UnitedHealthcare

Also: Funding announcements for Think Research, Kinetic and Aura.

In 2016, UnitedHealthcare and Medtronic cut a deal that established the latter’s devices as the preferred insulin pumps for United members with diabetes.

This quarter saw a handful of digital health stories regarding payers and their new digital offerings, especially in the area of diabetes care.

HeartFlow, a company that specializes in creating computerized heart models to treat coronary diseases, announced that its HeartFlow fractional flow reserved from CT (FFRct) Analysis will be covered under UnitedHealthcare's plan.

Digital health-focused news from payers during the first quarter of 2018 generally focused on employee wellness and app-focused member engagement strategies, with a handful of similar partnerships or deals announced around the edges.

Five healthcare organizations including insurers UnitedHealthcare and Humana, Optum, Quest Diagnostics, and MultiPlan are launching a blockchain pilot to help payers tackle mandated provider directories.

Employee wellness is not a new idea, but new ideas from digital health companies like Castlight Health and Fitbit, as well as incumbents like UnitedHealthcare, are reimagining and reinvigorating the space.

UnitedHealthcare has added a new wearable to its Motion employee wellness program.

Virtual reality and mobile app-enabled caregiver screening were among the winners of the Caregiving for Dementia Innovation Challenge, a recently concluded contest run by AARP Services, Inc.

UnitedHealthcare and Dexcom announced today at CES in Las Vegas that they will collaborate on a pilot program to provide Dexcom CGMs to UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plan participants.