VAL Health

What VAL Health does

VAL Health is a health-focused behavioral economics consulting firm founded in 2011 and headquartered in New York. The company applies evidence-based behavioral science — including nudge theory, choice architecture, social proof, loss aversion, and present bias frameworks — to drive engagement and behavior change across healthcare stakeholders. Its service portfolio is organized into five productized consulting lines: AI Engagement (behavioral strategy for AI adoption), Engagement Strategy (journey mapping and behavioral frameworks), Behavioral Communications (content and messaging optimization), Clinical Engagement (provider and patient behavior change), and Incentives (financial and non-financial incentive design). Underlying delivery relies on the academic authority of co-founders Dr. Kevin Volpp (founding Director of CHIBE at the University of Pennsylvania) and Dr. David Asch (former Executive Director of Penn Medicine's Center for Health Care Innovation), who together have authored over 800 peer-reviewed articles.

The firm sells custom, project-based consulting engagements to enterprise healthcare buyers across six verticals: payers, digital health companies, health systems, employers, pharmaceutical companies, and diagnostics companies. Disclosed tier-one clients include UnitedHealthcare, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Google Health, Eli Lilly, and Mount Sinai, alongside a Fortune 50 Media Company for employee wellness. Distribution is driven by direct enterprise field sales supported by thought leadership — co-founder speaking at SXSW, HIMSS, AHIP, and the World Economic Forum, extensive podcast appearances (Freakonomics MD, NPR Planet Money, TEDMED), and earned media in major outlets. VAL Health is a privately held LLC, appears to be founder-owned without institutional investment, and operates with a small team (11–50 employees) using hybrid work arrangements out of its New York office.

The business model is professional services revenue from bespoke engagements rather than a software or platform offering; there is no publicly disclosed pricing, standardized SaaS product, or disclosed revenue. The company maintains a strategic academic alliance with the University of Pennsylvania and CHIBE, providing a continuous research pipeline and talent funnel, and has assembled an advisory board that includes former CMS/CMMI leadership and founders of behavioral economics, reinforcing its positioning as a science-led, enterprise-grade consulting partner.

Name

VAL Health

Legal name

VAL Health, LLC

Website

https://valhealth.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

VAL Health is a New York-based behavioral economics consulting firm founded in 2011 that designs evidence-based nudges and engagement strategies for enterprise healthcare clients across payers, health systems, digital health, pharma, diagnostics, and employers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Behavioral Science Consulting Services: VAL Health generates revenue through consulting engagements with healthcare organizations. Projects involve developing behavioral strategies, optimizing user journeys, enhancing communications, and designing incentive programs. Engagements appear to be custom, project-based work rather than standardized offerings.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

VAL Health is a behavioral science consulting firm that helps healthcare organizations drive engagement and behavior change through evidence-based nudges and behavioral strategies. Its five core service lines are AI Engagement, Engagement Strategy, Behavioral Communications, Clinical Engagement, and Incentives, delivered as custom consulting engagements to enterprise clients across payers, health systems, digital health, pharma, diagnostics, and employers.

Product overview

VAL Health is a behavioral science consulting firm that provides a portfolio of consulting services rather than a unified software product. Their core offerings include AI Engagement (applying behavioral science to maximize AI adoption), Engagement Strategy (strategic frameworks for behavior change), Behavioral Communications (optimizing user journeys and messaging), Clinical Engagement (driving patient and provider behavior), and Incentives (designing financial and non-financial incentive programs). These services are offered as consulting engagements to healthcare organizations including payers, digital health companies, health systems, employers, pharma, and diagnostics companies.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• AI Engagement A behavioral science consulting service that helps organizations apply behavioral science to close the gap between AI capability and AI impact. Includes AI Behavioral Audit, AI Adoption Strategy, and AI Impact Strategy services.
• Engagement Strategy Strategic framework development using evidence-based behavioral science to nudge behavior change and engagement. Includes journey mapping, behavioral barriers identification, behavioral strategy development, playbook creation, and product design services.
• Behavioral Communications Optimization of journeys and communications grounded in behavioral science principles. Includes engagement strategy, journey mapping, segmentation, communications content creation, and A/B testing services.
• Clinical Engagement Behavioral science consulting services to identify and eliminate cognitive friction for members, patients, and providers. Includes care gap closure, HEDIS/Stars optimization, medication adherence, condition management engagement, and provider engagement solutions.
• Incentives Incentive design services that achieve behavior change rather than just rewarding existing behaviors. Includes non-financial incentives, financial incentives, rewards program design, gamification, and incentives communications services.

