Newly published details about a high-profile Apple Watch study call it “a priority” to recruit Medicaid patients — a population not usually considered the target for Apple’s pricey products.
In September 2020, health insurer Anthem, which is now called Elevance Health, announced a large study investigating whether an Apple Watch-based system could be used to help manage asthma. Some details about the intervention have trickled out since, but a pre-proof of the study’s protocol points to how Elevance might more broadly implement the tool.
Unlike many digital health studies, which for reasons of convenience and cost target people who are easy for researchers to reach, the authors are explicit that not having Medicaid patients in the participant pool would “reduce generalizability of the findings to patients who have the most pressing clinical needs.” They cite a 2018 study that found lower-income participants were more likely to have poor asthma outcomes.
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