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I agree with management on this one. the health team seems to be going out of scope for Apple. Apple is a tech company first and they are doing the health tech on the Apple Watch very well. to be expanding to insurance and billing muddles the water too much and the focus becomes less clear

...but If you’ve been hearing about an Apple credit card for months another team is working on I could understand the health team wanting to get into serious business in the health field also.
 
1. Measure EKG with Apple Watch
2. Eat Burger
3. Measure again. If EKG is out of whack, body is working correctly.
4. Repeat
 
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Apple CEO Tim Cook has said these health efforts will be the company's "greatest contribution to mankind."

I know a far better contribution to mankind, using the iPhone for calling the emergency number, the Apple watch can only detect certain heart defects, a human can detect a lot more.

Not saying the health features on an Apple Watch don't help, they certainly do.
 
If Apple could nail down the ability to read glucose levels using only the Apple Watch, it would be revolutionary for everyone.
 
I think Apple could do as much good in the healthcare industry with new billing and insurance tools as they did with the ECG and other tools in the watch. As everyone has acknowledged above, the industry is a cluster and could really use a massive paradigm shift. If a company like Apple wants to bankroll the R&D to improve all our lives in this realm, more power to them.

But... I also understand if the company is highly resistant to getting into that space. They make enabling products and services, and are not wanting to go toe-to-toe with major health companies. I can imagine they'd face the same legal issues that Tesla faced from auto dealers when they started selling directly to customers, or that Uber faced from taxi drivers. Despite a broken system, people are raking in billions and they won't just roll over, even if the competition is among the most valuable companies in the world.
 
But financially speaking, the Doctors and the Principals profiteering at alarming rates see the consumer and cattle w/o end. They don't want improved health for the masses. They want people in constant treatment.

Congress needs to dictate price caps and level the playing field. That takes a collective will to fix what they allow to be broken.

The doctors are not profiting. The insurance companies, the lawyers, and the accountants running everything are making out like bandits, paying themselves salaries in the tens of millions per year. Those people profiting are the same sort that have been trashing American industry for the past 30 years. They view doctors and nurses as an expense, and would offshore them to India or China if they could.

No the doctors are not profiting, the doctors are quitting out of sheer frustration and disgust.
 
...but If you’ve been hearing about an Apple credit card for months another team is working on I could understand the health team wanting to get into serious business in the health field also.

Tim's already busy working on their partnerships with Monsanto for Apple Seeds and Nestle for Apple Juice+
 
The doctors are not profiting. The insurance companies, the lawyers, and the accountants running everything are making out like bandits, paying themselves salaries in the tens of millions per year. Those people profiting are the same sort that have been trashing American industry for the past 30 years. They view doctors and nurses as an expense, and would offshore them to India or China if they could.

No the doctors are not profiting, the doctors are quitting out of sheer frustration and disgust.

You clearly don't know many medical practitioners.
 
I cannot imagine Apple ever getting into telemedicine lol, and “simplified insurance billing” sounds incredibly boring.

i mean, they are getting into credit cards now. I could see a lot of innovation in some other legacy spaces. Providing an attractive front end in the Health app for insurance could be great. Although I need to caveat that I know nothing about how this indistry works
 
The problem with the healthcare industry is that everyone talks about better healthcare, but the principals involved don't want to change their behavior. That includes everyone: Providers (Doctors), Payers (insurance companies), and Patients (you and me).

In any case Apple isn't in a position to advocate for change in the healthcare space, so kudos to management. As a platform company they should be an enabler, and they're doing that quite well.
Boy, is this true. Too many people are filthy rich over the terrible way the system works now. They don't want to give up those Benjamins. As for us consumers, we're just fat. A good deal of our health problems can be solved by not eating processed food and not eating so much. The idea people need three meals a day plus snacks in between and dessert at night is just bonkers
 
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Maybe apple should outsource it to another American company or abandon the team al together.

Why? If the story is true it’s just a bump in the road and not uncommon for any company Apple’s size.

Apple has a good thing going with Watch, with loads of potential going forward. Especially in health.
 
I don't think we can know if there is more unhappiness or greater turnover than compared to other divisions for such a large company.

While I think it is easy to express dissatisfaction with the healthcare system, as was stated previously, the system and its interest holders have little desire or incentive to change. Amazing technology certainly can be disruptive even in healthcare. But, you are dealing with people lives and the fallout/outrage from any harm caused by a new medicine, device, or even service would be beyond great and highly litigious.

(For example, I can only imagine if the AW could monitor blood glucose levels. I hope that functionality becomes a reality.)

For this particular industry, with all its parts and regulations, I think the only choice is to proceed slowly.
 
Makes me less hopeful that optical glucose is coming soon. I can't imagine anyone would want to leave just before something that groundbreaking was launched.
 
I like my Watch and I like the Health features just as they are. I do NOT want it linked to health insurance. I like the convenience of Apple Pay being linked to my bank account. I do NOT want an Apple bloody Card that gets me into bed with Goldman bloody Sachs. There's a slippery slope looming.
 
This is life in corporate America.

This is the biggest non story ever.

That said, I’d agree that moving heavy into billing, insurance, or other nitty gritty healthcare related endeavors is questionable.

The healthcare industry is a cluster. Apple needs to focus on the information, tracking, and features aspects to healthcare. Not billing patients and providing insurance benefits. That’s a cluster.

You're 100% spot on.

In any given team at any given BigCompany Inc. some people will be dissatisfied.

In this case, they expected Apple to get into what are essentially insurance services in an extremely regulated industry ? What's next, they expect Apple to launch a Verizon competitor?

I've wanted for years to have half the people on my team fired, but I won't always have it my way and that doesn't mean I should leave or plant a story on IndustryBlog.com complaining about my workplace.
 
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Up until now what they've been doing with health has been very good. I think they should remain focused and not get distracted or into a quagmire like medical billing.
 
The doctors are not profiting. The insurance companies, the lawyers, and the accountants running everything are making out like bandits, paying themselves salaries in the tens of millions per year. Those people profiting are the same sort that have been trashing American industry for the past 30 years. They view doctors and nurses as an expense, and would offshore them to India or China if they could.

No the doctors are not profiting, the doctors are quitting out of sheer frustration and disgust.

Poor doctors. Should be able to buy a new Ferrari and a new Malibu mansion every month, instead of every year.

Give me a break.
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Up until now what they've been doing with health has been very good. I think they should remain focused and not get distracted or into a quagmire like medical billing.

There are many features they can add to Apple Watch that can replace consumer-grade medical devices. Like blood pressure, blood sugar. They should do that first, I think.
 
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