The healthcare industry is undergoing a profound transformation, thanks to the Internet of Things (IoT). The integration of IoT technology into healthcare systems is revolutionizing patient care, treatment processes, and medical research. In this article, we’ll explore how IoT is making its mark on the healthcare sector, its key applications, benefits, and the implications for the future of healthcare.

IoT in Healthcare: A Game Changer

The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the network of interconnected physical devices, vehicles, buildings, and other objects embedded with sensors, software, and network connectivity that allows them to collect and exchange data. In healthcare, IoT is enabling the collection and analysis of vast amounts of patient data, promoting remote monitoring, and enhancing the efficiency of medical facilities.

Key Applications of IoT in Healthcare

1. Remote Patient Monitoring

IoT has enabled healthcare providers to remotely monitor patients with chronic conditions. Wearable devices, such as smartwatches and sensors, collect real-time data on vital signs, activity levels, and other health parameters. This data is transmitted to healthcare providers who can intervene when necessary, offering timely care and preventing hospital readmissions.

2. Smart Medical Devices

IoT is giving rise to a new generation of smart medical devices. From connected inhalers that monitor medication usage to intelligent pill dispensers that send medication adherence reminders, these devices help patients manage their health more effectively and enable healthcare providers to track patient compliance.

3. Telemedicine

Telemedicine, or remote medical consultations, has seen tremendous growth with the help of IoT. Video conferencing and remote monitoring tools allow patients to consult with healthcare professionals from the comfort of their homes. This approach not only increases access to care but also reduces the burden on healthcare facilities.

4. Asset and Inventory Management

IoT is improving the management of medical equipment and supplies. Sensors can track the location and status of medical devices, ensuring their availability when needed. This results in cost savings and reduces the risk of delays in patient care.

5. Clinical Workflow Optimization

IoT can optimize clinical workflows by connecting various systems and devices. For example, electronic health records (EHRs) can be seamlessly integrated with diagnostic equipment, automating data transfer and reducing the risk of errors.

6. Hospital and Home Automation

IoT extends to the management of hospital infrastructure and home care. Smart building systems can control lighting, heating, and cooling, ensuring a comfortable environment for patients. Similarly, home automation systems can be integrated with healthcare devices to support independent living for elderly or disabled individuals.

7. Drug Management and Compliance

IoT is used to monitor drug storage conditions, ensuring that medications remain effective and safe. It can also help patients adhere to their medication regimens by sending reminders and tracking consumption.

Benefits of IoT in Healthcare

The integration of IoT in healthcare offers numerous advantages:

1. Improved Patient Outcomes

Remote monitoring and real-time data analysis enable healthcare providers to intervene promptly when health parameters deviate from normal ranges. This leads to improved patient outcomes, reduced hospital readmissions, and better management of chronic conditions.

2. Enhanced Efficiency

IoT streamlines healthcare workflows by automating various processes, such as patient data entry and medical equipment tracking. This reduces administrative burden, frees up staff time, and reduces errors.

3. Cost Savings

Efficiency gains and improved patient outcomes often translate into cost savings for healthcare facilities and patients. Preventing hospital readmissions and complications reduces the overall cost of care.

4. Increased Accessibility

Telemedicine and remote monitoring extend healthcare access to underserved or remote areas. Patients can consult with specialists without the need for long-distance travel, making healthcare more accessible.

5. Personalized Treatment

IoT allows for personalized treatment plans by continuously monitoring a patient’s condition and adjusting treatment regimens accordingly. This personalized approach often leads to more effective treatment and improved patient satisfaction.

Challenges and Considerations

While IoT in healthcare offers significant benefits, it also poses challenges and considerations:

1. Data Security and Privacy

Healthcare data is sensitive and subject to strict privacy regulations. The secure storage and transmission of patient data is of utmost importance to maintain patient trust and regulatory compliance.

2. Interoperability

IoT devices and systems must be compatible and interoperable to ensure seamless data exchange and integration. This requires the development and adoption of common standards.

3. Regulatory Compliance

The healthcare industry is heavily regulated, and IoT solutions must adhere to these regulations. Compliance with standards such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is crucial.

4. Data Overload

The continuous collection of patient data can result in information overload. Healthcare providers need effective tools for data management and interpretation to extract valuable insights.

5. Resistance to Change

The adoption of IoT in healthcare requires a cultural shift and staff training. Resistance to change can be a barrier to successful implementation.

