When former Harvard squash cocaptain Will Ahmed developed the idea for wearable company Whoop in the early 2010s, he was focused on helping serious athletes like himself optimize their performance. The wristband he designed tracks activity, sleep, and recovery. But in August, the Whoop founder and CEO turned his attention to a very different audience: Medicare recipients.

The Whoop Connected Care offering—which includes a Whoop membership, a Whoop device, and a third-party blood pressure monitor and cuff—is now a pilot program available to Medicare beneficiaries 65 and older who have been diagnosed with hypertension, prediabetes, high cholesterol, or obesity. “Continuous data matters,” says Dr. Ami Bhatt, a board-certified cardiologist who joined Whoop as chief medical officer over the summer. “People want to perform and age well, and that’s what we’re aiming for.”

Bhatt acknowledges that at first glance, American seniors appear to have little in common with the athlete ambassadors—like international soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo and Super Bowl-winning NFL quarterback Patrick Mahomes—most closely associated with the Whoop brand. But women older than 60 are one of Whoop’s fastest-growing customer segments. They’re bellwethers of a broader shift as consumers’ pursuit of wellness morphs into a deeper interest in preventive healthcare. Wearable companies, looking to cash in on the trend, are hiring doctors like Bhatt and courting clinical partners.

Whoop and Oura, among the buzziest wearables on the market, are already multibillion-dollar businesses. 1 billion in March, when it raised $575 million in Series G funding. Oura was valued at $11 billion at the time of its $900 million Series E round last year.

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