Drugstore giant Walgreens ($WBA) is partnering with HealthPrize Technologies to offer the latter’s game-based patient engagement and drug adherence platform through its website. The duo plans to offer the tool to patients using the site to fill brand-name prescriptions for chronic conditions.
The program is still under development and will be completed this month, HealthPrize said in a statement. They will then present it to pharma sponsors as a way to push adherence for prescribed medications.
“We are pleased to be able to offer the HealthPrize platform to select Walgreens patients through this collaboration,” said HealthPrize CEO Tom Kottler, in the statement. “This will also give healthcare brands an omni-channel approach to educating and motivating patients to take their medications and achieve improved health outcomes.”
The platform, dubbed the HealthPrize Action Engine uses “gamification,” behavioral economics and redeemable incentives to encourage patients to learn about their condition and adhere to their medications, HealthPrize said. The platform may include weekly condition-related quizzes, daily health tips and facts, competitions with leaderboards and daily prompts to take their medication.
HealthPrize most recently collected an undisclosed Series B round in June, and has existing collaborations with a number of pharma partners, including Novo Nordisk ($NVO) and West Pharmaceutical. It is working on improving patient outcomes with West by targeting adherence. Their program includes an electronic drug delivery system that tracks when patients take their medications and rewards them with points. In addition to scoring points when refilling or taking a medication, patients can bag even more points by completing educational quizzes online.
The tie-up with Norwalk, CT-based HealthPrize comes mere months after Walgreens pulled the plug on its partnership with Theranos, shuttering all 40 Theranos Wellness Centers at its Arizona stores and forfeiting $50 million in the process.
- here's the statement
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