The Future of IoT in Healthcare

As technology continues to advance, the future of IoT in healthcare looks promising. Here are some trends and developments to watch for:

1. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Integration

IoT and AI will work hand in hand to analyze vast amounts of patient data and offer insights for diagnosis, treatment, and predictive healthcare.

2. Wearable Health Tech

Wearable devices will continue to evolve, becoming more sophisticated and integrated into daily life. They will offer not only health monitoring but also wellness and lifestyle recommendations.

3. 5G Connectivity

The rollout of 5G networks will provide faster and more reliable connectivity for IoT devices, enabling real-time data transmission and analysis.

4. Blockchain Technology

Blockchain can be used to enhance the security and integrity of healthcare data, ensuring that patient records remain accurate and private.

5. Telehealth Expansion

The growth of telehealth and remote monitoring will continue, extending healthcare access and reducing the need for in-person visits.

Conclusion

IoT is reshaping the healthcare industry, making it more patient-centric, efficient, and accessible. The integration of IoT devices and systems allows for real-time patient monitoring, personalized treatment plans, and enhanced efficiency in healthcare facilities.

Challenges related to data security, interoperability, and regulatory compliance must be addressed to ensure the benefits of IoT in healthcare are fully realized. As IoT technology continues to advance, it will remain a driving force in transforming healthcare, offering a glimpse into a future where healthcare is not just about treating illness but also about preventing it and promoting overall well-being.

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The Healthcare domain has witnessed significant advancements through the Internet of Things (IoT) and its more specialized offshoot, the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT). To integrate devices seamlessly into a unified IoT system, firmware development and embedded solutions for IoT play a vital role.

This article will explore the impact of embedded solutions and good firmware development on the performance of IoT devices in the Healthcare industry.

Although we won’t even scratch the surface of most technical aspects of firmware development here, we must emphasize the importance of firmware development expertise for ensuring optimal device performance.

IoT in Healthcare Market Review and Forecast

According to Market Research Future, the global Internet of Medical Things market was $48.7 billion in 2022. Other forecasts project that it could reach as much as $516 billion by or before 2032, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.15%. North America leads the market, accounting for nearly 36% of the global share. This growth will most likely be driven by advanced healthcare technologies, remote patient monitoring demand, and the arrival of major market players from other segments.

The Rise of IoT in Healthcare

The increasing prominence of IoT in healthcare is revolutionizing the industry. The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) spans networks and integrations bridging equipment, software applications, and health systems to facilitate the exchange of vital health data. This network interconnects a wide range of devices, including wearables, remote monitoring systems, implanted devices, and other smart healthcare devices. These interconnected devices facilitate seamless interactions between healthcare providers and patients, enhancing communication and improving the healthcare experience. By leveraging IoMT, healthcare organizations aim to enhance patient outcomes, reduce healthcare expenses, and elevate the quality of care. The most vital aspect of developing within this space is firmware/embedded solutions because of the impacts and attributes we explore below.

The Impact of Embedded Solutions on IoT Device Performance

Embedded solutions are essential components that enable seamless connectivity and integration of devices within the IoT ecosystem. While numerous other technical factors must converge for successful IoT development, it is crucial to highlight how embedded solutions and firmware development contribute to the optimal performance of IoT devices in healthcare.

Device Integration

Embedded solutions facilitate the smooth integration of various medical devices, sensors, and wearables, enabling them to work cohesively within the IoT network. This integration streamlines data collection, analysis, and exchange, facilitating significant improvements in diagnosis and treatment because of the increased accessibility of high-quality remote patient monitoring.

Reliable Data Transmission

Firmware ensures secure and efficient data transmission between IoT devices and healthcare systems. By implementing robust communication protocols and encryption mechanisms, firmware solutions enhance data privacy and integrity, which helps to reduce the likelihood and severity of cyber incidents, data breaches, or any unauthorized access.

Over-the-Air Updates

Embedded solutions and high-quality firmware enable seamless over-the-air (OTA) updates, allowing healthcare organizations to remotely update and upgrade device functionalities, security features, and performance improvements. This ease of access eliminates manual intervention and minimizes disruptions in healthcare operations.

Device Optimization

Firmware plays a crucial role in optimizing the performance of IoT devices. By fine-tuning device parameters, managing power consumption, and implementing efficient algorithms, firmware solutions ensure that IoT devices operate at their peak performance levels. This optimization directly impacts healthcare IoT devices’ reliability, responsiveness, and overall functionality.

Fine-tuning Device Parameters

Firmware enables the customization of device parameters to meet the specific requirements of the healthcare domain. By adjusting settings such as data sampling rates, measurement accuracy, and device sensitivity, firmware solutions can optimize the device’s performance for different healthcare applications. For example, in wearable devices, firmware can be tailored to capture vital signs accurately while minimizing false alarms or unnecessary data transmissions.

