Feb 13 2012
InComm, a leading prepaid product and transaction services company, announced today that it has acquired Medagate Corporation, the company that powers OTCNetwork™, the only national closed loop over-the-counter (OTC) healthcare benefits payments platform. Under the terms of the acquisition, InComm purchased all of the outstanding stock of Medagate, which now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of InComm. All current employees of Medagate will remain with the company, with its existing management continuing to run the day-to-day operations.
Medagate's technology platform supports several applications that enable retail and healthcare to intersect at the point of sale, enabling insured health plan members as well as Medicare and Medicaid members to access and spend their monthly healthcare benefits in an easy and familiar manner. Medagate's solutions also enable health plan providers to reduce healthcare costs and attract and retain members by offering them unique incentives to improve their overall health and wellness.
"InComm has had a longstanding, mutually beneficial partnership with Medagate, and this strategic acquisition was the next natural step in the growth of that relationship, especially as the national focus on healthcare increases," said Brooks Smith, CEO, InComm. "The convenience of Medagate's platform, combined with the reach of our merchant network, will enable retailers to expand upon the health and wellness programs they offer to customers covered under medical insurance plans as well as Medicare and Medicaid members."
Medagate offers health insurance plans a platform to control the spending of benefit and incentive dollars using restricted spend stored value cards over InComm's proprietary closed loop payment network. Medagate allows Medicare Advantage Plans to issue OTC product stored value cards for the redemption of products or services such as a vaccination (flu or other). For Medicaid, Medagate couples the restricted spend stored value cards with the government's free Lifeline cell phone program and monthly minutes to communicate health quality initiatives and rewards, controlling where dollars are spent and which products members can buy.
"The Medagate team is excited to become an integrated part of InComm," said Devin Wade, CEO of Medagate. Beginning with the launch of the OTCNetwork™ in 2010, it was apparent that InComm was uniquely qualified to bring our platform to market. InComm gives Medagate the opportunity to build on what we have started and create a new generation of benefit and wellness tools for health plans."
InComm and Medagate previously partnered in January 2010 to develop a payment solution that allows retailers and healthcare program managers to create their own acceptance networks and turnkey stored value card programs for government-backed Medicare members.
SOURCE InComm
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