KaKao

- “Partner, friend and assistant to all people who use healthcare”… Contribute to the promotion of public health

- “Project Gamma” for users to be released in Q3 as a service to reduce the prevalence of diabetes and prediabetes

- ”Project Delta (TBC)” for partners, support the use of data by acting as a “Tech Bridge” between medical and research facilities and corporations

 

[March 2, 2023] Kakao Healthcare (CEO, Hwang Hee) revealed its objective for full-scale business expansion by announcing the company’s business mission and service release plans for 2023.

 

Kakao Healthcare plans to provide a digital healthcare service that uses big data, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and mobile technology to satisfy users’ and partners’ fundamental and unmet demands based on their core value of “becoming a partner, friend and assistant to all people who use healthcare.” Through this, Kakao Healthcare plans to reach its goal of “making people healthy with technology,” which will activate positive social change and innovation, and contribute to the promotion of public health.

  

Over the past year, Kakao Healthcare has aligned its organization, established, and segmented its business objective and implemented business agreements with relevant agencies. The company also passed the ISO 27001 (international standard for information security management systems), ISO 27799 (international standard for health informatics – information security management in health) certification audits and is in the process of applying for patents related to technical and business models.

 

“Virtual Care” for users, the blood sugar management service “Project Gamma (TBC)” to be introduced in Q3 of 2023

 

Kakao Healthcare will provide users with a mobile-based hyper-personalized healthcare platform (“Virtual Care”) to create a healthcare ecosystem where healthcare consumers can directly participate in managing their health, which will help improve accessibility to healthcare and secure digital equity in the healthcare sector. This year, Kakao Healthcare will focus on diabetes, a major chronic disease, and release a glucose management service that uses continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) and smart phones in the third quarter of this year.

 

Since the complications of diabetes drastically lowers patients’ quality of life, Kakao Healthcare will provide a mobile-based glucose management service to diabetic users who need accurate diagnosis, treatment, and strict habit management to improve their quality of life while reducing social costs. Kakao Healthcare is partnering with CGM and smart device companies and utilizing the expertise of Kakao Healthcare’s medical professionals and mobile and artificial intelligence competencies compiled by the KakaoGroup over the years to develop a mobile healthcare platform. Once worn, a CGM device can collect up to 15 days’ worth of real-time glucose data. The user can use various wearable devices, scales, and other smart devices along with Kakao Healthcare’s mobile healthcare platform to easily enter data on variables that majorly impact their glucose reading, such as exercise, sleep, meals, stress levels, body fat and muscle mass. The collected data is analyzed using AI to find the correlation between glucose and various variables, and a cumulative guide is provided to the user. The user is then able to manage their health by controlling variables that are problematic to them.  

 

Kakao Healthcare’s goal for this service is to enable users to proactively correct their habits while conveniently managing their blood sugar level, and in the long term prevent other related diseases including hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and obesity. Kakao Healthcare’s long-term objective is to expand the healthcare ecosystem by connecting this platform to other disease-related services available in various startups.

 

”Project Delta (TBC)” for partners, support the use of data by acting as a “Tech Bridge” between medical and research facilities and corporations

 

Kakao Healthcare will act as a “Data Enabler” by actively supporting the exchange and use of healthcare data with partnering healthcare providers, research institutes and corporations

 

Kakao Healthcare will first build a data lake by standardizing healthcare facilities’ quality clinical data and various medical records, then act as a “Tech Bridge” that offers solutions and platforms that can conveniently use artificial intelligence and large-scale machine learning. Medical facilities will keep their medical data, and Kakao Healthcare will provide the data platform. In the long-term, Kakao Healthcare expects the platform to act as a foundation for active clinical research, improved quality healthcare, and innovations in medical technology, while creating other various social added values. The pilot project is currently being implemented in large Korean hospitals, and Kakao Healthcare plans to introduce a system that processes large-scale hospital data within the second quarter of this year. Therefore, Kakao Healthcare continues to actively partner with hospitals and healthcare-related startups, and is working closely with technology communities, including Kakao and Kakao Enterprise.

 

Meanwhile, Kakao Healthcare developed the Remote Electronic ICU System (eICU) and connected surrounding public hospitals to Bundang Seoul National University Hospital to easily identify the situation of the intensive care units in rural hospitals. If needed, the system can be used by the central hospital to monitor bio-signals of patients in rural ICUs or by medical personnel to collaborate with their counterparts in the partnering hospital.

 

Plans for active ESG activities to improve public health

 

In September 2022, Kakao Healthcare collaborated with Kakao to introduce the “Breathing Exercise Service”, to help the public overcome long COVID. In early 2022, Kakao Healthcare also released a “COVID-19 Self-Diagnosis Chatbot” that was available in KakaoTalk, so that users can quickly find information on how to respond to the then mass spread of COVID-19. Kakao Healthcare will continue to work with the KakaoGroup and engage in various ESG activities to promote public health.

 

“Kakao Healthcare’s mission is to make people healthy with technology” said Hwang Hee, CEO of Kakao Healthcare. He added that “this mission is at the core of our activities as we embark on launching full-fledged services this year to become Korea’s leading healthcare company and make inroads into the global market in the imminent future.” Hwang Hee also emphasized that Kakao Healthcare will “ultimately fulfill our social responsibility as a member of the KakaoGroup by supporting the promotion of Korea’s public health and contributing to the global expansion of Korean medical services.” (End)