How doctors are using wearables data

For the report, AMA surveyed 2,222 physicians from the United States, Canada, and several European countries between January and March 2026 about how they viewed and used consumer digital wearable devices in their practices.

Consumer digital wearable devices refer to nonprescription, commercial devices that individuals use to track their personal health, fitness, and performance. These devices include smartwatches, fitness trackers, and biosensors.

According to the report, many physicians already use wearable devices personally, with 82% saying they used a smartwatch, fitness tracker, or other technology. As part of their clinical practice, physicians across different countries reported similar levels of exposure to and interest in wearable data, with only 3% saying they never reviewed at least one type of wearable data.

In the United States, the top wearable data categories reviewed by physicians were activity and function, heart physiology, events and alerts, and sleep. These were also the top reviewed categories in most markets.

Many physicians also reported seeing at least some clinical advantage in wearable data. Seventy-seven percent of U.S. physicians said there was at least some clinical advantage in wearable data, while 74% of physicians outside the United States said the same.

However, when patients ask physicians to review wearable data, they typically will, showing that "[e]ven though demand remains limited, the relationship between patient request and physician action is strong," AMA writes.

Barriers to leveraging wearables data effectively

Although interest in wearable technology is growing among both physicians and patients, very few countries have integrated wearable data into clinical practice and workflows. Currently, only 6% of U.S. physicians said wearable data is integrated into their clinical workflows, and less than 20% said it was very or extremely likely that wearable data would be integrated within the next 12 months. 

Physicians also reported concerns about legal liability and the potential feasibility of using wearable data in clinical practice. Among U.S. physicians, 43% said the top barrier was medical-legal concerns, while 33% said the top barrier was accuracy and 29% said it was outcomes evidence.

In addition, 44% of U.S. physicians said regulatory approval was strong or essential for trust in wearable accuracy. Currently, regulation of wearable devices is mixed, with devices promoted as wellness tools generally receiving lighter oversight.

"There needs to be a process where we can see the evidence and there's standards and transparency," said Whyte. Providers should know: Has the device been clinically validated? In what population? Under what circumstances? "And that should be stratified based upon risk in terms of what it's assessing," Whyte noted.