The Tempo app moves beyond typical health dashboards by creating actionable 'protocols' to improve user compliance. The insight is that users don't just need more data; they need a system that helps them consistently perform health-improving behaviors, which is the core challenge in wellness.
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By allowing insurance companies to price plans based on biometric data (blood pressure, fitness), you create powerful financial incentives for people to improve their health. This moves beyond abstract advice and makes diet and exercise a direct factor in personal finance, driving real behavioral change.
By analyzing real-world data with machine learning, Walgreens can identify patients at risk of non-adherence before a clinical issue arises. This allows for early, personalized interventions, moving beyond simply reacting to missed doses or therapy drop-offs.
To combat non-adherence, Zyda coaches patients to 'habit stack' by using their device while watching a specific weekly TV show. This behavioral design strategy of linking a new action to an established routine is more effective than relying solely on a device's ease of use.
A competitive moat can be built by moving beyond simple service delivery (e.g., shipping medicine) to a closed-loop system. This involves diagnostics to establish a baseline, personalized treatment plans based on results, and ongoing re-testing to demonstrate improvement, creating a sticky user journey.
The value of a personal AI coach isn't just tracking workouts, but aggregating and interpreting disparate data types—from medical imaging and lab results to wearable data and nutrition plans—that human experts often struggle to connect.
Jason Calacanis argues that the ultimate differentiator for a health app like Tempo is connecting its online users to real-world events. Facilitating IRL run clubs or group sauna sessions transforms the product from a commoditized data utility into a valuable, sticky community and movement.
During the pandemic, companies adopted digital health solutions to make employees happy. Now, the focus has returned to fundamentals. Buyers demand solutions that demonstrably reduce costs, like insurance claims or sickness absenteeism, rather than just offering 'added value' perks.
The massive abandonment rate of health apps stems from a core design flaw: they are built to achieve company objectives (e.g., increase diagnosis) rather than integrating into patients' and doctors' existing workflows and behaviors, making them burdensome to use.
The popularity of at-home diagnostics and health protocols isn't just about clinical outcomes. It fulfills a deep-seated human need for control over one's health, a feeling the traditional 'wait and see' medical system often denies patients.
To create transformational enterprise solutions, focus on the core problems of the key buyers, not just the feature requests of technical users. For healthcare payers, this meant solving strategic issues like care management and risk management, which led to stickier, higher-value products than simply delivering another tool.
