Apple's health team has seen a slew of departures in the past year after a series of leadership changes and internal disagreements about direction. Tension has been increasing within the team in recent months, according to eight people familiar with the situation, although that undercurrent started several years ago. Some employees have become disillusioned with the group's culture, where some have thrived while others feel sidelined and unable to move their ideas forward, the people said. Four of the eight people said some employees hoped to tackle bigger challenges in the health-care system, such as medical devices, telemedicine and health payments. Instead the focus has been on features geared to a broad population of healthy users. The eight people requested to remain unnamed as they were not authorized to speak about Apple's health efforts or its departures. They said health does remain a strategic priority for Apple. Apple has been vocal about its commitment to health. It has been a key driver for Apple Watch sales, which have helped turn Apple's wearables segment into its growth engine as iPhone sales slow. CEO Tim Cook has said he hopes that health will be the company's "greatest contribution to mankind." It's not clear whether the attrition rate within the health team is higher than in other groups within Apple. But the departures and the internal tension over the group's vision show how tech companies could stumble in the notoriously complex $3.5 trillion health-care sector.

Ambitious employees in the field are eager to tackle the biggest problems in the health care system. But that does not always fit in with the more incremental and measured product approach of large tech companies. Among the most recent departures: Christine Eun, who worked at Apple for almost eight years with a background in marketing and who left this month, according to two people; Brian Ellis, who left the team overseeing AC Wellness, a subsidiary that operates health clinics for Apple employees, and went back to Apple Music in June, and Matt Krey, who left Apple in May and is taking time to focus on his family, according to LinkedIn. Other recent departures that were previously reported include Warris Bokhari, who went to Anthem this summer, and researcher Andrew Trister, who got scooped up by the Gates Foundation earlier this month. Apple declined to comment for this story.

How leadership is structured

Differences over direction