The wearable health boom is creating a data overload for doctors

Cardiologist Dr. David Kao regularly sees patients arrive with troves of metrics from smartwatches and bands. He says much of the information isn’t clinically useful—“Probably 70% of it, I just don't know what to do with clinically”—yet occasionally a device surfaces data that would otherwise have been missed.

The health system’s episodic model struggles with a continuous stream of measurements. Ream Shoreibah notes that clinicians’ systems, infrastructure, time and staffing aren’t set up to receive or use the data, and Dr. Ida Sim calls the current state a “Wild, Wild West,” citing cloud-to-cloud hurdles, multiple logins, inconsistent formats, unclear governance and questions about what to store and for how long.

Those validity concerns create a dilemma: dismissing wearable data can alienate engaged patients, while acting on possibly inaccurate readings risks harm. Still, clinicians point to clear benefits and growing fixes. Dr.

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