Influx of wearables data means clinicians should be ready

Dr. Bronwyn Harris, chief transformation officer for CareEvolution, and Dr. Matthew Sakumoto, CMIO of Sutter West Bay Region, speak at HIMSS25 in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

Photo: Jeff Lagasse/Healthcare Finance News

LAS VEGAS – Smartwatches and other wearable devices can capture more information than is displayed on an ICU monitor, and while data from ICU monitors is still essential in patient care, wearable data is often ignored as a part of outpatient care. But consumers are using wearables to track their health data all the time, and providers would do well to know how they work.

Dr. Bronwyn Harris, chief transformation officer for CareEvolution, and Dr. Matthew Sakumoto, CMIO of Sutter West Bay Region, told a crowd at HIMSS25 here on Tuesday that it’s not a matter of if a patient will send a rhythm strip to a provider. It’s a matter of when.

“What providers do need to know are the key features of how these devices work,” said Harris.

According to her internal data, 22% of adults have a smartwatch, and of those, 83% said they use the health features. Wearable consumers take more than 1 million ECGs every year, and if someone took at least one ECG, they took a median of eight.

“Some of these features are considered medical devices,” said Harris, “so they’re subject to regulations. That falls under the enforcement discretion of the FDA, although the FDA is always able to decide that they’re not going to regulate certain things.”

Sakumoto recognized the need for his health system’s providers to get a better grip on how to handle the influx of wearables data. 

“If I’m worried about a patient having something, and I order a monitor, I’m expecting a result back,” he said. “It’s a whole different deal when it comes in unsolicited.”

Sakumodo decided to tweak the way the health system responded to wearable data related to AFib. It looked at cost, patient experience and quality of care, and to address all three, Sutter West Bay Region established a nurse-driven triage workflow, with the ultimate goal of reducing unnecessary emergency room utilization.

The four pillars of response to AFib alerts include patient outreach; screening, diagnosis and treatment; patient-clinician dialogue; and patient follow-up.

Sakumoto said that a lot of this data will likely first filter through primary care, but then transfer over to cardiology. That means all clinical teams, at all levels of the system, need to be ready for an influx of wearables data and know how to handle it.

“It’s about educating yourself about the key smartwatch features,” he said. “Learn what is actionable, and what follow-up clinical and symptom details are needed. For health system clinical leaders, think about smartwatches when creating standardized workflows.”

Jeff Lagasse is editor of Healthcare Finance News.
Email: jlagasse@himss.org
Healthcare Finance News is a HIMSS Media publication.