why didn’t this go through?
Would you go to an Apple hospital? It sounds insane, but the question isn’t that crazy. Research shows that Apple was considering starting its own hospitals in 2016.
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Why There Are No Apple Hospitals
You can already purchase hardware, software and services from Apple, but it would have been close and you could also have taken out a ‘hospital subscription’ with the company.
From detective work by The Wall Street Journal turns out that Apple was considering starting its own hospitals in 2016. The doctors in these clinics would be on the payroll of the California company and could treat anyone. The hospitals would, among other things, use Apple Watches to keep track of patients’ health data.
Jeff Williams, director of operations at Apple, was tasked in 2016 with figuring out how to shake up the traditional health market. He came up with the idea of starting multiple Apple hospitals.
Apple wanted to shake up healthcare
According to the source, the iPhone maker wanted to turn the industry around. Now patients (usually) only go to the doctor when something is wrong, but Apple saw more bread in preventing problems. Apple Watches should play a big part in this. Apple’s smartwatches have all kinds of sensors on board to keep track of wearers’ health data.
The revenue model would also be overhauled. Now you pay for your hospital visit afterwards, but Apple wanted to use a subscription model. You pay a fixed monthly amount for any medical costs.
According to the Journal, Apple has even tested the idea by (temporarily) acquiring medical clinics near its Apple Park headquarters. The treatment method was tested on volunteer Apple employees.
Apple hospitals on hold
The project is currently shelved. According to the American newspaper, Apple employees strongly criticized the method. Also, the health data collected in the temporary clinics would not be good enough to compete with ‘traditional’ hospitals.
Apple told The Wall Street Journal that the newspaper’s story is based on “incomplete, outdated and sometimes inaccurate information”.
Apple and health
Health has been a major focus of Apple for years. The company even has a special division dedicated to making people healthier. This is especially evident in the Apple Watch. For example, you can use Apple’s smart watches to make a heart film. You can also share this information with medical professionals via the Health app on your iPhone.
On iPhoned we regularly pay attention to the subject of health. In January 2020, we even dedicated a special monthly theme to this. You can read all our stories about this via the Health overview page. A selection of the article can be found below:
