Wearable devices in healthcare: Success dependent upon patient engagement

Wearables are becoming increasingly, medically relevant and important to patient care, health IT professionals agreed during SearchHealthIT's #chatHIT tweet chat last week. The value of wearable devices in healthcare stems from -- and is being driven by -- several factors, including patients becoming more proactive with their health, wearables becoming more affordable, and doctors beginning to get on board, as well as play a role in the adoption and use of wearables.

Joining the SearchHealthIT team in the discussion of wearable devices in healthcare was digital expert David Chou, CIO at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Scroll through our recap below to see who else chimed in during last week's #ChatHIT.

Chou began the conversation with a confident "definitely" in response to whether wearables are medically relevant, and more experts chimed in -- including the Association for Executives in Healthcare Information Security and Kim Towne, digital analytics manager and risk management coordinator at Fathom Healthcare, a digital marketing and analytics agency -- echoing Chou's ideas.

A1-definitely,we are moving to an era where consumers want to take more action regarding their health #chathit

— David Chou (@dchou1107) August 27, 2015

A1- #wearables allows the patient the ability to engage and monitor their health which is always a positive #chathit

— David Chou (@dchou1107) August 27, 2015

Hopefully the competitive nature will drive the human behavior to improve their health. #wearables can be the tool #chathit

— David Chou (@dchou1107) August 27, 2015

#chatHIT Definitely. People are becoming more and more proactive and interested in their overall health.

— AEHIS (@AEHISecurity) August 27, 2015

Q1 -Consumers are more aware and involved in their health with wearables, yes medically becoming more relevant #wearabletech #chatHIT

— Kim Towne (@kimtowne) August 27, 2015

Not only are patients more motivated to take charge of their health, thereby pushing the adoption of wearables in healthcare, but some doctors recommend wearables and even prescribe certain apps to their patients.

A1 A recent survey found that 2% of respondents said an app was actually formally prescribed by their doctor #chatHIT

— Kristen Lee (@Kristen_Lee_34) August 27, 2015

A1 Another survey found physicians discuss #wearables, health apps with 15% of their patients on average #chatHIT http://t.co/f4AcLP1BqJ

— Kristen Lee (@Kristen_Lee_34) August 27, 2015

Furthermore, wearable data is now beginning to be ported into major EHRs, furthering their medical relevancy.

my sense is they are becoming medically relevant with all major EHRs starting to port wearable info into them #ChatHIT

— Shaun Sutner (@ssutner) August 27, 2015

As wearables become generally affordable, more people are likely to use them for their healthcare needs.

#wearables are also at a great price point now that they are affordable and eventually will become a commodity #chathit

— David Chou (@dchou1107) August 27, 2015

However, there are still concerns when it comes to wearables, as participants discussed in the tweet chat.

First, the flood of data -- or "data tsunami," as Chou referred to it -- is a big obstacle. Not all data is good or helpful. Sorting through the information that wearables generate to find value presents a challenge. However, some health IT professionals believe data analytics will play a key role in overcoming this challenge.

A2-the ability to filter relevant data will be crucial #chathit

— David Chou (@dchou1107) August 27, 2015

A2- we must also be careful not overload the physicians with data tsunami #chathit

— David Chou (@dchou1107) August 27, 2015

A2 - #chatHIT It's important to design a system which allows clinicians to assign meaning to sea of values: https://t.co/IPF7Apu8LC

— Mark Olschesky (@markolschesky) August 27, 2015

A2 - #chatHIT. The major care issue is consistency and reliability of data across devices if data is used for clinical decisions.

— Travis Good, MD, MBA (@travisjgood) August 27, 2015

#wearable data will be valuable when it allows the patient to take action based on the data to improve their health #chathit

— David Chou (@dchou1107) August 27, 2015

Second, protecting the privacy and security of patient data is a longtime worry, especially because healthcare organizations are mandated to comply with regulations like HIPAA.

A2 - wearables create a high need to strictly define HIPAA qualifications #chatHIT @SearchHealthIT

— CHIME (@CIOCHIME) August 27, 2015

Q2 Security is always an issue, regardless of precautions taken, all health information can be misused/abused #chatHIT

— Kim Towne (@kimtowne) August 27, 2015

A2 Patient privacy is a concern. But what you think is healthcare data under #HIPAA might not be. http://t.co/pn1sbhfeyF #chatHIT

— Health IT Exchange (@HITExchange) August 27, 2015

However, confusion continues to surround HIPAA, including what counts as personal health data and what exactly the privacy law protects.

A2 CISO told me: "#HIPAA in and of itself generally … is not worried so much about anything other than identifying the patient." #chatHIT

— Kristen Lee (@Kristen_Lee_34) August 27, 2015

In a recent SearchHealthIT article, experts explained that if a person simply goes out and purchases a wearable, the health data that device collects is not covered by HIPAA. However, if a person receives a wearable device through a hospital or doctor, then the health data that device collects is covered by privacy regulations because it was issued by a HIPAA-covered entity. Even then, it is important to note that HIPAA -- specifically the HIPAA Security Rule -- defines protected health information (PHI) as information such as a patient's name, address, phone number or Social Security number.

However, other information -- heart rate data, for example -- is not considered PHI and, therefore, not covered by HIPAA. One expert also added that if a cybercriminal hacks a wearable device and gains access to the owner's blood pressure measurements, it doesn't pose a major threat to the user.

A2 CISO also said blood pressure data or sleep data alone means nothing to hackers if they don't know to whom that data belongs #chatHIT

— Kristen Lee (@Kristen_Lee_34) August 27, 2015

Some people participating in SearchHealthIT's tweet chat were skeptical about how true this statement is.

True, but what are the odds the data is de-identified? Especially of collected on a cell phone app? #chatHIT https://t.co/oaByUx9mOh

— Kim Towne (@kimtowne) August 27, 2015

@kimtowne @dbarthjones @Kristen_Lee_34 Side thought. How could employers and managers exploit data, and for what purposes? Think Dilbert

— terrψ (@sandcastler1) August 27, 2015

Meanwhile, #chatHIT's host, Chou, believes that many IT professionals -- especially CISOs -- do not trust the security of wearables and the data they generate.

@dchou1107 Do you think they are too paranoid and that the benefits of #wearables outweigh concerns? #chatHIT

— Kristen Lee (@Kristen_Lee_34) August 27, 2015

@Kristen_Lee_34 definitely. I have seen to many orgs get stuck #chatHIT

— David Chou (@dchou1107) August 27, 2015

Ultimately, there are still a lot of unknowns with wearables that the industry needs to figure out.

Education is needed across the board - from consumers to doctors to health admins, etc. #chatHIT https://t.co/TdqvW0pHiQ

— Kim Towne (@kimtowne) August 27, 2015

#ChatHIT many have flagged the 3rd-party privacy issue: FDA, FTC, advocates, etc. Consumers need to know what they're agreeing to

— Shaun Sutner (@ssutner) August 27, 2015

Healthcare insurers using data to calculate future risk surcharges is a concern #chatHIT

— AEHIS (@AEHISecurity) August 27, 2015