Aetna is closing the doors of its CarePass mobile platform by the end of the year and has abandoned all plans for the project, reported MobiHealthNews.
"We have decided to make no further investments in the CarePass platform," an Aetna spokesperson said in an email to MobiHealthNews. "Current CarePass users will continue to have access to the CarePass platform for the time being, but we plan on closing the CarePass web and mobile experiences by the end of this year."
The news is noteworthy because CarePass, which Aetna launched last year and allowed consumers to track certain health apps from one online hub, was a unique mobile approach in the insurance industry that garnered widespread support and collaboration from mobile companies, including MapMyFitness, FitBit and Care4Today.
Aetna's CarePass also received consumer support, at least initially. "Overall, for the CarePass integrated apps, the downloads are more than 100 million. We started around the most popular spaces in mHealth--fitness and nutrition really dominate. So those are where you get the most downloads," Martha Wofford told FierceHealthPayer in an interview before she departed Aetna as head of the CarePass program.
Although CarePass is folding, Aetna told the publication in an email that it will repurpose some of its work into other mobile strategies, including its popular iTriage app.
"CarePass has provided us valuable experience in important areas," the Aetna spokesperson wrote. "As we improve the mobile experience for consumers through enhancements to tools like iTriage, we will use this experience to help engage people in their own healthcare and empower them to live healthier lives."
To learn more:
- read the MobiHealthNews article