The Pac-Man principle in the healthcare market

Abstract

Google, Amazon, and Apple have a billion-strong market targeted: the healthcare market. Fitness apps, assistance systems, wearables, and activity tracker, which measure the number of steps or running activities, are booming. The main impetus for the proliferation of new digital services is not from doctors, hospitals, health insurance companies, or politics, but by consumers and patients. Additionally, devices that not only help us with our fi tness but can monitor and manage disease and its treatment like ingestibles and even implantables are right around the corner. Aging society, rising health consciousness, and more personal responsibility- these are the key drivers behind the rapid spread of small, digital helpers. And not to forget: the devices are ease of use and in many cases apps are offered for free. Like the Pac-Man game in the 1980s, the apps and digital helpers walk through the healthcare market by eating outdated, time-wasting less customer-oriented processes- and there is food plentiful for years to come. In the fi rst step, the paper examines-based on analyzing general and health- specific trend-the challenges in the healthcare market. In the second step, it shows various examples how digital transformation changes the healthcare market, especially at the interaction between the consumer and the different actors in the healthcare system. In the third step, key learnings are explored and suggestions are made regarding healthcare providers.