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Christina Farr
- McKesson's Change Healthcare is close to buying PokitDok, a health start-up that is best known for trying to apply blockchain technology to healthcare transactions.
- PokitDok has raised more than $ 55 million in venture capital.
McKesson's Change Healthcare is close to buying PokitDok, a company that is best known for being among the first to apply blockchain technology to the healthcare industry.
Change, a health technology company largely controlled by the medical distribution giant McKesson, was in talks at the last stage to buy start-ups on Friday, according to four people familiar with the agreement, and is planning to announce it later this week assuming the deal closes. People refused to be identified as they were not allowed to talk about the deal before the public announcement.
The agreement could help McKesson gain an advantage in blockchain services, a potential growth area. In November, Change worked with Tibco to explore the use of blockchain technology to streamline health care operations.
PokitDok helps other application access APIs or application program interfaces to connect more easily to thousands of computer systems from different healthcare companies to do things like checking prices for a patient's billing procedure or status. The company is also building a blockchain technology service to try to make healthcare transactions safer and faster. PokitDok has announced an agreement with Intel, Amazon and others in 2017 to help scale this service.
PokitDok is backed by over $ 55 million in venture capital from companies including the McKesson business arm and a handful of other investment companies. Its founder is Lisa Maki, who left her job in 2017 to work as a resident entrepreneur at Storm Ventures.
Other companies were also interested in PokitDok, including VSP Global, a vision insurance company, and MedImpact, a pharmaceutical benefits manager.
Change and PokitDok did not respond to requests for comment.
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