Mar 16
2015
State of Healthcare Wearables
I continue to find the research and editorial produced by CDW insightful and easy to consume, and I remain a fan of the company’s work, though, honestly I don’t know as much as about them as I do other vendors. CDW is a provider of information technology solutions, including hardware and software, in the U.S. and Canada.
Editorially, other than producing an annual list of the top 50 healthcare blogs (which this site has been named the last two years) CDW operates a massive editorial arm, producing some fantastic publications, including BizTech, EdTech and FedTech, among others.
My point is that the organization knows a good deal about producing great content and editorial, and releasing interesting insights related to top of mind topics – this time healthcare wearables.
Though the following graphic (I’m also am a huge fan of infographics) may be a bit dated, I believe it paints an excellent picture of the current state of the healthcare wearables market and touches on the evolving trend of consumerism in healthcare. The popularity of wearables continues to skyrocket, despite much talk about the market being over saturated and the fact that the data produced by the likes of FitBit, for example, really is not that useful. That said, the wearables market saw and 684 percent increase growth in the first half of 2014 alone.
According to CSW, consumers are not the only fans of health and self-care wearable devices. Physicians, hospitals and insurance companies see the potential of wearables for managing chronic conditions, improving patient fitness and health and reducing healthcare costs.
But, there are still a few wrinkles to work out — data access, accuracy and privacy among them. The following infographic offers a bird’s-eye view into why this year’s wearable sales are expected to be just the tip of the iceberg.