Philips upbeat on digital care as patients warm to data sharing

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AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch health technology company Philips expects sales at its digital care business to grow this year as patients see the benefits of sharing more medical data with doctors, Chief Executive Frans van Houten told Reuters.

FILE PHOTO: CEO Frans van Houten from the Dutch health technology company Philips presents the company's financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2018, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, January 29, 2019. REUTERS/Eva Plevier

Philips’ connected care division offers platforms to remotely monitor patients and for doctors to share patient data.

“We expect to see a positive trend in connected care this year, with sales growth picking up,” Van Houten said in an interview.

Its sales have lagged those of the company’s bigger divisions, which sell large medical equipment and personal care devices, stagnating in 2018 and falling 1% in the first quarter of 2019.

But Philips, which has spun off its lighting and consumer electronics divisions and now focuses purely on healthcare, expects rising life expectancy and associated chronic diseases to lead to growing demand for devices that allow patients to stay at home, while being monitored.

That view was supported by an international study, published this week, which showed patients with access to their digital health records are more satisfied with the care they receive and are very willing to share that data with doctors.

The study, which involved 15,000 patients and 3,100 doctors across 15 countries and was commissioned by Philips, also showed that two thirds of people who don’t have access to their own records want doctors and other health professionals to have access to their data.

Some 70% of the doctors interviewed with access to digital records said it improved their work.

“Data is the new gold”, Van Houten said. “We are absolutely convinced that sharing more data leads to better diagnosis, better treatment and better outcomes, improving the productivity of doctors.”

Increasing use of digital records could help Philips, as it sells software tools for doctors to gather data from records and devices that allow patients to collect health data, such as blood pressure and cholesterol levels, at home and immediately share them with doctors.

“People want their data to be used”, Van Houten said. “Although the general perception seems to be of an aversion towards data sharing, we actually see the opposite when it comes to health care.”

Reporting by Bart Meijer. Editing by Jane Merriman and Mark Potter

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Britain's BBC gets green light to enhance iPlayer

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LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s media regulator has given the BBC provisional permission to change its popular iPlayer on-demand platform from a 30-day catch-up service to one where programs are available for 12 months or longer.

Ofcom said the changes would help the BBC stay relevant in the face of changing viewing habits and deliver value to the public, which funds the broadcaster by paying an annual license fee of 154.50 pounds ($196) per household.

It said the changes would pose challenges for other public service broadcasters’ video-on-demand services, and would therefore need to be subject to conditions to mitigate against risks to fair competition.

The BBC launched iPlayer in 2007, offering programs for seven days after broadcast. The viewing window was extended to 30 days in 2014.

Ofcom said it was inviting other views before publishing a final decision by August.

Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by Stephen Addison

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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More U.S. millennials subscribe to video games than traditional pay TV: survey

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - More American millennials now subscribe to a video game service than to a traditional paid television service, according to a survey on Monday, as consumers favor new forms of entertainment that are shifting the broader media landscape.

FILE PHOTO: A woman plays a game on her cell phone while lying on the grass in Madrid, Spain, July 4, 2017. REUTERS/Juan Medina

About 53% of people born between 1983 and 1996 now pay for gaming services, versus 51% who pay for television, according to a survey from the accounting and professional services firm Deloitte.

That is compared with Deloitte’s survey last year, in which paid subscriptions among millennials were 44% for video games and 52% for television.

Paid television through cable, satellite or fiber - for instance Comcast Corp’s Xfinity, Dish Network Corp or AT&T Inc’s U-verse TV - has been challenged by changing viewer habits, particularly the rise of direct-to-consumer streaming services.

At the same time, video games and e-sports have soared in popularity, giving rise to an industry of competitive professional and amateur games watched in person and online by fans, alongside more casual gaming on mobile phones.

Players can subscribe to games like World of Warcraft from Activision Blizzard Inc. Riot Games Inc, a unit of Tencent Holdings Ltd , is working on a streaming mobile version of its hit League of Legends desktop game.

Electronic Arts Inc offers subscriptions to its games - which include FIFA 18, Madden NFL 19, The Sims 4, Star Wars Battlefront II and more - for Microsoft Corp’s Xbox and Sony Corp’s PlayStation.

In March, Alphabet Inc’s Google unveiled Stadia, its new browser-based video game streaming service to launch this year through its cloud technology.

The same month, Apple Inc also introduced a new digital video game subscription service called Apple Arcade.

Kevin Westcott, who leads Deloitte’s U.S. telecom, media and entertainment practice, said increased game consumption comes as more people fill their spare time playing on mobile devices instead of reading and other activities.

Gaming can provide social ties and communities of fans and players.

“Gaming companies have also been developing more compelling content and interaction with their consumers,” Westcott said in an email.

Deloitte’s 13th annual digital media trends survey was fielded by an independent research firm from December 2018 to February 2019 online among 2,003 U.S. consumers.

(The story removes typographical error in paragraph 3.)

Reporting by Hilary Russ; Additional reporting by Helen Coster; Editing by Lisa Shumaker

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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