Apple aims to empower consumers and health systems | HIMSS 2026

Las Vegas - Apple has been making more investments in the world of health care, and those investments are based on giving more power to consumers and providers, Dr. Sumbul Ahmad Desai says.

Desai, Apple’s VP of health and fitness, talked about the tech giant’s work in health care during one of the featured conversations at the HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exhibition Wednesday.

“I think our vision is really to, like, empower everybody, whether that's a health system, whether that's providers, whether that's a patient or a consumer, to really leverage this cutting-edge technology,” Desai said.

“We are very excited to focus on driving more preventative and proactive care,” she said.

In the discussion moderated by Dr. Ami Bhatt, chief innovation officer of the American College of Cardiology, Desai said, “How do we put more power in the patient’s hand, and the user’s hand, to actually drive an individual’s empowerment?”

The Apple Watch has incorporated more features to help individuals track their health, including notifications to alert users to low or high heart rates. The Apple Watch can safely detect atrial fibrillation, a type of irregular heart rhythm, Stanford University researchers found in a 2019 study published by The New England Journal of Medicine.

The Apple Watch also tracks sleep apnea. Apple’s AirPod Pro 3, introduced last fall, is aimed at those with difficulty hearing.

Last May, Emory Healthcare announced that Emory Hillandale Hospital became the first U.S. hospital fully powered by Apple products. Desai said that the Emory hospital “is leveraging our product from the ground up.”

“We want to see more of that,” she said.

Apple is looking to work with providers in areas of interest to the tech company that may also mesh with the interests of health systems.

“We know where our limitations are, we know what we're good at, and we also know what we're not good at,” Desai said. “And I think that's really important in this space. I think it's important for everybody to say: This is what we do. Well, this is not what our forte is. And so how do we work together?”

She added that in partnerships, ideally, “One plus one should become three, not two. We should be thinking about how we get to the next level. So we look at that quite a bit. And I think the health systems that do that have been great partners, such as Emory.”

Even as Apple has done more in the world of health care, Desai says the company is just getting started.

“We're in the early innings of the work we're doing, even though we've been at it for a number of years,” she said. “It definitely feels like we're still very, very early.”

Looking forward, Apple wants to streamline workflows and use technology to enhance patient engagement and the healthcare experience, hopefully leading to better outcomes, “and having our technology be the glue,” Desai said.

“It's not just about the technology,” she said. “It really has to be the model that is around the technology.”

Apple is placing a premium on privacy and protecting consumer information, and Desai said that comes directly from Apple CEO Tim Cook, noting that he calls privacy a fundamental human right.

“We actually don't think about privacy as an afterthought,” Desai said.

In Apple’s research, the company only uses de-identified data, she said.

“We believe we should not see any people's data,” Desai said. “And so what that means is, practically, you may not be the first to market for a lot of products, and we're actually okay with that. Because we think that we should do it right and develop it correctly, but we know we can stand behind our privacy statements.”