Media and information giant Hearst announced the creation of Hearst Health, a brand that encompasses its health care information businesses, giving the company a presence across the clinical, pharmacy, home and hospice care, and health insurance markets.
Internationally, the Hearst Health network also includes Map of Medicine, a Web-based visual representation of evidence-based patient care journeys to enable clinicians to plan and then benchmark clinical practice against national standards.
Each year in the U.S., care guidance from Hearst Health reaches more than 75 percent of patients discharged from hospitals, 20 million patient home visits, more than 133 million insured individuals, 1.8 billion retail pharmacy prescriptions and 3.25 billion prescription claims, the company said.
“Since our founding, Hearst has been committed to public service and to independently gathering and disseminating high value, accurate information,” Steven Swartz, president and CEO of Hearst, said in a statement. “Hearst Health’s leadership position in the health care information industry is rooted in that commitment. The goal of all of our health care businesses is to help our clients achieve excellence in care through access to better information.”
In the health care sector in North America, Hearst owns and operates First Databank (FDB), a provider of drug knowledge bases that power health care information systems and help health care professionals to make better medication-related decisions, and Zynx Health, a provider of evidence-based care plans, as well as order sets and clinical optimization programs, to measurably improve patient outcomes, enhance safety and lower costs.
Hearst also operates MCG (formerly Milliman Care Guidelines), a developer and producer of globally sourced, clinically validated best practices for health systems and insurance companies to drive effective and cost-appropriate care, and Homecare Homebase–a provider of software-as-service (SaaS) solutions to the homecare and hospice market.
“Hearst has been operating in the health care information industry since 1980. Each of our companies pioneered their markets and emerged as leaders,” Richard Malloch, president of Hearst Business Media, which oversees Hearst Health, said in a statement. “Our companies complement each other under their shared mission of putting vital information into the hands of everyone who touches a person’s health journey. Establishing the Hearst Health brand will elevate the awareness of what we do in the health care marketplace.”
Extensions of Hearst Health include Hearst Health Ventures and the Hearst Health Innovation Lab. Led by managing director Ellen Koskinas, Hearst Health Ventures is a newly formed fund that invests in startups offering health IT solutions and technology-enabled health care services.
Hearst Health Ventures draws upon expertise and insights from other Hearst operating companies to identify investments that will produce good financial returns. The Innovation Lab supports projects developed internally, as well as the incubation of ideas and products in collaboration with outside clinician-entrepreneurs.