Medical Group Management Association’s MGMA Stat poll asked healthcare professionals if their practices used data from patients' consumer/health wearables. Overall, just 6 percent of respondents indicated their practices were currently using this data while 81 percent responded they were not doing so, 14 percent were unsure.
Most of the respondents who were currently using data from patients’ wearables stated they were using the information during patient visits to engage patients in their health status and to set activity goals. Only a few indicated they received data directly from a device and used the information to monitor the patients’ health.
Practice leaders whose organizations were not using data from patient wearables were asked if their organizations planned to use this information in the future and 9 percent indicated they would do so in the next year and another 11 percent stated it would be two or more years before they anticipated using data from wearables. The majority (51 percent) of this group said they were not sure and 29 percent said their practices had no plans to use the technology.
The poll was conducted on June 13, 2017 with 1168 total responses. Of this total, 62 indicated the question was not applicable to their situation with a net of 1106 applicable responses.
MGMA Stat is a national poll that addresses practice management topics, the impact of new legislation, and related topics. Participation is open to all healthcare professionals. Results of other polls and information on how to participate in MGMA Stat is available at: mgma.org/polls.
