Washington, DC—The Connected Health Initiative conducted a national poll of Americans asking how they wear, share, and pay for their wearable devices. With the surge in popularity of wearable health technology devices, including activity trackers, smartwatches, and smart clothing, the study found the majority of those who own wearables experienced improved health and fitness outcomes, but upfront costs prove to be a barrier for many.

How Americans wear their wearables:

  • More than 89 million Americans use a wearable device.
  • Of those Americans using a wearable, a majority of them track their exercise and fitness (86 percent), sleep (58 percent), and weight (51 percent).
  • Of those Americans using a wearable, 37 percent are managing a chronic condition.

How Americans share their wearable data:

  • Wearable health device owners currently, or are willing to, share this data with their healthcare provider: 82 percent.
  • Wearable health device owners with a chronic condition say their wearable device has simplified the management of their health, as well as improved their quality of life: 40 percent.

How Americans would like to pay for their wearable:

  • Millions of Americans have flexible spending accounts or health savings accounts (FSAs or HSAs), but they can’t use them to purchase modern health technology. These accounts mainly benefit middle-income earners. An estimated 70 million Americans are covered by HSA accounts alone, with approximately 78 percent of account holders earning less than $100,000 annually—and 70 percent earning between $30,000 and $90,000.
  • Fifty-seven percent of HSA/FSA participants without a wearable say they would be more likely to acquire one if their HSA or FSA covered it.

Survey results can be found here.

About the Connected Health Initiative

CHI is the leading effort by stakeholders across the connected health ecosystem to responsibly encourage the use of digital health innovations and support an environment in which patients and consumers can see improvements in their health. We seek essential policy changes that will help all Americans benefit from an information and communications technology-enabled American healthcare system. For more information, see www.connectedhi.com.

This nationwide poll was conducted between April 21-23, 2023, among a sample of 2,204 adults. The interviews were conducted online, and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of adults based on age, gender, race, educational attainment, region, gender by age, and race by educational attainment. Results from the full survey have a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.