Mikey Campbell
In a meeting earlier this month, Apple, Aetna and a number of industry influencers discussed the viability of offering Apple Watch to millions of health insurance subscribers at a discount, but according to one attendee, sticking points remain.
On Monday, it was reported that Apple and Aetna held a two-day conference to talk about potential partnerships with major hospital chains looking to improve health awareness through wearable technology platforms like Apple Watch. Aetna is evaluating whether to offer the device to its 23 million customers.
Additional details of the meeting surfaced on Thursday. According to Mandi Bishop, the head of digital health startup Lifely Insights who attended the gathering, data privacy was a major concern for all involved parties, CNBC reports.
"Both companies wanted to make sure that we knew what data is shared and what isn't," Bishop said of Apple and Aetna.
Aetna is currently running an internal pilot program to better understand what benefits, if any, Apple Watch offers in promoting exercise and better eating habits. Employees testing the device asked whether gathered data could be shared with third-party vendors or offloaded into other apps.
As can be expected, Apple "repeatedly stressed" that Apple Watch data, such as steps taken and heart rate information, is only shared with user consent. Currently, certain Apple Watch data can be accessed by apps integrating HealthKit and ResearchKit APIs, which adhere to the same user privacy rules.
Unit cost was another topic of discussion. Notably, Aetna employees enrolled in the pilot program want to purchase Apple Watch units for family members but are unable to bear to afford additional devices. Cost remains an unresolved issue and it is not clear whether Aetna intends to extend employee, and potentially subscriber, discounts to family, the report said.
Finally, some testers brought up complained that Apple Watch lacks situational awareness. As noted in the report, users might receive notifications to meditate when in a meeting or a stand reminders when on a long plane flight. These complaints speak to an ongoing push for a completely seamless user experience in which Watch gathers information about its environment and reacts accordingly. Though Apple owns a number of patents that could help in this regard, the cutting-edge technology requires infrastructure that is likely not ready for consumer adoption.
Apple and Aetna are aiming to roll out an Apple Watch program for subscribers in 2018, according to prior reports. The insurance company began to offer Watch discounts to select users last year as part of a program that also furnished 50,000 Aetna employees with free units.
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Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
Wesley Hilliard
Marko Zivkovic
Christine McKee
20 Comments
I wish we'd see more companies attach themselves to devices that help with fitness tracking. It can be argued that Tim Cook's comments that the Apple Watch helped him lose 30 pounds was just for marketing, but my anecdotal experience is that these devices and their various features—including the sharing option so friend can motivate you and vice versa—has helped me become more fitness oriented. You still need to establish habits and grit, but the daily and historical data, and the Watch informing you when you're nearing and making a milestone are useful tools for promoting healthier fitness habits. I look forward to what the future holds for this nascent device.
When iPhone is in Airplane mode, disable Stand notifications. There, fixed that for you, Apple. (Patent pending.)
This is just crazy. Aetna wants to know if Apple is going to protect user's privacy. Seriously, most of the world's smartphones run Android and almost no one cares about Google sucking all their personal data for use. You mean to tell me that Aetna is never going to deal with devices running Android OS? I find that hard to believe. Over a billion people using Android OS are happy to hand over their data for Google's free services. Microsoft even said that users are willing to give them all the personal data they want. Does anyone ever hear Apple getting praised for protecting user's privacy? Nope. Analysts usually claim that's Apple's greatest disadvantage. So, if Aetna doesn't trust Apple with privacy then I wonder what other tech company they can turn to.
Android OS will never lose market share based on people's concern over privacy. Apple actually seems a tad overprotective about privacy. Analysts are always saying how Apple should grab more user's information to improve Siri. Look at Facebook. Its main purpose is to get people to share practically everything they do and they supposedly have 2B users happily coughing up personal data. If the average joe was really concerned about privacy, it wouldn't be possible for Android OS to have 90% global market share and Facebook wouldn't be one of the top FANG stocks. All the FANG stocks are great at sucking user's personal information on a daily basis. No one is outraged by any of it. All the companies that harvest user data are Wall Street's favorite companies.