What You Should Know:
– Zimmer Biomet announced new features of mymobility with Apple Watch® – bringing remote patient care to life for patients who receive hip and knee joint replacement at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).
– Available later this year, mymobility with Apple Watch will now use gait metrics (the stride of a person as s/he moves limbs) to passively collect walking speed and double support time when walking on flat level surfaces without GPS. These measurements are critical for the recovery process and were once only able to be captured during an in-person doctor’s appointment.
Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc., a global leader in musculoskeletal healthcare, announced new features of mymobility with Apple Watch, creating a first-of-its-kind remote care management system. These new features expand upon the existing work between Apple and Zimmer Biomet, who together launched the mymobility care management system in October 2018 to transform the pre- and post-operative joint replacement experience.
With the addition of new mobility metrics to measure gait quality, mymobility will provide healthcare professionals with even more virtual touchpoints and real-time patient information to enhance their decision-making process, while patients will continue to receive a connected and customizable experience throughout their episode of care. Apple is demonstrating these features to developers during this year’s virtual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), June 22 to 26, 2020.
With the patient’s permission, the new gait quality metrics leverage the power of Apple’s ecosystem by using sensors in the Apple Watch and iPhone to passively collect walking speed and double-support time (period of time when both feet are in contact with the ground) when walking on flat level surfaces – without GPS. These gait quality measurement features will be available to hip and knee joint replacement patients and their healthcare professionals through the mymobility digital platform later this year.
“Digital transformation of care has been central to Zimmer Biomet’s ongoing evolution and growth prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and is even more important now,” said Bryan Hanson, President and CEO of Zimmer Biomet. “Through mymobility with Apple Watch, we are providing new and effective ways to optimize the patient experience and mitigate patient issues, without requiring additional in-office visits.”
mymobility’s new gait quality metrics from Apple Watch enable healthcare professionals to compare their patients’ progress against a database to better manage post-operative care and potentially identify issues. These new metrics will also be added to Zimmer Biomet’s OrthoIntel Orthopedic Intelligence Platform created for the purpose of helping to uncover new clinical insights for surgeons and their care teams.
