Connected Health Devices

🏥 Two #wearable companies. Combined valuation: over $20 billion. And we're just getting started. WHOOP has just raised $575 million in a Series G round at a $10.1 billion valuation. What is especially notable is not only the size of the round, but the signal behind it: investors include Abbott and Mayo Clinic. That suggests wearables are increasingly being seen not merely as consumer wellness products, but as strategically relevant assets in the future of healthcare. Meanwhile, ŌURA has been reported at roughly an $11 billion valuation, reinforcing the scale of market confidence in continuous, consumer-facing health monitoring. What makes this shift important is not just the hardware. It is the growing clinical relevance of continuous, real-world data. Recent literature shows that wearable technologies are moving beyond lifestyle tracking into more serious remote monitoring use cases. A new Nature Portfolio study demonstrated that #smartwatch-based monitoring can support the remote assessment of heart failure patients using continuous physiologic and behavioral data. A JMIR mHealth and uHealth systematic review further showed that wearables are increasingly used for chronic disease monitoring, especially in cardiovascular and neurological applications. At the same time, the real acceleration comes from analytics. As #AI-enabled interpretation improves, wearable data is becoming more actionable: not just raw signals, but contextualized information about recovery, stress, rhythm, activity, and deterioration risk. A JMIR systematic review on AI-enabled medical devices highlights wearable monitoring as one of the domains where AI is enabling more continuous, #personalized health management. This is why wearables are becoming strategically relevant beyond consumer tech. They are helping to push healthcare away from a model that mainly reacts to illness, and toward one that increasingly supports prevention, early detection, and continuous management. A recent European Heart Journal – Digital Health review describes wearable technologies as part of a transformation in cardiovascular care through continuous monitoring outside traditional clinical settings, while also making clear that large-scale impact still depends on validation, workflow integration, and governance. For those of us working in healthcare IT, the key question is no longer whether wearable-generated data will matter. The real question is: Are our health IT systems ready to receive, contextualize, and operationalize this data? #DigitalHealth #Wearables #RemotePatientMonitoring #PreventiveCare #AIinHealthcare #HealthcareIT #Interoperability #DigitalTransformation #Virgobit

🎯🎯 Empowering Health: Innovations in Wearable Health Tech 🎯🎯 Wearable health technology is transforming the way we monitor and manage our health, especially for those with chronic conditions. These innovative devices are making it easier for patients to stay on top of their health, providing real-time data and actionable insights. Here’s how wearable health tech is revolutionizing patient care: 1. Continuous Health Monitoring:   🟢 Real-Time Data: Wearable devices like smartwatches and fitness trackers continuously monitor vital signs such as heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen levels, providing real-time health data.   🟢 Early Detection: By detecting abnormalities early, these devices can alert users to potential health issues before they become critical, enabling timely medical intervention. 2. Chronic Condition Management:   🔴Diabetes Management: Wearable glucose monitors help diabetic patients keep track of their blood sugar levels throughout the day, making it easier to manage their condition and avoid complications.   🔴 Cardiac Care: Heart rate monitors and ECG-enabled devices provide detailed cardiac data, helping patients with heart conditions monitor their heart health and share data with their healthcare providers. 3. Enhanced Patient Engagement:   🔵 Personalized Insights: Wearable tech offers personalized health insights based on the user’s data, encouraging healthier lifestyle choices and better disease management.   🔵 User-Friendly Interfaces: These devices are designed with user-friendly interfaces, making it easy for patients of all ages to understand and use the technology effectively. 4. Integration with Healthcare Systems:   ⭕ Seamless Data Sharing: Wearable devices can seamlessly share data with healthcare providers, ensuring that doctors have up-to-date information to make informed decisions about patient care.  ⭕ Remote Monitoring: Healthcare professionals can remotely monitor patients’ health, reducing the need for frequent in-person visits and allowing for continuous care. 5. Innovations on the Horizon:   🔘 Advanced Sensors: The development of advanced sensors is expanding the range of health metrics that wearables can track, from hydration levels to respiratory rate.   🔘 AI Integration: Artificial intelligence is being integrated into wearable tech to provide more accurate predictions and personalized health recommendations. Wearable health tech is empowering patients to take control of their health like never before. By providing continuous monitoring, personalized insights, and seamless integration with healthcare systems, these innovations are enhancing patient care and improving outcomes. #WearableHealthTech #HealthcareInnovation #ChronicConditionManagement #DigitalHealth #PatientCare #HealthTech #FutureOfHealthcare #SmartWearables #RemoteMonitoring #PersonalizedHealth

