Why Aetna Acquired iTriage App Maker Healthagen

Aetna has acquired mobile health startup, Healthagen, developer of the popular health app iTriage, for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition marks one of the first exits for a high profile mobile health startup.

Aetna is also leveraging the mobile application in its accountable care organization (ACO) offering, where it will be a key component for consumer engagement, Aetna executives said during an investor day presentation this week. (More on how iTriage fits into that offering in the graphic at the end of this article).

“iTriage is our patient engagement side of this [ACO offering],” Dr. Charles Saunders, Head of Strategic Diversification at Aetna, said during his presentation yesterday. Saunders said that the care providers he has spoken with recently all recognize that consumers need to be engaged in order to help them navigate the healthcare system, understand how the system works, “prevent leakage” outside of the ACO network, and have a better patient experience. Saunders said all of this was key “to engaging them in behaviors that help them to be a partner in reducing the cost of care.”