventive care services.
The company also said every 10% increase in engagement produces an additional 5% increase in participation across connected health management solutions.
The acquisition comes as U.S. health plan costs are projected to rise by as much as 10%, while lifestyle-related behaviors account for an estimated 28% of healthcare costs.
Vitality plans to provide health plans with an AI-powered personalization platform that can tailor messaging, communication channels and incentives across lifestyle behaviors, preventive care, clinical actions, condition management and care-plan compliance.
The companies want to move health plan engagement beyond transactional interactions such as enrollment, claims and prior authorizations toward continuous relationships that encourage members to take preventive and clinical actions.
Vitality said an Annual Wellness Visit generated through the combined approach can have a 6% impact on healthcare costs over the subsequent 11 months.
It also said engaged Vitality members living with diabetes experience 53% lower claims costs compared with less-engaged peers.
The acquisition follows Vitality’s recent purchases of Ramp Health and WellSpark, which expanded the company’s capabilities into onsite clinical services, coaching, occupational health, workers’ risk mitigation, virtual coaching and disease prevention.
Houlihan Lokey provided financial guidance to Vitality, with Taft serving as legal counsel and BDO providing tax advice.
Cain Brothers served as Icario’s exclusive financial advisor, while Weil, Gotshal & Manges served as legal counsel.
KEY QUOTES:
“Health plans have invested billions in identifying risk, but this is only valuable if members take action. By bringing Icario and Vitality together, we will help health plans connect member activation to sustained health improvement. Together, we will build stronger member relationships, close more care gaps, improve quality performance, and ultimately deliver better health outcomes at scale.”
Maia Surmava, CEO of Vitality U.S.
“Icario has always focused on helping health plans reach and activate the members who are often hardest to engage at the moments that matter most. Joining Vitality allows us to extend those moments into a sustained, personalized journey of health improvement. Together, we have an opportunity to help our health plan partners not only reach more members but help those members take the actions that improve outcomes over the long term.”
Marc Willard, CEO of Icario
