Michael Palmer, chief innovation and digital officer for health insurance giant Aetna, sees big things ahead for one of Denver’s hottest tech companies: iTriage, maker of a medical diagnostic and healthcare navigating smartphone app.
Palmer directs the Hartford, Conn.-based insurer’s consumer technology strategies. Aetna bought iTriage in 2011, keeping it as a largely autonomous company to preserve its startup culture.
But the iTriage app technology is increasingly important to Aetna as reforms make healthcare more consumer driven, Palmer said.
“We look at iTriage like healthcare GPS — to help people navigate this complex system we have with something in their hand,” said Palmer, who sat for an interview after speaking Tuesday at the Aetna-sponsored 2014 Digital Health Summit in Lone Tree.
He sees iTriage becoming an even more sophisticated and encompassing link between consumers and the healthcare.
Aetna’s vision means iTriage will keep growing, adding lots of new employees — maybe as many as 50 more in the next six months alone, Palmer said.
iTriage, launched in late 2008, is a smartphone app that helps people diagnose healthcare problems, research doctors and find nearby treatment. The 115-employee company in lower downtown has been one of the most successful tech stories to emerge in recent years.
iTriage is one of the few technologies Aetna (NYSE: AET) has today that is truly consumer focused, he said. And that’s become more important as changes in healthcare push more information and decisions into the hands of consumers.
That’s literally true in the case of iTriage, which has been downloaded to nearly 10 million smart phones to date.
Date: Apr 9, 2014