WHYTE: Medicine’s future is already on your wrist

Technology increasingly affords physicians the opportunity to understand what happens between office visits

Published Jul 27, 2026  •  3 minute read

The Garmin Forerunner 55 Bluetooth Running Smartwatch. Photo by Supplied

Long before a patient sees a physician, the visit has already begun.

Article content

Their smartwatch has tracked weeks of sleep, heart rhythm, physical activity and recovery. They may have searched symptoms online or asked an AI assistant what those changes might mean. By the time they arrive at the clinic, they bring not only questions, but months of health information.

Article content

Article content

The physician has 15 minutes to make sense of it all.

This scene is becoming increasingly common in Canada and around the world.

While much of the attention about medicine’s future has focused on artificial intelligence, another transformation is happening quietly. Patients are bringing clinically relevant health data into the exam room long before physicians begin the visit.

Tech offers more complete picture

Medicine is entering an era of more continuous care. Technology increasingly affords physicians the opportunity to understand what happens between office visits, not just during them.

For generations, medicine has largely relied on snapshots of health captured during a single appointment. A physician measured a patient’s blood pressure, listened to their heart, discussed their symptoms and made decisions based on what they observed in that moment.

Article content

Article content

Increasingly, physicians have access to something different: A more complete picture of a patient’s health over days, weeks and months. That broader perspective has the potential to identify meaningful trends earlier, support more informed clinical decisions and create richer conversations between physicians and patients.

This represents one of the biggest changes in modern medicine. The question is no longer whether wearable technology belongs in health care, but whether health systems are prepared to use it wisely.

A recent international survey of more than 2,200 physicians across Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Spain found broad recognition of the value of wearable-generated health data. Many physicians are already reviewing and discussing that information with patients.

RECOMMENDED VIDEO

Barriers to accessing data

The challenge isn’t physician acceptance. It’s that health systems were never designed for patient-generated data. Across countries, physicians identified remarkably similar barriers: Poor interoperability, uncertain liability, limited reimbursement and electronic health records that still struggle to incorporate digital information.

Article content

The findings suggest this is not uniquely a Canadian challenge. It is one facing virtually every modern health system. The reality is that patients have embraced digital health faster than health care has adapted.

That matters because wearable devices are becoming more capable every year. They can detect irregular heart rhythms, monitor sleep, encourage physical activity and provide a longitudinal picture of health that was once available only in research settings.

This doesn’t mean that every notification deserves a medical appointment or every data point belongs in a patient’s chart. Quite the opposite.

As wearable technology becomes more sophisticated, clinical judgment becomes even more important. Technology can identify patterns. It cannot determine which findings are meaningful, how they fit into a patient’s overall health or whether they warrant treatment. That remains the work of physicians.

Practical solutions are needed

The opportunity, therefore, is not simply to collect more information. Canadians are already doing that.

Article content

The opportunity is to build health systems that help clinicians distinguish signal from noise and use patient-generated information where it genuinely improves care.

That will require practical, not technological, solutions: Better interoperability, clearer clinical guidance, workflows that fit into already busy practices and payment models that recognize the time required to interpret validated digital information. These are questions every country is beginning to confront.

Canada has an opportunity to help shape the answers. In a publicly funded health system facing workforce shortages and growing demand, the goal cannot be for physicians to spend more time sorting through raw data. The goal should be to build systems that surface the information that matters most and integrate it seamlessly into clinical care.

In other words, the future of health care will not be defined by who collects the most data. It will be defined by who uses it most wisely.

For millions of Canadians, that future is already on their wrist. Technology is changing what patients bring into the exam room. Now our health systems must change how they use it.

— Whyte, MD, MPH, is chief executive officer of the American Medical Association.

Read More

1. 

   EDITORIAL: Canada's health care isn’t free or the best

2. 

   Ottawa lost more than $10M in health equipment after 2024 flood: Report

Article content