The role of fitness technologies and consumer health evolve across entire medical industry, therefore, according to a new research released by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), US could reach a critical mass of physicians using patient-generated information from devices such as wearables by the year 2020. The report also lays out challenges, regulatory drivers, opportunities and industry initiatives which will drive the broad use of patients generated health information in clinical settings by 2020.
As health insurers and employers begin to use technology to incentivize subscribers to improvise their health, users will take a more active part in their own healthcare which will enable medical professional community to give patient specific precision medication, moving from episodic care to a more continuous care.
The popularity of fitness wearables and trackers is undoubtedly beyond amazing. CTA predicts that the US wearables market will generate shipment of almost 48 million unit sales in 2017 which would give 14% increase on the previous year.
Use of such devices will become an important part of patient care in upcoming years. The report also says that this partly because the technology feels less prescriptive than medications. Also, the use of wearables will greatly become a part of research toolkit in clinical trials.
Th reports also points out to some challenges which lie ahead. These challenges include lack of integration of devices with electronic health record systems, concerns about standards, efficacy of health and fitness gadgets on market. CTA attempted to address the latter with the launch of standards defining terms and functionality for step counting wearables, late last year.
According to the senior director, market research, CTA, more users are now harnessing wearable technology and personal information, giving them a greater ability to lead healthier lives. Also by using this connectivity to analyze and cultivate individual information, healthcare can be more personalized, effective and more democratized.
