Google is reportedly shaking things up in its health division. The company is moving more than 130 of its roughly 700 Google Health employees to Search and its new Fitbit group, according to an Insider report.

Insider's sources say that none of the teams left at Google Health will focus on consumer tech. This news comes roughly six months after Google officially purchased Fitbit for roughly $2.1 billion, following over a year of regulatory probes.

At the time of the M&A, Rick Osterloh, Google's SVP of devices and services, said that Fitbit would contribute its wearable product experience and tech platform, and Google would bring its software, hardware and AI expertise to the table.

According to Insider, an internal memo from Google Health lead Dr. David Feinberg notes that this new personnel shift could boost the group's influence and speed.

WHY IT MATTERS

Google Health has historically had both consumer-driven products and provider tools. This report indicates that Google's consumer health efforts could be driven largely by the Fitbit team.

This also signals growth in the Fitbit team. The wearable's main competitor, Apple, is becoming increasingly health-focused. Apple took the wearable space by storm in 2018 when it announced a de novo clearance for an atrial fibrillation-detecting algorithm and an ECG on its Apple Watch Series 4.

THE LARGER TREND

This isn't the first major shift in personal for Google Health. In 2019, Google announced that the health team at DeepMind, an artificial intelligence-focused Alphabet subsidiary focused on research, would be joining the Google Health team.

Over the last year, Google has been busy. At the beginning of 2021, the team announced a new wellness feature of its Google Fit mobile app that employs machine learning to give the user insights about their heart rate and respiratory rate by using just their smartphone camera.

In December, Google Health announced the launch of a new Android app that streamlines study recruitment for consumers and shows them how their data is being used for research. Google Health teamed up with the HHS Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to pilot a new tool that helps prep patients for their healthcare visits.

Overall, Google has become increasingly invested in healthcare. In May the company revealed that it was working on a tool to help users find answers to their dermatology questions.

Another big news announcement out of Google was the creation of Care Studio, a clinician-facing search tool that helps organize a patient's medical records. The new tech was part of a collaboration with health system Ascension.

When the initial news broke that Google had been working with Ascension since 2018 on a “secret” Project Nightingale involving patient data, this surfaced privacy concerns among patients, clinicians and legislators.