Power Consumption Management

Efficient power management is critical in healthcare IoT devices, as they often operate on limited battery life or rely on energy harvesting techniques. firmware solutions implement power-saving mechanisms such as intelligent sleep modes, optimized data transmission protocols, and adaptive power allocation strategies to prolong the device’s battery life. Such increased efficiency ensures continuous operation without frequent battery replacements or recharging, enhancing user convenience and reducing maintenance costs.

Efficient Algorithms

Firmware plays a vital role in implementing efficient algorithms that process and analyze the data collected by IoT devices. By leveraging advanced signal processing techniques, machine learning algorithms, and data compression methods, firmware optimizes the utilization of computational resources within the device. This decreased data size and increased computing efficiency leads to more accurate data analysis in less time. These enhancements can directly lead to better patient outcomes through predictive analytics, earlier detection of any anomalies, and accurate, personalized healthcare insights.

Device Security and Safety

High-quality firmware development can also ensure the security and safety of healthcare IoT devices. For example, firmware can implement robust authentication mechanisms, encryption protocols, and secure boot processes to safeguard sensitive patient data and prevent tampering or unauthorized access. Additionally, firmware can incorporate fail-safe mechanisms and error detection algorithms to prevent system failures or malfunctions that could compromise patient safety.

Softeq – Experts in IoT Firmware and Embedded Development

Softeq is a leading provider of embedded and IoT development services with extensive expertise in developing firmware solutions for the healthcare domain. As a Microsoft Azure partner, an AWS Certified Partner, and an ISO 13485:2016 certified business, Softeq has demonstrated expertise in IoT firmware and embedded development for the healthcare sector. Our team of experienced engineers understands the unique challenges and requirements of the IoT ecosystem in healthcare, and we leverage cutting-edge technologies to deliver robust and high-performing embedded solutions like the following Case Study.

Case Study: Skin Cancer Detection Firmware

Softeq collaborated with Veriskin, a medical device company, to develop a handheld gadget for non-invasive skin cancer detection. Softeq’s firmware and embedded software expertise were instrumental in creating a complex Wi-Fi-enabled system. The solution featured an FPGA-powered handheld device based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon SD410 processor, incorporating LEDs, an audio speaker, an accelerometer, and a display. The firmware enabled real-time capture of LED light signal variations, translating them into a visual diagram. With algorithmic data analysis and a user-friendly interface, the device monitored vascular refilling rates. It provided a low-cost, prompt method for diagnosing malignant skin growth without biopsies or extensive examinations. The in-house firmware expertise at Softeq has played a crucial role in delivering a reliable IoMT solution for skin cancer screening.

Conclusion

Embedded solutions and effective firmware development play a crucial role in optimizing the performance of IoT devices in the Healthcare domain. By facilitating device integration, ensuring reliable data transmission, enabling OTA updates, and implementing device optimization techniques, firmware solutions contribute to enhanced patient monitoring, improved diagnosis and treatment, and streamlined healthcare operations. As the healthcare industry expands and accelerates its embrace of IoT’s potential, expert providers like Softeq stand ready to provide expertise and continue delivering innovative embedded solutions driving healthcare transformation through IoT technology.

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Introduction and Overview

It probably won’t surprise you that the Internet of Things (IoT) is revolutionizing the healthcare industry, creating new opportunities for improved patient care, cost reduction, and operational efficiency. However, the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) looks to bring even more innovation to the healthcare sector. IoMT includes some systems that were already staples of IoT, such as remote monitoring systems and wearable technology devices. However, IoMT expands the field through implanted devices and other smart connected devices that can feed critical and expensive or hard-to-access data back to healthcare providers.

Market Highlights

The market for this technology now appears set to grow from approximately $48.7 billion in 2022 to $370.9 billion by 2032, at a projected Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 23.15% (Source: Market.us). All signs suggest that North America will continue to be the most important region, given a market share of 35.8%. In comparison with other global regions, North America’s embrace of IoMT and the accompanying adoption of advanced healthcare technologies has been faster and more widespread. In turn, the availability of these technologies has driven demand for remote patient monitoring technologies and services.

The global COVID-19 pandemic also radically shifted the boundaries of medical technology, and it is no exaggeration to call this a turning point in the widespread adoption of IoMT devices in healthcare. During the pandemic, remote consultations, monitoring of vital signs, symptoms, and other health parameters, and vaccine distribution and administration have been widely adopted through IoMT devices. Moreover, the vast amount of health data generated during the pandemic has provided valuable insights for trend analysis and better-informed decision-making, leading to improved strategies for managing the pandemic and other healthcare challenges.

