2017: Welkin’s Most Transformative Year

2017 kept health care on its toes. For much of the year, we watched as the legislative branch considered the many ways they could slice, dice, or kill the ACA, and saw Obama-era mandates repealed. We heard the demands for accountability from patient advocates for rising drug prices, and drug-makers were taken to task for irresponsible marketing. We witnessed landmark therapies and marketing approvals passed by the FDA- like Kymriah to combat leukemia, permitting direct-to-consumer tests for genetic assessments, and the first medication embedded with a sensor for adherence monitoring- all of which not only open up future possibilities for treatments, but potentially change the way in which care is delivered. Stakeholders made bold promises to fuel innovation, to better understand diseases in the hopes of creating solutions to their many challenges.

Arguably, 2017 was Welkin’s most transformative year since our inception in 2013. We received our Series A funding. Our team nearly doubled in size, with three more team members joining us in the new year. We moved to a gorgeous new office to support our growing team. We partnered with some incredible organizations who are working hard to make a meaningful impact in patient lives and improve health outcomes, with more collaborations we’re excited to announce in the coming months. We spoke at a variety of conferences, and discussed the use of digital health to address addiction and recovery. We’ve enjoyed the pleasure of watching our previous partnerships help health care teams strengthen their relationships with patients, and create a better way to deliver care. We’ve begun working on a new set of tools so program administrators can fine-tune Welkin to meet their needs, and use our product with greater agency.

So what will Welkin look like this time next year?

We’re really excited to announce some new partnerships in 2018 with major health companies. We can’t wait to watch our current customers and their patients thrive in the new year. We’ll roll out Workshop so our customers can tailor their program to be as unique as they are. Workshop is a set of tools our customers can wield to develop or refine programs, by building or modifying assessments, alerts, processes, templates, and scheduling without requiring custom engineering work.

We look forward to participating in more conversations with industry leaders regarding the application of digital health to transform patient lives- starting with hosting our first ever event on January 9th, during J.P. Morgan’s Healthcare Conference. We’ve started to chug away at a rebranding process and website redesign to better tell our story and reach health teams who need patient program support. And we’re continuing our growth spurt.

I feel very grateful to our customers, our funders, our mentors, and our team for making 2017 such a magical year for Welkin. Even though we’ve grown a ton this year, our company culture has scaled with us. Our supportive, talented, and compassionate team share a passion for patient impact and the intellectual curiosity and drive to help our partners achieve it. Though health care was volleyed back and forth in 2017, Welkin enjoyed its best year to date. Thank you, and we’ll see you in the new year.

Best wishes,
Chase