A Whole New (Digital) World

By: David Ostrowsky

From the second our iPhone alarms blast off in the morning, we remain hooked on our smartphones. Throughout the day, our apps take us to the Middle East, Wall Street, and Outer Space. Our finances, errand schedule, relationships, books, movies, and professional life are all rooted in these compact devices. And now for many of us, our health is too.

While healthcare apps are not new to humanity, they’ve really taken off this decade as people worldwide continue to spend an exorbitant amount of time glued to their tiny delicate plasma screens. By some estimates, there are more than 350,000 mobile health apps available for public download, many of which are flooding the self-insured marketplace. With the digital health space exploding at a breakneck pace, it’s worth exploring some new pertinent developments that impact healthcare consumers across all seven continents.

Starting with the United States, is there a way to quantify just how popular health apps have become?

While it may be a bit of a stretch to declare that US consumer healthcare has gone entirely digital, it’s incontestable that many Americans are using the aforementioned healthcare apps as motivation to monitor their physical—and mental—health. Consider results from the recent Digital Health Trends study conducted by Reach3 Insights: More than seven in ten Americans currently utilize health-related apps and approximately two-thirds take advantage of health-related devices. The overwhelming majority of respondents also indicated a desire for even more technical resources in managing their health and wellness over the next five to ten years. Unsurprisingly, the AI boom is only amplifying the impact: Reportedly, a whopping 230 million weekly users of ChatGPT are submitting health and wellness questions, per OpenAI’s deidentified analysis of user conversations.

What are some of the apps’ specific functions that people find most attractive?

Studies have found that a large number of digital health app users want to gauge their biometrics as well as monitor physical activity and sleep patterns. On survey responses, many people have articulated that health apps, in monitoring their daily habits, are vital for maintaining at least some semblance of routine and order in their otherwise chaotic lives.

What are some of the hottest trends in the digital healthcare space that are getting serious buzz?

Apple announced at its WWDC 2026 event earlier this spring that it’s adding perimenopause and menopause support to its current cycle-tracking feature. Perhaps this shouldn’t come as a surprise given that among Gen Z consumers, fertility and women’s health apps ranked as the second-most-used category—in front of sleep monitoring, mental health and nutrition apps.

Also, Samsung Electronics America revealed that its soon-to-be-released Galaxy Watch will empower users to more seamlessly manage daily health needs as it will translate complex biometric data— everything from sleep to the day’s activity—into straightforward, easy-to-digest guidance. Apparently, this breakthrough aligns with Samsung’s grand vision for a truly unparalleled AI-powered health platform.

Are Medicare and Medicaid getting in on the action?

Yes, indeed they are. In fact, on February 23, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services unveiled the development of its Medicare App Library, which will provide a directory for Medicare beneficiaries interested in tapping into a wide range of digital health tools integrated with CMS Aligned Networks. Some of the tools will help users bypass manual check-in forms while others will provide support for diabetes and obesity management.

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For employers who sponsor self-funded plans, the unfathomable number of digital health resources may seem overwhelming. There are, of course, significant cost containment issues that need to be considered, and certain tools may be more appropriate than others depending on the plan participant population. Nevertheless, the advent of digital health tools may just be what many plan participants—particularly those with limited financial means who don’t have the resources to regularly schedule in-person healthcare appointments—need to actually take advantage of the plan benefits at their disposal.