Sharecare partners with IPsoft and NTT DATA to power free COVID-19 screening solution with conversational AI

ATLANTA, April 20, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Sharecare, the digital health company that helps people manage all their health in one place, today announced the launch of an interactive COVID-19 screener – developed in partnership with IPsoft and NTT DATA – to provide the general public with a helpful way to anonymously self-screen for the novel coronavirus. Accessible via Sharecare's website and smartphone app, the screener is also available for free to any U.S. organization to put on their website in an effort to empower people to reduce the spread of COVID-19 while easing the strain on healthcare providers.

One of Sharecare's strategic partners in the Blue Zones Project® – the proven community well-being improvement initiative impacting 3.5 million people across 51 communities in North America by optimizing the environments where people spend their time – Pisgah Health Foundation is the first institution to extend this resource to the communities it serves. Driven by its mission to purposefully, creatively and collaboratively enhance health and well-being across western North Carolina, Pisgah Health Foundation's reach spans more than 300 local non-profit organizations, provider groups and public health departments.

"Our aim at the Pisgah Health Foundation is to improve the overall well-being of the communities we serve through innovation and partnerships. With the support of Sharecare and the Blue Zones Project, we are rapidly responding to the needs of our community during this uncertain time by deploying resources and lifesaving capabilities like Sharecare's screener to our residents and strategic partners," said Lex Green, president at Pisgah Health Foundation.

With the novel coronavirus pandemic forcing social distancing and shelter-in-place orders across the United States, Sharecare incorporated the latest guidance¹ on COVID-19 into AskMD, its award-winning symptom checker that was built from more than 20 years of military-funded research, led by medical informatics pioneer Dr. Larry Weed. The company partnered with NTT DATA to integrate the dynamic AskMD algorithm into an interactive conversational solution powered by IPsoft's industry-leading cognitive AI, Amelia. By harnessing the power of Amelia's true-to-life conversational abilities, the resulting COVID-19 screener from Sharecare allows people to get answers quickly and anonymously without having to wait, helping them understand the severity of their COVID-19 risk; and whether they need to go to the emergency room, consult a medical professional, or stay home and monitor symptoms.

"Every day, healthcare providers receive a swell of inbound calls from people concerned about the health and well-being of their families, and they just don't have the resources to field every concern at scale. Amelia is a screener capable of answering hundreds of thousands of calls each day, and she can evolve to help answer questions safely and with a high degree of accuracy," said Dr. S. Vincent Grasso (DO, MSIS, MBA), global practice leader for Healthcare & Life Sciences at IPsoft. "Sharecare's integration of Amelia and AskMD will give a concerned and anxious public the answers they need, and allow medical professionals to focus on tackling the global pandemic from the front lines."

"We are proud to be called upon by Sharecare to assist in bringing this capability to potentially millions of people across the country," said Mary Edwards, President, Healthcare, NTT DATA Services. "There is no more important work for us right now than helping our clients and partners respond to the demands of COVID-19 and being a part of quickly bringing them innovations, like Amelia, that can make a difference in the fight against COVID-19."

As an established, trusted source for health information, Sharecare continues to deliver relevant and timely information through its platform to help people on their health journeys, which are rapidly changing every day in the face of COVID-19. To access Sharecare's latest content and tools for COVID-19 preparedness, awareness and prevention, visit sharecare.com/covid19 or download the free Sharecare app on the App Store or Google Play.

For more information about Sharecare's COVID-19 chatbot screener – including instructions and HTML code to add to your website – please visit www.sharecare.com/chatbot.

About Sharecare

Sharecare is the digital health company that helps people manage all their health in one place. The Sharecare platform provides each person – no matter where they are in their health journey – with a comprehensive and personalized health profile where they can dynamically and easily connect to the information, evidence-based programs and health professionals they need to live their healthiest, happiest and most productive lives. In addition to providing individual consumers with direct access to award-winning and innovative frictionless technologies, scientifically validated clinical protocols and best-in-class coaching tools, Sharecare also helps providers, employers and health plans effectively scale outcomes-based health and wellness solutions across their entire populations. To learn more, visit www.sharecare.com.

About IPsoft

IPsoft is the world's largest privately held AI software company delivering cognitive, conversational solutions for the enterprise. As the leading digital workforce company, we team humans with digital employees to unleash creativity and deliver business value at scale. With the introduction of the world´s first marketplace for cloud sourced digital employees, DigitalWorkforce.ai, we are the first company to launch a hybrid workforce. With a combination of Amelia, the industry's most-human cognitive AI colleague, and 1Desk™, the first end-to-end digital transformation platform, IPsoft rapidly streamlines IT operations, automates processes, increases workforce productivity and improves customer satisfaction – delivering bottom line results. Headquartered in New York City with offices in 15 countries, IPsoft serves more than 500 of the world's leading brands across IT services, financial services and banking, insurance, telecommunications, retail, manufacturing, healthcare and other sectors. See how IPsoft is powering the future of work www.ipsoft.com.  

About NTT DATA Services

NTT DATA Services partners with clients to navigate and simplify the modern complexities of business and technology, delivering the insights, solutions, and outcomes that matter most. We deliver tangible business results by combining deep industry expertise with applied innovations in digital, cloud and automation across a comprehensive portfolio of consulting, application, infrastructure, and business process services.

NTT DATA Services is a division of NTT DATA Corporation, a top 10 global business and IT services provider with 120,000+ professionals in more than 50 countries, and NTT Group, a partner to more than 88 percent of the Fortune 100. Visit NTTDATAServices.com to learn more.

¹ Based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization, as well as primary medical literature.

SOURCE Sharecare

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