http://www.healthcaredive.com/news/whats-up-with-apple-in-healthcare/429706/

In recent months, Apple has been sending out smoke signals suggesting a major thrust into healthcare. The tech giant has bolstered its health team with four recent high-profile hires and forged partnerships with large healthcare systems. These include a clinical trial partnership with Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital and a precision medicine initiative with Scripps Translational Science Institute, according to Politico.

The company has also partnered with IBM, Johnson & Johnson and Medtronic on cognitive computing platform called Watson Health Cloud. The platform offers tailored data analytics services to clinicians.

With a current health team of about 100 strong, including medical device and medical sensor experts, the Cupertino, CA company appears poised to move beyond fitness apps to fully regulated medical technologies and clinical support systems.

In August, Apple confirmed its first digital health acquisition, personal health record startup Gliimpse. The Redwood, CA-based firm, which has raised about $1 million in seed funding, hopes to advance interoperability by aggregating health data into a single digital patient record.