Fitbit have today signalled their push further into the health monitoring realm with the launch of Fitbit Care. The new connected platform combines wearables with “digital interventions and health coaching” through their new Fitbit Plus app to deliver better health outcomes.
The new health platform will use the data received from wearables and self tracking and digital interventions within the Fitbit Plus app to help “improve wellness, disease management and prevention”. Fitbit Care is the product that has come out of their purchase of Twine Health earlier this year. The digital interventions consists of the app providing not just community support and help for the user but also guided training anywhere, anytime.
With the introduction of Fitbit Care, we continue to expand our healthcare offerings with a new, bundled subscription offering that can help improve outcomes for some of the most common and costly conditions in healthcare, such as diabetes and hypertension, Adam Pellegrini, General Manager, Fitbit Health Solutions
Fitbit Care is designed to improve care team collaboration and thus health outcomes across all areas of care. Also involved in the process is Fitbit Health Solutions which is making health coaching available to enterprise customers. The coaches work with participants and their care teams to create and execute personalised care plans which may be in the form of weight loss, quitting smoking or management of diabetes or hypertension.
Supporting patients beyond the walls of the doctor’s office is one of the most important things we can do to drive successful outcomes, and as a clinician I see great potential for Fitbit Care to help tackle some of the biggest challenges in healthcare and improve health outcomes at scale.Dr. John Moore, Medical Director, Fitbit Health Solutions
At the centre of the program will be the new Fitbit Plus app available to users who “are enrolled in the health coaching component of Fitbit Care through their employer, health plan or health system”. It allows users to communicate directly with their coach or care team to allow them to receive personalised guidance and support. Fitbit Plus can also be used to track new health metrics such as blood glucose and blood pressure allowing all health metrics to be viewed within a single app.
Fitbit Care is available now in the US but will be available here in 2019. How it will function here in Australia is unknown considering our employers do not provide our health care to us as they do in the US.
Let’s hope they can produce a better strap system for their excellent trackers that do not break after a few months – after all a tracker that is not strapped to you cannot track !!