During the past two years, tech companies have made huge strides toward entering the healthcare space. Major tech giants such as Amazon, Google, and Apple have all made moves to strategically position themselves to cash in on the immense opportunity present in this market.

Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods, in addition to their artificial intelligence (AI) platform Alexa and robust delivery services, places Amazon in a position where it can potentially provide automated healthy food options to individuals who are subscribed to its Prime services based on their pantry/health needs.

Google already has a Cloud platform that is catered toward healthcare systems that can process large quantities of data at high speeds, streamline big data analyses for meaningful insights, and connect patients and providers from different parts of the world. Additionally, Google also has their Google Fit app, which monitors user health data and provides users with customised coaching to assist them in achieving their fitness goals.

Apple, with its Health app and Apple Watch that can be used to track user health data, recently hired Jason Oberfest, the CEO of Mango Health. Mango Health is an app intended for chronic disease patients that helps them track their medications. The app incentivises patient compliance by offering gift cards for patients who track their medications correctly and on time. With this hire, Apple is showing shareholders that it plans to ramp up its healthcare efforts to challenge the other health tech giants.

Additionally, this move places Apple in a unique position, as the company can either pursue further development of the Health app by adding a medications feature to help patients track their medications, or potentially partner with Mango Health’s services to offer a connected user interface (UI) where the Apple Health app incorporates Mango Health’s medication tracking data.

Healthcare is trending toward preventative medicine, where provider and patient engagement is essential. Advanced Patient Advocacy, for example, offers healthcare organisations a comprehensive suite of enrollment services to assist patients in navigating and connecting to payer solutions. This service will be especially helpful for patients who are not well versed in insurance policies to figure out how to pay for healthcare services.

Additionally, Lumeon is focused on enhancing the patient experience in all facets of healthcare so that patients have more continuity in the care they receive. Just as Amazon, Google, and Apple are figuring out ways to increase the engagement of health stakeholders, more healthtech-specific companies are emerging to provide focused solutions so that chronic diseases can be managed better, outcomes can be improved, and overall healthcare spending can be reduced.