How Apple Is Changing Healthcare through Partnerships

Too Long; Didn't Read

Apple took a major step forward to influence the future of healthcare with the <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/12/ecg-app-and-irregular-heart-rhythm-notification-available-today-on-apple-watch/" target="_blank">release</a> of an ECG app and irregular heart rhythm notification. With the Apple Watch Series 4, users can take an ECG similar to a single-lead reading. And owners of Apple Watch Series 1 or later (with watch OS 5.1.2) can get notified if an irregular heart rhythm such as <a href="https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/atrial-fibrillation" target="_blank">atrial fibrillation</a> (AFib) is identified (<a href="https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/atrial-fibrillation/why-atrial-fibrillation-af-or-afib-matters/high-blood-pressure-afib-and-your-risk-of-stroke" target="_blank">per the American Heart Association</a>, AFib is present in about one in five strokes.) The new functionality has already been credited with <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Health/apple-watch-told-46-year-man-irregular-heartbeat/story?id=59726093" target="_blank">saving one man’s life</a>. The release of the app also comes with a challenge: earning credibility with physicians, who have voiced concerns about people misreading the app’s data. But Apple is up for the challenge — and will succeed. That’s because for years, Apple has built partnerships across the healthcare ecosystem. Those partnerships have provided a proving ground for Apple’s healthcare apps and generated a reservoir of goodwill for one of the world’s most valuable brands.