Trends Shaping Market Growth

There are several factors currently shaping the growth of IoT in healthcare. Technological advancements in connected devices, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cloud computing, have significantly improved the capabilities of IoMT devices and their potential impact on patient care. The increase in chronic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases, has also led to a higher demand for remote patient monitoring. This presents a key opportunity for IoMT by allowing healthcare providers to monitor patients remotely and provide early intervention, with improved patient outcomes and decreased hospitalization rates and shorter stays.

In addition to these driving factors, several trending factors are shaping the future of healthcare delivery through the integration of IoT technologies. The use of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, edge computing, blockchain, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and smart sensors, enables more efficient and personalized healthcare services. AI-enabled algorithms can perform in-depth real-time analysis on impossibly large amounts of health data streaming from IoMT devices. This analysis can identify patterns and trends for better decision-making and truly personalized treatment plans. Cutting-edge techniques and technologies like Edge Computing and widespread 5G also reduce latency and increase the speed of data transfers, enabling more data to move ever more easily. Taken together, these trends are leading toward a likely scenario where wearable tech alone will be worth $54 billion by the end of 2023 (Source: GlobalData).

IoMT Applications and Use Cases

IoMT devices are being used in various applications across the healthcare industry, including physiotherapy and sports/fitness therapy. Wearable medical devices, such as fitness trackers and smartwatches, are expected to dominate the IoMT market, holding the largest share of 45% (Source: Market.us). These devices are widely used for personal health monitoring, fitness tracking, and chronic disease management, among other applications.

One of the key benefits of IoMT devices is their ability to enhance patient engagement and empower individuals to take control of their health. Wearable medical devices enable patients to track their physical activity, sleep patterns, heart rate, and other health parameters, to make informed decisions about their health and lifestyle. Patients with chronic conditions can use IoMT devices to monitor their health parameters at home and share the data with their healthcare providers, enabling remote monitoring and personalized care plans.

Another major reason for the appeal of IoMT devices is their ability to improve patient safety and slash the costs of delivering healthcare. For example, medication dispensers with smart technology can help prevent medication errors by providing reminders and alerts to patients, ensuring timely and accurate medication administration. Smart hospital beds equipped with IoMT sensors can monitor patient movements, pressure points, and other parameters to prevent pressure ulcers and improve patient comfort.

For a deeper insight into IoMT, we’ll now consider the work of Softeq, a full-stack digital transformation and IoT development company, in building firmware for a custom skin cancer screening device.

Case Study: Firmware for a Non-Invasive Custom Skin Cancer Screening Device

The use of Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) devices has revolutionized the healthcare industry, with applications ranging from fitness tracking to chronic disease management. A medical device manufacturer with a specialization in skin cancer screening wanted to create a portable device that was capable of scanning for skin cancer non-invasively. The company turned to Softeq to test this idea’s viability and to create the firmware on which the device would ultimately run.

The Softeq team developed a complex hardware and software system using cutting-edge mobile hardware and software. The device had LED lights, a speaker, an accelerometer, a display, and other hardware components. It included a pair of photodetectors and a force sensor, collectively used to create a real-time visual representation of the patient’s skin.

The system observed how quickly blood was refilled in suspect skin lesions and analyzed the data using custom algorithms. It had firmware and software that included an audiovisual guide with error messages, LED lights calibrated to enhance the sensitivity of the photodetector, and the ability to store over 100 test results in its memory. The system also had a custom Linux BSP and drivers, built-in flash memory-based software, optimized Linux boot-time, firmware updates via USB, and secure login via SSH protocol.

Conclusion

It should be clear by now that IoT devices for healthcare and IoMT devices are completely transforming the health sector. However, there are a few things to be cautious of if you’re considering an internet of medical things project. In particular, the collection and transmission of sensitive patient data by IoMT devices pose significant concerns in terms of data privacy and security. In designing and constructing IoT in healthcare projects, it is vital to protect this data to safeguard patient privacy and comply with regulatory requirements like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Interoperability and standardization are also challenges, making it essential that you work with an experienced Healthcare Internet of Things development company like Softeq.

