b.well Connected Health

High-Level Overview

b.well Connected Health is a digital health technology company building a next-generation, AI-powered platform that unifies fragmented healthcare data into a single, consumer-centric experience. The company’s core product is a modular, FHIR-native digital health platform that aggregates health records from providers, payers, pharmacies, labs, wearables, and personal devices, then surfaces personalized insights, care recommendations, and cost-saving opportunities directly to consumers via a mobile-first interface.

b.well serves health plans (commercial, Medicare, Medicaid), health systems, employers, and retail pharmacy partners, helping them improve member/patient engagement, quality scores (including NCQA dQMs and HEDIS), and value-based outcomes—all without disrupting existing tech stacks. The platform enables one-stop access to care (virtual and in-person), supports care navigation and scheduling, and powers white-labeled or embedded experiences for partners. Backed by notable investors including RTI International and with a growing footprint across payers and providers, b.well is gaining momentum as a key enabler of consumer-directed, interoperable healthcare.

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Origin Story

b.well Connected Health was founded in 2016 by Kristen Valdes, a former executive at UnitedHealthcare with deep experience in care delivery and population health. The idea emerged from Valdes’ personal experience navigating the U.S. healthcare system as a mother of a child with a complex autoimmune disorder. Despite her professional expertise, she spent years piecing together her daughter’s siloed medical records across multiple systems to arrive at the correct diagnosis—only for a life-threatening medication error to occur due to disconnected EHRs.

That near-fatal incident became the catalyst for b.well: a platform designed to do the hard work of collecting, normalizing, and making sense of fragmented health data so consumers don’t have to. Valdes left her executive role to build a consumer-first health platform that would give patients control over their data while enabling better coordination across clinicians, payers, and care settings. Early traction came from partnerships with health plans and systems seeking to improve digital engagement, and b.well quickly evolved from a patient-facing app into an enterprise-grade, interoperable platform used across multiple lines of business.

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Core Differentiators

Consumer-First, Enterprise-Grade Platform
- Built from the ground up for consumers (not as an afterthought to provider or payer systems), with modern APIs and standards like FHIR, CQL, and GraphQL.
- Functions as both a direct-to-consumer digital assistant and a white-labeled or embedded solution for health plans, providers, and retail partners.

Unmatched Data Connectivity
- Leverages over 60,000 live, consumer-mediated data connections across payers, providers, HINs, labs, pharmacies, and personal devices.
- Delivers longitudinal, normalized, real-time health data—effectively creating a “whole-person” record that spans care settings and time.

AI-Powered, Behaviorally Informed Engagement
- Uses AI and behavioral science (including game theory and nudges) to personalize content, care pathways, and actions.
- Integrates NCQA-certified digital quality measures (dQMs), HEDIS logic, and clinical decision support to drive quality and outcomes at scale.

Open, Modular, and Interoperable Architecture
- Designed to integrate seamlessly with existing tech stacks—no rip-and-replace required.
- Offers modular capabilities (data aggregation, engagement, care access, research enablement) that can be adopted incrementally.

Privacy-First and Patient-Controlled
- Puts consumers in control of their data: they can share, revoke access, and manage consent across family members and clinicians.
- Core to partnerships in pharma and life sciences, where consented real-world data and patient recruitment are critical.

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Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

b.well is riding three powerful trends reshaping healthcare: the consumerization of health, the rise of value-based care, and the regulatory push toward interoperability. As patients demand Amazon- or Apple-like experiences in healthcare, payers and providers are under pressure to deliver seamless, personalized digital journeys. At the same time, CMS and ONC mandates around FHIR and patient access to data are forcing organizations to open up their systems—creating fertile ground for platforms that can unify and operationalize that data.

b.well sits at the intersection of these forces, acting as a “digital glue” layer that connects siloed systems while delivering tangible value to all stakeholders: better engagement for consumers, improved quality and retention for payers, stronger patient relationships for providers, and consented, real-world data pathways for pharma. Its work with Samsung Health and its role in shaping FHIR policy further cement its position as a standards-driven innovator. In an ecosystem where most platforms are built for institutions, b.well’s consumer-centric architecture gives it a unique vantage point—and a growing moat.

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Quick Take & Future Outlook

b.well is poised to become a foundational layer in the next generation of consumer-directed healthcare. As more organizations move toward risk-based contracts and digital-first strategies, the need for a unified, interoperable, and behaviorally smart engagement layer will only grow. The company’s expansion into pharma and life sciences—enabling patient recruitment, adherence support, and real-world evidence collection—opens a high-margin, high-impact adjacent market.

Looking ahead, b.well’s trajectory will likely hinge on three factors: scaling its enterprise footprint across large health plans and integrated delivery networks, deepening its AI and clinical decision support capabilities, and expanding its ecosystem of embedded experiences (e.g., within retail pharmacy apps, employer platforms, and consumer devices). If it continues to execute on its vision of being the “single place for all health and wellness tools,” b.well could evolve from a digital health platform into the de facto consumer SSO and data control layer for healthcare—turning its origin story of personal frustration into a systemic solution for millions.