Health insurer Anthem recruits from Apple to bolster digital plans

AppleInsider

In the past several months, U.S. health insurer Anthem has reportedly hired a half dozen Apple veterans to improve its digital offerings, including high-level employees with valuable industry experience.

Among the new recruits are former Apple VP Ted Goldstein, now in charge of Anthem's AI and health data projects, CNBC said in a report on Tuesday. Others include senior machine learning researcher Stefanos Giampanis, Apple Health's Warris Bokhari and Toni Trujillo Vian, who was with Apple for 24 years. Berick Bacani, once an Apple operations specialist, has been brought on as a user experience (UX) designer.

According to the report, Anthem's efforts to recruit Apple talent stems in part from Aneesh Kumar, Anthem's company vice president of commercial products who spent six years as an Apple product manager in 1990.

The exact impetus behind the hiring spree is uncertain, but some Anthem projects include partnering with doc.ai to detect allergy patterns, and Act Wise, a site for health plans to manage workers' benefits.

Typically, health-related hiring has been reported going in the opposite direction as Apple looks to improve its development and testing for platforms like HealthKit, CareKit, ResearchKit and the Apple Watch. The tech giant's upcoming iOS 13 and watchOS 6, for example, will add menstrual cycle tracking when they launch this fall.

In May, Apple was revealed to have bought Tueo Health, a startup specializing in asthma monitoring for sleeping children. Tueo's CEO and COO now work for Apple.

mobird

"Aneesh Kumar, Anthem's company vice president of commercial products who spent six years as an Apple product manager in 1990."
I guess it must have felt like it was 6 years...

edited July 2019

macseeker

Strange, I thought Anthem was dying since they left California.  They're no longer offering any insurance here.

rob53

macseeker said:

Strange, I thought Anthem was dying since they left California.  They're no longer offering any insurance here.

Anthem is still offering insurance but it might be limited to corporate, group accounts where they can rake in the big bucks.

Of course, once Medicare For All is implemented, Anthem and all the other health insurance loan shark companies won't have any customers. If anyone thinks this is a bad idea, please check how much these insurance companies charge for their insurance. I was paying >$2K/mo for Anthem EPO coverage for myself and my wife. I now pay a third of that for Medicare with a gap plan (that would also go away). This doesn't have anything to do with this article except for the possible poor judgement on the part of Apple employees going over to a company that might dump them at any time.

cheesefreeze

rob53 said:

macseeker said:

Strange, I thought Anthem was dying since they left California.  They're no longer offering any insurance here.

Anthem is still offering insurance but it might be limited to corporate, group accounts where they can rake in the big bucks.

Of course, once Medicare For All is implemented, Anthem and all the other health insurance loan shark companies won't have any customers. If anyone thinks this is a bad idea, please check how much these insurance companies charge for their insurance. I was paying >$2K/mo for Anthem EPO coverage for myself and my wife. I now pay a third of that for Medicare with a gap plan (that would also go away). This doesn't have anything to do with this article except for the possible poor judgement on the part of Apple employees going over to a company that might dump them at any time.

Living both in the Netherlands and California, I can tell the US healthcare system is one big, corrupt, rigged game. Pay premium, get nothing. Health care in the Netherlands, as well as the entire infrastructure behind it, is so much better, the difference is huge! The US feels like it’s either the worst of a developed country, or the best of an undeveloped country. 

georgebmac

rob53 said:

macseeker said:

Strange, I thought Anthem was dying since they left California.  They're no longer offering any insurance here.

Anthem is still offering insurance but it might be limited to corporate, group accounts where they can rake in the big bucks.

Of course, once Medicare For All is implemented, Anthem and all the other health insurance loan shark companies won't have any customers. If anyone thinks this is a bad idea, please check how much these insurance companies charge for their insurance. I was paying >$2K/mo for Anthem EPO coverage for myself and my wife. I now pay a third of that for Medicare with a gap plan (that would also go away). This doesn't have anything to do with this article except for the possible poor judgement on the part of Apple employees going over to a company that might dump them at any time.

Your Medicare is cheaper because you (and others) have been paying into it your entire working life.   The basic driver of our out-of-control health care spending is the providers:  Big Pharma and the Large provider organizations.   We keep looking at different ways to juggle paying for those expenses (Obamacare, unregulated insurance, Medicare for all, etc...) -- but that's like a family juggling its bill paying after they have already spent the money. 

That's not to defend insurers or demean Medicare -- just to point out that we need to find ways to attack the source of the problem rather than the result of the problem.

georgebmac

CheeseFreeze said:

rob53 said:

macseeker said:

Strange, I thought Anthem was dying since they left California.  They're no longer offering any insurance here.

