Change Healthcare buys PokitDok assets

Change Healthcare has added to its blockchain-based efforts, announcing Tuesday it has acquired the intellectual property and other key assets, including employees, of Charleston-based health care IT startup PokitDok.

The integration of various PokitDok interfaces with Change Healthcare's network will bolster the Change Healthcare Intelligent Healthcare Network, a network built on blockchain that connects insurers, providers and independent software vendors. Change Healthcare execs last year launched the company's blockchain platform, which now works with about 2,200 government and commercial payers, 5,500 hospitals, 900,000 physicians and 33,000 pharmacies. In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2018, it facilitated nearly 14 billion transactions and $1 trillion in health care expenditures.