Accelerating Digital Health with Wearable Tech

On a special edition of the Accelerate Health podcast, we continue our series of spotlights on unique digital health startups changing the face of healthcare. We spoke to Padraic Obma, MD, founder and president of Strive MedTech, a personal digital healthcare platform focused on redefining musculoskeletal care by empowering patients through mobile software and wearable technology.

Obma is a practicing orthopedic surgeon in Green Bay, Wisconsin, who became interested in innovations after sharing an article and video on a unique approach to shoulder surgery in 2011. A surgeon in South Korea saw the information and told Obma he had started using the same procedure. That inspired his interest in expanding innovations that could be scaled on a larger basis for greater impact.

The focus of this discussion was on how end-to-end personal digital healthcare technology can support patients throughout the care cycle, from initial assessment through surgery and post-op care. In his own practice, Obma saw the need for personal health technology that addresses not only improving quality of life for the patient, but also for their care teams, including surgeons, physical therapists, nurses and others.

The podcast episode touched on the need for personal digital health technology that can integrate its electronic health records into multiple systems, going beyond simply a means for storing information. Obma has made that integration and actionable data a priority in his company’s solution.

“From patient demographics to wearable tech input and patient surveys, the platform can identify and anticipate things ahead of time and potentially intervene,” Obma explained.

He explored the value of wearable and non-wearable sensor technologies and the value to patients. Obma found that most providers prefer a hybrid system of both virtual and in-person care. “This is where the future is, with patients more and more comfortable in their homes rather than sitting in traffic. It’s accelerated the next level of healthcare.”

The conversation concluded with a call to action for the future related to healthcare equity. “The state of Wisconsin is investing in broadband [for underserved communities] but patients need the hardware to support it. Our passion in healthcare equity is making sure patients have the right hardware to support the next level of healthcare we are seeing right now,” Obma said.  

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