⌚️ Wearables Just Got Political — and That Changes Everything The White House just made its boldest move yet toward proactive healthcare: 📲 A nationwide initiative to integrate wearables into public health 📈 Every American encouraged to track HRV, glucose, sleep, stress & more 💡 The goal? Shift from treatment → prevention 𝗪𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲. Let that sink in. 🩺 𝟔𝟎% 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐬 suffer from one or more chronic illnesses 💸 𝟗𝟎% 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 goes to preventable conditions — but most people wait for a diagnosis to start caring ⌚️ 𝟏 𝐢𝐧 𝟑 𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐬 already wear a health tracker So whats the plan? The U.S. government launched the Health Tech Ecosystem Initiative — bringing together Apple, Google, Oura, OpenAI, Microsoft, Cleveland Clinic, and many others to: • Build interoperable systems • Enable real-time access • Put users in control of their health data (hope so) It’s a massive shift. But also: a massive opportunity. Here’s the catch: Data without context is just noise. We don’t just need more devices. We need systems that understand... 🧠 Your physiology 🍽️ Your nutrition 💤 Your sleep 🏙️ Your environment 🧬 Your biomarkers This isn’t about passive tracking. It’s about real-time intelligence — embedded into everyday life. For decades, we treated illness only once it showed up. Now, for the first time, we’re building systems that could act before the crisis. 📲 The US government isn’t just endorsing wearables. It’s acknowledging that real-time insight is the next layer of healthcare infrastructure. But let’s be clear: • Without interoperability → it’s fragmented • Without trust → it’s surveillance • Without coaching → it’s just noise The real breakthrough? 🔁 Contextualized intelligence 🧠 Interpreted by AI 🌍 Informed by your environment 🎯 Delivered with purpose 👥 Empowering humans & professionals The future of healthcare? It’s proactive. It’s predictive. It’s hyper-personalized. And for the first time ever — It might just scale. This won’t happen overnight. Some countries will move faster, others will regulate longer. Trust, governance, and ethical data use will define the path forward. But the direction is clear. The question isn’t if this shift will happen… it’s how we will shape it. And what’s Europe’s response to this shift? Are we ready to reimagine health tech as a collective priority too?

The data is screaming a failure of leadership: You cannot buy better patient outcomes. Industry has treated digital health like an IT project, not a human transformation. And the result is a $100 Billion to $300 Billion annual non-adherence problem in the U.S. alone. Stop buying tech that adds friction. Start investing in invisible empathy. The real transformation doesn't happen when a new server racks up. It happens when a well-designed tool hands a physician more time to look a patient in the eye. This is the non-negotiable ROI of smart health technology: Time returned to the caregiver. If your solution demands the human workflow adapt to the software (EHRs, I'm looking at you), you've lost. You have introduced the Curse of Intelligence, prioritizing complexity over care. Connected Care demands we reverse this. The mandate is simple for Founders and Executives: Design for the "From Home, Back to Home" Loop. The critical disconnect happens after discharge. The patient's core human need shifts to continuous reinforcement and accountability. The Connected Care model solves this. This is where technology must be a seamless enabler, not a distraction: Wrong Focus: Generic medication reminders and confusing portal dashboards. Right Focus: AI-powered nudges, triggered by integrated biometrics (IoT), that translate complex data into a simple, real-time message of support. When a virtual monitoring system detects a deviation (missed exercise, sudden weight gain), it must deliver personalized, empathetic coaching. This scales the vital function of an expensive human health coach. The formula is simple: Connected Care + Personalization = Adherence. It is estimated that highly personalized digital messaging can increase adherence rates by almost 18%. That's not a technical win; that's a human win scaled by technology. The technology you can't see working is often the one generating the highest value. True Connected Care is felt, not seen. #HealthTech #DigitalHealth #HealthcareStrategy #HealthIT #ConnectedCare