Quantifiable outcome

• 2.1x increase in preventive screenings
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers16 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability2 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• University of Pennsylvania / CHIBEcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerVAL Health's co-founders (Dr. Kevin Volpp and Dr. David Asch) maintain deep affiliations with the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Volpp serves as founding Director of CHIBE (Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics) at Penn. Dr. Asch served as Executive Director of Penn Medicine's Center for Health Care Innovation from 2012-2022. This academic connection provides ongoing research collaboration and thought leadership development.

Scale indicators13 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• ideas42: ideas42 is a behavioral science research and consulting organization that applies insights from behavioral economics to design programs in health, education, financial stability, and other social domains. Like VAL Health, it uses randomized evaluation and field testing, but as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a broader mission beyond healthcare engagement.
• The Behavioural Insights Team (BIT): BIT is the world's first government-established behavioral economics consultancy, spun out of the UK Cabinet Office, applying nudge theory to health, finance, consumer protection, and public policy. It is the most direct functional analog to VAL Health's behavioral science consulting model, though with a global public-sector lens versus VAL's healthcare-only focus.
• BEworks: BEworks is a behavioral economics consulting firm founded by graduates of the University of Chicago's behavioral science program, applying nudge design and choice architecture to commercial clients across industries including healthcare. It is one of the few private-sector competitors that competes with VAL Health in applying academic behavioral science to enterprise engagement challenges.
• Mad*Pow: Mad*Pow is a design and experience strategy agency that combines behavioral economics, design thinking, and human-centered design to drive behavior change for healthcare, financial services, and consumer brands. Like VAL Health, it focuses on applying behavioral science frameworks to healthcare engagement, but with a stronger design/UX orientation.

Broad incumbents

• Optum (UnitedHealth Group): Optum is the health services and innovation arm of UnitedHealth Group, providing analytics, consulting, and care delivery services to payers, providers, and employers across the healthcare value chain. As a broad incumbent with deep healthcare expertise and scale, it overlaps with VAL Health's payer engagement work but operates across a vastly wider service portfolio.
• Deloitte Consulting (Healthcare practice): Deloitte's healthcare consulting practice serves payers, providers, pharma, and life sciences clients with strategy, operations, technology, and human capital advisory. It is a broad incumbent that increasingly incorporates behavioral science into patient engagement and population health work, competing with VAL Health for large enterprise mandates.
• McKinsey & Company (Healthcare practice): McKinsey's Healthcare Practice advises payers, providers, and pharmaceutical companies on strategy, operations, and organizational transformation. While not specialized in behavioral science, it increasingly competes for the same enterprise transformation and member engagement mandates that VAL Health targets.

Emerging players

• Health Catalyst: Health Catalyst is a healthcare data and analytics company that combines consulting services with software to drive outcomes improvement for health systems. It overlaps with VAL Health's clinical engagement and population health work but is more anchored in data infrastructure than behavioral science methodology.
• Welltok (now Reveleer): Welltok is a consumer activation and health optimization platform that helps payers and providers drive member engagement, with capabilities overlapping VAL Health's payer and digital health segments. The platform is now part of Reveleer but the engagement product remains comparable to behavioral engagement programs.
• Press Ganey: Press Ganey is a healthcare consumer and employee experience analytics and consulting firm that helps health systems improve patient experience, clinical outcomes, and workforce engagement. It is an emerging player in adjacent behavioral engagement consulting, especially in provider experience and CAHPS performance.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks1 record

Key highlights1 record

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/valhealth
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/val-health-llc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about VAL Health