With an ever-increasing uptick in the rate of health IT innovation, which big-name companies are most relevant?
In a webinar with Oliver Wyman Health Innovation Center's Tom Main, Welltok CEO and former TriZetto CEO Jeff Margolis shared his thoughts on which companies are really positioned to change healthcare.
Apple, Google and Samsung may be less effective players than their advertising suggests.
"I don't see Apple and Samsung as driving change in healthcare…[they will make data capture] approachable and inexpensive enough for everybody else to take advantage of it," said Mr. Margolis. "Google, I don't really see as much of a player," he said, adding Google's reach is far enough that if they had a healthcare-revolutionizing plan, the industry would already have heard about it long ago.
When it comes to search capabilities especially, Mr. Margolis believes in Watson's power to answer complex questions in healthcare. His company has partnered with IBM to develop more capabilities for the supercomputer: "If the right partners gather around Watson and invest to really create a learning, cognitive capability that works toward optimizing health, then Watson will play a key role," he said.
Finally, Wal-Mart is positioned to do a lot, once it figures out what it wants to set its sights on, according to Mr. Margolis. The company's big-box stores are so ubiquitous that he has a hard time seeing Wal-Mart getting outcompeted in health IT retail innovations on its home turf. "You've just got to believe that whatever gets figured out in that true retail setting, Wal-Mart is going to figure it out," he said.