🚀 $40B+ in R&D… but what are MedTech giants actually building? Everyone talks about revenue. Smart players watch innovation direction. Here’s what the top MedTech companies are really pushing right now: 🔬 Johnson & Johnson → Surgical robotics (Ottava platform) → Minimally invasive surgery → Digital surgery ecosystems 👉 Surgery is becoming data-driven, not just skill-driven 🧪 Roche → Advanced diagnostics → Personalized medicine → AI-powered lab systems 👉 The future is treatment tailored to one patient, not millions 🩺 Abbott Laboratories → Continuous glucose monitoring (FreeStyle Libre) → Rapid diagnostics → Wearable biosensors 👉 Healthcare is moving from hospitals → to everyday life ❤️ Medtronic → Implantable devices → AI-assisted surgery → Remote patient monitoring 👉 Chronic disease management = long-term tech ecosystem 🧠 Siemens Healthineers → AI imaging (MRI, CT) → Digital twins in healthcare → Advanced oncology systems 👉 Imaging is shifting from “pictures” → to predictive insights 🖥 Philips → Connected care platforms → Telehealth → ICU data integration 👉 Hospitals are becoming software platforms ⚙️ Boston Scientific → Minimally invasive devices → Cardiovascular innovations → Neuromodulation 👉 Less invasive = faster recovery = massive demand 🏥 Stryker → Smart surgical tools → Orthopedic robotics → AR in surgery 👉 Surgeons will operate with augmented vision 💉 Becton Dickinson → Smart drug delivery → Automation in labs → Infection prevention tech 👉 Efficiency in healthcare = billions saved 📡 GE HealthCare → AI diagnostics → Imaging + cloud integration → Precision care platforms 👉 Data is becoming the core medical asset 💡 Big picture We’re not just seeing new products. We’re seeing 3 massive shifts: Healthcare → predictive, not reactive Devices → connected ecosystems Hospitals → distributed (home + remote care)

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗗𝗔 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲. As of this month, consumer devices can now surface physiological metrics like blood pressure and glucose estimates, as long as they stay wellness-only (no diagnosis, no treatment claims). Last year, WHOOP got a warning letter for launching blood pressure tracking without authorization. This new guidance finally draws clearer lines. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗺𝘆 𝗲𝘆𝗲: This isn't just about wearables. The guidance covers any non-invasive wellness tool – including ones that analyze biological samples like stool, saliva, or blood – as long as they're validated and stay in the wellness lane. 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: Your ŌURA ring tells you your HRV tanked and you slept terribly. But it can't tell you why. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗲𝗿. Connecting wearable signals to deeper biomarkers (gut microbiome, metabolic markers, hormones) to help people understand the root drivers behind what their devices are showing them. Wearables capture the signal. Biomarkers could explain the source. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀. They'll figure out how to connect the dots across systems to give people actionable insights, not just more numbers. More metrics ≠ better health outcomes. 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀. What wellness tools are you watching in 2026? Official FDA announcement here: https://lnkd.in/gtD6kcvQ

The wearable war just split into two very different futures. Google Wants Scale. WHOOP Wants Clinical Depth. One day, two announcements. Two completely different bets on what health wearables should become. Google just rebranded Fitbit (now part of Google) into the @Google Health app. It is rolling out a broader health platform with Gemini-powered coaching, support for connecting data from hundreds of apps and devices, U.S. medical-record uploads, and a new $99 Fitbit Air linked to Google Health Premium at $9.99/month. WHOOP responded with something very different. This summer in the U.S., it will launch live, on-demand clinician consultations inside the app, backed by months of biometrics, plus EHR integration via HealthEx and a new layer of AI features including My Memory and Proactive Check-Ins. WHOOP also continues to build out its biomarker offering through Advanced Labs. This is not just product news. It is a category split. For years, many wearables competed on better dashboards, prettier scores, and smarter nudges. Now the market is diverging into two paths: 1. AI-first health at scale Google is building the mass platform: low-cost hardware, broad data aggregation, AI guidance, and ecosystem reach. 2. Clinician-connected health intelligence WHOOP is moving beyond recovery scores into a model that tries to connect continuous biometrics, blood biomarkers, medical history, and real clinical access in one experience. As the curator of the Global dartabase of Certified health Apps, I have said this before: the way wearables scale into healthcare is not just through better sensors. It is through clinical access. Because AI can tell you what may be happening. But a clinician tells you what to do about it. And legally, ethically, and practically, that still matters. That is why this moment matters beyond Google or WHOOP. We are watching wearables evolve from trackers into health operating systems. One model says: give everyone an AI health coach. The other says: close the loop between data, biology, records, and care. In the long run, the winners will probably need both. Because the future of wearable health is not AI alone. And it is not clinicians alone. It is the combination of continuous sensing, contextual AI, and trusted clinical action. That is where this category is heading. #DigitalHealth #Wearables #AI #Longevity #PreventiveHealth #GoogleHealth #WHOOP #ClinicalAI #mhealth

