A group of high-profile health and tech firms has launched a venture that’s built on the blockchain to make health care more efficient. Avaneer Health was officially unveiled Wednesday. The Chicago-based company was born out of the Health Utility Network, a consortium of businesses led by IBM that aims to use the blockchain to help improve health care.
- Open network platform: Avaneer Health is a member-based open network supporting utilities developed for the healthcare industry. It is expected to improve health care by removing administrative barriers and alleviate inefficiencies in cross-party transactions that slow down care delivery. It will be formed as a standalone business with significant investments from its founders: Aetna, Anthem, Cleveland Clinic, Health Care Service Corporation, IBM, The PNC Financial Services, and Norfolk, VA. -Based Sentara Healthcare.
- An expert CEO: The board of directors has appointed Stuart Hanson as Avaneer’s CEO. Hanson joins the venture from a position at JPMorgan as a senior healthcare industry executive where he was involved in the healthcare payments business. He has also previously worked at Change Health Care, which was awarded the 2019 North American Enabling Technology Leadership Award for its blockchain-based healthcare billing and claims solution.
- Platform to deliver outstanding care: “This utility network will provide the answers needed to deliver outstanding care and service to people, which today are opaque and in latent silos,” said Sentara Healthcare VP Tim Skeen. “Avaneer Health has the potential to change every aspect of the healthcare experience.”
- A committed Mission: Avaneer Health’s mission is to unlock the potential of healthcare to do more for people. Built on blockchain technology to ensure privacy and reduce the costs of data exchange, it serves providers of services across the healthcare industry. Avaneer Health improves the care experience by removing administrative barriers and resolving inefficiencies in cross-party transactions that slow down or disrupt the delivery of care.
- Innovative healthcare: “Avaneer Health is uniquely positioned to change how we manage the modern healthcare ecosystem,” said Marvin Richardson, co-chair of Avaneer Health’s Board of Directors, and senior vice- president and CIO, HCSC, which operates health plans in Illinois, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. “The organization is executing on the vision of an inclusive infrastructure – a utility network – for the healthcare industry.