Dive Brief:
- Smart wearable devices may help save 1.3 million lives by 2020, predicts Switzerland-based firm Soreon Research.
- "Smart wearables, a set of sensors attached to the body with a direct link to smart devices, are the most industry-disrupting innovation as well as a major opportunity to transform the healthcare system," according to the analyst group.
- Soreon analysts believe that patients with chronic conditions will help drive the smart wearables market from $2 billion today to $41 billion by 2020.
Dive Insight:
Everyone knows wearable technology is hot. And with the forthcoming launch of Apple's smartwatch, it's only poised to get bigger. But while smart wearables have lots of potential for improving the health and the lives of millions of Americans, there isn't a clear business case for why physicians should be prescribing consumer wearables to their patients—or if there is any link between wearables and outcomes. What we do see is evidence of physician-wearable technology helping physicians in practice settings—such as Google Glass helping in the operating room, or the California hospital whose use of a wearable sensor on admitted patients at risk for pressure sores increased compliance with hospital turn procedures from the existing rate of 64% to 98%.