Aetna and Apple think the Smartwatch will Make you Healthier!

-----------------

8/18/2017 Update: CNBC reported on the discussions between Aetna and Apple on a partnership that would supply all Aetna customers with an Apple Smartwatch. "Mandi Bishop was among a small group of digital health influencers invited to the event. ... Bishop . . . previously ran global health analytics at Dell and now has a startup called Lifely Insights..." Bishop shared some of her impressions of the discussions. Here are some of the takeaways of these discussions:

1. Data Privacy: "Bishop recalled that a huge portion of the event involved discussions about data privacy. 'Both companies wanted to make sure that we knew what data is shared and what isn't,' she said."
2. Cost: "One theme that emerged during the event, she [Bishop] said, is that many of those who were enrolled in the program wanted to get healthy alongside their families. But many couldn't afford to spend upwards of $1,000 on devices for their spouses and children."
3. Need to Attract Seniors: "Most wearable products today are targeted to people who are already health-conscious and are eager to better track their workouts. But for a device like Apple Watch to make a big difference to health insurers, it needs to attract people who have costly chronic diseases. It also needs to appeal to an older demographic, and not just the young and healthy."

--------------------

Last week, I noticed a member of my staff was wearing an Apple watch. I asked her how she liked it and it turned out she only had it for one day. The next day I noticed she was wearing a regular watch when I asked why the change, she said: "it was stressing me out!" Turns out that being connected 24/7 was a bit much. She did like the perceived health benefits of counting steps. But does an Apple Watch or a Fitbit make one healthier?

That's a question that many people are asking. Wearable firms are asking a slightly different question - how do we make our customers healthier with our wearables? In my current position as Director of the McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Arizona, I have had the opportunity to work with and speak with my healthcare experts who say that Fitbit's future depends on their ability to make wearing a Fitbit a truly healthy option for the consumer. According to the website Empowher.com, "wearable devices allow people to track and monitor sleep patterns, fitness levels, steps taken, calorie intake and other biological functions." The problem is that knowing this data is not the same thing as acting on this data. For example, just knowing that you are 10 lbs overweight does not mean that you will eat healthier and exercise more. At the moment it appears as if these devices are giving you data but not really helping you change your behavior based on the data.

In fact, there is some evidence to support the conclusion that wearables do not make one healthier. A study in 2016 published in the "The Lancet, Diabetes and Endocrinology" journal found the Fitbits did not improve health outcomes over the 12 months of the study. Another study by Lancaster University concluded that "While many champion wearables as data-rich devices that will revolutionise 21st century medicine, it remains highly probable that, like many technological trends, these mass-marketed gadgets will drift into obscurity." Furthermore, a recent article by USA today stated that "[a] study in JAMA released in September 2016 showed the addition of a wearable technology device to be used as a standard behavioral intervention actually resulted in less weight loss over 24 months."

I don't buy into the conclusion that wearables "will drift into obscurity." If Weight Watchers has lasted for decades, I think that wearables will be around for some time to come. In fact, according to Techcrunch, "Apple and Aetna have held several secret meetings to discuss offering the Apple Watch to Aetna’s 23 million customers, according to CNBC." Why would Aetna, a health insurance company do this? Well, Aetna already offers Apple watches to its 50K employees. Maybe it learned a thing or two that the previous studies missed. Regardless of the reason, these talks send a strong signal that wearables have the potential to make all of us just a fitbit healthier.