The bottom line is that IoMT devices are revolutionizing the healthcare industry by enabling remote patient monitoring, improving patient engagement, enhancing patient safety, and optimizing healthcare asset management. However, challenges related to data privacy, security, interoperability, and standardization need to be addressed to fully realize the potential of IoMT in improving patient care and outcomes. As technology continues to advance, IoMT is expected to play a crucial role in shaping the future of healthcare by enabling personalized, proactive, and patient-centric care.

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A new report from the IoT analyst firm Berg Insight has found that around 30.7 million people in North America were using connected care solutions at the end of 2022.

The figure refers to users of medical alert systems, connected medication management solutions and remote patient monitoring (RPM) solutions in Canada and the US.

RPM is the largest segment of the connected care market with a total of 28.3 million users at the end of 2022. The market for medical alert systems is considerably smaller with an estimated total of 4.4 million users, whereas the number of connected medication management users reached 1.8 million users at the end of 2022. There is an overlap between the market segments as medical alert users can also be equipped with a medication management solution or an RPM solution, and vice versa. The market is forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15..4 percent during the next five years to reach 62.7 million connected care users by 2027.

The leading use cases for RPM have thus far been sleep therapy monitoring. Patients that suffer from sleep-disordered breathing such as obstructive sleep apnea are typically prescribed an airflow generator, including continuous positive airway pressure, bilevel positive airway pressure and automatic positive airway pressure devices. However, many patients find the devices unpleasant to use and poor compliance is common. Payers are increasingly requiring that patients comply with their treatment plans to be reimbursed for the device which has driven equipment providers to connect the devices. ResMed is the largest player of connected airflow generators, partly thanks to the company’s decision to include a cellular IoT module as standard in its Air Solutions product family.

In the medical alert market, Connect America has emerged as the largest service provider after the acquisition of the Lifeline business from Philips in 2021, and is followed by Lively, Medical Guardian and Mobilehelp. The medication management market is still in an early phase and comprises several different types of solutions. The largest segment for connected solutions is injected medication, which is dominated by insulin pump providers such as Medtronic, Insulet and Tandem Diabetes Care. Other form factors such as such as connected medication caps, blister packs, pillboxes and pill dispensers are also starting to get traction.

“There is especially an increasing interest from research organisations and pharmaceutical companies to use medication management solutions in clinical trials”, said Samuel Andersson, IoT Analyst at Berg Insight.

The North American market for connected care solutions is affected by several trends and developments that will have an impact on the competitive landscape during the following years. Changing demographics is driving the demand for home care, while technological developments and regulatory changes affect the competitive landscape for solution vendors. The industry is becoming more patient-centric which calls for integrated systems and improved interoperability of connected care solutions. One example of this development is the on-going convergence of the medical alert and remote patient monitoring markets, where more and more medical alert providers have started to offer remote patient monitoring solutions. This includes integrated solutions that enable a combined delivery of medical alert and remote patent monitoring services.

Mr Andersson concluded:

“Care providers will start to offer more and more proactive and predictive services, by continuously analysing user data and acting on abnormalities. Such solutions rely on data not only from medical alert devices, but also from other sources such as smart home sensors, healthcare records and connected medical devices.”

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According to Future Market Insights, the worldwide IoT in Healthcare market is expected to reach US$ 181.4 Billion in 2022, growing at an 18.0% CAGR to US$ 952.3 Billion by 2032 over the forecast period.

Furthermore, a dollar opportunity worth US$ 770.9 Billion is anticipated for the market in the forthcoming decade.

By enabling real-time patient data access and remote patient monitoring, the Internet of Things (IoT) has the potential to disrupt traditional paper-based healthcare therapy. With the emergence of this digital healthcare technology, the impending need for enhanced diagnostics and targeted therapeutic options was met.

Furthermore, it not only enables physicians to remotely monitor patients, but it also functions as a fitness and wellness tracker for athletes and a dose reminder for patients. The successful implementation of IoT in remote monitoring of diabetic and asthma patients, along with the growing usage of fitness and wellness devices, has resulted in a considerable demand for the IoT healthcare business.

Key Takeaways from the Market Study

• IoT in healthcare experienced a growth rate worth 18.8% between 2015 and 2021
• Portable diagnostic devices in the IoT in Healthcare segment to expand at a CAGR of 10.1% during the forecast period
• In the U.S., the market is predicted to reach US$ 208.1 Billion while growing at a CAGR of 18.9% during the forecast period
• China’s market is expected to reach a market value of US$ 92.8 Billion with a CAGR of 19.5% during the forecast period

“Big data analytics is an area of IoT that is quickly expanding. The most recent breakthroughs in machine learning, logical procedures, computational intelligence, and data mining are required for big data analytics”, says an FMI analyst.

