Health IT, MedCity Influencers

Watching for Wearables at HIMSS14

My fourth HIMSS has come and gone, and all I have left to show for […]

My fourth HIMSS has come and gone, and all I have left to show for it are numerous bits of badge flair and a new Withings activity tracker, courtesy of the good folks at HIMSS and HealthStandards.com – the team behind the weekly #HITsm tweetchats. (Who knew you could social network AND play bingo at the same time?)

Acquiring my own piece of wearable tech was a huge coincidence, as I initially planned to blog about the presence of said technology at the show. I knew I’d certainly see people sporting watches, bracelets and the more traditional pedometer; little did I know I’d soon be joining that club myself.

I saw numerous FitBits and a few Jawbones, quite a few Google Glasses, two AliveCor EKG iPhone readers, traditional pedometers and at least one smart watch. I’m sure hundreds more had tracking apps on their phones. I often found one person sporting more than one device. I was at HIMSS after all, where a love for technology in all its forms was ubiquitous.

Jessica Cohen from Aria Marketing and Ted Balowski of CareTechSolutions show off their activity trackers.

I asked each person – all fairly healthy looking – why they wore their particular device. Everyone’s answer had to do with motivation – motivation to start walking more, to get more and better sleep, to eat fewer calories, or to keep up with friends and coworkers also wearing tracking devices. Josh Byrd, the marketing guru over at Patientco, explained that his entire company has been outfitted with FitBits as part of an employee wellness program. Globetrotting Dr. Nick van Terheyden, CMIO at Nuance Communications, a quantified selfer if ever there was one, told me Nuance is thinking of doing something similar for its employees, provided it can report on the quantified data in a way that will help improve health and reduce company healthcare costs.

Dr. Nick van Terheyden of Nuance Communications sports Google Glass, a FitBit Flex and AliveCor EKG reader for his iPhone.

It’s one thing to give folks who work in healthcare these kinds of gadgets, but what about consumers that might need them more? The obese, the diabetic, the chronically ill? What about those in underserved communities who might not have health insurance, employee wellness programs or the means to buy a device? How can they take advantage of what these devices can do?

Digital health expert Dan Kendall told me that he is working with Entra Health Systems to conduct a field study on the patient use, acceptance and implementation of activity monitors and other sensors. Patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension or congestive heart failure will be given a FitBit, weight scale, blood pressure cuff, pulse oximeter and tablet. Daily measurements on said devices will be taken over the course of six months, with the ultimate goal of taking Patient Activation Measure assessments, and gauging patient acceptance of these types of wearable technologies.

Real-world use cases like these might help to create compelling reasons for government-sponsored health insurance programs, or even private payers, to cover the cost of prescribing these devices to patients in need. I truly hope wearable technology doesn’t end up broadening the digital healthcare divide that already exists between the haves and the have-nots.


Jennifer Dennard

Social Marketing Director for Billian's HealthDATA and Porter Research by day. Healthcare IT blogger, freelancer and event marketer in my spare time. Digital health enthusiast. Fan of #HITsm and #HITchicks everywhere. Mom of two. Wife of urban artist entrepreneur.

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