September 3, 2014

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CEO of a new connected health start-up and former VP & COO of Humana addresses convergence of mobile, healthcare and SaaS solutions at Parks Associates' Connected Health Summit

Parks Associates announced today that Chris Nicholson, CEO of a newly forming connected health start-up (in stealth mode)and former VP & COO of Humana Wellness, will deliver the keynote address “Applying Connected Health to the Wellness Market: The ‘Triple Threat’ Driving Growth” at the Connected Health Summit: Engaging Consumers, 11:45 a.m. on Thursday, September 4, in San Diego. The two-day executive conference is the only event focused exclusively on the consumer-centric perspective of the fast-growing digital health market.

“The U.S. connected healthcare market will reach an aggregated value of over $30 billion by 2018," said Stuart Sikes, President, Parks Associates. "New opportunities will emerge as the healthcare industry shifts towards a more consumer-centric model, enabled by the convergence of mobile, healthcare, and SaaS (software-as-a-service) solutions. Mr. Nicholson dubs these the 'triple threat' of the wellness market in promoting rapid and positive growth. His insight will be invaluable to the device manufacturers, service providers, insurers, and care providers at Connected Health Summit.”

Nicholson, a digital executive with over 20 years of experience in Fortune 100 and start-up healthcare and mobile technology companies, recently took the role of CEO at a connected health start-up, a mobile experience management company that leverages context and personalization to improve communications relevancy. His keynote at the Connected Health Summit will explore strategies for companies in the health & wellness marketplace to deploy connected health solutions, empower consumers, and accelerate market growth.

”I see two key steps in engaging consumers in digital health, “ Nicholson said. “The first is to better understand consumer preferences, including how they want to receive communications, and the second is truly leveraging the influential elements of the consumer's world in order to improve relevancy and engagement with health solutions.”

Recent digital health research from Parks Associates shows:

• 25% of U.S. broadband households have used a health app in the past year.
• 20% of consumers in U.S. broadband households communicated electronically with a healthcare or health insurance professional in the past 12 months.

The 2014 Connected Health Summit: Engaging Consumers will take place September 4-5 at the Omni Hotel in San Diego, CA.  Sponsors include Association Sponsor CEA; Charter Sponsors ADT, Care Innovations, Lowe’s, and Z-Wave; Registration Sponsor Independa; Special Event Sponsor Walgreens; Event Sponsor Masimo; and Break Sponsors Ayla Networks, Playtabase, and Wellness & Prevention, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company.

Register at  www.connectedhealthsummit.com.  Press passes are available at http://www.parksassociates.com/events/connected-health/media. Contact Holly Sprague at hsprague@gmail.com for interviews. 

About Connected Health Summit: Consumer Engagement and Innovation

Connected Health Summit, hosted by international research firm Parks Associates, is an executive conference focused on the impact of connected devices and IoT healthcare solutions on consumers at home. In its ninth year, Connected Health Summit brings senior industry leaders together from all aspects of the consumer experience ecosystems to provide insights on new business models, IoT technologies, consumer behaviors, and deployments relevant to consumer healthcare solutions.

The conference features Parks Associates quarterly consumer readdresses opportunities for new solutions in the care giving and senior markets and the wellness markets. This includes smart home platforms, on-demand services, voice assistants, and wearables, to empower consumers, caregivers, and providers and to meet the growing demand for services in independent living, chronic care management, remote access to care, and wellness and fitness solutions. www.connectedhealthsummit.com

Follow the event on Twitter at @CONN_Health_Smt.