I am delighted to announce that THCB is partnering with Silverlink, the automated interactive voice solutions company based in Burlington, Mass. Silverlink is now a platinum sponsor. I did a podcast with CEO Stan Nowak a few weeks ago that’s well worth a listen and explains what they do in great detail (although I had no idea they were interested in sponsoring then).

The quick version is that Silverlink puts all manner of health information, from alerts about medication refills to complex HRAs and disease management information, into outbound phone calls guided by voice recognition. Health plans, PBMs and others are using those calls to improve their outreach/customer service to their members…and you’ll know from my opinion about health plans’ typical customer service that anyway to improve that can’t be a bad thing!

For details on the business arrangements of how THCB’s corporate sponsorships work you need to email John Irvine. As most of you know John has always run the tech side of THCB and in recent months has taken over business side. Which, given the recent sponsorships with Silverlink, Orion Health and CDW, appears to be a great management move on my part!

The only difference you’ll notice is that if I’m doing a piece or a podcast on a sponsor I’ll be open about it–just as I have done when I’ve done podcasts with consulting clients of mine. I’ll still call them as I see ’em, and still ask the same questions–I suspect that that’s part of the attraction. The rest of the attraction of course is for the sponsors to get in front of you, the gentle and good THCB reader. So I’d be grateful if you could continue to look at the sponsors’ information kindly!