Dr. Jeff Wessler (MD MPhil FACC) is a virtual cardiologist, the Founder of Heartbeat Health, and on clinical faculty at Northwell Health.
We’ve spent the last decade trying to “connect” patients—outfitting them with wearables, syncing their blood pressure cuffs to apps, inviting them to click through portals like it’s 2007. And yet, despite the influx of digital tools and streaming vitals, most of today’s so-called “connected” patients still feel disconnected from their care.
Here’s the reality: Connection isn’t about devices. It’s about meaning. And it’s time we redefined the connected patient not by how many data points they generate, but by how well they’re understood, supported and integrated into the flow of care.
The Old Definition: Data Equals Connection
Once upon a time, slapping a wearable on someone’s wrist or shipping a scale to their house counted as progress. And to be fair, it was—sort of. For the first time, we could track patients’ health between visits. A hypertensive patient’s readings no longer lived in a notebook. A heart failure patient’s weight gain could, in theory, prompt an early intervention.
But over time, data volume became a stand-in for connection. Dashboards piled up. Alerts multiplied. Patients generated more information than ever before, but no one knew what to do with it—or worse, no one was paying attention.
We created an ecosystem of passive monitoring and called it engagement. We connected devices and convinced ourselves we had connected people.
The Problem: Noise Without Signal
The result? An ocean of noise with very little signal.
Clinicians are inundated with low-priority alerts that blend into the background. Patients get app notifications they don’t understand, often delivered without context, follow-up or feedback. Remote patient monitoring (RPM) programs, in many cases, have become glorified inboxes—technically compliant, but clinically inert.
It’s not just frustrating. It’s dangerous. When everything pings, nothing feels urgent. And when patients don’t see the impact of their data, they stop caring. Passive data collection without interpretation or accountability creates the illusion of care—but not the reality of it.
We don’t have a connection problem. We have an interpretation problem. A workflow problem. A human problem.
The Real Definition Of A Connected Patient
So, what is a connected patient in 2025? It’s not someone who’s just wearing a device or logging into an app. It’s someone who is:
• Clinically Visible: Their data is not just stored—it’s seen, interpreted and acted on.
• Digitally Enabled: They have the tools to contribute meaningfully to their care, and those tools are actually useful.
• Engaged In Context: They understand what the numbers mean, what’s at stake and what to do next.
In other words, a truly connected patient is one who isn’t just emitting data—they’re part of a closed loop. That loop includes care teams, technology and, most critically, feedback. Data in. Insight out. Action taken. Outcome measured.
It’s not about surveillance. It’s about participation.
What It Looks Like In Practice
Let’s take cardiology, where remote monitoring is everywhere—and so is noise.
A patient with hypertension might be uploading blood pressure readings daily. But unless that data triggers something meaningful—a medication adjustment, a check-in, even just a message that says “you’re on track”—then the connection is all surface, no substance.
Now imagine a different experience:
• The patient receives automated but tailored feedback when readings trend out of range.
• A care team sees the trend, not just the spike, and adjusts treatment accordingly.
• The patient feels like someone is paying attention—because someone is.
This isn’t theoretical. We’ve seen it work in targeted, well-managed RPM programs where alerts are triaged, actions are taken and outcomes improve. The difference isn’t the device. It’s the feedback loop.
Being connected isn’t about who has the most wearables. It’s about who gets the most value from being monitored.
The New Connected Ecosystem
If we redefine the connected patient, we also have to rethink the connected system. Because patients often don’t get meaning from data on their own. That meaning is manufactured—by clinicians, by care teams, by platforms that prioritize clarity over clutter.
In this new model, connection isn’t about volume; it’s about velocity and value:
• Does the system respond to what the patient is telling it?
• Are there clear next steps?
• Is someone accountable for closing the loop?
The ecosystem has to work in both directions. Patients generate data, but they also receive insight. Providers manage risk, but they also need support from tech that prioritizes signal over saturation. Payors want outcomes, not just compliance checkboxes.
When all three—patient, provider, payor—are working from the same information, toward the same goal, that’s what real connection looks like.
Conclusion: From Streaming Data To Streaming Care
We don’t need more devices, more dashboards or more data for data’s sake. We need more meaning.
The modern connected patient isn’t the one wearing the most sensors. It’s the one who’s part of a system that listens, interprets, responds and improves. The goal isn’t 24/7 monitoring—it’s timely action. The power of connection isn’t in the signal itself—it’s in what happens next.
If digital health wants to fulfill its promise, we need to move from streaming data to streaming care. Less noise. More signal. And above all, more humanity.
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