The medical health-tracking watch has been developed by OneLife and is powered by AT&T.
The mHealth device, called the OnePulse smartwatch, is the result of a partnership between wireless carrier AT&T and OneLife Technologies Corp., a mobile healthcare software and data-collection company.
The health-tracking watch is the first medical wearable certified for AT&T’s LTE-M low-powered network.
The AT&T LET-M network connection reportedly offers medical providers with better versatility and a variety of key advantages. The network is an IoT-specific low-powered network variant that supports long battery life. What’s more, it supports this battery life with limited power draw.
The benefit to the OnePulse smartwatch is that it can support an always-on feature, has five days’ worth of battery life and is a lightweight design. Additionally, the network connectively allows clinicians to improve patient outcomes as they are able to monitor and cater to their patients in real time, reports Business Insider.
The OnePulse smartwatch gives healthcare providers the advantage of monitoring their patients remotely.
The mHealth smartwatch tracks heart rate, location, movement and sleep. It transmits this information to the cloud where it can be viewed and monitored by users, clinicians and caregivers.
These advantages are likely to help AT&T encourage adoption of this device, particularly because healthcare markets have a growing interest in connected wearables and are embracing this technology more and more.
A survey from AT&T Business and HIMSS Media has found that nearly 31% of hospitals are providing wearables to patients who have chronic diseases. This is expected to increase in the coming years due to these devices having success in improving patient outcomes. The survey notes that an additional 16% of hospitals are presently testing the use of wearable devices for patient remote monitoring and a further 14% intend to test in the future.
According to AT&T vice president of Internet of Things (IoT), Joe Mosele, health-focus connected smartwatches are the future of patient care. Investing in the mHealth wearables market could prove very lucrative for AT&T as the sector is expected to exceed $27 billion by 2026.
The open API OnePulse smartwatch is expected to be available for healthcare providers to purchase this month.