Navigating Beneficiary Inducement Risks to Providing Patients with “Wearable” Technology and Self-Monitoring Tools

• October 07, 2022

• Stephen Angelette , Polsinelli PC
• Shelby Zumwalt , Polsinelli PC

As health care providers grow increasingly more sophisticated in how to use data to provide value to patients, “wearable” technology and other self-monitoring tools (wearables) have emerged as valuable assets to the provision of quality health care services. Wearables like activity trackers enable providers to track their patient’s steps (including step length and walking asymmetry), heart rate, sleep, fall risk, and other categories, and have been scientifically proven to provide beneficial effects . Activity trackers offer the health care provider insight into the patient’s day-to-day routine, helping the provider understand how daily activities affect the patient’s health and symptoms. As a result, providers are able to use the data from the activity to inform the patient’s ongoing treatment. Other wearables enable continuous monitoring through a sticker or patch. Applied onto the patient’s body, these wearables facilitate ongoing symptom and biometric tracking. These types of wearables can track a patient’s heart rate, blood pressure, glucose, weight, and stress in one single device.

ARTICLE TAGS

• Fraud & Abuse Practice Group
• Fraud and Compliance
• Health Information