A new Apple Watch application developed by prosthetic limb manufacturer Zimmer Biomet — and now being tested at medical facilities in Massachusetts, California, Colorado and Michigan — will allow orthopedic surgeons to monitor their joint replacement patients’ surgical care and progress.

Patients can send basic health data (including their heart rates, daily steps taken, etc.) from their Apple Watches, via the app, directly to their surgeons.

The developer’s hope is to provide surgeons with better insights into their patients’ progress both before and after surgery, to give them more ability to measure their patients’ compliance, and to give surgeons opportunities to proactively intervene when patients need extra help.

“When you look at what patients have to do when they undergo hip and knee replacement, in some cases they have very low support or guidance before and after surgery,” Zimmer Biomet executive Dan Williamson told Reuters.

Such situations, he said, create “a lot of unnecessary fear and anxiety,” and result in poorer post-surgical outcomes.

Read more about it, courtesy of Reuters.