This morning Aetna and Apple announced a new wellness program that will leverage health data, a custom app and the Apple Watch. Called Attain by Aetna, the voluntary program will deliver personalized health goals, recommendations and rewards based on members’ daily activity.
Monthly Archives: January 2019
Do You Really Want Your Insurer Buying You An Apple Watch?
According to a CNBC report, Apple is currently in talks with private Medicare plan providers to come up with ways to subsidize their watches and get them onto the wrists of senior citizens. Apple already has partnerships with Aetna and United Healthcare to provide such subsidies.
Philips launches app-based hub for its senior caretaking products
This week at CES 2019, Royal Philips unveiled a new app platform that links the company’s senior care products into a single digital ecosystem for family caretakers. Called Philips Cares, the app includes a range of features to track and manage a senior’s care, such as reminders, scheduling tools and access to emergency services.
Statement from FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., on the agency’s new actions under the Pre-Cert Pilot Program to promote a more efficient framework for the review of safe and effective digital health innovations
Digital technologies create new opportunities to transform health care and empower patients to make better informed decisions about their health. Digital tools are rapidly evolving, and to keep pace with this promising innovation, the FDA must modernize its approach to regulation.
Change Healthcare acquires blockchain API startup PokitDok’s IP, staff
Change Healthcare — a provider of health IT software that ranges from network data analytics to revenue improvement — announced this morning the acquisition of several key assets from blockchain-focused API startup PokitDok, including its software, IP and employees. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
How and why startups are using blockchain to tackle healthcare hurdles
It’s hard to have a conversation about technology innovations in 2018 without stumbling into the realm of blockchain. Since it first appeared on most people’s radars — thanks to the ever-turbulent bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies — financial organizations, major retailers and even governments have investigated whether or not the trendy technology has something to offer.
Google exec says health orgs should key in on data management and advanced insights
Google Cloud will be focusing on, among other things, data management and advanced data insights at HIMSS19 — two areas it sees as important trends for CIOs and other IT executives to stay focused on in the year ahead.
As the amount and types of healthcare data grow, it is becoming increasingly complex to manage, and ironically more complex to use for insight generation, said Dr. Gregory Moore, vice president of healthcare at Google Cloud.
Blockchain pilots launched in 2018 tackled EHR management, collective data custodianship, credentialing and more
For healthcare, blockchain is continually transitioning from an obscure technology to a viable tool for various administrative and data-focused use cases. But while players big and small might be curious about its potential, they’ll also need to put their money where their mouth is when it comes to pilots and partnerships dedicated to the distributed ledger technology.
Healthcare startups: Is blockchain right for you?
According to IDC, 20 percent of healthcare organizations will be using blockchain by 2020. So should startups in the healthcare space be using it now? Well, not necessarily. While many digital health startups are putting blockchain to good use, for others it might be premature, or even extraneous.