Competitive Landscape

Key players that have been profiled in the report are Apple Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., GE Healthcare Ltd., Google (Alphabet), International Business Machines Corporation, Medtronic PLC, Microsoft Corporation, Proteus Digital Health, Koninklijke Philips N.V., QUALCOMM Incorporated, and Abbot Laboratories are among companies that offer products and technologies that will allow customers to take advantage of new technologies.

• In April 2019, Royal Philips and Spencer Health Solutions expanded their relationship to provide chronically sick patients in selected European Union (EU) nations with in-home medication adherence and the Philips telehealth platform.
• Medtronic worked with IBM Watson in January 2019 to provide IQcast, a new feature of its current product Sugar.IQ, for iOS mobile devices in the United States. The software would provide patients with a hypoglycemic episode to monitor their low glucose level by anticipating the occurrence 1 to 4 hours in advance.

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In the health care sector, product malfunctions can be critical to a person’s life, so monitoring and maintenance are crucial. Citycare is able monitor the correct functioning of its Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) daily, wherever they are installed.

In France today, Citycare hires out more than 15,000 AEDs enabling its customers to easily set up defibrillators while also benefitting from a connected maintenance service for their devices. This essential service is rapidly becoming a growth market – since in 2018, a law was passed obliging public sector bodies to be equipped with defibrillators. In spite of this, there is still no law requiring maintenance to ensure the proper functioning of AEDs. Even though these defibrillators are rarely used, it only takes one person to need them and save a life.

If the nearest defibrillator does not work, the patient’s chances of survival are considerably reduced. The equipment is all the more essential when we know that heart failure is the number one cause of death in Europe, and that a person’s chances of survival during a heart attack can reach 75% when a shock is administered by an AED within the first four minutes. This is why maintenance is a major issue in this field.

Against this background, Citycare has been innovating since 2013. The company wants to simplify how organisations maintain their fleet of AEDs. A defibrillator is a medical device that carries batteries and advanced electronic components and should be checked daily. However, this is not the case in the French market, since 30 to 40% of defibrillators are out of service due to a lack of maintenance. So, at the end of 2014, Citycare turned to GSM technology with its R’EvolutionBox to remotely retrieve data on the operating status of its defibrillators. This was an effective solution at first, but it quickly proved to be restrictive since the box needed to be less than 30 meters from the defibrillator.

Seamless national coverage and long-lasting transmitters

In 2017, Citycare selected Sigfox and started testing its IoT solution, which proved to be highly efficient thanks to its high-quality network coverage throughout France. Thanks to this new collaboration, Citycare launched, in 2018, the first Sigfox connected AED – simple to use, reliable and above all easy to maintain. As part of this partnership, Citycare also collaborated with Sigfox partners: Adeunis, which provides the transmitters integrated in the AED and Vertical M2M, which offers the CommonSense IoT platform for retrieving and analyzing transmitter data.

Thanks to the exclusive integration of a Sigfox chip, the Sigfox Citycare Connected AED, regardless of its location, automatically tests itself daily and sends a short message via the integrated transmitter to provide an alert on its operating status. This way, in case of any anomaly, a notification is sent directly to the customer and Citycare’s technical teams to proceed with the replacement of the AED within 24 hours. Sigfox’s 0G network allows the customer to receive information on the status of the device wherever it is located and provides it a shelf-life of more than 10 years thanks to only sending a short daily message. Indeed, the transmitter integrated in the AED requires very little battery power.

Today, 5,500 of Citycare’s 15,000 AEDs are equipped with Sigfox technology. The rest of the fleet, which is still equipped with GSM boxes, will be switched entirely to Sigfox over the coming years.

In 2021, the Citycare Group will go one step further by marketing a new defibrillator, the Patriot®. This next-generation defibrillator, designed around the Sigfox transmitter, opens up new possibilities such as the geolocation of these devices. Thanks to these innovations and their quality, Citycare Patriot® defibrillators are true stars of French Tech and save around 20 lives a year in France. Defibrillators equipped with Sigfox technology are also recommended by the SAUV Life association, which makes it possible, to find the nearest working defibrillator to perform life-saving procedures. Their app enables citizens to help while emergency services are on the way. Because a cardiac arrest can happen anywhere and at any time, it is essential that the nearest defibrillator is functional, and this is what Citycare certifies.

Ready to expand

Today, Citycare offers its solution in France and has nearly 12,000 customers in its portfolio. The company equips major organisations such as Vinci Construction France, Eiffage and the ACPPA Group, which use Citycare to facilitate the installation, update and maintenance of their defibrillator fleets.

