Grains of sand to clinical pearls: Realizing the potential of wearable data

Despite the rapid growth of wearables as a consumer technology sector and a growing evidence base supporting their use, they have been slow to be adopted by the health system into clinical care. As regulatory, reimbursement and technical barriers recede, a persistent challenge remains how to make wearable data actionable for clinicians - transforming disconnected grains of wearable data into meaningful clinical ‘pearls’. In order to bridge this adoption gap, wearable data must become visible, interpretable and actionable for the clinician. We showcase emerging trends and best practices that illustrate these three pillars, and offer some recommendations on how the ecosystem can move forward.