Fitbit, Google Cloud unveil wearable knowledge analytics service for healthcare
On Tuesday, Fitbit Well being Options and Google Cloud introduced they’re launching a brand new service to assist healthcare and life science organizations make the most of knowledge from wearables.
The corporate mentioned that Device Connect for Fitbit permits sufferers to make their Fitbit knowledge obtainable to suppliers, giving these sufferers management over who they share their data with and for what goal. The device additionally features a “knowledge connector,” so knowledge could be built-in with Google Cloud’s BigQuery analytics engine or mapped to rising knowledge requirements. The connector also can make use of the Cloud Healthcare API, making Fitbit data interoperable with scientific knowledge.
The brand new service can even embody an analytics dashboard and might use synthetic intelligence and machine studying. Fitbit and Google Cloud mentioned the instruments might be used to observe sufferers earlier than and after surgical procedure, look after power situations, handle inhabitants well being, deal with well being disparities and gather knowledge for scientific research.
“With this answer, healthcare organizations can be more and more capable of achieve a extra holistic view of their sufferers exterior of scientific care settings,” Alissa Hsu Lynch, international lead for medtech technique and options at Google Cloud, and Amy McDonough, managing director of Fitbit Well being Options, wrote within the annoucement.
“These insights can improve understanding of affected person behaviors and developments whereas at residence, enabling healthcare and life science organizations to raised help care groups, researchers and sufferers themselves.”
THE LARGER TREND
Fitbit was formally acquired by Google early final 12 months after the deal was held up for months by regulatory probes. The corporate not too long ago obtained FDA clearance for its photoplethysmography atrial fibrillation (AFib) detection algorithm and launched a brand new line of well being and fitness-tracking wearables.
In the meantime, Google is nearing the launch of its personal branded smartwatch, known as the Pixel Watch. The tech large mentioned the brand new wearable will combine Fitbit’s well being and health capabilities.
Remotely monitoring sufferers is a rising pattern throughout the healthcare and life science sectors. A latest research revealed in JAMA Inside Drugs discovered distant affected person monitoring use amongst Medicare beneficiaries elevated from 91 claims per 100,000 enrollees in February 2020 to 594 claims per 100,000 enrollees in September 2021.
However a evaluate revealed in JMIR discovered some obstacles to elevated adoption. Although health-tracking wearables might inspire behavioral change amongst sufferers and supply extra complete data for suppliers, they may require extra clinician coaching and add to their workloads.