While some people just use their wearables to track steps and calories, OEMs want to advance things further by making their smartwatches and health trackers a much more integral part of your health routine. Fitbit is one such brand and they have now announced that they will be using the Google Cloud Healthcare API to help their products “integrate further into the healthcare system.” While there are no specific details yet, the wearable brand did give us a preview into what this all means.
One way that the Cloud Healthcare API can help Fitbit wearables is to connect user data with electronic medical records (EMR). This will give not just the patients but also the clinicians a bigger picture of the patient profile in order to make healthcare more personalized rather than just generic. Fitbit recently acquired Twine Health and so having data from the API can also help manage chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension by letting the patients and clinicians work together on their daily care.
The Cloud Healthcare API is just a new product from Google Cloud and it’s part of their vision to build “healthcare-specific products and solutions.” Being chosen as a partner of one of the most popular wearable brands is a step in the right direction, although everything is still in the theoretical stage for now in the eyes of the consumers of course.
There are more than 76 million Fitbit devices out there and more than 25 million active users in their community so helping millions of people get better healthcare through wearables is a big deal. We’ll keep you updated when they release a new feature or product within this collaboration.
