Technology has always been a pivotal part of human evolution and evidently, healthcare has been on a parallel path.
As health remains a significant part of our lives, we must constantly take care of our body, so that diseases stay outside the door.
Selected healthcare companies are decrypting the meaning of improving lives, finding transformative solutions, and helping people enjoy a healthy life.
In the following interview, Anne Marie Kirby, the Founder & CEO of CoreHealth Technologies briefs us about the company’s contribution towards the health, wellness & fitness niche. She also briefs us about the challenges that CoreHealth faced, alongside a few details about the company’s journey to becoming one of the fastest-growing healthcare tech companies in 2021.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
Please brief our audience about your company, its mission, and the key aspects of its stronghold within the healthcare technology services niche.
CoreHealth Technologies was founded in 2004, inspired by the idea of keeping people healthy and how technology and design drive success. Since its inception, CoreHealth has become the leading corporate wellness platform trusted by over 1000 organizations, from medium-sized businesses to Fortune 500 companies, and serves over 3 million employees worldwide in multiple languages.
At CoreHealth, our mission is to revolutionize health and performance in the workplace with our total well-being technology and world-class support. We believe that developing the best employee well-being programs is all about giving health and wellness companies the right code, design, and access to the latest innovations. With the most customizations, integrations, and reliability of any software in its class, CoreHealth’s powerful platform lets our customers focus on growing great companies.
Tell us more about the offerings that give your company a distinctive edge to stand out from the competition?
CoreHealth’s all-in-one corporate wellness platform is a SaaS solution that brings all your wellness program components into one place. Health Assessments, biometric management, challenges, content management, education, self-help programs, coach facilitation, incentives, surveys, social networking – and more! We specialize in integrating with third-party, best-in-class wellness vendors via our Integrated Marketplace of 140+ unique wellness innovations. Customers can mix and match or use their own vendor with seamless access from within the CoreHealth platform.
CoreHealth’s software powers health and well-being programs for corporate wellness companies, insurers, health coaching companies, employee assistance providers, group benefits brokers, human resources consulting firms, and health systems. Our technology is white labeled so customers can tailor, brand, and re-sell our technology to corporate employers around the world. We do not provide wellness services – just the technology, so our customers know their programs are always cutting edge and can constantly evolve to meet the unique needs of every client.
What is your opinion on the effects of the current pandemic on the healthcare sector, and what challenges did you face during the initial phase of the pandemic?
The pandemic shone a spotlight on the need for more preventative care measures. High-risk individuals struggling with obesity, diabetes, or heart disease, for example, had far worse health outcomes once becoming sick with COVID-19. Although there are preventative strategies in place for many chronic diseases like these, they are grossly underutilized. We need to continue to find ways to better influence positive behavior change to help mitigate these risks.
We also noticed that the pandemic forced many organizations to quickly adapt their services to provide an online approach to their participants. Telehealth services have become considerably more accepted by the public since the onset of the pandemic, and I believe we will see continued growth in this area. We have seen a substantial increase in organizations embracing this approach and I do not believe healthcare will return to in-person services seen prior to COVID-19.
This is especially true for our own customers. Many had to quickly pivot their programs such as coaching programs from an in-person experience to a virtual one with very limited notice. One of our only challenges during this time was assisting and guiding all our customers who wanted to make the transition from coaching to online fitness programs. Fortunately, we have been a virtual company for over 17 years and were well-positioned to provide this support. We already had the platform-tools in place, we just needed to educate our customers on how to implement them.
With continuous development in technologies such as AI and big data, what is your prediction about the future of the healthcare software services market?
I think the potential for AI to help solve clinical trial challenges and create instantaneous medical treatment plans is currently being underutilized in the market. There are big opportunities to better harness the power of AI and big data to analyze, interpret, and predict more suitable outcomes through monitoring big data sets and staying apprised of those results. By doing so we could better assist doctors on creating more robust and accurate treatment plans.
As an established leader, what would be your advice to the budding entrepreneurs and enthusiasts aspiring to venture into the healthcare software services niche?
Prevention is a key area of healthcare that is in need of better solutions. People are increasingly recognizing the value of preventative care not only for economic and financial reasons but also as a social enterprise endeavor for the general well-being of the public. However, underutilization of preventative services is mainly due to an engagement gap rather than an information gap.
Promoting positive behavior change to effectively manage chronic diseases is a complex challenge that requires multifaceted strategies to increase engagement rates in prevention programs. Unfortunately, we still have a long way to go to improve the problem and need all brain power to come up with novel solutions!
How do you envision scaling your company’s operations and offerings in 2021?
CoreHealth is continuously working on upgrading our big data capabilities and analysis to help health and well-being providers that also recognize its value. We are also working on techniques for quantifying certain preventative health solutions by obtaining metabolic and stress level rates. Our goal is to increase the public’s acceptance and desire to work with these solutions by using promising accessibility methods that will help promote usability. Stay tuned for some exciting announcements about this in the near future!
About Anne Marie Kirby
Anne Marie Kirby is the Founder and CEO of CoreHealth Technologies. Recognized as a leading female entrepreneur by national awards panels, Anne Marie has been at the forefront of health and wellness innovation — leading the team in developing sophisticated corporate wellness technology that empowers the wellness innovators of tomorrow.
CoreHealth Technologies’ origins were inspired by Anne Marie who faced past health challenges that made her realize the need for preventive health solutions to help people improve their overall well-being. Using her expertise as a software engineer and her independent and initiative-seeking attitude, she wrote a software program to track and analyze food ingredients. Her passion to find a solution for her ailment motivates her to serve a purpose much bigger than herself and the industry she continuously contributes to.
Currently, prevention is an underrated solution to medical problems around the world. Additionally, prevention could save billions of taxpayer dollars when people take personal initiative and have the right tools at their disposal to make the best decision regarding their long-term health. Hence, Anne Marie and CoreHealth Technologies are transforming the world and raising the bar for every business leader with their work.
Exhibiting True Excellence
CoreHealth has received the following recognition:
- CoreHealth Technologies Makes Rocket Builders 2020 Announced April 2020 Ready to Rocket Digital Health List by Rocket Builders –
- Announced March 2019 – CoreHealth Technologies Makes Rocket Builders 2019 Ready to Rocket Digital Health List by Rocket Builders, a unique business recognition list that profiles technology companies with the greatest potential for growth.
- Announced September 25, 2018 – CoreHealth Receives 2019 Canadian Business Excellence Award and Ranks on 2018 Growth 500
- Announced September 6, 2018 – CoreHealth CEO Anne Marie Kirby Named 1 of 30 Most Inspirational Leaders to Watch in 2018
- Announced March 16, 2018 – CoreHealth Technologies Makes Rocket Builders 2018 Ready to Rocket Digital Health List by Rocket Builders, a unique business recognition list that profiles technology companies with the greatest potential for growth.
- Announced Oct 2017 – CoreHealth Receives the 2017/2018 Technology Award by CorporateLiveWire
- Announced Sept 27, 2017 – CoreHealth Receives 2018 Canadian Business Excellence Award for demonstrating a strategic approach to successfully improving business performance and achieving goals. Announced Sept 9, 2017 – CoreHealth on 2017 Profit 500 List of Canada’s Fastest-Growing Companies – Ranked No. 337
- Announced April 4, 2017 – CoreHealth Named one of the 30 Most Innovative Companies to Watch by Insights Success.
- Announced March 7, 2017 – Rocket Builders – CoreHealth Technologies Makes Rocket Builders 2017 Ready to Rocket Digital Health List.