The FDA just updated its lists of medical devices that incorporate digital health technologies, now including sensor-based digital health technologies (sDHTs) for the first time. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/d3wg_6rm While AI/ML-enabled and AR/VR devices have been tracked for some time, the addition of sDHTs is exciting: ✅ It signals maturity. Reimbursement pathways for remote patient monitoring (RPM) and remote therapeutic monitoring (RTM) are now well established and delivering real value, driving a double bottom line for care providers and the patients they serve. ✅ It reinforces regulatory clarity. Despite ongoing hesitation in life sciences to embrace digital endpoints, the FDA continues to demonstrate its ability to evaluate these tools and its commitment to supporting high-quality innovation in the digital era of medicine. We had a little fun at the Digital Medicine Society (DiMe) this afternoon doing a quick cut of the data across AI/ML, AR/VR, and sDHTs: 📈 AI/ML dominates the landscape, with explosive growth starting around 2015 🧠 Neurology is a leading therapeutic area across all three categories 🫀 Cardiovascular dominates sDHT use cases and is also well represented in AI/ML and AR/VR 🩻 Radiology leads in AI/ML and AR/VR, but is absent in sDHTs 🧪 And spoiler: CGMs show up under clinical chemistry 😉 We’ll share more next week as we sit with the data a bit longer. In the meantime, kudos to FDA's Digital Health Center of Excellence for making this information public. It is only thanks to these newly released data that we can start to see the full picture. The landscape of medical devices incorporating digital health technologies is maturing quickly. It is increasingly capable of meeting the needs of our healthcare system and the patients we serve, and rising to the ambitions of a new administration committed to fully realizing the promise of digital health. #DigitalHealth #FDA #sDHT #RemoteMonitoring #RPM #RTM #DigitalEndpoints #HealthAI #HealthTech #CGM #RegulatoryScience #Innovation #ARVR #MedicalDevices

From “wellness gadget” to health infrastructure in just a few years. Wearables are not slowing down. In health and longevity, WHOOP, Oura, Ultrahuman and others look like breakout products, but the truth is, this is now much bigger than “wellness”. In investor and founder circles, many still talk as if wearables are just toys. They look at today’s step trackers and sleep scores, not at what this layer becomes when AI, diagnostics and continuous monitoring come together. If you had asked ten years ago whether people would pay every month to track sleep, HRV, glucose, or recovery, most would have said: too small, too niche. Fast forward to 2025 and we see: – tens of millions of devices shipped – real subscription revenue – platforms moving into biomarkers, labs, and even regulated use cases So what does this mean for the next chapter of health? → Category leadership is shifting We move from single products to health platforms. The winners are not just “ring vs band”. They combine wearables, lab tests, imaging and AI into one Personal Health OS. A mix of hardware, diagnostics and subscription creates both scale and staying power. This is no longer about a gadget on your wrist. It is about infrastructure for prevention. → The competitive race is changing Big tech (Apple, Samsung, Google) and specialized players (WHOOP, Oura, Ultrahuman, Function Health and others) are running into each other. One side has: – huge ecosystems – app stores – deep pockets The other side has: – focus – faster product cycles – a clear prevention-first story Focus and trust in health can be a real advantage, but nobody can relax here. Technical moats are thin. Distribution, engagement and outcomes will decide a lot. → Toward a real Health OS Everyone now talks about owning the “health OS”. I see three layers: – diagnostics (labs, imaging, biomarkers, wearables) – AI (analysis, pattern detection, risk prediction) – daily life (sleep, movement, nutrition, stress, relationships) The Health OS connects these three. Your ring, your lab panel, your MRI, your behavior data sit in one loop: test → analyze → act → re-test. That is where prevention becomes real. Not more data, but data that fits into your life and leads to clear actions. What I will be tracking the next years: – How far platforms move from wellness into regulated healthcare without losing user trust – Which companies can prove real outcomes – Whether they can grow beyond early adopters – How diagnostics-first models reshape oncology, prevention and longevity – Which players become true “health infrastructure”, not just one more app on the phone If you build or invest in this space, this is your window. Entire categories in health and longevity are being created right now. The future of health is AI-based, but the real value sits in connecting diagnostics, data and daily life. Where do you see the biggest gap today between what wearables measure and what they actually help people change?

Probably the biggest healthcare shift we’ve seen in a while 🤯 OpenAI just introduced ChatGPT Health, allowing patients to connect medical records, wellness apps and wearable data into a single conversational layer for on-the-go understanding of their results. If executed well (and safely), this could meaningfully close one of healthcare’s biggest gaps: what happens between doctor visits. As a medical doctor, I repeatedly saw patients leave appointments reassured, only to have questions or worries surface days later, with no easy, reliable way to sense-check them. This is where a tool like this can really help. Of course, there is a caveat reading data safety and protection. It’s important to remember that this is a consumer tool, not a HIPAA or GDPR-compliant clinical system, and it shouldn’t be used like one. While OpenAI has talked about safeguards, handling identifiable health data is quite complex, and it’s not yet clear how safe this will be in real-world use. Even with those caveats, it’s clear that AI is here to stay and will shape how care is delivered. It won’t replace clinicians, but used thoughtfully, it has a real potential to improve patient understanding, continuity, and confidence between visits. Interesting times ahead! https://lnkd.in/djcx8_av