WebMD big move into healthIT with acquisition

WebMD Health Corp. (NASDAQ: WBMD), the leading source of health information, today announced that it has acquired Avado, Inc., a developer of cloud-based patient relationship management (PRM) tools and technologies that enable better communication between consumers and health care professionals.
 
“Our acquisition of Avado demonstrates WebMD’s commitment to playing a leading role in the emerging patient relationship management space because we believe that connectivity has the potential to make the delivery of care more efficient and improve patient outcomes,” said David Schlanger, WebMD’s Chief Executive Officer. 
 
Today, WebMD is enabling physicians that use its Medscape mobile app to securely send education and instructions on thousands of conditions, procedures and drugs to their patients who use WebMD’s mobile app. 
 
“Avado’s innovative technology and tools will complement, and further accelerate WebMD’s efforts to connect patients with their healthcare providers, which is an important first step toward making connected care a reality,” said Bill Pence, WebMD’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technology Officer.
 
Avado is a StartUp Health Company founded in 2010 by serial entrepreneurs Dave Chase, Bassam Saliba and John Yii. Avado’s investors include The Partnership Fund for New York City and several serial health tech entrepreneurs and investors. The Avado technology has been tested in physician offices, medical centers, and pharmaceutical companies and this technology will become an important building block of WebMD’s patient-provider connectivity offering.
 
Avado’s founders Dave Chase and Bassam Saliba will continue with the company and report to Pence.  Chase, Saliba and Avado’s engineering talent will remain based in Seattle, WA, and work closely with WebMD’s New York-based connectivity product team.
 
“WebMD reaches the largest audience of health-focused consumers and healthcare providers in the U.S. and it’s exciting to think that Avado’s technology will be built out and scaled for the benefit of such a significant audience,” said Chase.  “What’s more, since trust is paramount when it comes to the sharing of health information, it made logical sense for us to be joining a company that is the most trusted US consumer brand.”