Today in Healthcare: Peloton Gets Into Connected Strength, Improving the Patient Experience, GoodRx’s Growth

Today in healthcare, artificial intelligence (AI) has the chance to revolutionize healthcare and the continuing growth of connected healthcare. Plus, Peloton joins the connected strength space with new product rollout and GoodRx shares its prescription for continued growth.

Digital Diagnostics, In-Home Lab Tests Make Final Mile of Connected Healthcare Possible

The focus on improving the patient-customer experience is where connected healthcare has the best chance to make its mark, Max Cohen, CEO of clinician network Sprinter Health, recently told PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster.

“I don’t think that Disney should go into the hospital business, but I just imagine a pediatric hospital that was operated by Disney,” Cohen said, pointing to studies that link engagement with patient outcomes. “It would mean you’d have the characters around [and] pediatric cancer patients would not feel as isolated. It would just be an amazing experience.”

Acquisitions, Product Launches and Partnerships a Prescription for Growth at GoodRx

GoodRx co-CEO Doug Hirsch said during the company’s Q3 earnings call Wednesday (Nov. 10) that the company has “substantially expanded our highly extensible platform to address more of the consumer healthcare journey for more Americans,” opening access to more than 80 million prescriptions that the patients wouldn’t have been able to otherwise afford.

GoodRx’s recent acquisitions, partnerships and new product launches drove record revenues of $191.1 million and net adjusted income of $39.7 million in Q3, boosted by a 31% year-over-year increase in monthly active consumers (MACs).

Prescription Transactions Revenue rose 25% year-over-year to $155.7 million on the backs of a 31% year-over-year increase in MACs.

Peloton Launches Connected Strength Product Amid Slowing Growth

While Peloton has jumped into the connected strength market with an AI-enabled device it calls Peloton Guide, it still faces plummeting market value in the face of slowing revenue and subscriber growth — largely due to its botched handling of recalls of its flagship product when it caused injuries and deaths.

Peloton Guide give members access to instructors through a television connection and the Peloton content library. It will also include the Peloton Heart Rate Band and is set to retail for a starting price of $495 when it’s available early next year in the U.S. and Canada.

AI is Turning Connected Devices Into Healthcare’s Next Big Thing

With heart disease being the leading cause of death in the U.S. for many years, Caption Heath CEO Steve Cashman told PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster he wants to know, “Why can’t we make 4 million nurses have the ability to use ultrasound … in every care setting and session to understand more about the body, and particularly the heart?”

AI-guided ultrasounds make doctors more relevant to patients at a time when practices need to be, in addition to the life-saving aspect. Nurses performing more cardiac ultrasounds in offices and similar settings can build a revenue stream for physicians, providing a lifesaving service to patients while creating a connected healthcare experience.