Advocate Aurora Health launches data-driven health venture with tech giant
Foxconn is hoping a data venture with Advocate Aurora Health will help it commercialize a program that company officials claim has already lowered healthcare costs and improved care for some of its 1.2 million employees in China and Taiwan.
The Taiwanese company—the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer—is combining its artificial intelligence technology with the health system’s population health expertise. If the experiment works for Foxconn employees, the partners hope to expand from there, possibly to Advocate Aurora employees and beyond.
Foxconn is in the process of building a massive footprint in Wisconsin, hoping to generate 13,000 jobs over the next five to 10 years at its forthcoming $10 billion plant in Racine County, offices in Milwaukee and Madison, and a newly announced research facility in Green Bay.
The partners envision expanding Foxconn’s “smart city” concept. In this case, technology will collect employees’ health, fitness and dietary data at work, home, healthcare clinics and at Advocate Aurora’s planned $250 million hospital complex in Mount Pleasant, Wis., near Foxconn’s plant. Eventually, even gyms will play along, said Rick Klein, Advocate Aurora’s chief business development officer.
Foxconn’s health and wellness program has lowered employees’ healthcare costs, although Charlie Alvarez, vice president of Foxconn’s Health Technology Business Group for North America, did not provide specific numbers. He said the company also saw a nearly 10% reduction in its employees’ cholesterol levels and lower average blood pressures.
For Advocate Aurora, the partnership holds the promise of attracting thousands of new Foxconn employees into its clinics and hospitals. Its employees won’t need to be Advocate Aurora patients to participate, but Klein said doing so would allow them to “enjoy the full benefit” of the continuity of care and would drive the most savings to Foxconn.
Artificial intelligence has been widely hyped as a way to lower costs and improve quality, but so far there is limited evidence to show that’s the case. Advocate Aurora and Foxconn argue their project is different because it combines AI experts with clinicians and data scientists.