Established in the 10 largest French cities including Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux, Marseille and Lille, Citycare wants to open up to other European markets because in many countries, defibrillators and their management are not optimized. The UK, for example, has around 10,000 AEDs, but there is no specific law concerning their deployment, so their maintenance is not mandatory either. Thanks to the high quality of the Sigfox network available worldwide, Citycare’s expansion is possible.

Citycare is currently the only company in the world to have integrated a transmitter inside its defibrillator to facilitate daily updates. Its products are CE class IIB certified for sale in the European Union and comply with ISO 13485 and ISO 9001 standards. In addition, the company won two innovation awards in 2016 and 2018, in the first aid category at the Préventica trade show, once again proving the effectiveness of its solution.

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Technological advancements have revolutionized many industries, but there’s no doubt that the healthcare sector has been transformed by the emergence of new tech. As the Internet of Things (IoT) is more widely implemented, we’re beginning to see even more remarkable healthcare developments.

To find out what the future holds for medical professionals and patients, take a look at these six ways IoT is transforming the healthcare sector:

1. Remote Monitoring

Traditionally, doctors and nurses were only able to monitor patients in a hospital or clinic setting, which led to long-term stays or incomplete data. With IoT tech, however, wearable biosensors can facilitate continuous patient monitoring. Not only does this enable medical professionals to obtain more accurate and complete information, but it also means they can access critical data in real-time.

When patients use wearable devices to monitor their health, alerts and warning systems can inform medical professionals when urgent action needs to be taken. In many cases, patients can be contacted and instructed to obtain further treatment, even before symptoms emerge.

This proactive approach to healthcare can significantly improve patient outcomes and enable medical professionals to deliver more effective and well-rounded care.

2. Virtual Wards

As remote monitoring increases the efficacy of outpatient treatments, patients are required to spend less time in a hospital environment. This is accelerating the development of ‘virtual wards’ and giving patients access to more advanced at-home medical services than ever before.

In addition to this, the emergence of virtual wards and remote monitoring is changing the way medical professionals work. Now, doctors and nurses can operate from medical clinic hubs and treat an increased number of patients while minimizing resource consumption.

Furthermore, nurses are taking on more active leadership roles. By completing an advanced online DNP program with Baylor University, for example, nurse practitioners can launch their own clinics in full-practice states and provide outstanding care in the community. As IoT increases the availability of remote care via real-time monitoring and virtual wards, we can expect to see patients gaining access to a wider variety of outpatient services and at-home care.

3. Pandemic Prevention

After the devastating impact of COVID-19, governments around the world are taking a more proactive approach to pandemic prevention. With first-hand experience of the effects a novel virus can have, there is increased pressure to implement more preventative measures in the future.

Fortunately, the Internet of Things makes this possible. Wearable smart thermometers are already being used to identify clusters of COVID-19 cases, for example, which can help alert medical professionals to regional spikes. When viruses, like COVID-19, can spread via asymptotic individuals, the use of IoT tech can have a dramatic impact on the rate of diagnosis and enable the virus to be more effectively contained.

4. Patient Accountability

IoT-enabled tech gives patients access to a wide variety of medical data and essentially puts them in control of their health. Although fitness trackers and smart watches weren’t originally designed as medical devices, there’s no doubt that their use is having a positive impact on patient accountability.

Instead of receiving sporadic updates following routine medical checks or diagnoses after a medical event, patients are taking a more preemptive approach to their well-being. When people can monitor their heart rate, activity or even blood sugar with a smart device, for example, they become increasingly accountable for their health. As a result, patients are becoming more health-conscious and are able to take a more decisive role when it comes to the management of their health.

5. Automated Insulin Delivery

As the number of patients with diabetes continues to rise, IoT is facilitating the creation of more effective treatments. It’s estimated that 34.2 million Americans have diabetes, which amounts to 10.5% of the U.S. population. With so many people affected by this life-threatening condition, it’s vital that effective and accessible treatments are rolled out swiftly.

Until now, patients have been required to monitor their glucose levels via finger prick testing. Based on their results, patients must then determine how much insulin they require in order to bring their levels within a normal range. Of course, the possibility of patient error or non-compliance increases the risk of medical emergencies and can also mean that more people develop serious complications due to diabetes.

With an automated insulin delivery (AID) system, however, a patient’s blood glucose levels can be monitored continuously, and an automated pump can deliver insulin in accordance with the individual’s requirements. With better patient outcomes and a reduced rate of non-compliance and errors, this is one way that IoT is already transforming healthcare for a vast number of patients.

