DIGITAL HEALTH BRIEFING: CVS adds prescription delivery to shore up against Amazon - Walmart tests blockchain for health data - Providers race to control health tech

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CVS ADDS E-PRESCRIPTION DELIVERY TO STAVE OFF AMAZON'S HEALTHCARE PUSH: CVS Health is leveraging the rapidly growing electronic prescription (e-prescription) market as it works to keep pace with Amazon - which introduced an exclusive line of Basic Care over-the-counter (OTC) medications in August 2017 - according to CNBC. CVS customers will now have the potential for same-day delivery of both OTC medicines and their prescriptions.

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E-prescription represents a rapidly growing market opportunity. The global e-prescription market is projected to grow at an annualized rate of 21.5% between 2017 and 2025 to surpass $3 billion, according to Research and Markets. Providers and payers are shaping this trend - e-prescribing can reduce errors, improve medication adherence, and provide a more complete picture of a patient's medical history. Surescripts, a leading US e-prescriber, delivered 77% of its prescriptions electronically in 2017, up from 73% in 2016.

CVS's early move to carve out a segment of the e-prescription market could help push back against Amazon's growing healthcare presence.

• Delivering medications directly to consumers could enable CVS to lower the prices of certain medications by reducing overhead costs associated with in-store products.
• Offering online delivery could help CVS recapture consumers that've turned to the convenience of Amazon over brick-and-mortar shopping, according to CNBC.

Amazon continues to force incumbent healthcare players to shore up their services despite making few tangible moves in the space. With the e-commerce giant's healthcare play looming, legacy players are scrambling to ensure that Amazon doesn't impact healthcare the same way it disrupted retail. Legacy health players should strive to mitigate Amazon's ability to disrupt the market by investing in offerings and acquisitions that help meet consumer demand for an improved digital experience.

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WALMART EXPLORES BLOCKCHAIN TECH TO TRANSFORM HOSPITAL DATA SHARING: Walmart's working on new tech that could vastly improve how data flows between hospital staff. The company's been granted a patent for a system that uses blockchain to share emergency medical data, according to CCN. The patent describes a process that would enable emergency responders to scan a patient's wearable and biometric signature in order to unlock medical records stored in a blockchain database.

This is just one facet of Walmart's multi-pronged approach to healthcare - it's been talking about acquiring health insurer Humana, has a formidable pharmaceutical business, and has been actively adding new clinic locations. A foray into emergency services is a logical step as Walmart looks to round out its health offerings.

Replacing legacy hospital data sharing processes with blockchain tech represents a major opportunity for health systems:

• Improved interoperability would help streamline data sharing between departments. The average health system has 18 different electronic medical record (EMR) vendors across its affiliated providers, according to Healthcare IT News. Blockchain could reduce the need to juggle multiple systems and streamline the flow of real time data as a patient is transferred from the ER to a specialist, for example.
• Making the patient the access point for medical data would help health systems reduce data management costs. Industry estimates indicate providers currently spend more than $2 billion annually finding and maintaining data.

Walmart's not the only retail giant applying blockchain to healthcare. Amazon Web Services (AWS), the e-commerce giant's cloud business, is deploying blockchain templates to make it easier for developers to create blockchain-based healthcare projects. For example, AWS has worked with healthcare API company PokitDok, which has a healthcare blockchain system that could allow for instantaneous transactions and could reduce the time needed to process insurance claims, according to TechCrunch.

HEALTH SYSTEM OPENS INNOVATION LAB AS PROVIDERS RACE TO CONTROL HEALTH TECH: Pennsylvania-based health system Lancaster General Health opened a new innovation lab to help groom health tech startups looking to bring their products to market, according to Health Data Management. The Smart Health Innovation Lab has some high-profile backers - electronic health records (EHR) vendor Athenahealth is providing the lab's primary clinical platform, while CVS Health is offering startups its pharmaceutical expertise. Leveraging these partnerships should help Lancaster improve new tech's likelihood of commercial success and help streamline adoption in clinical settings.

Innovation hubs are emerging as a popular trend as organizations race to harness the benefits of new health tech. The digital health market's projected to grow at an annualized rate of 26% to hit $380 billion by 2024, according to Global Market Insights. Innovation labs and developer challenges could help healthcare organizations tap into the tech springing from this boom.

Moreover, stakeholders can use these challenges to drive innovation in priority areas. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched an innovation challenge on June 1, 2018 to spur digital solutions mitigating health costs from the opioid epidemic. As US healthcare increasingly relies on digital, organizations on the forefront of fostering and integrating new tech will be best positioned to succeed.

BABYLON ADDS UK INSURER PARTNER IN LATEST EXPANSION MOVE: AI telehealth startup Babylon Health is partnering with UK health insurer Bupa to offer its virtual care and clinical triage services to Bupa's corporate customers, according to Digital Health. Deploying Babylon's 24/7 virtual care platform could help to make Bupa a more valuable insurer to businesses. Employers are increasingly looking to make it easier for their employees to access preventative and urgent care in order to reduce the likelihood of adverse health events.

For Babylon, the partnership could solidify the platform's legitimacy in a UK healthcare landscape that currently views the AI startup with some skepticism - doctors have denounced the National Health Service's (NHS) partnership with Babylon, claiming the app is "cherry-picking" cases it can solve and stealing funding from more important health areas. A partnership with one of the largest UK insurers could help Babylon circumnavigate this unease by driving usage among its corporate customers. This is the latest Babylon move in what's been an aggressive start to 2018 - it landed a partnership to power Samsung's pre-installed Health app in its new UK smartphones and has integrated with Tencents' WeChat messaging platform.

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IN OTHER NEWS:

• Apple's iOS 12 rollout will incorporate a new feature that allows first responders to securely and automatically access location data when iPhone users call 911, according to 9to5Mac. The company likely hopes the move will help to improve emergency service response time.
• NHS will receive an extra £20 billion ($26 billion) in annual funding by 2023, according to Digital Health. UK Prime Minister Theresa May said health tech will be essential as the NHS looks to drive healthcare productivity over the next decade.
• Garmin released an update that allows several of its wearables to more accurately measure sleep patterns, as it continues to explore how its devices can be used in a clinical setting. The company has already partnered with health system KU Medical to kick off research into sleep apnea.
• Healios, a UK-based virtual care platform for mental health patients, secured $2.9 million in funding, according to MobiHealthNews. Healios plans to use the financing to integrate its platform across the NHS network to address the uptick in UK mental health cases.