Sharecare is an
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...
-based health and wellness company that provides consumers with personalized health-related information, programs, and resources. It provides personalized information to the site's users based on their responses to the RealAge Test, the company's health risk assessment tool, and offers a clinical decision support tool, AskMD. Headquartered in Atlanta, Sharecare was founded in 2010 by
Jeff Arnold (founder of
WebMD
WebMD is an American corporation known primarily as an online publisher of news and information pertaining to human health and well-being. The site includes information pertaining to drugs. It is one of the top healthcare websites.
It was fo ...
) and
Dr. Mehmet Oz
Mehmet Cengiz Öz (; born June 11, 1960), known professionally as Dr. Oz (), is an Turkish American former professor of cardiothoracic surgery at Columbia University, television presenter, author and former political candidate.
The son of Tur ...
, in partnership with Remark Media,
Harpo Studios
Harpo Productions (or Harpo Studios) is an American multimedia production company founded by Oprah Winfrey and based in West Hollywood, California. It is the sole subsidiary of her media and entertainment company Harpo, Inc. The name "Harpo" ...
,
Sony Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television Inc. (abbreviated as SPT) is an American television production and distribution studio. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, it is a division of Sony Entertainment's unit Sony Pictures Enterta ...
and
Discovery Communications
Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1985, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Channe ...
.
History
Sharecare began as an interactive
question-and-answer (Q&A) platform about health and then expanded its products and services through internal development and strategic acquisitions of companies including
DailyStrength, dotFit, The Little Blue Book, WisePatient,
RealAge
Sharecare is an Atlanta, Georgia-based health and wellness company that provides consumers with personalized health-related information, programs, and resources. It provides personalized information to the site's users based on their responses to ...
, PKC Corporation, BACTES Imaging Solutions, QualityHealth, Feingold Technologies, BioLucid and
Healthways.
Services
Much of its content is contributed by organizations like
AARP
AARP (formerly called the American Association of Retired Persons) is an interest group in the United States focusing on issues affecting those over the age of fifty. The organization said it had more than 38 million members in 2018. The magazi ...
, the
American Cancer Society
The American Cancer Society (ACS) is a nationwide voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer. Established in 1913, the society is organized into six geographical regions of both medical and lay volunteers operating in more tha ...
, the
American Heart Association
The American Heart Association (AHA) is a nonprofit organization in the United States that funds cardiovascular medical research, educates consumers on healthy living and fosters appropriate cardiac care in an effort to reduce disability and death ...
, the
American Red Cross
The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desig ...
, the
National Academy of Sports Medicine
The National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) is an American fitness training provider founded in 1987. Its headquarters is located in Gilbert, Arizona.
History
The original founder was Robert M. Goldman. NASM is a subsidiary of Ascend Learnin ...
, and medical professionals. Questions are also answered by medical centers such as the
Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit American academic medical center based in Cleveland, Ohio. Owned and operated by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, an Ohio nonprofit corporation established in 1921, it runs a 170-acre (69 ha) campus in Cleveland, ...
. The platform allows them to answer questions and engage in conversations about health.
AskMD, launched in December 2013, is a web-based application, (also a mobile application), that collects information about symptoms, provides information about causes, and locates physicians. AskMD guides users through a personalized questionnaire that takes into account symptoms and other factors, like medications and known conditions, and matches answers against available clinical research. AskMD's clinical knowledge management system was developed through Sharecare's acquisition of PKC Corporation. It was named Best Medical App at the 4th Annual Appy Awards, and was named an official 2014 Webby Award honoree in Mobile & Apps: Health & Fitness.
Sharecare expanded into population health in 2016 when the company acquired a division of business from Healthways including its Blue Zones Project. Part of the deal also included the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index.
In July 2019, a five-year partnership was announced between Sharecare and The
Boston University School of Public Health
Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) is one of the graduate schools of Boston University. Founded in 1976, the School offers master's- and doctoral-level programs in public health. It is located in the heart of Boston University's Me ...
, collaborating on a "Community Well-Being Index" based on analysis of environmental factors affecting patient health.
In February 2020, Sharecare announced the acquisition of Visualize Health, a platform that develops health quality measures.
RealAge
RealAge is a division of Sharecare that provides health information to consumers. It was founded by
Michael Roizen, currently the chief wellness officer at
The Cleveland Clinic. In the RealAge Test, users typically fill out a questionnaire about their health history, which is then used to generate personalized content, including highly targeted
advertisements
Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...
. Most revenue comes from pharmaceutical companies paying to advertise their drugs to individuals who have taken the website test and become members.
RealAge was owned by
Hearst Magazines, which purchased it for an estimated $60 million to $70 million in 2007, when the company had $20 million in revenue. In 2009, the company was profitable, making its money from pharmaceutical companies for which it compiled test results of RealAge members and sending them highly targeted marketing messages by e-mail. On March 8, 2012, Sharecare acquired RealAge for an undisclosed amount.
Criticisms
Paid sponsors
Concerns have been raised regarding the bias of answers provided on Sharecare.com by “knowledge partners," or paid sponsors. Such knowledge partners include (among others):
Colgate-Palmolive
Colgate-Palmolive Company is an American multinational consumer products company headquartered on Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The company specializes in the production, distribution, and provision of household, health ca ...
;
Pfizer
Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfize ...
;
Unilever
Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy ...
(
Dove
Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primaril ...
skin-care products);
health insurer UnitedHealthcare
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated is an American multinational managed healthcare and insurance company based in Minnetonka, Minnesota. It offers health care products and insurance services. UnitedHealth Group is the world's seventh largest c ...
; and
Walgreens drug stores.
Dental amalgam
In June 2013, the American Dental Association (ADA) withdrew as a knowledge partner in response to what it considered an irresponsible attack on co-owner Mehmet Oz's "Dr. Oz Show" on the use of dental amalgam. ADA President Dr. Robert A Faiella summed up the group's reaction by stating: "As a science-based organization, we should always welcome inquiry, but we should not be seen as supporting the promotion of misleading information unsupported by the best science."
Delayed reporting of data breach
A data breach that occurred with Sharecare Health Data Services (SHDS) as early as May 2018 was not reported to users until February 2019. No explanation was given for the delayed reporting.
HIPAA
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA or the Kennedy– Kassebaum Act) is a United States Act of Congress enacted by the 104th United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on August 21, ...
, the federal law governing healthcare data privacy, requires that data breaches be reported within 60 days.
The breach included the personal information of at least 18,416 Blue Shield of California and at least 5,500 AltaMed members. Patients affected were offered 12 months of free credit monitoring and identity theft protection services.
See also
*
HealthTap
HealthTap is a medical group and technology company delivering telehealth virtual healthcare via the web and health apps. Their customers include health consumers in the United States, health systems, insurance companies, and self-insured employer ...
– a mobile health platform with Q&A
*
Answers.com – a general Q&A resource
References
External links
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{{Authority control
Companies based in Atlanta
Companies listed on the Nasdaq
Health care companies established in 2010
American medical websites
Health education in the United States
Positive psychology
Special-purpose acquisition companies
Question-and-answer websites