Wearable technology covers a massive scope of products and ideas from smart watches to Google Glass; but wearable health technology may be one of the fastest growing segments of the market thanks to two contributors: the Affordable Care Act, and our national obsession with data.
To be fair, the ACA will impact much more in the realm of health technology than just wearable health tech by pushing the healthcare industry to embrace digital health tech. New regulations in the Act provide incentives for providers, insurers and patients to cut costs by streamlining care and being proactive. Practices with outdated recordkeeping and charting systems will be forced, over time, to upgrade to the new standard of digital recordkeeping and patient communication. The hope is that making communications faster and more open across the patients/caregivers/insurers chain will result in earlier diagnosis and intervention, and a reduction in critical care visits. Insurance coverage for the previously uninsured will give them the opportunity to have preventative screenings and well-checks though only time will tell if people take advantage of the opportunity. Statistics show that people with chronic conditions use health insurance liberally while those without complaint often fail to keep up with recommended screening schedules.
But some wearable tech may help with that issue as devices that make baseline monitoring more affordable. The fact is many of us like to know when we’re doing something right and if a pedometer can give us a high-five when we walk the recommended 10,000 steps a day we’re more likely to use it. If a blood pressure monitoring watch tells us that we’re consistently running on the high side compared to normal we’re more likely to pay attention than if we just get one bad measurement while messing around with the cuff at the local pharmacy.
Even better is when that technology is preset to upload data to a predetermined source like our doctors office or insurance portal. Some insurers already offer rebates for getting and the recommended screening visits so its not a big leap to think they might do the same for regular blood pressure or glucose readings. It can mean the difference between catching a condition early and making lifestyle changes or ending up in emergency surgery or critical care. Studies have shown that data is uploaded faster and more regularly when it is set to automatically update when connected to Bluetooth or wireless than when the patient has to connect to a computer or modem.
Currently the most popular types of wearable health tech are personal fitness gadgets that let us learn about our sleep, daily motion, calorie and nutrition intake; maybe in this case information is power and we’ll be motivated if we see where making small changes can impact our overall health. We’ll also be more ready for more invasive or complex health tech as it becomes mainstream – think ingestible markers that report that we’ve taken medication or portable pain relief that deliver a controlled amount of pain management medication per day. While some may balk at the big-brother implications of having someone else monitoring how we take care of ourselves the fact is that doctors can only help us as much as we’re willing to help ourselves.
Want to learn more about the latest in wearable technology? Be sure to attend Wearable Tech Expo, July 23 & 24 at the Javits Convention Center in New York City. Stay in touch with everything happening at the event -- follow us on Twitter.
Edited by
Maurice Nagle
