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Centrality tests market potential of healthcare data app

Centrality and CoverUS test global market potential of healthcare data app

• Programme will give people agency over their medical data

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND – 30 January 2019 – Centrality and CoverUS are set to empower people to protect and profit from their health data and engagement.

Centrality is one of the largest pre-seed investors in CoverUS, a mobile health (mHealth) app addressing financial gaps in healthcare in the United States. The two companies are partnering for technology integrations and pilots initially in the USA (the world’s single largest healthcare market) and New Zealand. This collaboration will extend the app for future use in global public healthcare markets including Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

The CoverUS app, debuting this year, will offer rewards to people who choose to allow access to insights from their anonymised healthcare data. The app will also allow users to engage with the healthcare system directly – taking actions that provide real world data to researchers, improve their own health, and cut system costs. This two-sided marketplace between patients and the medical industry is designed to deliver on CoverUS’s goal of enabling members to earn financial rewards from their participation. Highly engaged members could earn as much as US$1,750 per year – enough to wipe out the average medical debt carried by nearly 43 million Americans.

“Investing in CoverUS is a clear fit for Centrality. CoverUS aligns with Centrality’s mission statement of ‘a world uncorporated’. Their aim is to reduce the financial burden of healthcare, and help their users live longer and happier lives,” says Phil Williams, Centrality’s Technology and Ecosystems Strategist.

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In the US alone, US$3 trillion is being spent annually on healthcare1. Third party data brokers make billions buying and selling patient data -- largely without consumer knowledge or consent. Meanwhile, health poverty is widespread, with more than one in three Americans unable to afford a US$100 medical bill2.

“Centrality is one of our biggest supporters and a vital thought partner for us. We’re thrilled to be working together towards a world where you don’t have to be wealthy to be healthy,” adds Christopher Sealey, CoverUS President.

CoverUS considers its users as partners, working to help them have more control over their data and financial well-being. CoverUS is presently conducting a seed round fundraise, with a crowdfunding component. For more information visit: https://republic.co/coverus

1 Centers for Medicare and Mediaid Services, March 2018

2 Ipsos Market Research, March 2017

-ENDS-


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