The healthcare industry is going through a transformation, and to succeed in this increasingly competitive environment, organizations need to make significant investments in processes and technologies to cut down costs, increase access to care delivery, and improve medical care. Driving current healthcare trends are the costs of providing care and the outcome of this care. As healthcare providers face revenue pressures, they are adopting new care delivery models and shifting to outpatient services to reduce administrative and supply costs. In this blog, we take a closer look at each of these trends. The demand for telemedicine is increasing, as it is a great way to bridge the gap between physicians and patients.

Qualcomm is continuing to place emphasis on the wearables segment, with senior director of Product Management for Qualcomm Atheros Pankaj Kedia telling media that the chip giant will be "doubling" its play in the market. "We have seen public announcements from some of our competitors that they are exiting the wearables space; Qualcomm is doubling our investment, because we are winning today and we intend to continue," Kedia said during the Qualcomm 4G/5G Summit in Hong Kong. Over the next two to three years, you will really see growth around all of this." Kedia said Qualcomm has a cyclical relationship in wearables market growth, increasing its investments alongside growth while in return driving the market with these investments. "Because we are investing in wearable-specific chipsets, we are able to drive market growth, and we are able to do that in a leadership fashion where a majority of wearables shipping today are based on Qualcomm," he said.

Wearables appeared to have so much potential, especially when smartwatches first hit the scene: I mean, who wouldn't want a tiny touchscreen right on your wrist for fitness, smartphone notifications, and even calling? Well, unfortunately, they never took off for several reasons. However, 2017 may see some interesting changes, according to the latest data: Counterpoint claims that wearables powered by AI will grow 376 percent this year, but the question is "Will this be enough to generate renewed interest in wearables?" Currently, wearables market is largely divided into two categories: fitness trackers and smartwatches. Not surprisingly, despite Apple Watch's "success," fitness trackers still lead the market by a big margin.

In the past few years the wearables sector has been a hive of activity, but it feels like this year things have accelerated, particularly in the realm of health and wellness. A report by Forrester Research projected that 29 percent of Americans will use wearable devices, compared with 18 percent in 2015. It predicts that wearables sales will rise from 4.2 billion in 2015 to 9.8 billion in 2021. There has been more interest in wearables companies doing clinical validation. The AARP has been using its Project Catalyst initiative to validate the usability of connected devices and activity trackers for seniors.