In 2024, consumer technology and health technology will intersect to focus on patient-centric innovations, Antoine Robiard, vice-president of health solutions at Withingssaid MobiHealthNews.
Robiard expects 2025 to bring AI advancements, market consolidation, and increased adoption of home care technologies. He also asserts that mergers and acquisitions will become key to driving innovation, maintaining competitiveness and providing transparent and impactful healthcare solutions.
MobiHealthNews: What are your main lessons for 2024?
Antoine Robiliard: In 2024, the lines between consumer technology and health technology have continued to blur. Devices traditionally considered fitness or wellness gadgets – like smartwatches, scales and connected monitors – have become an integral part of healthcare systems. The rapid adoption of health-focused features, such as ECG capabilities and blood pressure monitoring in everyday devices, demonstrates this convergence.
Additionally, connected health devices make it easy to perform medical-grade measurements at home that were once only available in clinical settings. This change allows individuals to monitor their health in real time and share meaningful data with their healthcare providers.
It’s no longer just about collecting data; it’s about leveraging that data for actionable health insights. This includes seamless integration with healthcare systems, enabling earlier detection of problems, personalized care plans and better patient outcomes.
The future of health technology lies at the intersection of accessibility and innovation, making health management an integral part of our daily lives.
Patient experience has evolved from an additional consideration to a cornerstone of health technology innovation. Companies are prioritizing user-friendly interfaces, improved accessibility, and personalized health journeys to create solutions that truly resonate with patients. From the onboarding process to ongoing use, technology must meet patients where they are – whether through intuitive designs, multilingual support, or the integration of motivational features that support long-term engagement. This shift reflects the industry’s broader movement toward patient-centered care, emphasizing empowerment, better adherence and better health outcomes.
The introduction and adoption of APCM (Advanced Primary Care Medicine) codes by CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) is a game changer for health technology. These codes, which will come into force in early 2025, highlight the growing importance placed on home health monitoring and remote care. The codes focus more on ensuring that patients with chronic conditions receive continuity of care rather than a specific number of minutes spent with a patient.
By creating financial incentives for health care providers to adopt these technologies, CMS is catalyzing a shift toward advanced primary care services, with an evolution aimed at supporting longitudinal relationships between primary care providers and patients. The move validates the role of connected devices and services in chronic disease management and preventive health, paving the way for innovation and broader adoption in 2025.
MHN: What were the biggest surprises/most notable events of this year?
Robillard: A notable moment was Apple Announcement of significant advances in healthcare: integrate sleep apnea detection in Apple Watch and explore hearing aid features with AirPods. These innovations highlight the tech giant’s continued push into healthcare, underscoring the growing trend of tech companies expanding their footprint in the health and wellness sector.
MHN: What do you think will happen with digital health financing in 2025, and why?
Robillard: In 2025, digital health financing will likely increasingly focus on established, well-capitalized players as the market consolidates around a handful of dominant players. This trend reflects the continued maturation of the industry, with investors favoring stability, proven business models and scalability over speculative or early-stage companies.
Consolidating financing across fewer, larger companies will simplify the market, reducing fragmentation and allowing for easier adoption and integration of solutions by consumers and healthcare providers. This streamlined environment is expected to drive standardization across platforms and services, improving interoperability and creating a more consistent and seamless user experience. Additionally, dominant players will leverage their resources to accelerate innovation in areas such as AI, remote patient monitoring and personalized care, thereby strengthening their positions in the market.
However, even though the focus is now on established players, tech disruptors will still attract funding. Game-changing ideas that challenge the status quo, propose breakthrough solutions, or unlock entirely new opportunities in healthcare will continue to attract the attention of investors willing to take risks for high potential rewards. This dynamic ensures that innovation will remain a driving force in the digital health landscape.
MHN: Will mergers and acquisitions remain a big part of the digital healthcare space next year?
Robillard: Yes, mergers and acquisitions will likely remain an important part of the digital health industry next year, and they are increasingly critical to the evolution of the sector. Many smaller market players struggle to achieve long-term viability due to limited resources, scalability issues, and the high costs of competing in a crowded and highly regulated landscape. M&A activity provides these smaller companies with a lifeline, allowing them to integrate into larger, more established organizations capable of providing the financing, infrastructure and market access necessary for the development of their solutions.
For large companies, acquisitions represent an opportunity to enrich their portfolio, expand into new markets and accelerate innovation by integrating cutting-edge technologies and startup talent.
As the digital health industry continues to mature, mergers and acquisitions will not only remain prevalent, but will also become a strategic necessity to drive innovation, secure competitive advantage, and meet the growing demand for seamless health solutions, interoperable and impactful.
MHN: How do you see the place of AI in healthcare evolving in 2025?
Robillard: By 2025, AI’s place in healthcare is likely to evolve from a buzzword to a more tangible and impactful force, as organizations move from talking about AI to actively implementing and scaling its applications. Currently, AI is receiving considerable attention, but the gap between hype and practical deployment remains large. By 2025, we hope to see more organizations closing this gap, focusing on real-world use cases where AI can deliver measurable value.
The main role of AI will likely consolidate around two main areas: improving patient support and reducing the workload of healthcare providers.
For patients, AI will play a vital role in providing intelligent insights that will enable individuals to better manage their health.
For healthcare providers, AI will focus on automating repetitive tasks, streamlining administrative workflows, and providing clinical decision support with concrete, actionable insights.
Additionally, as trust in AI systems increases and regulations surrounding their use become clearer, we will likely see broader adoption of AI in areas such as healthcare management. population, drug discovery and even surgical assistance.
While challenges such as data privacy, bias in algorithms, and integration into existing workflows remain, the potential for AI to transform healthcare by making it more efficient, personalized, and proactive is undeniable.
Ultimately, while not every company talking about AI in healthcare today will deliver on their promises, those that succeed will drive the next wave of innovation, proving that AI is not just a buzzword, but a transformative tool for the future of healthcare.