Physician Skepticism of Consumer Wearables
Physician skepticism of consumer wearables is one of the main headwinds to their rapid growth. Other drawbacks include data security vulnerabilities, usability challenges and privacy concerns.
Makers of healthcare apps and wearables must ensure they collect data safely, and they must tell customers exactly how their information is used. They should adopt a DevSecOps model that includes foundational security capabilities.
Consumers Are Concerned About Data Security
The digital tools consumers use to track their fitness, health, and diet are constantly gathering data on them. It can be difficult to guarantee that this information stays private when it moves across networks, over servers, and through third-party systems.
Consumer wearables often lack the same security measures as medical devices that undergo clinical trials and are subject to strict regulatory oversight. This can make it challenging for doctors to trust the validity of the data gathered by consumers’ wearable devices.
While some consumers have been willing to forego privacy and data protection during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to get access to services like social distancing, they may not be as eager to give up these essential rights once the crisis has passed. To earn consumer trust, wearable device makers must work to defend users’ privacy by safeguarding their data on the devices, over networks, and on their service infrastructures. They must also ensure that their devices are compliant with HIPAA regulations.
Doctors Are Concerned By:
Data Validity
As health care shifts toward a more patient-centric model, consumer wearables are poised to play a key role. However, if the technology’s data is not validated and backed by doctors, it could create additional confusion and frustration for both consumers and practitioners.
With the right validation, these devices could prove invaluable as a secondary diagnostic tool. Using a lightweight device to track heart rate, sleep patterns, glucose levels and snoring, for example, can help patients with chronic conditions like diabetes or apnoea manage their condition and improve quality of life.
In addition, medical wearables can also provide early warning signs of serious conditions, such as a potential stroke, by monitoring a patient’s blood pressure. Unlike medical devices, which are often regulated through clinical trials and rigorous oversight, consumer wearables have yet to demonstrate the same level of accuracy and validity. Until they do, it is unlikely that doctors will rely on these technologies to inform their treatment decisions.
Data Interoperability
The United States healthcare system is notoriously fragmented and siloed. From hospitals to labs, public health programs, and physician offices, the industry runs on multiple independent systems that cannot seamlessly exchange information. This lack of interoperability is at the root of information loss, inefficient operations, and huge (but hidden) costs.
When it comes to healthcare wearables, physicians are concerned about how well these devices connect to their facilities. Often, they can only use the data that patients provide, and even then, there is no guarantee it will be securely transmitted to their EHR system.
Without the ability to seamlessly stream wearable data into their EHRs, physician’s struggle to use this valuable data to improve patient outcomes. And this can make it difficult for them to implement the people-driven healthcare approach that they are so passionate about. In fact, a recent survey by Quest Diagnostics found that over three-quarters of physicians feel they do not have enough information to engage with their patients.
Data Integration
The healthcare industry is rife with technology-focused tools designed to cut costs, deliver faster care and improve outcomes. But these new technologies also create a new set of problems that need to be solved, particularly when it comes to data integration and interoperability.
The problem is that data often gets siloed within a healthcare facility or among different third parties. For example, a patient might visit three clinics and each one might use a different EMR system. This could result in critical information falling through the cracks.
High-quality data integration enables effective and timely transmission of useful medical information. It also allows physicians to make correct diagnoses and start treatment promptly. That’s important, because the John Hopkins School of Medicine reports that approximately 40,000 to 80,000 people die each year due to misdiagnosis. This can be avoided by implementing a comprehensive data integration strategy that incorporates both deployment and automation capabilities. This includes the development of real-time pipelines that cleanse, consolidate and join healthcare wearable data with EMR, claims and provider information.
OnePhenix is the only IPAAS software that connects your wearable data to your healthcare professionals. www.Onephenix.com.au
Reference:
https://www2.deloitte.com/xe/en/insights/industry/technology/wearable-technology-healthcare-data.html