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WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Health has established two partnerships to drive faster innovation and expand areas of focus for connected health solutions.
The company has joined with start-up accelerator MassChallenge and digital health venture fund Rock Health to propel digital health initiatives. The partnerships follow the opening of the CVS Digital Innovation Lab in June.
“We know that some of the best digital health innovations are already being developed, so we’ve made partnering a key part of our digital efforts,” said Brian Tilzer, senior vice president and chief digital officer at CVS Health. “We have broad scale and resources; MassChallenge offers a competitive start-up accelerator program, and Rock Health has an impressive portfolio of market-leading companies. By working collaboratively with each, we can rapidly design and test new ideas, ultimately bringing solutions to our customers that will dramatically impact the way they manage their health.”
As part of its digital strategy, CVS is focusing on innovation areas including mobile, personalization, connected health and digital therapeutics complements to the work that many of the portfolio companies are already exploring. By forging new relationships in key markets — Boston for health care, and San Francisco for technology — CVS aims to collaborate with the most advanced and capable organizations to develop future-looking health care solutions that help its 100 million customers proactively and better manage their health care needs.
By entering into a relationship with MassChallenge, CVS furthers its connections in the Boston technology community, where it launched the digital lab. MassChallenge runs start-up accelerators in Boston, Israel and the U.K., designed to connect high-impact start-ups with the resources they need to launch and succeed. Through the partnership, high-potential start-ups will have access to CVS’ breadth and resources to help facilitate the development of the next generation of customer-centric products.
“We’ve seen steady growth in the number of digital health start-ups that are seeking entrepreneurial resources,” said Scott Bailey, managing director of MassChallenge Boston. “We hope that by working with CVS Health, these start-ups will gain access to an even greater network of resources, helping them to develop their products, make new discoveries and rapidly grow their businesses.”
The relationship with California-based Rock Health, the first venture fund dedicated to digital health, will enable its portfolio to engage directly with CVS, providing opportunities to deepen relationships with key stakeholders that share the goal of solving health care challenges.
