Andy Harlen, SVP of Partnerships POV
In healthcare today, one thing is clear—no single company can solve all the issues that plague our fragmented system. The proliferation of digital health solutions has created both opportunity and complexity, and while these solutions aim to break down silos, many have inadvertently added to them. It’s here that I see the critical importance of partnerships. True value for end clients is often realized when companies work together to combine their strengths, even if they overlap in some areas. This is where the concept of “coopetition” becomes vital.
What is Coopetition?
Coopetition, a blend of cooperation and competition, explains how companies with overlapping capabilities can work together to achieve more than they could on their own. In healthcare, however, this approach is still relatively new.
In sectors like telecom, companies may own separate networks, but they’ve successfully created seamless roaming experiences for consumers. In finance, tools like Zelle or Plaid make transferring money between banks easy and efficient. In contrast, healthcare has been slow to adopt similar integration. It’s inevitable that platforms and solutions in healthcare will overlap, especially given the complexity and breadth of the systems involved. But that overlap isn’t a negative—it’s an opportunity.
By bringing together the best of what two organizations offer, we can drive greater value for the end customer. In healthcare, this means a better, more seamless experience for patients, payers, and providers alike. Coopetition allows us to break down silos and address the challenges that no single entity can tackle alone.
The Reality of Fragmentation
Fragmentation is one of healthcare’s biggest challenges. There are over 10,000 digital health vendors today, and with each new solution, more data is created and stored in silos. Healthcare executives are bombarded with hundreds of inquiries from vendors daily, making it difficult to determine which technology can truly solve their problems. The sheer volume of solutions has led to a paradox: instead of simplifying healthcare, we may have made it more complicated.
Partnering for Real Value
Strategic partnerships in healthcare are key to unlocking real value for consumers and healthcare organizations alike. Our collaboration with industry leaders like AWS enables b.well to leverage advanced cloud infrastructure for secure, scalable data management. With tools like AWS HealthLake, we can aggregate and analyze health data to provide a comprehensive view of patient information. Through our pre built integrations with AWS services, including AWS Connect, healthcare organizations can enable call center agents with longitudinal health data and rich insights without the heavy lift of custom development. AWS Connect enhances communication channels, ensuring that healthcare providers can connect with consumers seamlessly and effectively, improving real-time engagement and support across the care continuum. The value of these pre built integrations is in their ability to reduce implementation time, allowing providers to focus on delivering care while leveraging the power of scalable, secure cloud infrastructure.
Beyond AWS, we’ve taken our partnerships a step further by working with CLEAR, a leader in identity verification. This collaboration elevates our approach to identity management, going beyond simply establishing a digital identity. CLEAR focuses on verifying and proving the identity of each consumer, ensuring that the right person is securely accessing their health data. By integrating CLEAR’s identity verification technology, we ensure the highest level of assurance (IAL2) for patient identity, reducing the risk of errors and misidentification in healthcare systems.
This becomes particularly important as the industry moves toward greater interoperability through initiatives like TEFCA (Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement) and the development of QHINs (Qualified Health Information Networks). Federated identity solutions, such as those enabled by CLEAR, allow for seamless patient matching across different systems, ensuring that the right information is shared with the right individuals. This capability is essential as consumers demand more control over their healthcare journeys.
In this ecosystem, partnerships like ours with AWS and CLEAR aren’t just about technology—they are about solving fundamental problems in healthcare. By tackling issues like patient matching and identity verification, we’re ensuring that consumers can trust that their data is both accessible and secure, no matter where they seek care.
A Vision for the Future
At b.well, our vision is to be the infrastructure that ties all these fragmented pieces together. We aim to provide value across the healthcare ecosystem, from providers and payers to pharmacies and even direct-to-consumer healthcare tech companies. In every partnership we pursue, our focus is on solving real-world problems, whether that’s helping a health system reduce operational inefficiencies or making it easier for a patient to find the right care at the right time.
Looking ahead, I see even more potential in expanding our value into new areas, such as pharma and life sciences. For instance, we could help accelerate clinical trials by finding the right participants through our data-driven platform. The possibilities are vast, and the need for infrastructure that can support personalized care at scale has never been greater.
Partnerships are not just about aligning capabilities—they’re about working together to solve the complexities that no one organization can handle alone. By leveraging the power of coopetition, b.well is working to eliminate fragmentation and create a more seamless, integrated healthcare experience.
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