Commure acquires Karuna Health | MobiHealthNews

Karuna Health, a virtual health communications platform, has been acquired by the healthcare software company Commure, according to a Substack post from Karuna’s CEO and cofounder Joe Kahn.

Through the transaction, which closed on New Year’s Eve, Commure gained Karuna’s team, customers, technology and insights, Kahn said. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

WHY THIS MATTERS

Commure is best known for its FHIR-compliant developer platform, which allows health systems and vendors alike to create and deploy healthcare applications. The platform is built with an AAA security framework, an event service bus, an API gateway, a flexible data store, terminology services and healthcare-specific UI components.

The company is adding Karuna’s patient communication platform to its portfolio. The platform consolidates all patient and caregiver correspondence into one collaborative inbox location. It keeps track of text messages, emails, phone calls, voice mails, and more, and integrates with electronic health records.

THE LARGER TREND

Last August, Karuna Health was recognized as a Gold Award winner in the MassChallenge HealthTech Fast Track to Scale Accelerator 2020 program. By winning, Karuna was paired with representatives from Anthem to develop a pathway to scale.

As patients continue to rely on digital modes of communication to keep in contact with their healthcare providers, patient engagement platforms are becoming increasingly popular.

Boston-based Docent Health was recently acquired by GetWellNetwork to boost its communication offerings. Others, like Conversa and Well Health have had funding raises.

With much of the patient-doctor relationship moved to a virtual space, experts stress the need for clinicians to show their empathy through telehealth.

ON THE RECORD

“To our Karuna team, current and former – especially Josh, Antares and Amy – thank you for your dedication, empathy, and creativity,” Kahn said in the announcement.

“To our investors and advisors, thank you for your constant support and candid guidance. And to everyone else who ran with us – through each pivot, fundraise, humbling lesson, muted Webex, and mercifully only one pandemic – thank you for your selfless dedication to helping us evolve.”