Clarkston’s team of medical device and technology consultants have highlighted the top wearable device trends that businesses should consider. Read all 6 trends for 2024 by downloading the full report here.

The proliferation of Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications in healthcare – driven by innovations in remote care, real-time monitoring, and preventive measures – is revolutionizing how patients use wearable devices. Healthcare providers are now empowered to improve efficiency and patient benefit, such as reducing medical costs, streamlining record-keeping, and more specifically targeting individual intervention needs. Further, new wearable device developments are encouraging heavy patient involvement in their own health. These advancements have broadened the definition of wearables beyond traditional consumer devices like smartwatches and smart rings, paving the way for clinically driven solutions with significant healthcare impact. In this report, we dive into wearable device trends and their impact on the industry for 2024 and beyond.   

2024 Wearables Trends

Trend #1: Wearable Device Influence on Health Providers and Insurers 

The COVID-19 pandemic sparked dramatic growth in the use of health and fitness apps, reflecting a growing desire for the integration of the traditional healthcare system and the growing virtual landscape, such as telemedicine. In fact, one CVS survey showed that U.S. adults most value convenient care, privacy, personalized plans, and positive healthcare factors such as proximity, low cost, and the ability to monitor health through apps and wearables. 

These trends emphasize the potential of wearable devices for remote patient health monitoring. Take, for example, the Apple Watch. Its FDA-cleared EKG monitoring can send notifications, providing valuable data for remote care for healthcare providers and insurance companies. Another example is glucose monitoring. In one survey, ﷟71% of participants said that “using remote patient monitoring would help them better manage their condition between office visits.” There is certainly potential for healthcare providers to incorporate wearables into health improvement programs and patient care. However, to successfully integrate the use of wearable data, clinicians must possess the skills, knowledge, and training to ensure ethical and competent practice.  

Download the Full 2024 Wearable Device Trends Report Here

Trend #2: Standardization of Wearable Data as a Service

As the direct-to-consumer wearable market grows, medical device retailers see an opportunity in remote health monitoring to standardize data from health monitoring wearables. However, the lack of interoperability and data integration across platforms presents a challenge to organized clinical implementation. The data extraction, transformation, and load (ETL) process of wearable data-as-a-service provides the solution for standardization that enables the aggregation of wearable data into universally usable data analytics in a clinical setting.   

The global healthcare interoperability solutions market is estimated to value at $3.4 billion and to grow at 12.9% CAGR from 2022 to 2027. For medical device sellersand providers, data interoperability can become a value-adding service in navigating the complex data aggregation process in clinical settings. Other value-adding areas include data compliance and security to navigate the changing landscape of consumer privacy and data regulations. Offering wearable data standardization as a service enables all users to safely transport and analyze patient data for use in telemedical and clinical cases. The ETL process of wearable data-as-a-service will continue to grow in demand as healthcare and insurers move toward the convenient nature of telemedicine. Continue reading by downloading the full report below.

Download the Full 2024 Wearable Device Trends Report Here

Read last year’s Wearable Device Trends Report here.

Contributions from Hai Huang and Samantha Weitzel