Big Tech Dominating Healthcare and Lifesciences Industry Ready to capture 11 trillion $ Market size

Big Tech disrupting Healthcare and Lifesciences Industry

Consumer demands for fast healthcare services is causing companies to adopt digital tech. The Big Tech in Healthcare report explores strengths tech giants bring to healthcare. From cloud services to wearables, tech leaders are moving aggressively into healthcare. They are backing innovative startups, developing new products, and strategically partnering to build their positions in the industry.

Healthcare organizations have to contend with the coronavirus pandemic and its lingering impacts and shifting consumer demands for fast and convenient services. Healthcare players are being forced to move on their digital transformation efforts, and Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft are lending their tech-savviness to become partners for the job.

The Big Tech’s — Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft — are accelerating their pursuit of the healthcare market, and they’re starting to hone their strategies in on specific corners of the ecosystem. These players are ramping up their efforts to reshape healthcare by developing and collaborating on new tools that could be a boon to consumers, medical professionals, and insurers.

Few mentions of health-related efforts on Big Tech’s June quarter earnings calls—apart from Apple announcing 510(k) clearance for its AFib feature—the companies continue to make moves toward the goal of healthcare disruption. From 1999-2022, Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Oracle collectively made announcements of acquiring or investing in 22 health-oriented companies, ranging from Apple’s $200M acquisition of Glimpse in 2016, to Google’s $2.1B acquisition of Fitbit in 2021, to Microsoft’s $16B acquisition of Nuance just under six months age…to Oracle acquisition of Cerner and many more to go. ?

Big Tech Activities in Healthcare Industry

Amazon Web Services is a leader in the cloud healthcare market, refining and deploying a range of AI/machine learning (ML) and life sciences tools.

Amazon is focusing on direct care offerings for employers and consumers, primarily through One Medical and its newest service, Amazon Clinic.

Microsoft is developing and promoting Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare, combining new tools and integrations for enterprise healthcare.

Google is prioritizing life sciences, with a focus on developing search technologies for clinicians like Care Studio. Subsidiary Verily raised $1B in September 2022 to double down on precision medicine.Google is making bets in wearables. It’s opting for a diversified approach, having recently dissolved its Google Health division and reallocating personnel to verticals like Fitbit. It released its first Google Pixel Watch in October 2022.

Oracle recently acquired EHR vendor Cerner, marking its first major foray into health tech. Integrating Cerner with its other products will help Oracle expand its service lines while gaining valuable data customers.

Apple is focused on bringing its device ecosystem — including the Apple Watch and iPad — into healthcare settings, including care at home.

What’s Coming up Next?

Big tech players’ presence in healthcare will grow. In the near term, they are focusing on growing market share and building tools for a space that’s notoriously slow to adapt.

Consolidation will continue, with acquisitions most likely in the remote monitoring, home clinical and smart connected medical devices spaces.

Access to data is a major driver for every player. Algorithms and products increasingly depend on access to patient and user data. Gathering, leveraging, and monetizing data is a guiding force in big tech activity.

Home health for seniors is the next industry boom. As global populations age and seniors increasingly accept and use technology, look for big tech to begin acquiring, designing, and marketing with the senior health and Medicare Advantage markets in mind.

Black box algorithms won’t go away, but transparency will become a selling point. With AI and ML becoming more involved in care distribution and delivery, concerns about how algorithms make decisions will drive more demand for transparency and explainability. Google and Microsoft are far ahead of the pack in responding to this demand.

With healthcare providers and patients more willing than ever to adopt new technologies and explore new models of care, expect the healthcare space to remain a strategic focus for big tech for years to come.

What next for big tech?

Amazon: The retail giant is moving into healthcare through direct contracting services with employers. Amazon is building a robust platform for virtual, asynchronous, integrated care by adding One Medical and Amazon Clinic to an already substantial pharma supply chain, its cloud computing services, and a growing selection of monitoring devices.

Apple : The iPhone, Apple Watch, and iPad are the key elements of Apple’s healthcare strategy. Supported by the Health app and the HealthKit, ResearchKit, and CareKit developer frameworks, Apple aims to be a central provider of healthcare wearables, mobile apps, and portable devices. The OS leader is building a feature-rich healthcare development platform.

Microsoft: Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare covers a broad set of tools, including Azure, AI/ML, and clinical tools. Microsoft’s partnerships with CVS Health and Teladoc have bolstered Teams and Azure computing functions for clinical care, while its acquisition of Nuance has given it a suite of voice tools.

Google : Concentrating on life sciences and pharma, Google has moved forward with provider healthcare initiatives, such as its Care Studio for clinicians, since closing Google Health in 2021. It’s using Fitbit to carve out space in the consumer healthcare wearables market, and verily is tackling precision health, real-world evidence generation, and healthcare data solutions.

Oracle (Cerner): The newest member of the field made a big entry with its $28.3B acquisition of EHR giant Cerner, which closed in June 2022. For now, Oracle is focusing on integrating its own relationship management, resource-planning, and cloud data products into Cerner, but Cerner’s new datasets and products for research will fit nicely alongside Oracle’s existing life sciences plays

What’s driving big tech activity in healthcare?

Consumer demand :- The pandemic has driven patients to demand more unified, easy-to-access services and technologies. With extensive experience in building consumer-driven user interfaces and experiences, tech companies can quickly set themselves apart.

Fragmented systems :- The explosion of virtual care, analytics, and monitoring solutions has emphasized the importance of data interoperability and transparency. Big tech is well positioned to offer end-to-end platforms that simplify data management.

High administrative burden :- Providers and payers are inundated with manual, repetitive, and time-consuming admin tasks. Tech companies are solving for this through improved workflows and automation.

Demographic pressure :- As populations age, tech companies are investing in home health and other technologies to support seniors in the long term.

The “big tech” playing a critical role in influencing the healthcare & lifesciences industry globally, and this will be even more prominent over time with the pressing focus on digital transformation. Truly exciting times ahead of us.?