“Apple’s HomePod may not be in every Apple user’s home — but its Health app is on every iPhone and Apple Watch,” Lauren Barack writes for GearBrain. “Sure, you can delete the app. But standard to iOS Health are features many check on during their day, a go-to for how many steps they’ve walked, the hours they’ve slept and increasingly for vaccination records, or a latest electro cardiogram, also known as an ECG.”
“Increasing the data its consumers can retrieve through the Health app is a big focus for Apple. The latest deal with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is a prime example, a partnership that lets the country’s 9 million veterans gain access to their medical records through Apple’s Health app,” Barack writes. “The agreement with one of the biggest medical systems in the U.S. is hardly Apple’s first. That started in March 2018 when Apple announced new deals with 39 U.S. hospitals all on one day. Health Records, a feature inside the Health app, started carrying data from medical facilities including Johns Hopkins, Cedars-Sinai, Stanford Medicine and more.”
There is “more than $7 trillion spent in healthcare every year… That’s the size of the market that CB Insights estimates healthcare brings in, ‘already almost 10% of the global GDP,’ it stated in a 2019 research brief,” Barack writes. “Apple’s deal with the VA today, could be a possible deal with Medicare tomorrow. All told, the government provided coverage for 36.5 percent of the U.S. population in 2014 or about 115.4 million people, according to a 2016 report from the Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO. And that’s potentially a lot of new Apple Watches and iPhones.”
MacDailyNews Take: Looking for growth? A $7+ trillion market is en excellent place to explore!
Apple Watch Series 4 (GPS + Cellular) in Stainless Steel Case with White Sport Band (40mm left, 44mm right)On the healthcare, in particular, and sort of your wellbeing, this is an area that I believe, if you zoom out into the future, and you look back, and you ask the question, “What was Apple’s greatest contribution to mankind?” It will be about health. Because our business has always been about enriching people’s lives. And as we’ve gotten into healthcare more and more through the Watch and through other things that we’ve created with ResearchKit and CareKit and putting your medical records on the iPhone, this is a huge deal. And it’s something that is very important for people. We are democratizing it. We are taking what has been with the institutions and empowering the individual to manage their health. And we’re just at the front end of this. But I do think, looking back, in the future, you will answer that question, Apple’s most-important contribution to mankind has been in health. — Tim Cook, January 8, 2019
Health care, from a technology standpoint, is a target-rich environment. However, federal and state regulations need to be navigated, standards to be negotiated, naming and numbering conventions to be established.
Health care is a huge market, but most of that money is spent on the delivery of care by hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, device manufacturers and providers. Apple can make great inroads with hardware, but their real advantage is in software that taps into the “self-procured” market. When people can use their devices to enter data and store health information, carry around a portable version of their health record and transmit useful data to their doctors Apple will sell more hardware. When people can make decisions about their own health based upon the latest ECG, blood pressure and bloodless blood sugar levels, among other tests, Apple will have changed the world, once again.
For once, that sounds like a really huge growth business. The only problem is that once Apple starts this health hardware strategy, so will every other smart device manufacturer and they’ll be happy to undercut Apple’s prices at every opportunity. One would think Apple could have a huge advantage, but Apple always seems to let those advantages slip away to more aggressive companies.
I’m sure Apple’s health care strategy will involve AppleWatch and iPhones and with declining iPhone sales, there will be plenty of doubt from Wall Street about how well Apple can do.
Knowing how Amazon works, they’re going push hard into health care just the way they push into every other market. Only time will tell how hard Apple can push but I’m sure it’s not going to be as aggressive as Amazon.
The Health app’s feature called Health Records began containing information from hospitals like Johns Hopkins, Cedars-Sinai, Stanford Medicine, and others. backrooms game
From a technological perspective, the health care industry offers a wealth of potential targets. However, it is necessary to comply with federal and state legislation, negotiate standards, and establish naming and numbering systems. backrooms
Health care, from a technology standpoint, is a target-rich environment. However, federal and state regulations need to be navigated, standards to be negotiated, naming and numbering conventions to be established.
Gotta be done but it ain’t gonna be easy.
Health care is a huge market, but most of that money is spent on the delivery of care by hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, device manufacturers and providers. Apple can make great inroads with hardware, but their real advantage is in software that taps into the “self-procured” market. When people can use their devices to enter data and store health information, carry around a portable version of their health record and transmit useful data to their doctors Apple will sell more hardware. When people can make decisions about their own health based upon the latest ECG, blood pressure and bloodless blood sugar levels, among other tests, Apple will have changed the world, once again.
For once, that sounds like a really huge growth business. The only problem is that once Apple starts this health hardware strategy, so will every other smart device manufacturer and they’ll be happy to undercut Apple’s prices at every opportunity. One would think Apple could have a huge advantage, but Apple always seems to let those advantages slip away to more aggressive companies.
I’m sure Apple’s health care strategy will involve AppleWatch and iPhones and with declining iPhone sales, there will be plenty of doubt from Wall Street about how well Apple can do.
I know Amazon is already planning health care strategies: https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/healthcare-information-technology/amazon-moves-into-healthcare-a-2018-timeline.html
Knowing how Amazon works, they’re going push hard into health care just the way they push into every other market. Only time will tell how hard Apple can push but I’m sure it’s not going to be as aggressive as Amazon.
The Health app’s feature called Health Records began containing information from hospitals like Johns Hopkins, Cedars-Sinai, Stanford Medicine, and others. backrooms game
From a technological perspective, the health care industry offers a wealth of potential targets. However, it is necessary to comply with federal and state legislation, negotiate standards, and establish naming and numbering systems. backrooms