Apple opening health and wellness clinics for employees

Apple is opening its own clinics for employees, using a combination of technology and best clinical practices.

The tech company will run the initiative through an independent service called AC Wellness Network, which will offer a “concierge-like” healthcare experience for employees and their dependents.

Due to open this Spring, the company is already advertising for doctors, health coaches and designers to create an promoting health behaviour.

Apple is following in the footsteps of Amazon, which has joined with JP Morgan and Berkshire Hathaway to rethink healthcare for their employees.

Based in Cupertino, California, the clinic will begin by serving only Santa Clara in California, and will have only two clinics.

According to CNBC, a job listing describes “multiple, stunning state-of-the-art" medical centres and one is near the new Apple Park Campus.

Several former Stanford Health Care employees have also been affiliated with AC Wellness for at least five months, according to CNBC.

Several of the job listings described AC Wellness as a subsidiary of Apple Inc, however, the company has declined to comment on the reports so far.

Test bed for health products?

There is already speculation that AC Wellness could be used to pilot forthcoming Apple health products.

In October the company filed for a patent that would allow the Apple Watch to monitor blood pressure.

The patent describes technology that combines data gathered by two different sensors in the watch.

By timing the difference between a heart rate sensor and an accelerometer, the device can determine the time for blood to reach the wrist from the heart and calculate blood pressure.

Apple is also trying to find ways to make clinical trials more efficient – it has launched ResearchKit, which allows clinical trial participants to enter their own data remotely via sensors, removing the need to visit the clinic.