Hydrogen Health, a digital health startup, predicts that by the end of 2022, its user base will double, by establishing new partnerships with health plans and employers to reach more than 10 million registrants.

Hydrogen healthIt is the result of a recently signed joint venture between Anthem and the private equity group Blackstone, a tool that uses artificial intelligence to answer common consumer health questions and diagnose daily conditions through text.If necessary, Hydrogen Health will make a virtual contact with one of its clinicians, or can arrange a personal visit to one of its 400 affiliated knowledge health clinics in the United States

The company claims that by helping members avoid expensive emergency room visits, narrowing the gap in primary care, and reducing infrastructure related to face-to-face services, it can reduce healthcare costs by as much as 20%. Hydrogen Health is currently conducting a beta test with Anthem’s full insurance business to determine the payer’s more specific return on investment. Chief Product Officer Ran Shaul said it is also expanding to self-funded customers of insurance companies. So far, Anthem’s emergency care and emergency department visits have been reduced compared with traditional plans, and the satisfaction and utilization rate of registrants is higher.

The new company basically expanded K Health, an artificial intelligence-based text service that provides more targeted information than “Doctor Google,” Shaul said. Anthem operates the Blue Cross and Blue Shield programs in 14 states and began working with K Health in 2019 to integrate its algorithms into its Sydney consumer app.

“People are basically riding a virtual wave,” Sauer said. “But if you think about it, you will see the claim data,’the same’. It means that the same doctor just uses Zoom. Nothing has changed.”

By combining artificial intelligence with 24/7 virtual access, Hydrogen Health provides a more targeted tool that can help treat more complex chronic diseases, such as diabetes or provide primary care for cancer patients. Shaul said that regional health plans and Fortune 500 employers are interested in using Hydrogen Health to support their entire virtual care product.

The company’s virtual care delivery method is different from the current way payers and providers provide digital care. Through this application, consumers usually send their questions to the AI ??system first, and can eventually contact a virtual primary care provider when needed, which is intended to replace face-to-face clinicians.

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This approach differs from companies such as Firefly Health, which connect patients with clinicians via telephone or audio interviews for one-time non-emergency visits. Firefly used its virtual priority provider service to launch a health plan for employers who wanted to bypass insurance companies earlier this year.

MDLiveAt the same time, it intends to use virtual care to supplement face-to-face services, and expect consumers to establish long-term relationships with their virtual providers. Cigna paid an undisclosed amount to acquire MDLive earlier this year, and plans to extend its virtual functions to smaller health plans.

UnitedHealth GroupIn contrast, it recently announced that its local Optum Virtual vendor products have increased from the unsecured life at the beginning of this year to 14 million networks in 2022. The company’s insurance arm, UnitedHealthcare, recently launched a virtual priority program called NavigateNOW, which combines the company’s 60,000 Optum doctors for virtual care and uses the insurance company’s physical network to meet any face-to-face needs.

Centene and CVS’ Aetna have signed a contract with Teladoc Health to launch a virtual priority program for their customers. It is unclear how Teladoc providers will work with the existing clinical networks of these insurance companies.