Stay Updated

Quick Wins with Wearables: The Future of Digital Care Pathways

By Jag Singh MD PhD, Member of DocGo’s Medical Advisory Board

We are at a pivotal moment in healthcare. For too long, the system has focused on treating disease only after it occurs. That’s beginning to change. At this year’s HRX, a leading cardiovascular conference, panelists emphasized how existing tools can help shift care, to make it more individualized, proactive and preventative. 

Millions of people already use devices that track heart rhythms, sleep, blood pressure, or glucose. Once seen as simple wellness gadgets, these wearables now generate clinical-grade data that can drive earlier intervention, strengthen care coordination, and potentially lighten the load on clinicians. That same data can power digital care pathways: structured programs that guide patients and providers through prevention, treatment, and recovery. Pathways can transform raw device data into actionable insights, aiding providers to give more efficient care and enabling patients to stay healthier, through the promotion of self-care.  

A Framework for Prevention

To understand the potential of these devices, it helps to consider the stages of prevention.

• Primordial prevention focuses on the stage before risk factors (signs of potential disease like high blood pressure, obesity, or elevated cholesterol) develop. It’s about promoting healthy behaviors and preventing those risks from emerging in the first place. Wearables that track activity, sleep, or other daily habits can support this stage by encouraging consistent, healthier routines.
• Primary prevention focuses on risk factors once they appear. Devices that measure blood pressure or glucose can help delay or avoid the onset of downstream coronary artery disease or heart failure.
• Secondary prevention applies when disease state has manifested. Monitoring tools can help keep patients stable and prevent hospitalizations.

Quick Wins from Widely Available Wearables

Let’s look at some practical examples of our preventative framework in action. The Apple Watch, for example, can identify atrial fibrillation and measure physical activity. The Oura Ring provides insight into sleep and recovery. Continuous glucose monitors deliver real-time feedback for diabetes management. The FDA-approved Aktiia band and similar devices can measure blood pressure at home.

Each of these tools offers the possibility of continuous, objective data. Patients can see their progress in real time. Clinicians can use the information to guide decisions between visits. Small improvements add up, and at scale they can change the course of chronic disease. If data shows signs of concerning changes, the care team can be alerted and respond earlier.

Opportunities and Challenges

The possibilities are significant, but with adoption comes responsibility.

Wearables can help lower costs by preventing avoidable admissions and improving outcomes through earlier detection. They also give patients a more active role in managing their own health.

Momentum is building on the policy side as well. New Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reimbursement models now support remote physiological monitoring and post-discharge care. These incentives encourage hospitals to integrate wearables into clinical workflows and signal that CMS views connected care as a critical component of value-based healthcare.

At the same time, patient privacy and data security must be protected. Regulators need to clarify how information from consumer devices can be used in clinical settings. And the role of AI in interpreting results must be easily explainable to earn patient trust and smoothly integrated into electronic records so clinicians can act on it.

Looking Ahead

For DocGo, the opportunity is clear. Looking to the future, the company can play a leading role by exploring how widely available wearables might be integrated into emerging models of care. Doing so could expand access, reduce the burden of disease, and make care delivery more sustainable.

The technology is already in the hands of millions of people. The task ahead is to build the digital care pathways that turn that potential into better health.