Salesforce continued its march into healthcare this week when, along with analytics specialist Geneia, it unwrapped an app for population health and value-based care.

The jointly developed tool, which the companies announced at Dreamforce in San Francisco, combines Geneia’s Theon analytics with the Salesforce Health Cloud’s communications services and workflows for hospitals, health plans and employers.

[Also: Cloud computing decision guide: Breaking down 7 top solutions for healthcare]

Geneia said customers can use the new app for population health and value-based initiatives, including identifying gaps in care to increase Medicare star ratings, reducing inpatient hospital and emergency department admissions, and cutting down on claims costs.

Salesforce General Manager of Healthcare and Life Sciences Susan Collins said combining those population health and value-based care capabilities with Salesforce’s customer and patient relationship management also can help hospitals move to patient-centric models of care.

The software-as-a-service CRM vendor has been adding healthcare-centric functionality to its portfolio since 2015 — when reports emerged that CEO Marc Benioff was projecting the company could earn a cool $1 billion in the market.

That began when the company announced Health Cloud in September 2015, which Chief Medical Officer Joshua Newman, MD said described at the time as a platform for the post-EHR world.

And the company has been adding to Health Cloud since then. Salesforce in August of 2016 debuted telemedicine tools in Health Cloud that clinicians and care teams can use to conduct video consults with patients via Apple and Android phones or tablets.

Then in February of 2017, the SaaS vendor added new capabilities to identify at-risk patients, including analytics for risk stratification and patient engagement, communication and management features.

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Email the writer: tom.sullivan@himssmedia.com