ATLANTA, Sept. 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sharecare, the health tech company that helps to improve care quality, drive better outcomes, and lower costs across the healthcare ecosystem, today announced that its Co-Founder and Executive Chairman Jeff Arnold will moderate the closing panel discussion, Committed Collaboration: Establishing Georgia as Proving Ground for CMS’s Health Tech Ecosystem, at Health Connect South on Wednesday, Sept. 17, at 2:40 p.m. ET.

Joined by representatives from Amazon Web Services (AWS), CLEAR, and the Georgia Department of Community Health, Arnold and the panelists will outline how Georgia can serve as a blueprint for the rest of the country to follow in terms of health tech ecosystem alignment and the realization of the stated priorities of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), including conversational AI, "kill the clipboard" initiatives, and how technology can enable community engagement for Medicaid. The discussion also will build on remarks made earlier in the day during the Health Connect South keynote, in which Dr. Tom Price, the 23^rd Secretary of HHS, will interview CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz.

In July 2025, Administrator Oz and senior leadership from HHS hosted an invitation-only event at The White House where it was announced that AWS, CLEAR, and Sharecare were among the early adopters collaborating with CMS to support a voluntary, standards-based ecosystem of private-sector technology partners that integrate with the CMS Aligned Network.

Given deep working relationships between health tech companies, providers, employers, state agencies, and community organizations throughout Georgia, Sharecare noted a unique opportunity to demonstrate how rural healthcare, community engagement, and digital ecosystem goals converge in one state. In fact, in Georgia alone, more than 2 million people across Medicaid, Medicare Advantage, state and local government, and commercial populations are registered on Sharecare’s health navigation platform, which is driving measurable gains in engagement, care navigation, and preventive action. With the technology, research, critical mass of users, and committed partners already in place, the Committed Collaboration panel at Health Connect South will explore how these organizations are prepared to meet this moment, align on deliverables and KPIs, demonstrate measurable outcomes in Georgia, and scale this model nationwide.

As part of the discussion, Arnold will highlight Sharecare’s next-generation, AI-enabled health navigation experience: AskMD. Designed to help millions of Americans seek medical guidance, find the best quality in-network care, manage benefits, and engage in preventive health, AskMD also will enable employers, payors, health systems, and government agencies to improve quality, experience, and total cost of care.

Arnold said, “Breakthroughs in AI now make it possible to deliver personalized, always-on, conversational guidance and support at-scale. Meanwhile, federal guidance around interoperability is accelerating the shift away from paper-based intake and siloed health data. And consumers are demanding simpler, digital-first tools to manage their health, just as they already use across travel, banking, and retail. Healthcare is at an inflection point where technology, policy, and consumer demand are aligned; and AskMD sits at the center of this convergence and harnesses the art of what’s possible into a single trusted, interoperable, and scalable solution, which we are excited to roll out nationwide to consumers, employers, payors, and providers in 2026.”

Expected to launch direct-to-consumers in the first quarter of 2026, AskMD’s core capabilities will include:

• NCQA-certified resources, AI-driven clinical reasoning with guidance, and triage tailored to each person’s location, coverage, history, and context;
• Real-time insurance eligibility verification​;
• Smart benefits and care navigation, routing people to in-network providers, virtual care, and local resources, as well as cost transparency, prescription savings, and medication adherence programs and tools;
• Consumer-friendly, portable health briefs that support patient right-of-access and replace clipboard-based forms;
• Dynamic rewards-driven tools and gamification to drive engagement; and
• Flexible architecture to seamlessly integrate with enterprise-grade privacy and security.

Panel details:

Committed Collaboration: Establishing Georgia as Proving Ground for CMS’s Health Tech Ecosystem

• Where: Health Connect South, Georgia Aquarium
• When: Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, from 2:40 to 3:20 p.m. ET in the Arctic/Pacific Ballroom
• Who:
  • Jeff Arnold (moderator): Co-founder and executive chairman, Sharecare
  • Alex Krinksy: Senior director of Healthcare Partnerships, CLEAR
  • Matt Pearson: Head of Healthcare Business Development, AWS
  • Chad Purcell: CIO, Georgia Department of Community Health
    
    

About Sharecare
Sharecare is the leading digital health company that helps people – no matter where they are in their health journey – unify and manage all their health in one place. Our comprehensive and data-driven virtual health platform is designed to help people, providers, employers, health plans, government organizations, and communities optimize individual and population-wide well-being by driving positive behavior change. Driven by our philosophy that we are all together better, at Sharecare, we are committed to supporting each individual through the lens of their personal health and making high-quality care more accessible and affordable for everyone. To learn more, visit www.sharecare.com.

Media Contact:
Sharecare PR Team
PR@sharecare.com