Can Apple Watches have positive affect on Senior Healthcare?
CNBC reports that Apple has been in talks with some of the major private Medicare insurers to see if the Apple Watch can be subsidized for Medicare patients over the age of 65. Apple seems to have doubled down on it's initiative to be the leader in health IT and innovation by hiring over 40 Doctors to their ranks and starting research initiatives like a Heart Study at Stanford University and a new partnership with Zimmer Biomet to better understand the benefits of an Apple Watch wearer patient recovering from Knee and Hip replacement procedures.
The future of Health is in IT and progress is growing at a rapid pace. But does all this innovation really live up to the hype it is getting?
Apple claims their latest Apple Watch comes equipped with new health features such as Fall Detection and an electrocardiogram to measure the Heart's rhythm. The electrocardiogram would help determine if the patient was suffering from possible Atrial Fibrillation which unfortunately is more of a concern with folks over the age of 65. Apple does not claim to diagnose any medical condition without the patient seeing a Doctor first, but if the information collected by the electrocardiogram is accurate, it could help your physician in catching something much earlier than before.
Apple has not made any deals at the moment, maybe the $399.00+ price tag has some insurance providers thinking why pay such a hefty price tag when there are other options like Fitbit out there? If this new piece of wearable health technology could avoid just one trip to the emergency room, that alone would pay for the cost of the device. Couple that with the research and innovation going on behind the scenes and you might be surprised at the outcome. For now we will keep our eye on this to see where it goes.
You can read the full CNBC article by going to the following link https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/15/apple-talking-to-private-medicare-plans-about-subsidizing-apple-watch.html