WELL Health Announces Approval for Historic $44M Project, the Largest DIGITAL Project Ever Awarded to Advance AI-powered Tech Enablement for Care Providers

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Jul 10, 2024, 13:15 ET

WELL Health and its consortium partners have been awarded the largest DIGITAL project to date for Health Compass II, an initiative that will continue the advancement of AI and interoperability in Canadian healthcare.
WELL Health will not only serve as the lead commercialization partner and first customer, but will also provide expertise and interoperability to each consortium partner for an unprecedented opportunity to innovate and develop new AI tools to better support and enable healthcare providers to enhance patient outcomes.
As part of the approval, DIGITAL will fund just over one third of all project costs related to this project over a period of 4 years. These funds are appropriated by the Federal Government of Canada to support technology innovation.

VANCOUVER, BC and TORONTO, July 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ - WELL Health Technologies Corp. (TSX: WELL) (OTCQX: WHTCF) (the "Company" or "WELL"), a leading company focused on consolidating and modernizing clinical and digital assets within the healthcare sector, is thrilled to announce the approval and advancement of a groundbreaking $44M project, which will receive $15.3M in funding from DIGITAL to support investments in R&D and commercialization from other partners for phase 2 of the Health Compass project, known as Health Compass II. This monumental funding represents the largest project DIGITAL, Canada's Global Innovation Cluster for digital technologies, has awarded to date in any funding category, marking a significant milestone in the commitment and advancement of AI and interoperability in healthcare.

Health Compass II, a collaborative effort with WELL Health, ORX, HEALWELL AI (TSX: AIDX, OTCQX: HWAIF), Tali AI, Phelix, and Simon Fraser University driving critical contributions. Health Compass II aims to further revolutionize the healthcare industry by enhancing interoperability and leveraging AI to reduce healthcare provider burdens. Building on the success of the initial Health Compass phase, Health Compass II will introduce an innovative suite of four AI-driven modules integrated through an EMR-agnostic mobile app, designed to engage patients, automate administrative tasks, assist healthcare providers with documentation, and enhance clinical decision-making.

The project's components include:

Decision Compass by HEALWELL AI: A clinical decision support module to identify opportunities for earlier diagnosis and/or improved care for rare and complex diseases.
Patient Compass by ORX: A user-friendly patient-facing virtual agent module that improves patient engagement by 30% by enabling patients to find, get and advance care with providers.
SMART Inbox by Phelix: A back-of-house automation module that leverages AI algorithms to streamline administrative tasks and reduce manual administrative efforts for clinics by 50% or more.
Voice Assistant by Tali: An AI Assistant that employs ambient sensing technology to capture medically relevant information from natural conversations, with patient consent, without taking provider focus away from their patient.

The combination of all four Health Compass II partner AI modules into WELL's Provider Compass will result in equipping healthcare providers with the automation of all non-billable patient interactions and outputs of the patient visit (patient referral letters, prescriptions, etc.); scribe the entirety of the provider-patient visit; and provide clinical suggestions based on the patient's medical record. Ultimately, enabling a reality for clinics and clinicians to focus more on patient care by automating the majority of day-to-day administrative tasks without having to turn on their computer.

Hamed Shahbazi, CEO and Founder of WELL, shared his excitement and gratitude about this announcement: "This is a monumental milestone and we are honoured and grateful to DIGITAL and Minister Champagne's office for their commitment to supporting healthcare innovation and responsible AI research. At WELL, we are committed to leveraging technology to empower healthcare providers and reduce burnout by equipping them with responsible AI and other tools to assist in providing quality care and ultimately improve patient outcomes. Projects like Health Compass II directly support this mission and are essential in fuelling healthcare's digital transformation."

The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry shared, "artificial intelligence presents a transformative opportunity for healthcare professionals to innovate and enhance patient experiences, and Canada is at the forefront of this pivotal field. Our government is proud to champion the Digital Technology Cluster as it collaborates with industry partners, like WELL Health, to reshape the delivery of healthcare services for Canadians."

