Apple scaling back employees-only virtual care app, says Insider
The news comes alongside reports that Google is dismantling its health division.
Apple is reportedly reducing a key health division project that employees could use to track fitness goals, manage blood pressure and communicate with primary care clinicians.
As reported by Insider’s Blake Dodge, the app, called Health Habit, is the biggest project to come from Apple’s health clinics following their 2018 acquisition from Crossover Health.
Apple did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
WHY IT MATTERS
Health Habit served as one of Apple’s pilot projects in partnership with AC Wellness, the doctors’ group that provides primary care to employees and families.
According to Dodge, Apple employees characterized Health Habit as a potential customer-facing product in the future – if it had first achieved success internally.
The strategy was similar to that of Amazon Care, which spun up a primary care app for employees before expanding nationwide this year.
Health Habit was also intended to connect employees remotely with AC Wellness clinics if they couldn’t get there in person.
However, the initiative has been shadowed by questions around efficacy and engagement: The Wall Street Journal reported in May that half the people who had downloaded the HealthHabit app had not enrolled in the program.
Dodge notes that some of the more than 50 employees spending “a significant amount of time” working on the app will be laid off with severance if they don’t find other Apple jobs in the next few weeks.
The app could either move forward on a trimmed-down basis or be shut down altogether. Some of the app’s functions will move to AC Wellness, said one employee, since the medical group is already providing employee care.
THE LARGER TREND
The HealthHabit news comes alongside new reporting that Google will be dismantling its health division.
The vertical will no longer function as a unified organization, according to an internal memo obtained by Insider.
Dr. David Feinberg, who has led Google’s healthcare projects since 2018, announced this past Thursday that he would be stepping into a new role as Cerner’s president and CEO.
“Throughout my career, I’ve been guided by the goal of improving patient health and reducing the complexity of the healthcare system,” said Feinberg in a statement.
ON THE RECORD
“Apple has been piloting coaching programs for workers with hypertension in tandem with AC Wellness for the past few years, and employees viewed HealthHabit as a logical next step to bring that work to life,” reported Dodge.