Anthem is still offering insurance but it might be limited to corporate, group accounts where they can rake in the big bucks.

Of course, once Medicare For All is implemented, Anthem and all the other health insurance loan shark companies won't have any customers. If anyone thinks this is a bad idea, please check how much these insurance companies charge for their insurance. I was paying >$2K/mo for Anthem EPO coverage for myself and my wife. I now pay a third of that for Medicare with a gap plan (that would also go away). This doesn't have anything to do with this article except for the possible poor judgement on the part of Apple employees going over to a company that might dump them at any time.

Living both in the Netherlands and California, I can tell the US healthcare system is one big, corrupt, rigged game. Pay premium, get nothing. Health care in the Netherlands, as well as the entire infrastructure behind it, is so much better, the difference is huge! The US feels like it’s either the worst of a developed country, or the best of an undeveloped country. 

America doesn't have a Healthcare system.  At best its somewhere between a DiseaseManagement System and a WealthCare system.

georgebmac

There's a reason why the healthcare system would be hiring tech people:

Just as internet companies like Google are getting rich accumulating, analyzing and selling your data, with the advent of EHR (Electronic Health Records) the same process is going on behind the scenes in healthcare -- where health records are accumulated, processed and sold --- despite HIPAA.

While it is true that nobody is allowed to walk into a providers office and gain access to your healthcare information, the same limitation does not apply to other health care providers and organizations.

 I saw first saw it as a nurse -- I had access to pretty much anybody's health record -- even though the family of that patient was blocked from any and all information.
And, last month I experienced it first hand when I went to a new doctor I had never seen before:   When I told her what medications I had taken she replied:  "Yeh, I know. I already checked your pharmacy records".   And the doctor I saw before that had my complete record from another provider from a different state up on his computer.   He knew more about me and my health records than I knew about my health records because he could see stuff that was hidden from me.

This is all going on quietly, behind the scenes.  And, it is driven not by a need or desire to serve the patients better, but to serve the providers better.

tallgrasstechie

GeorgeBMac said:

There's a reason why the healthcare system would be hiring tech people:

Just as internet companies like Google are getting rich accumulating, analyzing and selling your data, with the advent of EHR (Electronic Health Records) the same process is going on behind the scenes in healthcare -- where health records are accumulated, processed and sold --- despite HIPAA.

While it is true that nobody is allowed to walk into a providers office and gain access to your healthcare information, the same limitation does not apply to other health care providers and organizations.

 I saw first saw it as a nurse -- I had access to pretty much anybody's health record -- even though the family of that patient was blocked from any and all information.
And, last month I experienced it first hand when I went to a new doctor I had never seen before:   When I told her what medications I had taken she replied:  "Yeh, I know. I already checked your pharmacy records".   And the doctor I saw before that had my complete record from another provider from a different state up on his computer.   He knew more about me and my health records than I knew about my health records because he could see stuff that was hidden from me.

This is all going on quietly, behind the scenes.  And, it is driven not by a need or desire to serve the patients better, but to serve the providers better.

Goodness, stop with the alarmist tin-foil hattery. Health records are not processed and sold, they're contained in secure locations so healthcare professionals have access to the data they need when they need it. The whole concept is to be able to access pertinent information regardless of where you might receive care. Could you imagine being halfway across the country and be given a drug that is routine but you're allergic to because you didn't have a way to inform the staff of that?

No kidding you can access all the records as a nurse, you're a trusted healthcare professional who needs information to do your job! If you're making life-altering decisions without looking at a chart I have major problems with you treating anyone. 

All of what you're saying is from a highly ignorant viewpoint. You've clearly never worked on EHRs or understand what the reasoning behind them is. A large majority of EHR data collection is to process managed care authorizations so organizations can get reimbursed from medicare and medicaid programs when they provide you treatment. I know that because I worked on that part of an EHR for a relatively large organization for a good while.

Now, we can all argue whether or not government should be deciding what they consider "eligible" treatment to reimburse on (thanks, Obama?). Hell, we can all argue about the effectiveness of EHR systems and their terrible integration with each other; hint, most of them don't talk to the same database structure and it makes it extremely hard to convert data over or tie your file together in the current landscape. But please, please, please don't just talk out of your backside on a topic you clearly don't have a firm grasp on and want to paint it as some grand conspiracy because anyone now knows you take a statin for cholesterol control with a history of anxiety - in the grand scheme no one gives a damn because Pharma was selling drugs effectively long before the EHR.

georgebmac

tallgrasstechie said:

GeorgeBMac said:

There's a reason why the healthcare system would be hiring tech people:

Just as internet companies like Google are getting rich accumulating, analyzing and selling your data, with the advent of EHR (Electronic Health Records) the same process is going on behind the scenes in healthcare -- where health records are accumulated, processed and sold --- despite HIPAA.

