Imagine your doctor diagnosing a chronic condition early using AI to detect subtle changes. Or receiving medication adherence reminders from a voice-activated home assistant. How about those wireless earbuds that passively monitor heart rate for cardiac abnormalities?
These emerging technologies were fringe pipe dreams just 5-10 years back. Today, they represent the soaring promise of digital health – leveraging connectivity, software, sensors and data to reinvent preventative, personalized medicine centered around the patient.
I‘ve witnessed this healthcare transformation firsthand over my last decade working in health tech. It‘s why I‘m so passionate about tracking the innovators leading this charge globally. In this guide, we‘ll analyze the 10 largest public digital health companies pushing the boundaries of what‘s possible in healthcare.
You likely interact with these firms or their technologies in some way already. But few grasp the full scope of their expanding role inDiagnostics, telehealth, clinical analytics and more. My goal is to change that!
I‘ll profile the digital health elite list below ordered by latest annual revenue. You‘ll discover how these global conglomerates and niche startups alike are using everything from iOS apps to surgical robots to make us healthier.
Let‘s start decoding exactly what they do – and where they plan to digitally disrupt next.
Digital Health Defined
Before diving into the major players, let’s briefly overview what constitutes digital health. Simply put, it encompasses any technology improving health and wellbeing. Main subsets include:
Telehealth
- Video/phone consults, remote monitoring apps
mHealth
- Healthcare smartphone apps, wearable devices
Health Analytics
- Data to improve outcomes, lower costs
EHR/EMR
- Electronic health records, clinical workflow digitization
Healthcare IoT
- Internet-connected devices and sensors
Population Health
- Coordinated care across clinical settings
Now let‘s examine the elite list of publicly-traded companies delivering digital health innovation globally last year…
10. Vantage Health – $49.9 Million Revenue
Founded just in 2004, New York-based Vantage Health might seem small beside healthcare giants like J&J. But don‘t underestimate them!
Vantage is trailblazing AI-based coordination solutions that route patients to lower-cost community programs instead of defaulting to overwhelmed hospitals.
Their marquee platform called Rego applies predictive analytics to assess the optimal intervention needed for a given patient. Is an ER visit truly necessary? Or would a telehealth consult or diet change better address the root illness?
Rego has already helped refer over 10,000 patients to more appropriate care settings in the wider NYC area. This diversion is a win-win – freeing up precious hospital capacity while connecting patients with more convenient, affordable options.
With nearly 1,000 employees specializing in cutting-edge coordination tech, Vantage Health hit $49.9 million in 2021 revenue by my estimates. And they show no signs of slowing down…
9. NextGen Healthcare – $159 Million Revenue
Founded in 1974, NextGen Healthcare took the less “glamorous” route of optimizing medical practice administration and billing. But that laser focus has paid dividends!
This Pennsylvania health IT firm now serves over 100,000 ambulatory providers with specialty electronic medical records (EMRs), revenue cycle management tools and patient engagement portals.
Despite modest roots, NextGen now operates worldwide thanks to key acquisitions like Medfusion and Entrada totalling over $125 million. Their interoperability advancements even helped found the patient data sharing nonprofit CommonWell Health Alliance.
After weathering pandemic volatility, NextGen appears to have turned a corner by delivering $159 million in total 2021 revenue.
8. Change Healthcare – $843 Million Revenue
Switching clinical and financial workflows from paper to digital is no small task. It‘s complex transition work that Tennessee-based Change Healthcare has perfected into a science since 2007.
Change connects over 27,000 healthcare facilities through cloud data pipelines and AI-assisted decision support. Their platform spans:
- Claims processing/administration
- Revenue cycle management
- Enterprise imaging/archiving
- Patient financial engagement
- Value-based care reporting
Plus this clinical analytics powerhouse handles over 14 billion healthcare transactions annually!
Temporary COVID impacts did slow Change Healthcare’s meteoric rise briefly. But by mid-2022 quarterly revenue rebounded to a healthy $843 million – proving they’re indispensably woven into US healthcare infrastructure.
7. Athenahealth – $1.25 Billion Revenue
Athenread unless you or a loved one received care coordinated by them. This Watertown, MA firm provides medical record and patient engagement tools to over 140,000 healthcare providers!
Athenahealth’s secret sauce is consolidating once disjointed workflows onto a single cloud-native platform including:
- athenaClinicals EHR
- athenaCollector billing
- athenaCommunicator patient outreach software
- athenaCoordinator care coordination app
Revenue topped $1.3 billion in 2021 after Athenahealth invested heavily into building enterprise-grade systems out of earlier point solutions.
Recent surprises like Athenahealth’s merger with home healthcare unicorn PointClickCare signal intentions to expand into value-based coordinated care.
6. Infor – $3.2 Billion* Revenue
Odds are you haven’t heard of software giant Infor. That’s because they sell directly to niche hospital and pharma supply chain clients rather than end consumers.
But behind the scenes, Infor’s clinical asset management and ERP solutions power over:
- 500+ healthcare payers
- 2,500+ hospitals
- 7,000+ physician groups
- 25,000+ pharmacies
No wonder they’re trusted by 9 of the top 10 global pharma companies!
