What wearables mean for healthcare

Studies are being conducted to measure the impact of wearable fitness trackers

We’ve all been reading about the hype of fitness wearables, especially with the recent launch of the Apple Watch. But what has been on all of our minds is: how will this affect the healthcare industry? And is it really possible to change patient behavior with a cool new gadget?

For many people, purchasing a fitness tracker is a big financial commitment. A recent study from Men’s Health Magazine shows that the majority of people aren’t willing to spend more than $200 on a fitness tracker. It also showed that 75% of respondents are using wearable tech for fitness, and 47.3% are using it to improve their training. So will wearable tech actually help the non-active get fit? Or will it only help the fit get fitter? A couple companies have set to find out.

Accenture recently conducted a survey with more than 200 insurance executives about the impact wearable technology will have on their industry. Wearable technology provides insurers the means of charging based on outcome, rather than relying on overarching trends and customer variables. For example, insurance companies could reward customers who use fitness trackers, and can demonstrate a change in behavior and health, by lowering their premiums. In other words, insurance companies will be able to create personalized insurance plans and premiums for its customers.

The study found that 31% of executives are already using wearable technology to engage customers, employees or partners. Here are some more significant findings from the study:

• 63% of respondents believe that wearable technology will be adopted broadly in the insurance industry within the next two years
• 73% of respondents want to provide a personalized customer experience
• 50% of respondents are already seeing a positive ROI from personal technology

For health insurance companies, this would be a way to more accurately reward customers who make their health a priority, rather than assigning points or rewards for simply joining a gym or getting a flu shot.

In addition to the Accenture study, Amigo and Alliance Health are partnering to conduct a study on the combined effect of wearable technology and participation in an online patient community on cardiac patients.

This study will be conducted with 100 heart failure, hypertension, and atrial fibrillation patients who are currently members of the Alliance Health community. These patients will be given free wearables that track activity, heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation and respiratory rate, and will be asked to monitor their health over 90 days. They will also be asked to discuss their findings in the online community. The study is hoping to find a correlation between using a fitness tracker and having peer support. The companies stated they chose cardiac patients for this study because oftentimes, people with these cardiac conditions aren’t already closely monitoring their health.

While we don’t yet have any definitive answers on the impact of wearable fitness trackers on population health, the existence of these studies shows that people are expecting this trend to rock many different industries, from insurance to healthcare. How is your hospital preparing for the adoption of wearable technology?