The new app will rely on data provided by users, analytics and machine learning to improve the user experience and add new featured and personalized health recommendations. (Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg)
Is this the vote of confidence the fitness wearables market needs to finally be seen as a legitimate player in the health care space?
Aetna, CVS Health Corp.'s health insurer, is teaming up with Apple Inc. on a new health app for the latter's watch that constructs personalized health goals for wearers that are based on those wearers' medical histories.
According to CVS Health, the new app will be known as “Attain,” and Reuters reports that the app “will reward Aetna customers for meeting activity goals and fulfilling recommended tasks, such as getting vaccinations or refilling medications, with a subsidy toward the cost of an Apple Watch or gift cards for U.S. retailers.”
The difference between Attain and other wearable fitness app rewards is that this one is going to rely on personal health data from Aetna's databanks on its customers to set those goals and recommendations.
According to CVS Health, Attain is composed of four “pillars:
- The achievement of activity goals
- Sustaining everyday health
- Providing personalized health notifications for “key health moments”
- Rewards earned by wearers
Aetna plan members who want to participate will need an iPhone 5S or later and an Apple Watch Series 1 or later. Once users have joined Attain, sharing their data and health history with Apple is optional. The company, however, is banking on the sharing of data, analytics and machine learning to improve the user experience and add new featured and personalized recommendations.
The program is completely voluntary and can be discontinued at any time, according to the company. In addition, for those concerned about privacy, the release adds that “All Attain health data is encrypted on the device, in transit, and on Aetna and Apple's servers, where it will be stored in a highly secure environment using industry-leading practices fully in compliance with HIPAA. Information from this program will not be used for underwriting, premium or coverage decisions.”
Reuters points out that since health data are highly regulated, Apple and Aetna had to enter into a special agreement to allow Aetna to share its data with Apple.
Apple has already come out with a watch that can take an echocardiogram; the company had to get clearance from the FDA for that feature. It has plans to further extend itself into the region of regulated health features.
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Marlene Satter
Marlene Y. Satter has worked in and written about the financial industry for decades.