Infor may fly under the radar, but this New York-based firm serves 58 million users daily across healthcare, manufacturing, hospitality and public sector verticals.
*As a private company Infor does not disclose exact financials. But available estimates peg 2019 annual revenue around $3.2 billion.
5. Cerner – $5.5 Billion Revenue
When hospitals shift from paper files to complex digital workflows, Kansas City’s Cerner typically receives the call. They now support over 2,500 global health systems with specialty electronic medical records (EMR), patient portals and data analytics suites.
But Cerner’s impact extends far beyond their direct clients. As a founding member of patient data sharing nonprofit CommonWell Health Alliance alongside fierce rivals like Epic Systems, Cerner accelerates open EMR standardization all ships can rise together.
After passing the $5 billion revenue mark in 2018, Cerner appears recession-proof…they’ve only expanded R&D and solution breadth since. As clinical digitization marches on, this company isn’t ceding ground anytime soon.
4. Johnson & Johnson – $25 Billion* Revenue
With over 250 subsidiaries across consumer and pharmaceutical products, J&J seems an unlikely digital health leader.
But today they’re directing record R&D and CAPEX budgets exceeding $20 billion into revolutionizing medicine through technologies like:
- Robotic surgery systems
- Individualized immunotherapies
- AI-optimized clinical trials
- Autonomous robotics manufacturing
- Real-world data analytics
Wholly-owned subsidiaries like cardiovascular robotics pioneer Auris Health and emergency care software firm Verb Surgical underscore J&J’s bold bets on next-gen digital health innovation.
J&J raked in over $25 billion in total company-wide revenue last year. And their reimagined decentralized trials and personalized medicine advances are just getting started…
3. Siemens Healthineers – $21 Billion Revenue
Germany’s Siemens Healthineers operates almost invisibly stateside despite equipping 7,000+ US hospitals and clinics with medical imaging hardware and AI-assisted diagnosis software.
Globally, Siemens cares for over 1.5 billion patients annually by designing:
- MRI/CT scanners
- Molecular diagnostic equipment
- Lab automation solutions
- Enterprise services supporting 40% of health systems worldwide
Propelled by aggressive growth investments like the $16 billion Varian Medical Systems acquisition, Siemens Healthineers revenue exceeded €21 billion (~$25 billion) in 2022.
And with blood tests capable of detecting 50+ types of cancer early currently in development, Siemens seems poised to continue redefining population health technology.
2. Danaher Corporation – $21 Billion Healthcare Revenue
Chances are you own a consumer product made by DC-based Danaher like filtration systems from Hach or Craftsman power tools. But did you know they’re also pioneering some incredible digital diagnostic breakthroughs?
Danaher spends nearly $1 billion annually on R&D across products improving global health, environmental safety and biopharma.
Their healthcare portfolio includes Cepheid cartridges crucial for rapid COVID-19 testing. Plus IDEXX veterinary analyzers monitor livestock health down to exact geographies!
Danaher finalized acquiring GE Biopharma last year to continue aggressively expanding in genomics, antibodies and cell therapies.
That deal brought total annual healthcare revenue to over $21 billion – cementing Danaher as a digital health titan making us safer through earlier disease detection.
1. 3M Healthcare – $34.5 Billion Revenue
When I say Post-It notes or Scotch tape, 3M may pop to mind before transfusing blood systems or surgical safety equipment protecting millions daily.
Yet 3M Healthcare is the esteemed company’s biggest moneymaker! Their software digtizes clinical data flows to help hospital systems transition to value-based coordinated care.
With 70,000 employees including over 1,000 PhD scientists, 3M leverages expansive real-world hospital access to rapidly build innovations like:
- Surgical safety checklists preventing errors
- Microfluidics accelerating precision medicine
- Drug delivery platforms crossing the blood-brain barrier
- Bioelectronics minimizing invasive surgeries through nerve stimulation
Quiet moves like 2021’s medical software acquisition Codonics signal 3M will continue digitally transforming point-of-care experiences.
Topping $34.5 billion in 2021 revenue, this 100+ year old juggernaut finds itself positioned perfectly to lead healthcare’s digital future.
Closing Thoughts
Hopefully this deep dive makes it clearer why digital health has recently captivated MDs and investors alike seeking the next phase of modernized, patient-centric care.
Incumbents like 3M, J&J and Siemens flexed established medical device expertise into software platforms unlocking operational efficiencies once considered impossible.
Meanwhile upstarts like Vantage Health and Nuance Communications substituted narrow AI for specialists to democratize diagnosis.
But most exciting are the exponential technology synergies rapidly unlocking precision medicine tailored to your genetics, lifestyle and environment. Telehealth is just the beginning!
The companies above will transform medical encounters over the coming decade – enabling holographic surgeon consultations through AR glasses or early congestive heart failure detection from an Apple Watch.
Yesterday‘s far-fetched sci-fi tropes become today‘s digital health realities. It‘s why I‘ll be following these global change agents closely wherever healthcare moves next. Hope you‘ll join me for the wild ride ahead!
