Healthcare IT attracts Rock Health

SAN FRANCISCO, US: Rock Health, the first startup accelerator for health, announced a new sponsorship with UnitedHealth Group, a diversified health and well-being company, to support and advance technology innovation in health care.

Aside from financial support, UnitedHealth Group will engage in workshops and mentor participants selected for Rock Health’s five-month incubator program, which is geared to catalyzing new ideas into products and businesses that benefit the health care marketplace, as a press rekease adds.

“We are pleased to support Rock Health’s efforts to nurture and advance innovation in health care,” said Tom Vanderheyden, vice president, Emerging Businesses Group at UnitedHealth Group. “Innovation is a key driver in helping make the health system work better for everyone, and this accelerator model we believe will help bring solutions to market in a significantly shorter timeframe.”

UnitedHealth Group joins Rock Health’s previously announced 2011 corporate partners: Microsoft Health Solutions, Nike, Qualcomm Wireless Health, and Quest Diagnostics. Hospital partners include Mayo Clinic, Cincinnati Children’s, UCSF and Harvard Medical School.

“We are pleased to welcome UnitedHealth Group to our premier roster of partners,” said Halle Tecco, managing director of Rock Health. “Our teams will benefit greatly from their broad perspectives as a diversified global provider of health benefits and health services.”