Big Pharma Hands Out Fitbits To Collect Better Personal Data

An anonymous reader writes: Since the dawn of modern medicine, there have really only been two ways to know what a medical patient is doing: A) keep them around and monitor them, or B) ask them. The first is often impractical, and the second is fraught with misreporting. However, we're now in the age of data collection, and medical data is no exception. Pharmaceutical companies are gleefully passing out Fitbits and other wearables so they can more accurately test the drugs they make. Early trials have already found such devices to be better than human memory at reporting things like how much a patient walks. Other organizations are using movement data to algorithmically decide whether a patient needs a higher level of treatment. The article optimistically adds, "Down the line, wearables also could help pharmaceutical makers prove to insurance companies that their treatments are effective, thus reducing health costs."

Comments

Re:How DARE they!

[cdrudge]

However, it's another thing entirely for a health insurance company to require their use (or face a massive premium hike, etc).

They don't give you a massive premium hike if you don't use one. They give a massive hike to everyone and then give (potentially) a discount for those that use one.

Auto insurance does it for the safe driving discount. Credit card companies did it for paying with credit cards over cash. Merchants were once prohibited by merchant agreement (if not state law) for charging a surcharge if you paid by credit card. They could however offer a cash discount. So just raise the prices by 3% to cover the merchant fees and you circumvent the whole no-surcharge policy. (Yes, I'm aware this provision no longer applies in merchant agreements.)