If you’re trying to sell your digital health solution into U.S. healthcare systems, you already know the effort required. Direct sales cycles are long, resource-heavy, and often stall when the CIO or CFO flags your solution as “yet another point solution.” Even if it’s not.
One way to get around this is to sell through someone who already has the buyer’s trust. That’s where channel selling comes in. Instead of pitching your product cold, you team up with a health platform, services firm, or marketplace that already has relationships, contracting pathways, and access.
Done right, channel partnerships can shorten your sales cycle, reduce procurement friction, and reposition your solution from “niche tool” to “part of something bigger.”
But not all partnerships work the same way. Here are the five models digital health companies actually use—and what to watch out for in each.
1. Referral Partner
Referral deals are common in digital health. There’s usually a formal agreement in place, and your partner earns a referral fee if the deal closes. But they don’t handle the sale or sign the customer contract—you do.
It’s often a consultant, vendor, or payer team making the intro. They step back after that. You run the process and close on your own paper.
Best when:
- You need air cover to reach enterprise buyers
- You want aligned incentives without giving up the sale
- You’re looking for low-lift lead flow
What to watch for:
Referral partners don’t own the deal or streamline contracting. You still manage the sales cycle—and the relationship—end to end.
2. Co-selling Partnership
In a co-sell, you and your partner team up to win a deal neither of you could land alone. The customer is new to both of you, so there’s no existing contract path or book of business to lean on. You have to work together—on messaging, pricing, and delivery—to close the sale.
Think of a behavioral health platform teaming up with a care navigation service, or a remote monitoring tool bundling with a diagnostics partner. It’s a joint effort from start to finish.
Best when:
- Your value props are aligned but not overlapping
- You’re targeting the same buyer with a shared narrative
- You’re ready to support a coordinated sales motion
What to watch for:
Co-selling requires real coordination. You’ll need alignment across teams—sales, legal, product—to avoid delays or missteps. It’s more work upfront, but when it clicks, it helps both sides break into new accounts and position as part of a broader solution.
When co-selling works, both sides break into new accounts together. But sometimes, you don’t want to share the sale—you want your partner to just run with it. That’s where reseller agreements come in.
3. Reseller Agreement
In this model, your partner buys your solution at a discount and resells it—often bundled with services or wrapped in their platform. The hard contracting work happens between you and the reseller, so buyers get a simple, streamlined process through a vendor they already trust.
Best when:
- You’re entering a region or channel where you lack traction
- Your partner has stronger brand recognition or procurement pathways
- You’re willing to trade margin for reach
What to watch for:
You give up pricing control. The reseller sets the final price and margins. You also risk poor implementation or positioning, since you’re not in the room. Make sure the partnership is aligned on quality and outcomes.
Referral vs. Reseller: What’s the Difference in Digital Health Sales?
These models are often confused, but they handle sales and contracting very differently
| Referral partner | Reseller agreement | |
| Who sells | You do | The partner does |
| Who contracts | You sign directly with the customer | The partner signs with the customer |
| Revenue flow | Partner earns a referral fee | Partner buys at a discount, adds margin |
| Buyer experience | Separate contracts and approvals | Streamlined through partner’s process |
| Control | You manage the sale and relationship | You give up some control on pricing and delivery |
4. Embedded Solution
This is when your solution is directly embedded into a larger platform’s offering—usually behind the scenes. The end customer doesn’t contract with you or even know your brand. Instead, your technology powers part of the broader solution.
Think of a health navigation platform that quietly integrates your clinical decision support tool, or a virtual care app that embeds your behavioral health module as part of the user experience.
Best when:
- You want access to scale without needing to build the full user experience
- You’re comfortable being invisible to the end customer
- You’re solving a clear feature gap for the platform partner
What to watch for:
You won’t own the brand or the relationship. That means less visibility, fewer product feedback loops, and limited upsell opportunities. But if you’re looking for reach and are okay being “powered by” instead of front and center, it’s a strong path.
5. Committed Partner (Strategic Volume Deal)
In this model, your partner commits to selling a certain amount of your solution—say $2M a year—often in exchange for a discount or some form of exclusivity. You see this with larger platforms, regional ‘payvider’ networks, or strategic bundling with healthcare plans.
