What Are the Consequences of Big Tech Entering the Healthcare Market?

For about the past decade, an open question about Big Tech has been their possible entry strategy into healthcare and whether they would be successful. Healthcare constitutes a very large portion of the U.S. economy so it won't be ignored by tech giants such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, and even Facebook. A recent article addressed this specific question (see:How Big Tech Is Going After Your Health Care). It's long so read the whole article if interested. Below is an excerpt from it:Apple, Google, Microsoft and other tech giants have transformed the way billions of us communicate, shop, socialize and work. Now, as consumers, medical centers and insurers increasingly embrace health-tracking apps, tech companies want a bigger share of the more than $3 trillion spent annually on health care in the United States, too....The companies are accelerating their efforts to remake health care by developing or collaborating on new tools for consumers, patients, doctors, insurers and medical researchers. And they are increasingly investing in health start-ups.....In the first 11 months of this year, 10 of the largest tech companies in the United States were involved in health care equity deals worth $2.7 billion, up from just $277 million for all of 2012, according to data from CB Insights....Each tech company is taking its own approach, betting that its core business strengths could ultimately improve people ’s health — or at least make health care more efficient.Apple,...
Source: Lab Soft News - Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Electronic Health Record (EHR) Healthcare Business Healthcare Information Technology Lab Information Medical Consumerism Source Type: blogs