K Health, Blackstone Growth, Anthem to Partner on Technology Joint Venture to Advance More Affordable, High-Quality Healthcare

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--K Health and funds managed by Blackstone Growth (“Blackstone Growth”) today announced the formation of Hydrogen Health, LLC to help create innovative, digital-first healthcare solutions. This joint venture is also backed by an investment from Anthem, Inc. (ANTM) and is an important step in seeking to help increase access to healthcare services and make healthcare more affordable for millions of people in the U.S.

Hydrogen Health will seek to lower healthcare costs by leveraging K Heath’s cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to bring digital-first healthcare to the employer and consumer markets. Hydrogen Health will seek to develop new tech-driven solutions for direct-to-consumer, direct-to-employer, and direct-to-insurers markets; and give users access to the spectrum of care – digital, virtual, and in-person. These solutions could be integrated across different types of health coverage to achieve more affordable, high-quality care.

Allon Bloch, CEO and co-founder of K Health, said, “K Health has proven that we can give people access to really high-quality medicine remotely. This partnership with Anthem and Blackstone will help get K Health’s solutions into the hands of those who need them most, expanding upon our existing base of 4 million users and reducing costs in the healthcare system to make it work for all.”

Ram Jagannath, Global Head of Healthcare for Blackstone Growth and Blackstone Tactical Opportunities, said, “Like our partners, we have a shared vision for how technology can fundamentally disrupt traditional care delivery models and bend the overall cost curve in healthcare. We are thrilled to partner with Anthem, a leading health innovator, and K Health, a best-in-class digital health company, to help people in their healthcare journey. Our partnership is indicative of Blackstone’s ability to creatively work with key constituents across the healthcare ecosystem to enhance and improve access to innovative care and move the healthcare system into the future.”

Amy Mulderry, SVP and Chief Development Officer at Anthem said: “Our stakeholders expect us to find innovative solutions to increase access to high-quality care, enhance the healthcare experience, and help lower costs. As part of this approach, we focus on investments and partnerships like this one that leverage exponential technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence; revolutionize industries; and profoundly affect our lives. We look forward to working with K Health and Blackstone Growth to redefine the future of healthcare.”

The investment follows a multi-year effort between Anthem and K Health that leverages K Health’s technology and aims to reduce avoidable healthcare costs and improve health outcomes. Hydrogen Health is meant to expand that impact at a broader scale to more people.

K Health’s CEO Allon Bloch will also serve as the CEO of Hydrogen Health. The agreement includes a put/call structure between Anthem and Blackstone. Financial terms of the joint venture are not being disclosed.

About K Health

K Health, headquartered in New York, is the digital healthcare company on a mission to use the power of shared knowledge to get everyone access to better, affordable healthcare—whenever, wherever they need it. K Health is a free tool that uses AI to help people understand how doctors diagnose and treat those with similar symptoms and conditions (aka “People Like Me”). Its data-driven platform consolidates the knowledge of thousands of doctors and billions of clinical data insights to get people trusted information and treatment. K Health also offers the option to chat with a doctor without insurance for less than a copay. K Health treats almost all primary care conditions, as well as anxiety and depression, and offers customizable treatment plans and prescriptions.

K Health is available in all 50 states and has helped over 4 million people access to higher quality and affordable care. For more information, please visit www.khealth.com or follow @khealth on Twitter.

About Anthem, Inc.

Anthem is a leading health benefits company dedicated to improving lives and communities, and making healthcare simpler. Through its affiliated companies, Anthem serves more than 110 million people, including approximately 43 million within its family of health plans, enabled by its digital platform for health. We aim to be the most innovative, valuable, and inclusive lifetime partner for health. For more information, please visit www.antheminc.com or follow @AnthemInc on Twitter.

About Blackstone

Blackstone is one of the world’s leading investment firms. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our $619 billion in assets under management include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow Blackstone on Twitter @Blackstone