CareMessage recognized as a 2026 Fierce 50 Honoree

Fierce Pharma recognizes CareMessage for meeting low-income patients where they already are, with a platform that has reached more than 22 million patients since 2013.

 

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, September 1, 2026 –  CareMessage, a social enterprise and the largest patient engagement platform for low-income populations in the United States, has been named a 2026 Fierce 50 honoree by Fierce Pharma, Fierce Biotech and Fierce Healthcare. The Fierce 50 recognizes 50 individuals and organizations driving advancements in medicine, fostering innovation and shaping the future of biopharma and healthcare.

“Now in its fourth year, the Fierce 50 continues to show that progress in this industry doesn’t come from just one place,” said Ayla Ellison, editor-in-chief of Fierce Life Sciences and Healthcare. “It’s showing up in the lab, in executive leadership, in community clinics and in advocacy work that never makes headlines. Whether it’s a biotech pushing a new therapy toward patients or a grassroots organization fighting for someone to get the care they need, these honorees remind us that impact takes a lot of different shapes. We’re honored to celebrate all of them.”

CareMessage’s selection as a Health Equity Honoree reflects the industry’s growing recognition that the mobile phone, not the patient portal or  app store, is where low-income patients actually meet the healthcare system. In its tribute, Fierce Pharma writes: “A prime tenet of health equity work is to meet patients where they are. Today, that means tapping into the power of the cellphone residing in nearly every patient’s pocket or purse.” CareMessage has done exactly this for more than 22 million patients since 2013.

Building on a Year of Recognition

The Fierce 50 honor caps a year of national recognition for CareMessage. In April 2026, TIME named CareMessage to the TIME100 Most Influential Companies list as the sole recipient of the Impact in Equality Award, the only organization in the world to receive that designation. In January 2025, co-founders Vineet Singal and Cecilia Corral received the Schwab Foundation Award for Social Entrepreneurship at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

The pattern across these recognitions converge on the same conclusion, that technology built specifically for low-income patients produces measurable improvements in health outcomes. A randomized controlled trial led by Stanford University and published in JAMA Network Open found that CareMessage’s text-based coaching was as effective as human telephone counseling at increasing physical activity.

“Being recognized by the healthcare industry itself matters,” said Cecilia Corral, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of CareMessage. “Our partners — the FQHCs, Free and Charitable Clinics, and Tribal Health Organizations doing this work every day — have not historically received industry attention proportional to the populations they serve. When Fierce Pharma recognizes what safety-net care can look like at scale, that visibility becomes a tool our partners can use.”

Chosen by the editors of Fierce Pharma, Fierce Biotech and Fierce Healthcare, this year's Fierce 50 honorees reflect the breadth of talent and vision shaping the biopharma and healthcare industries today. From startups to established organizations, each has made a distinct contribution, whether by advancing scientific discovery, improving the health of communities, expanding access to care or reimagining how healthcare is delivered at a local level or on a global scale.

The complete 2026 Fierce 50 list is available at https://www.fiercepharma.com/collection/fierce-50-2026.

 

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About CareMessage

CareMessage is a social enterprise and the largest patient engagement platform for low-income populations in the United States. We deliver personalized health education and care coordination through text messaging — reaching patients where they already are, in the language they speak, at the moments that matter most. Unlike technology built for large health systems and adapted down, CareMessage is designed from the ground up for organizations serving low-income, historically marginalized communities. 

Founded in 2012, CareMessage has engaged more than 22 million people across 45 states, partnering with FQHCs, free and charitable clinics, and tribal health organizations to produce measurable improvements in health equity. We reinvest revenue into impact rather than shareholder returns, because we believe that market discipline and social mission are not a trade-off. They are the same strategy. 

CareMessage has been named to TIME’s 2026 list of the 100 Most Influential Companies as the sole Impact in Equality awardee, recognized at the World Economic Forum with the Schwab Foundation Award for Social Entrepreneurship, and named to Inc.’s Best in Business list for Social Good. Learn more about our work at: www.caremessage.org/impact 

About Fierce Pharma

Fierce Pharma is the go-to destination for the news and trends shaping the industry. Our focus daily is on news about approved drugs and every aspect of pharma’s operations as well as the people who move pharma forward. Our coverage also feeds longer-form content, podcasts and events. In staying on top of the news, our journalists have developed a loyal audience. Critically, we explain the news—often complicated technology or business maneuvers—and put it in context that brings it home for our readers and listeners in their work lives.

About Fierce Biotech

Fierce Biotech is the dominant B2B news brand for the industry. Every day, we track the companies, people and ideas reshaping biotech: from the discovery through clinical trials, approvals and commercialization, and the venture funding, partnerships, IPOs and M&A that power it all. That reporting fuels our long-form features, podcasts and events, where deal flow, data and on-the-ground insight come together into the fullest picture of where the industry is headed.

About Fierce Healthcare

At Fierce Healthcare, we deliver the news and analysis that healthcare can't afford to miss. Our newsroom serves the people building, running, and reshaping this industry: hospital executives and physicians, payers, policymakers, researchers and the entrepreneurs betting on what comes next. Wherever healthcare is being disrupted, financed, regulated, or reinvented, we're covering it, with breaking news, exclusive interviews and deep reporting that connects the dots between a boardroom decision and a patient's bedside experience.

Media Contact:
Kristen Hinton
Communications
CareMessage
khinton@caremessage.org
505-463-9384
www.caremessage.org