Monday, September 21, 2020
I’m asked often about the emerging competitors in the healthcare space, specifically non-traditional competitors such as big tech firms. In the past couple of months, a handful of the big tech firms have sent clear signals about their strategy for targeting consumers with health offerings.
The trend started with Google’s acquisition of Fitbit announced last year (though still facing challenges with anti-trust scrutiny). A couple of weeks back, Amazon launched its Halo “health and wellness band” that targets the fitness space, with a special feature using its Alexa-enabled voice analyzer for detecting mental health issues.
Over the past few years, Apple has steadily built an ecosystem around its iOS devices, signing up over a hundred healthcare providers to allow their patients to pull their EHR data directly into the Apple health app. All the while, devoted Apple customers (including yours truly) have been diligently recording their exercise activities on the iOS health app. Apple has steadily added to its health offerings, notably through its watch (an example of which was the ECG app). Last week, the circle came together more tightly as Apple launched a fitness service and a blood oxygen feature, both of which have high relevance in the COVID-induced lockdown. Apple may well succeed where previous B2C focused startups have failed. They certainly have the resources for it and can dig in for the long haul.
In a post-COVID-19 era, the one trend gaining ground – besides telehealth – is remote patient monitoring. Stat News has put together a comprehensive overview of the RPM space which is worth a read.
P.S. We’re still on the Amazon bestseller list! Signed copies of my new book Healthcare Digital Transformation are available at the link below. If you are interested in having me do a talk for your internal teams or your user groups on the book themes and current trends in digital health and digital transformation, drop me a line.
Stay safe. Wear a mask.
Podcast of the week
In this episode, Marc Probst, who served as CIO of Intermountain Healthcare for 17 years, speaks about digital health technologies, telehealth, virtual visits, and how these will determine the future of healthcare.
This Week in Digital Health Markets
We are selectively featuring guest posts in our newsletter from senior leaders in healthcare and technology. Reach out to us if you would like to contribute a blog to one of our upcoming newsletters.
Apple Watch Series 6 delivers breakthrough wellness and fitness capabilities
The new Apple watch will have Blood Oxygen feature for more insights to the overall health. Apple Newsroom
Remote monitoring is rapidly growing — and a new class of patient-consumer is driving the shift
Remote monitoring is set to grow. This article provides a current state breakdown of the various remote care models and the players driving growth. Stat News
Health Data After Covid-19: More Laws, Less Privacy
The concerns with data privacy in the booming world of digital health and smart devices have been piling up for a while. COVID-19 is merely gasoline on the fire. The Wall Street Journal
Here’s what primary care clinicians say they need to effectively implement telehealth
Researchers surveyed hundreds of primary care providers in the New York City area about the hurdles they’re still facing to integrating telemedicine into their practices. Healthcare IT News
Why digital therapeutics are flourishing under COVID-19
Efficient distribution, dissipating stigma and an emphasis on decentralized trials are all working in favor of digital treatments, according to a panel of digital therapeutics executives and industry stakeholders. MobiHealth News
Chart of the Week
Damo Consulting Thought Leadership and Research
A mid-year review of the financial and market performance of global technology consulting firms in healthcare.
The WITCH Monthly Monitor (August) - Our monthly update on major global IT consulting and services firms in healthcare provides the latest financial and market performance updates on WITCH companies along with other global IT consulting firms. *WITCH Monthly Monitor is now available as a free 1-year subscription with every purchase of The WITCH Report.
Our CEO Paddy Padmanabhan and Ed Marx discussed themes from their new book 'Healthcare Digital Transformation' and also the recent research on digital health in the COVID-19 era on CHIME College Live webinar – ‘Digital Transformation in the Next Normal: How Consumerism, Technology and the Pandemic are Accelerating the Future.’
Our CEO Paddy Padmanabhan and Ed Marx will discuss their new book 'Healthcare Digital Transformation' in the Part 6 of The HCI Group webinar series - Digital Unplugged: How to Enable Enterprise Digital Transformation Part 6: The Book
This research paper, based on focus group discussions with CHIME members, discusses the challenges with digital transformation for mid-tier health systems and what CIOs must do to accelerate digital transformation in their organizations.
Based on recent surveys and engagements with leading health systems by Damo Consulting, this paper provides best practices for a successful telehealth and digital front door programs in a post-COVID-19 era.
This ebook is a snapshot of the more detailed whitepaper ‘Interoperability and Patient Access: what it is, who gets impacted, and how to plan for the future.’
