The fitness tracker market is booming, but privacy questions loom. Blockchain for healthcare is a solution.

By Xische Editorial, November 4, 2019

Congratulations, you are living in the golden age of healthcare. People are living longer and healthier lives as medical research has shifted its focus to prevention over treatment. These trends are particularly evident in the global fitness tracker market, which is estimated to value more than $55.8bn. The growing popularity of smartwatches and fitness trackers is forcing a fresh discussion about the intersection of health and technology. In many ways, this debate is overdue. Your physician is in need of disruption.

Products such as the Apple Watch know more about their users than their doctors do and that is one reason insurance companies are using fitness trackers as part of their risk assessment matrix. We have never had so many tools to help prevent deadly lifestyle diseases. The question is how do we balance sensitive user data with the power of these health tools. We need to rethink the patient/doctor relationship when a technology company serves as the middleman collecting vital information.

Insurance companies around the world are embracing these developments with open arms. Discovery, a major health insurance company in South Africa, is the largest distributor of Apple Watches in the county thanks to an innovative approach to technology. The company subsidizes the cost of the Apple Watch as long as users maintain certain levels of fitness (which are obviously tracked with the watches). 

Discovery also offers discounts at gyms as long as members go at least three times per month and for healthy food. The results have been impressive as Discovery customers tend to be healthier and have lower premiums than the competition. Without the Apple Watch as the foundation, the entire model won’t exist. 

That’s one reason why there is a veritable arms race underway in the wearables market (sorry for the pun). Apple is clearly the undisputed champion with its flagship Apple Watch but other technology giants are starting to get serious about the wearables space. Last week, Google announced that it would acquire Fitbit, a leading fitness tracker company, for $2.1bn. Since Google’s business model is radically different than Apple’s (Google sells advertising based on user data while Apple sells hardware), the acquisition has raised some eyebrows. 

Responding to criticism, Rick Osterloh, the head of Google’s hardware division, said the company will be open about how it uses data. “Similar to our other products, with wearables, we will be transparent about the data we collect and why,” Osterloh said in a statement. “We will never sell personal information to anyone. Fitbit health and wellness data will not be used for Google ads. And we will give Fitbit users the choice to review, move, or delete their data.”

What of the role of the government in the management of health-related data? Consider the case of Dubai in this regard. The city already invests in various health initiatives such as the 30-day fitness challenge. Given the high number of lifestyle diseases in the UAE stemming from sedentary lifestyles, the Dubai Government has been forced to promote healthier living. Now imagine if the Government adopted a page out of Discovery’s playbook and helped subsidise fitness trackers for qualified residents and citizens. 

But would people feel comfortable with a government knowing their health data? Maybe not but there are innovative ways around this problem. In Estonia, for example, health records are stored on a public blockchain. The information is easily accessible by various health professionals and because it’s stored on a blockchain, any changes to the data are logged in the digital ledger. Given Dubai’s commitment to blockchain across the government to improve efficiency, the Government is well positioned to bring its knowledge to health records. 

As part of a basket of health-related initiatives, a fitness tracker programme spearheaded by the Dubai Government could be a model for other places around the world. And it might be exactly what consumers need given the growing mistrust of private technology companies to handle our data in the safest manner possible. Just think how much more Google will soon know about its users. 

From search history to location data and information on heart rates, the company will have the clearest picture of its users that exists anywhere. If that scares us, we need to think of other alternatives and ways to keep ourselves protected while using these new tools to make society better. The combination of a nimble government partner and blockchain seems like a great fit. If there is one city that could carry it out, it would be Dubai.