On Apple and Digital Health Platforms
Last week, comments from “Apple Struggles in Push to Make Healthcare Its Greatest Legacy” (Wall Street Journal) included:
“Apple has envisioned an audacious plan for healthcare, offering its own primary-care medical service with Apple-employed doctors at its own clinics, according to people familiar with the plan and documents. To test that and other bold healthcare ideas, it took over clinics that catered to its employees and built a team with scores of clinicians, engineers, product designers and others.
“Today those ambitions, which aren’t widely known, have largely stalled as Apple has shifted the focus of its health unit to something it knows well: Selling devices, specifically the Apple Watch.”
Separately, comments from “The hopes and hazards of using personal health technologies in the diagnosis and prognosis of infections” (The Lancet, May 18, 2021) included:
“Wearable sensor technologies are available in a wide range of form factors beyond the most commonly used wrist-worn sensors. There are options for rings, armbands, earbuds, adhesive patches, and clothing that all are capable of tracking multiple physiological parameters. Each offers certain advantages and disadvantages …
“For many, a non-wearable, passive multiparametric sensor can provide the best option for longitudinal data. For example, under-mattress pads that can monitor heart rate, respiratory rate, and various sleep parameters … [and] computer-vision, infrared thermography, radar, and audio can track individual vital signs …
“As remarkable as progress has been over the last several years in the availability of consumer technologies that monitor and report physiological variables, it is important to recognize that the accuracy of the information provided is variable and should not be considered clinically dependable unless appropriate validation evidence exists ..."
Finally, Dr. Daniel Kraft, a professor at Singularity University, said in a recent interview:
“[digital healthcare platform should] learn from the clinician experience around the world, and synthesize the data into its actionable components … No one wants to see the raw EKG data, blood pressure, or other elements. What does it mean in context and even normalized to that individual "
“As we get more data, sometimes there are magical insights … that can predict heart attack and stroke. But how do we address the challenge of medical education and using that in smart ways when it’s often a bit murky about where it comes from?”
OUR TAKE
While Apple may have had challenges in the healthcare market, it will continue to leverage the Apple Health platform and have a more expansive presence in this market.
Successful digital health efforts will collect and analyze baseline metrics on users to determine in-line and unusual trends that provide useful context for personal health and fitness management.
The digital health efforts will leverage advances in big data, artificial intelligence sensors, genomics, and more – while 1) understanding the nuances of personalized health care and 2) addressing the challenges of user privacy.