Today is an exciting day. I am thrilled to announce that Healthbox is now a part of the HIMSS family, the global leader in transforming health through information and technology. Healthbox will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of HIMSS -- continuing to serve our clients and partners while contributing meaningfully to the broader HIMSS portfolio.
In HIMSS we have found a kindred spirit with a similarly bold vision: “better health through information and technology.” Truly “better health” will come through reinvention. “Information and technology” have been and will be core to the innovations we have helped launch and scale over the years.
Last fall, in our first meeting to discuss the ways in which Healthbox and HIMSS could partner, HIMSS President & CEO Hal Wolf shared his long-term vision for the organization. The work we do at Healthbox fit so seamlessly into the vision that, instead of partnership, we walked out of the meeting and began charting a path for an acquisition. As I dug deeper and began to better understand HIMSS, it became abundantly clear that if we wanted to truly achieve our mission at scale, standing on the HIMSS platform was, by far, the best path forward.
Healthbox was founded seven years ago to catalyze healthcare innovation ecosystems around the world by providing three fundamental resources to entrepreneurs: access, community and capital. When we spun out of Sandbox Industries in 2014 and brought in strategic partners like Intermountain Healthcare and Healthcare Services Corporation (HCSC), we evolved from a healthcare technology accelerator into the innovation consulting and venture fund management firm we are today. In 2016, when I became President of Healthbox, we doubled down on this evolution and rewrote our mission statement -- “to empower the reinvention of healthcare.”
- As one of the world’s first digital health accelerators, Healthbox has partnered with over 160 healthcare technology start-ups around the globe. We continue to play an integral role in the start-up ecosystem through our highly-rated Studio Program.
- We partnered with Intermountain Healthcare to build “The Foundry,” an entrepreneurship program for caregivers. Since the program’s launch in 2014 we have worked with sixteen amazing employee-led “start-ups.”
- Since its inception in 2015, the Intermountain Innovation Fund has invested in seven innovative startups in the areas of interoperability, precision medicine, patient access, and artificial intelligence - all with a demonstrated ability to impact both cost and quality. Our unique and objective investment process empowers our partners to support the growth of startup companies through venture investment.
Our mission is as bold as it is daunting, and we consider our ability to empower organizations to innovate to be our greatest measure of success. Our innovation teams work inside organizations to develop programs that engage employees — from the front lines of care to the administrative offices — and to assess the commercial potential of projects whose creators saw opportunity in the face of challenge. We help organizations implement and invest in solutions that are transforming the service and delivery of care.
Now, as a proud member of the HIMSS family, we believe that our approach to innovation combined with HIMSS’ scale, experience and legacy as a trusted partner to the community will put our shared goals within reach. Together, we will accelerate the transformation of health.
Onwards,
Neil Patel