Best when:
- You need predictable volume
- You’ve already done joint pilots or early co-selling
- Your partner has clear incentive to grow adoption
What to watch for:
Missed volume targets can strain the relationship. Exclusivity can backfire if the partner underperforms or slows your access to other buyers. Set clear performance triggers and exit clauses.
Choosing the Right Model
You don’t need all of these models at once. The right partnership depends on your product’s maturity, your current GTM motion, and where you’re hitting friction.
Here’s a quick guide:
| If you need… | Consider… |
| Warm intros | Referral |
| Shared sales effort | Co-sell |
| Access to new channels or geographies | Reseller |
| Seamless integration into another product | Embedded |
| Predictable volume | Committed partner |
And if you’re not sure? Start small. A few focused referral or co-sell partnerships can teach you more about partner fit than a broad, formal agreement with misaligned incentives.
Healthcare Platforms You Should Know
There’s a growing list of healthcare platforms that actively partner with digital health vendors. These companies already have access to employers, payers, and healthcare systems—and in many cases, they’re looking to expand their offering with credible partners.
Below are practical mini-profiles you can use to figure out who’s worth talking to, and why.
Solera Health
What they do: Solera connects payers and employers with curated networks of digital health and in-person programs for chronic care, behavioral health, and prevention.
Who they serve: National payers, large employers, Medicare Advantage plans.
Partnership model: Solera Health operates a pay-for-performance model, aligning incentives across stakeholders. Both Solera and its network partners benefit financially only when participants achieve positive health outcomes.
Good fit for: Solutions in diabetes, weight management, behavioral health, and lifestyle medicine.
Personify Health (formerly Virgin Pulse)
What they do: A workforce health engagement platform focused on navigation, wellness, and benefits optimization. Combines lifestyle coaching, digital health tools, and third-party partner access.
Who they serve: Large employers, health plans.
Partnership model: Personify Health partners with digital health companies through an ecosystem model that enables data sharing and integrated go-to-market pathways.
Good fit for: Digital tools that engage employees, reduce downstream cost, or enhance benefits experience.
WebMD Health Services
What they do: Wellness and benefits engagement platform used by employers and health plans. Focused on member experience, health education, and driving service usage.
Who they serve: Self-insured employers, payers, wellness program vendors.
Partnership model: WebMD Health Services features partner solutions through its ONE Partners program, which supports integration with employer wellness platforms.
Good fit for: Solutions that extend into behavioral change, risk reduction and screening, or employee engagement.
Accolade
What they do: Navigation and advocacy platform for employees and dependents. Offers care guides, clinical teams, and virtual health access.
Who they serve: Large employers, health plans, third-party administrators.
Partnership model: Accolade offers partner pathways that include referral and bundling into employer solutions. Partners must align with their care advocacy model.
Good fit for: Point solutions that improve chronic care, mental health, identity-based care, among others.
Quantum Health
What they do: Care coordination platform that acts as an extension of the employer’s benefits team.
Who they serve: Self-insured employers.
Partnership model: Quantum Health integrates selected partners into its care navigation offering, supporting collaborative models that fit their clinical workflow.
Good fit for: Solutions that help employees navigate care, reduce avoidable spend, or drive outcomes.
Collective Health
What they do: A modern health benefits platform focused on simplifying self-funded plan design, claims, and member experience.
Who they serve: Tech-forward employers and startups with high-value talent.
Partnership model: Collective Health offers a Premier Partner Program that includes curated digital health solutions into their benefits ecosystem.
Good fit for: Digital MSK, fertility, behavioral health, and condition-specific solutions.
Apree Health
What they do: Formed by the merger of Castlight and Vera Whole Health. Combines virtual care, engagement, and navigation into a unified platform.
Who they serve: Employers, regional payers.
Partnership model: Curates clinical and digital partners into a unified ecosystem for employers and health plans.
Good fit for: Care coordination, data-driven tools, whole-person engagement.
Alight Health
What they do: Benefits and payroll platform with an increasing focus on integrated health navigation and outcomes-based engagement.
Who they serve: Large employers, often as part of HR transformation efforts.
Partnership model: Runs a formal Channel Partner program with shared sales, marketing, and integration support.
Good fit for: Solutions that improve utilization of existing benefits or reduce total cost of care.
League
What they do: A health benefits platform designed to unify the digital front door. Combines navigation, eligibility, and partner integrations in one UX.