While it is true that nobody is allowed to walk into a providers office and gain access to your healthcare information, the same limitation does not apply to other health care providers and organizations.

 I saw first saw it as a nurse -- I had access to pretty much anybody's health record -- even though the family of that patient was blocked from any and all information.
And, last month I experienced it first hand when I went to a new doctor I had never seen before:   When I told her what medications I had taken she replied:  "Yeh, I know. I already checked your pharmacy records".   And the doctor I saw before that had my complete record from another provider from a different state up on his computer.   He knew more about me and my health records than I knew about my health records because he could see stuff that was hidden from me.

This is all going on quietly, behind the scenes.  And, it is driven not by a need or desire to serve the patients better, but to serve the providers better.

Goodness, stop with the alarmist tin-foil hattery. Health records are not processed and sold, they're contained in secure locations so healthcare professionals have access to the data they need when they need it. The whole concept is to be able to access pertinent information regardless of where you might receive care. Could you imagine being halfway across the country and be given a drug that is routine but you're allergic to because you didn't have a way to inform the staff of that?

No kidding you can access all the records as a nurse, you're a trusted healthcare professional who needs information to do your job! If you're making life-altering decisions without looking at a chart I have major problems with you treating anyone. 

All of what you're saying is from a highly ignorant viewpoint. You've clearly never worked on EHRs or understand what the reasoning behind them is. A large majority of EHR data collection is to process managed care authorizations so organizations can get reimbursed from medicare and medicaid programs when they provide you treatment. I know that because I worked on that part of an EHR for a relatively large organization for a good while.

Now, we can all argue whether or not government should be deciding what they consider "eligible" treatment to reimburse on (thanks, Obama?). Hell, we can all argue about the effectiveness of EHR systems and their terrible integration with each other; hint, most of them don't talk to the same database structure and it makes it extremely hard to convert data over or tie your file together in the current landscape. But please, please, please don't just talk out of your backside on a topic you clearly don't have a firm grasp on and want to paint it as some grand conspiracy because anyone now knows you take a statin for cholesterol control with a history of anxiety - in the grand scheme no one gives a damn because Pharma was selling drugs effectively long before the EHR.

LOL....  You shoot down your own argument!
First you say health records are not processed and sold but are stored in secure locations -- then you say they are freely available to any healthcare provider interested!

Then you try to strengthen that nonsense argument by attacking me.... LOL...

No, you're just spouting angry nonsense trying to proclaim that personal healthcare information is private while admitting that it isn't -- then trying to deflect and distract by bringing government and "managed care" buzzwords into it.

No, sorry, but as you admitted:  With EHR your health records are about as private as your browsing history.   Possibly less so.

The bottom line is:   Whatever you tell a doctor, any doctor, or whatever he decides then becomes essentially public knowledge throughout the healthcare industry.  Any pretense at privacy is a sham.

edited July 2019

spamsandwich

rob53 said:

macseeker said:

Strange, I thought Anthem was dying since they left California.  They're no longer offering any insurance here.

Anthem is still offering insurance but it might be limited to corporate, group accounts where they can rake in the big bucks.

Of course, once Medicare For All is implemented, Anthem and all the other health insurance loan shark companies won't have any customers. If anyone thinks this is a bad idea, please check how much these insurance companies charge for their insurance. I was paying >$2K/mo for Anthem EPO coverage for myself and my wife. I now pay a third of that for Medicare with a gap plan (that would also go away). This doesn't have anything to do with this article except for the possible poor judgement on the part of Apple employees going over to a company that might dump them at any time.

“Medicare For All” is never going to happen. Ever.

georgebmac

SpamSandwich said:

rob53 said:

macseeker said:

Strange, I thought Anthem was dying since they left California.  They're no longer offering any insurance here.

Anthem is still offering insurance but it might be limited to corporate, group accounts where they can rake in the big bucks.

Of course, once Medicare For All is implemented, Anthem and all the other health insurance loan shark companies won't have any customers. If anyone thinks this is a bad idea, please check how much these insurance companies charge for their insurance. I was paying >$2K/mo for Anthem EPO coverage for myself and my wife. I now pay a third of that for Medicare with a gap plan (that would also go away). This doesn't have anything to do with this article except for the possible poor judgement on the part of Apple employees going over to a company that might dump them at any time.

“Medicare For All” is never going to happen. Ever.

And, if God had meant men to fly he would have given them wings....
Medicare is really just a big insurance company.   The real benefit of Medicare for all is that, while it would have no incentive to gouge its insured, it could weld the power needed to control the currently out of control spending of providers.