Why do ‘legacy healthcare systems’ need to be disrupted?

Before answering that, let’s start with what makes an innovation or technology ‘disruptive’. What makes Airbnb but not Tesla disruptive, even though both are game-changers with global success?

The concept of ‘disruptive innovation’ was first introduced in 1997 by Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen to describe how new technology can transform a company and revolutionise an industry. His theory outlines the basic tenets and key concepts of disruptive innovation:

• Incumbents (e.g., hotels) focus on improving products and services for their most demanding and profitable customers, exceeding the needs of some market segments and ignoring the needs of others.
• Aspiring disruptors (e.g., Airbnb) enter by successfully targeting overlooked segments (i.e., low-end customers and homeowners) and gaining a foothold by delivering a ‘good enough’ product/service with lower quality at a lower price.
• Incumbents tend not to respond vigorously, as their focus is on the high-end, more profitable market
• Entrants start moving upmarket – delivering the performance that the incumbent’s upmarket/mainstream customers require (e.g. better quality) without neglecting the low-end customers responsible for their early success (e.g. low cost)
• When mainstream customers start adopting the entrant’s offerings in volume, disruption occurs as a completely new market is established

Traditional healthcare systems, known as the medical models, have been centred around hospitals, specialists, and expensive infrastructure. This model:

• Prioritises reactive care over prevention
• It is often costly and inaccessible to underserved populations
• Tends to serve high-margin patients while overlooking lower-income, rural, or preventative segments
• Often affords its patients minimal input into their treatment plan or daily routines (i.e. little to no personalisation)

This sets the stage for disruptive healthcare entrants: those who can address the shortcomings of legacy healthcare systems by offering accessible, affordable, and efficient solutions focused on improving access to care for underserved groups and who can eventually move upmarket to challenge incumbents.

Telemedicine is an excellent example: Initially used in remote areas, it grew significantly, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, and now offers the possibility of medical consultations anytime, anywhere, reducing costs and increasing accessibility.

What Are Medical Sensors?

Medical sensors measure biological, chemical, or physical signals and are often embedded into wearable, implantable, or ingestible devices. They’re used to collect and monitor health data in real time, such as:

• Vital signs monitoring (e.g. heart rate, blood pressure)
• Biochemical detection (e.g. glucose, lactate, hydration)
• Environmental context (e.g. posture, movement, ambient temperature)

Data collected by these devices is processed to deliver actionable insights that often result in improved outcomes for the user or patient. Modern sensors now work in tandem with AI, edge computing, and remote monitoring platforms, enabling new forms of care delivery.

How are the latest medical sensor technologies innovation-driven?

Medical sensor technology is rapidly evolving. The global medical sensors market, valued at USD 42.6 billion in 2023, is projected to reach approximately USD 144.8 billion by 2030. This growth is attributed to:

• The development of biomedical science and micro-machining technology
• Miniaturisation enabling easier integration
• The development of wireless portable medical devices
• The growing prevalence of chronic diseases worldwide
• The development of sensor-enabled pills and digital medication (e.g. ‘smart pills’)

Advances in sensor design and miniaturisation

Today’s sensors are smaller, more accurate, portable, energy-efficient, and capable of operating non-invasively or semi-invasively. This opens up continuous monitoring outside clinical settings, improving patient comfort, convenience, and adherence.

Example of potential disruption:

A disposable, low-cost continuous blood pressure patch for rural populations without access to clinics could target overlooked segments. It could evolve into a disruptive solution if quality and cost are balanced well enough to serve those outside the traditional system.

New materials and manufacturing techniques for medical sensors

New materials and manufacturing techniques are being used to develop medical sensors that are more sensitive, selective, and stable. Flexible electronics, biodegradable substrates, and 3D-printed microfluidics allow mass production at lower cost, making sensors more scalable.

Example of potential disruption:

Low-cost urine test strips with integrated Bluetooth (e.g. smartphone-assisted urine analyser) could provide early detection of kidney disease in underserved populations. If adopted widely by pharmacies or community health workers, this could become a low-end disruptor that bypasses hospital labs.

Enhanced data analytics and interpretation

Integrating AI and machine learning into sensor ecosystems is critical for making sense of the vast amounts of raw data generated by medical sensors and turning it into actionable insights. This helps to enable remote triage, predictive analytics, and autonomous diagnostics.

Example of potential disruption:

An AI-powered oximeter designed to diagnose COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), learn patient baselines, and auto-escalate critical cases could reduce unnecessary hospital visits. If deployed in bulk by a public health body or low-cost insurer, it could sidestep traditional GP triage entirely.