Who they serve: Payers, large employers, and tech-forward provider networks.
Partnership model: League integrates partners via its Digital Health Platform, providing shared infrastructure and data access across the member experience.
Good fit for: Solutions that want to be part of a curated digital front door—especially those with FHIR support.
Included Health
What they do: Virtual-first care platform offering navigation, primary care, and specialty consults—especially strong in LGBTQ+ and underserved populations.
Who they serve: Self-insured employers, benefits aggregators, and forward-looking health plans.
Partnership model: Included Health partners with health plans to enhance care offerings, with a focus on alignment to their clinical model.
Good fit for: Solutions in virtual specialty care, identity-based care, and historically underserved and vulnerable populations.
Innovaccer
What they do: A Healthcare Intelligence Platform that unifies patient data across sources and activates it to drive better clinical, operational, and financial outcomes. Known for powering data-driven transformation across the continuum of care.
Who they serve: Leading health systems, ACOs, risk-bearing providers, and payviders focused on value-based care and operational efficiency.
Partnership model: Deep platform integration. Partners can plug into Innovaccer’s ecosystem via APIs or build natively to deliver intelligence at the point of care.
Good fit for: Solutions focused on care navigation, clinical workflow enhancement, risk stratification, engagement, or analytics—especially those looking to scale quickly by leveraging a robust, interoperable data and workflow layer.
b.well Connected Health
What they do: Consumer-facing health platform that unifies data, services, and engagement into a personalized care experience. https://www.icanbwell.com/health-plans/
Who they serve: Healthcare systems, payers, and increasingly, retail health. Healthcare systems, payers, retail, healthcare technology and pharma / life sciences
Partnership model: Integrates partner solutions into a personalized member experience for health plans and consumers.
Good fit for: Solutions that improve consumer experience, loyalty, or digital engagement.
Infrastructure Marketplaces
A lot of digital health companies focus only on go-to-market partners and forget the infrastructure platforms that already have procurement weight. These may not sell for you, but they can shorten sales cycles and give you a seat at the table. Here are the top categories to note:
Cloud Marketplaces
If your product runs on GCP, you can list it in the Marketplace and let healthcare system procurement teams purchase through existing Google contracts. This accelerates legal and finance review.
Similar to Google’s approach, with growing traction in health IT and life sciences. Especially useful for data-heavy and infrastructure-adjacent tools.
Microsoft Commercial Marketplace
Tightly integrated into Azure and Microsoft’s HLS teams. Strong fit for virtual care, Teams-based clinical collaboration, and analytics tools.
Common Benefits:
- Pre-negotiated pricing and T&Cs
- Accelerated IT and procurement approvals
- Visibility with cloud solution architects
GPOs and EHR Ecosystems
Premier, Vizient, HealthTrust (GPOs)
These are sales enablers, not sellers. If you’re contracted with them, you can move faster inside participating healthcare systems. Great for credibility.
More than just a badge—it signals integration readiness. Being listed can help Epic reps include your product in customer site visits.
Oracle Health (formerly Cerner Code)
Similar to Epic’s model. If your product sits near EHR workflows, being listed here gives you a leg up in IT review.
Final Thought on Healthcare Channel Partnerships
There’s no single best path. The right partner model depends on where you are in your go-to-market journey, how fast you need to move, and what kind of access you’re missing today.
But here’s what I’ve seen work: teams that stop thinking of themselves as a “point solution” and start operating like part of a larger stack move faster, sell bigger, and stall less.
Channel selling doesn’t mean giving up your vision. It means making it easier for others to carry it into the room.
How I Help
Most teams I work with already feel the pressure to move beyond direct selling—but they’re not sure how to do it without wasting time chasing misaligned partners.
I help digital health companies:
- Identify which channel partners actually fit your product, market, and GTM motion
- Position your solution so it’s easier for platforms to sell, bundle, or refer
- Build a channel strategy that complements direct sales without creating channel conflict
- Navigate pricing, margin, and integration tradeoffs so partnerships don’t stall later
This isn’t about building a long list of logos. It’s about finding the 1–2 relationships that can accelerate revenue and reduce friction in real deals.
If you’re trying to get out of point solution purgatory and into the enterprise budget conversation, channel selling might be the unlock. I can help you figure out how to do it the right way. Get in touch today.
