Apple has quietly rolled out a website that reveals the company will begin offering employees direct health care through its own in-house AC Wellness clinics starting this spring, CNBC reports. Joining the ranks of companies like Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan that have created similar ventures, Apple is working on staffing at least two clinics, with job postings for primary care doctors, exercise coaches, lab technicians and other more nebulous roles like “care navigator.” Apple was rumored to be interested in purchasing Crossover Health — the start-up that currently provides much of the Apple’s in-house clinic services — but has since scaled back its contracts with the company in favor of starting its own venture.
While Apple has employees all over the world, this first launch will focus on Apple employees in Santa Clara County, where the company is headquartered.
Searches on LinkedIn have shown that former employees of Stanford Health Care have been working with AC Wellness for at least five months — cleverly leaving out that the company is Apple-affiliated. Like other similar programs, Apple seems to be focused on preventative care, which makes sense given that disease prevention and the promotion of healthy lifestyles is cheaper than treatment after the fact.
Sources said in addition to bringing costs down, Apple is looking at the endeavor as a testing ground for its growing range of medical products and health services before rolling them out to consumers.
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