Wearable and Cool

I've spent a lot of the last week reading reviews and watching videos from the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it out west, but that didn't actually matter too much with the amount of commentary that was coming out of the show in pretty much real time. This was the first time that I can remember that I really felt like I was immersed in a "real world" event while physically being more than a thousand miles away. Now clearly it's not going to be quite the same as being there in person (canapés and a cocktail on your own isn't that much fun!), but the sheer depth and breadth of the commentary coming out of the event from people who were there was astounding.

It seemed from the outside that healthtech and wearable tech were big items at this years show, with companies big and small previewing their new offerings. This infographic from the organizers seems to confirm this, with these two areas coming in first and fourth in terms of volume of mentions on social media.

As an organization that harnesses data from wearable devices and apps, and makes this data usable for healthcare providers, this is obviously great news for us. It appears that there is growing interest in self-monitoring and quantification and it seems unlikely that the large tech companies would be putting in so much time and effort into creating new and improved devices if they didn't see a real market for them.

Having said this I have got he impression that the majority of the devices are variations on a theme; physical activity, sleep and nutrition.This discussion thread on the Digital Health group on LinkedIn started by @BillVick calls for more diverse offerings. I do tend to agree. Although the data from continuous monitoring of activity and sleep patterns is extremely valuable there are so many other parameters that would augment this data and provide real insight to both the individual and their provider of care.

Of course there is the gray area between what constitutes a medical device and what is a consumer product. Falling foul of the FDA is not something anyone wants to do, especially in the light of the recent 23AndMe episode. However, with the pace of change in the industry seemingly accelerating to "warp speed" I am sure it is not going to be long before a consumer will be able to measure and monitor pretty much any parameter that their physician can. With this I truly believe there will come great opportunities to improve the health of the population, reduce the cost of delivering healthcare and make sure our patients (read clients) are satisfied.

Example of how the nGage Health platform presents data from a population using different devices to track physical activity.