Apple Launches AC Wellness Clinics for Employees, Focusing on Preventive Care and Health Management

VCBeat (WeChat: vcbeat)It has been reported that, according to CNBC, several individuals familiar with Apple’s plans revealed that this spring, Apple will open a health clinic named AC Wellness for its employees and their families, and has quietly launched the website acwellness.com.

The website provides a detailed overview of the health clinic’s founding mission and publishes several job openings for its in-house clinic, covering positions such as primary care physicians, exercise coaches, nurse navigators, and phlebotomists responsible for managing point-of-care laboratory testing.

This new primary care team initially serves only as an “employee benefit,” providing services exclusively to employees working at Apple’s headquarters in Santa Clara County, California. It currently comprises just two clinics, one of which is located in the newly opened Apple Park.

A LinkedIn search revealed that several former Stanford Health Care staff members had joined AC Wellness at least five months ago, although their profiles made no mention of Apple. However, as of February 27, several job postings on Apple’s website described AC Wellness as “a subsidiary of Apple.”

AC Wellness’s job postings include positions such as Health Educator/Coach, Population Health Program Designer, and Clinical Program Designer. These roles are designed to help implement a program focused on disease prevention and the promotion of healthy behaviors. Such positions, which are uncommon in traditional clinics, are described as aiming to prevent disease, enable early detection, manage chronic conditions, and encourage healthy lifestyles. In plain terms, Apple Inc. seeks to put the principle of “early detection and early treatment” into practice within its own clinics.

Sources said the company will leverage its medical clinics as a testing ground for its expanding portfolio of healthcare services and products, which will be offered to the general consumer market.

Currently, Apple is collaborating with Stanford University to investigate whether the Apple Watch can facilitate the detection of arrhythmias, a development that would benefit both the general healthy population and patients with existing conditions.

Reportedly, Apple also plans to use its clinics as testing grounds for its health-related products. For devices such as the Apple Watch, which monitors heart rate, its own clinics provide an ideal setting for application testing.

Apple CEO Tim Cook recently told shareholders that the company would make “significant contributions” in healthcare.

CNBC previously reported that Apple intended to acquire Crossover Health, a healthcare clinic startup, to strengthen its internal clinic infrastructure. According to Crossover Health’s official website, the company primarily provides online clinical services to employees of large enterprises, with current clients including Facebook, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Square, and Apple. However, Apple has recently abandoned this acquisition plan.

Sources say it has begun notifying third-party vendors to transition to its own network of health clinics this week.

Other positions recruited by AC Wellness are also listed on Glassdoor and Indeed.com.

According to statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 69 million workers take leave due to health issues each year, resulting in an annual reduction of $260 billion in economic output.

Prior to this, Amazon had joined forces with Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase to provide healthcare coverage for employees of the three companies, triggering significant volatility in the U.S. healthcare sector of the stock market.

Major corporations are establishing their own healthcare facilities, reflecting both a desire to deepen their involvement in the medical sector and dissatisfaction with the exorbitant healthcare expenditures in the United States. Providing better primary care is key to the success of employee-led health initiatives, after all, preventing disease is far less costly than treating it.

Reference: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/27/apple-launching-medical-clinics-for-employees.html