Health care is such a massive inefficient and disagreable mess in the US that anyone that can improve the experience in any metrics, will reap a lot of profit while making a big difference in people's life..
The barrier of entry to anyone else will be massive too, the best place for Apple to go really.
The #1 danger for Apple is to rely on the healthcare industry: Physicians are trained and directed by their employers to focus on disease treatment and have little or no knowledge or interest in actual healthcare! (Ours is a "disease treatment" industry that simply doesn't understand how to promote health - it thinks health is the absence of disease symptoms.)
Take the "My Heart Count" app mentioned in this article: It measures just a few minor parameters associated with health -- but ignores a vast number of other important factors. Plus, it is unable to record actual results: "Did the plan work?". Instead, it simply collects a bunch of performance data but returns nothing. It is a black hole and contributes little or nothing to health.
Apple has the resources to do better. A LOT better. And yes, while it needs to include the healthcare industry professionals, it should not allow them to control the discussion, the flow and the direction if it wants to succeed. They tout themselves as THE experts. But, look where they have led us: an epidemic of chronic diseases and obesity that is sucking the country dry trying to pay for their "treatment".
In short: Apple can excel at "Lifestyle Medicine" and supplementing it with traditional medical measures such as lab tests... But, if it permits the traditional medical model (which has no understanding or appreciation of LifeStyle Medicine) to drive the boat it will fail the same way our traditional medical model has failed...
Respectfully, your understanding of what leaders in medical practice and especially medical education believe and teach is years, if not decades, out of date. Everyone sees the importance of "wellness" over "disease treatment." Go to any medical conference and check the agenda. This is mainstream healthcare industry thinking now.
Sorry, but as an RN I am active in the health care field and its conferences. And yes, while individual practitioners are increasingly interested in lifestyle medicine (mostly for themselves), the large provider and insurer networks that pay them are not. So, we remain in the same old position: We have a Diseasecare industry not a Healthcare industry.
The good news is that increasingly they will provide lip service to healthy lifestyle practices. But, if you go to a cardiologist you are far more likely to end up with CABG than a treadmill and an apple (the kind you eat). And, it makes sense: the bypass cost $100,000. The treadmill costs $1,000. Follow the money.
Health care is such a massive inefficient and disagreable mess in the US that anyone that can improve the experience in any metrics, will reap a lot of profit while making a big difference in people's life..
You're right, of course. But with 330 million people I don't think any system would be great.
If healthcare was deregulated and there was no further intrusion of government into this market and Walmart, Apple, Google and Amazon decided to enter healthcare in a big way, you can bet your life that costs would decrease, quality would improve and options would abound.
The US has one of the least regulated healthcare industries in the world already. As it is, the US spends about 4x per patient , compared to most other western countries , but has a lower life expectancy, higher death rate in hospital, higher infant mortality rate etc etc
No other first world country seeks to emulate the US healthcare system.
eg my wife went through a high risk pregnancy - was treated by one of the absolute top OBGYN in the world , was in hospital for a c-section, and needed a week to recover due to some of the complications of the pregnancy . Out of pocket cost to us = $0. In addition, the ante-natal care & months of follow ups were with great staff and were all free. Even a routine 2-3 day birth & recovery in a US hospital can push $5k after insurance.
The US healthcare system over services, under delivers and is basically a money machine for big pharma and for-profit healthcare providers.
You never mentioned where you live, but wherever you live you don't get a free pass for claiming your recent lengthy hospital stay and services were "free". Someone paid for them, and was likely you and the rest of your countrymen in the form of very high taxes.
Also, the US healthcare and insurance and pharmaceutical industries are HIGHLY regulated. In fact, much of the innovative research and development in medicine and treatment happens in the US, because that's where the money is, then the rest of the world benefits from that very costly cutting edge research and testing in the form of reduced price knockoffs and second-tier marketed products. The rest of the world benefits on the back of the work funded in the US.
Health care is such a massive inefficient and disagreable mess in the US that anyone that can improve the experience in any metrics, will reap a lot of profit while making a big difference in people's life..
You're right, of course. But with 330 million people I don't think any system would be great.
If healthcare was deregulated and there was no further intrusion of government into this market and Walmart, Apple, Google and Amazon decided to enter healthcare in a big way, you can bet your life that costs would decrease, quality would improve and options would abound.
The US has one of the least regulated healthcare industries in the world already. As it is, the US spends about 4x per patient , compared to most other western countries , but has a lower life expectancy, higher death rate in hospital, higher infant mortality rate etc etc
No other first world country seeks to emulate the US healthcare system.
eg my wife went through a high risk pregnancy - was treated by one of the absolute top OBGYN in the world , was in hospital for a c-section, and needed a week to recover due to some of the complications of the pregnancy . Out of pocket cost to us = $0. In addition, the ante-natal care & months of follow ups were with great staff and were all free. Even a routine 2-3 day birth & recovery in a US hospital can push $5k after insurance.
The US healthcare system over services, under delivers and is basically a money machine for big pharma and for-profit healthcare providers.
You never mentioned where you live, but wherever you live you don't get a free pass for claiming your recent lengthy hospital stay and services were "free". Someone paid for them, and was likely you and the rest of your countrymen in the form of very high taxes.
Comments
And yes, while individual practitioners are increasingly interested in lifestyle medicine (mostly for themselves), the large provider and insurer networks that pay them are not. So, we remain in the same old position: We have a Diseasecare industry not a Healthcare industry.
The good news is that increasingly they will provide lip service to healthy lifestyle practices. But, if you go to a cardiologist you are far more likely to end up with CABG than a treadmill and an apple (the kind you eat). And, it makes sense: the bypass cost $100,000. The treadmill costs $1,000. Follow the money.
Also, the US healthcare and insurance and pharmaceutical industries are HIGHLY regulated. In fact, much of the innovative research and development in medicine and treatment happens in the US, because that's where the money is, then the rest of the world benefits from that very costly cutting edge research and testing in the form of reduced price knockoffs and second-tier marketed products. The rest of the world benefits on the back of the work funded in the US.