Taleeb Noormohamed, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage shared, "from helping health professionals take notes and assist in recording their diagnoses, to streamlining administrative paperwork and facilitating the patient care experience, this innovative project is using AI to build a better future for Canadians. The government looks forward to the success of the Health Compass II project and to other made-in-Canada innovations, that will unlock social and economic benefits for everyone."

"Canada has a significant opportunity and imperative to leverage our global leadership in AI research into accelerated commercialization of that research into Canadian AI applications and tools. These tools will help solve some of the world's biggest challenges while accelerating the growth of Canadian companies. DIGITAL's continued investment in the Health Compass initiative is supporting improved health outcomes for Canadians while also supporting Canadian innovators," said Sue Paish, CEO of DIGITAL. "Since 2018, DIGITAL has worked to foster innovation, help Canadian companies grow and spur private sector investment in digital solutions that are making a positive difference in the lives of Canadians."

Health Compass II is set to transform the way healthcare providers practice by replacing traditional exam room workstations with a clinician's preferred smartphone device, automating the majority of day-to-day tasks without the need for a computer. This initiative is expected to achieve a 25% reduction in healthcare delivery costs for clinics and a 20% improvement in patient satisfaction within the first two years post-implementation.

WELL Health will not only serve as the lead commercialization partner and first customer, but will also be continuing to build standards-based API interoperability, giving a competitive advantage to each SME AI module developed. The consortium will leverage WELL's extensive network, including their Provider Solutions platform that supports more than 3,400 clinics and over 34,000 healthcare providers, including the distribution channels of OceanMD (A WELL Health Company) and its' EMR assets, as well as WELL's own clinic network across Canada that includes over 175 clinics and greater than 1,600 healthcare providers including registered physicians and other healthcare professionals. WELL's Provider Solutions Platform is Canada's leader in healthcare provider products and services, AI healthcare solutions, and information security services, WELL is committed to ensuring that best-in-class privacy, cyber security and ethical AI implementation remains at the forefront of the commercialization of Health Compass II.

The Health Compass II project is a testament to WELL Health's commitment to empowering healthcare providers and enhancing patient experiences across North America. With this significant investment, WELL Health and its partners are poised to set a new standard for the deployment of ethical AI in healthcare, interoperability and EMR innovation, healthcare provider workflows, and patient care. Health Compass II and other healthcare innovations from WELL and its partners, will undoubtedly contribute towards the improvement of health outcomes for Canadians and the reduction of healthcare provider burnout.

About WELL Health Technologies Corp.

WELL's mission is to tech-enable healthcare providers. We do this by developing the best technologies, services, and support available, which ensures healthcare providers are empowered to positively impact patient outcomes. WELL's comprehensive healthcare and digital platform includes extensive front and back-office management software applications that help physicians run and secure their practices. WELL's solutions enable more than 34,000 healthcare providers between the US and Canada and power the largest owned and operated healthcare ecosystem in Canada with more than 175 clinics supporting primary care, specialized care, and diagnostic services. In the United States WELL's solutions are focused on specialized markets such as the gastrointestinal market, women's health, primary care, and mental health. WELL is publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "WELL" and on the OTC Exchange under the symbol "WHTCF". To learn more about WELL, please visit: www.well.company.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws, including, without limitation, statements regarding the future plans and objectives of WELL Health, the capabilities of Health Compass II, and future funding commitments from DIGITAL. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, although not always, identified by words such as "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "potential," and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "could," or "should" occur. While these forward-looking statements represent WELL Health's current expectations, they are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, such as the ability to develop and commercialize the Health Compass II amongst the consortium members, the expected improvements to workflow efficiency, physician uptake, and the utilization and deployment of the Health Compass II across WELL Health's network. WELL Health does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

SOURCE WELL Health Technologies Corp.