Have any medical sensor technologies disrupted healthcare?

The five tenets of disruption require innovation that targets overlooked users, delivers a more straightforward or cheaper solution, improves quality and service offerings over time, and eventually displaces the incumbents and changes the status quo. This process is uniquely complex in healthcare due to strict regulations, entrenched delivery models, and long adoption cycles. However, some sensor-based technologies are showing signs of disruptive potential—especially those designed to address the needs of marginalised, ageing, or chronically ill populations.

While none have ticked all five tenets of disruption just yet, the following examples may still reach that tipping point soon.

1. Personal Emergency Response Systems (PERS)

• Underserved market: Elderly individuals living independently, especially those in rural areas or with limited family support.
• Disruptive potential: High. PERS offer a low-cost, non-invasive way for older adults to get immediate help after a fall or health incident—without relying on institutional care.
• What’s preventing 5/5: Traditional PERS are often reactive (only useful after an event), and many require manual activation. They also remain tied to older service models (e.g. call centres) rather than autonomous care networks or predictive systems. Innovation in AI-powered fall detection and predictive analytics is starting to close this gap.

2. Over-the-Counter Hearing Aids (with embedded sensors)

• Underserved market: Individuals with mild-to-moderate hearing loss who can’t afford or access audiologist-prescribed hearing aids.
• Disruptive potential: Medium–High. The shift from prescription to OTC makes hearing support more affordable and accessible, breaking the traditional clinical pathway. Sensor-embedded aids can also track biometrics like balance or detect early signs of cognitive decline.
• What’s preventing 5/5: Despite regulatory approval (e.g. in the U.S.), uptake has been slow due to a lack of public awareness, limited integration with broader health systems, and stigma around hearing aids.

3. Biosensing Garments (Smart Clothing)

• Underserved market: Patients with chronic illnesses (e.g. cardiac or neurological conditions), athletes, and elderly populations requiring continuous monitoring.
• Disruptive potential: Medium. These garments collect real-time data like heart rate, respiration, and posture without intrusive devices, offering a potential alternative to clinic-based diagnostics.
• What’s preventing 5/5: Costs remain high, durability and comfort need improvement, and healthcare systems are still unsure how to integrate or reimburse such technologies. Most still complement rather than replace traditional monitoring methods.

4. Ingestible Sensors

• Underserved market: Patients with adherence issues (e.g. those with psychiatric conditions, elderly patients taking multiple medications), and those requiring GI monitoring.
• Disruptive potential: Medium. Ingestible sensors can track medication compliance or monitor internal physiology, helping to shift care from clinics to home settings.
• What’s Preventing 5/5: High regulatory and privacy hurdles, cost concerns, and a general reluctance by patients and providers to adopt internal tracking technology. Most implementations still rely on traditional prescription and data infrastructure.

5. Saliva-Based LFIA (Lateral Flow Immunoassay) Tests

• Underserved market: Populations in low-resource or rural settings, needle-averse individuals, and use cases needing rapid, at-home diagnostics.
• Disruptive potential: High. These non-invasive tests are cheaper, easier to administer, and scalable for mass testing (e.g. during pandemics or early cancer detection).
• What’s preventing 5/5: Clinical accuracy, regulatory approvals, and trust in results still lag behind lab-based tests. Integration into care pathways and EHR systems is also limited, slowing mainstream adoption.

Final thoughts: Innovation does not equal disruption

The latest medical sensor technologies are impressive and impactful. But they are not inherently disruptive – nor do they need to be if they intend to deliver a unique solution to an end-user’s pain point.

True disruption demands a shift in who is served, how care is delivered, and who holds the power in the system. Sensor technologies could still be the seeds of future disruption — especially if they’re:

• Designed with low-end use cases in mind,
• Deployed in non-clinical channels, and
• Evolve to meet mainstream performance standards over time.

Developing healthcare technologies is understandably challenging, and the pace of change is slow (regulation, compliance, clinical trials, and testing take time). Forming strategic partnerships and fostering collaboration between consumer tech companies, healthcare providers, researchers, and policy makers is crucial to overcoming challenges and creating an environment conducive to disruption. 

Whether you aim to improve hospital diagnostics or design a disruptive sensor for underserved communities, we can help you bridge the gap between technical ambition and market execution. We work with startups, research teams, and enterprises to rapidly prototype functional devices, confidently navigate medical regulations, and build scalable, production-ready solutions. Ready to take your medical sensor idea from concept to clinic? Book a free and confidential consultation with an expert on our team.