6. Non-Invasive Diagnostic Testing

When patients develop symptoms or are identified as being high-risk for certain conditions, doctors and nurses may conduct a range of diagnostic tests. However, invasive tests, such as endoscopies or laparoscopies, can be uncomfortable or even traumatic for the individual. Additionally, they often involve a longer recovery rate and can be expensive, thus reducing access to healthcare services across the population.

However, IoT-based devices can be used to carry out non-invasive diagnostic testing. These devices are small enough that patients can swallow them in the same they would a tablet or capsule. With in-built camera capturing information and IoT functionality relaying it to medical professionals, an accurate diagnosis can be made without any invasive tests being required. What’s more – patients needn’t remain in a hospital or clinic setting while the test is on-going.

What Does the Future of Healthcare Look Like?

The Internet of Things is already revolutionizing the healthcare sector, but more transformations are to come. As technology continues to evolve, we can expect to see more effective treatments, faster diagnoses and increased accessibility to healthcare services.

While this is undoubtedly positive news for patients, it’s also an exciting progression for medical professionals. With access to the devices and data they need to deliver enhanced care and achieve better outcomes, it’s not surprising that so many talented professionals are inspired to join the industry.

The post 6 Ways IoT is Transforming the Healthcare Sector appeared first on IoT Business News.

Sanofi, Capgemini, Generali and Orange announce plans to create a joint venture in France to fast-track the development of concrete healthcare solutions and to make them available to the market for the benefit of patients.

The project, on a scale that is unique in Europe, will bring together leading scientific and technological expertise in France and Europe. It will benefit from both a virtual platform and a physical base located in Paris, linked to the « PariSanté Campus » initiative announced by the French President and will strengthen the international positioning of France in digital health.

The founding partners are planning an initial investment of 24 million euros in the new entity, which will be operational from June 2021* for the virtual platform and December 2021* for the physical platform.

Digital innovation and data have become essential in healthcare. France and more broadly Europe have the necessary assets for large companies to capitalise on the innovation and agility of startups in order to jointly develop digital solutions that will bring value to patients and to the healthcare ecosystem. Work will focus on key themes for one or two years at a time and may revolve around a technology, a pathology, a patient population or be related to a public health topic. The new ecosystem, will bring together the 4 founding companies and aims to federate large companies and startups at a European level, around an open-innovation approach, conducive to the emergence of disruptive new models.

The uniqueness of this project is based on three pillars:

• the founding companies will share and pool their technologies, expertise and data with selected startups, in compliance with regulations and within an ethical and responsible framework, to support the implementation of digital solutions that improve the quality, security, accessibility and productivity of healthcare.

• the multidisciplinary nature of the ecosystem will be embodied by the founding companies, the partner companies and around a hundred French and European startups, as well as other players in the healthcare, technology and insurance sectors, public and private hospitals, patient associations, regulators, schools and universities.

• the development of concrete solutions to build tomorrow’s healthcare services, from the initial idea right through to making them available to patients and/or healthcare professionals. The strength of this alliance is based on the fact that the entire ecosystem will simultaneously focus on the same commitment, which will limit the dispersion of energy and increase the chances of success and creation of value for patients and the entire sector.

Paul Hudson, CEO of Sanofi, explained:
“We believe that France, and more broadly Europe, have all the necessary assets to be among the leading global players in digital healthcare innovation. Thisproject is the cornerstone of the open ecosystem centered on digital technology and healthcare data that we want to build with our partners.”

“Our shared ambition is to bring together all the players, including startups, that will collectively invent the future of healthcare for the benefit of patients and thereby place France at the heart of European innovation in this strategic field.”

“As a global leader in digital technology, one of our major responsibilities for future generations is to put technology at the service of health. This is now a priority for Capgemini, which is proud to participate in this fine project. The founding members all believe that digital technology will provide a tremendous boost; we have the ambition to quickly achieve concrete results”, said Aiman Ezzat, CEO of Capgemini Group.

“Through this alliance, our motivation as an insurer and assistance provider is to participate in an innovative and powerful ecosystem that will help model the healthcare solutions of the future and to work on new technologies and innovative services for patients. The insurance business works on the basis of statistics drawn from a large volume of anonymised data reaching back over several decades. This can be made available to startups to fuel their search for solutions. As an historical player in the healthcare market, nationally and internationally, Generali wishes to actively contribute to the creation and running of this unique ecosystem in France and Europe, in collaboration with other leading international companies in their sector”, said Jean-Laurent Granier, CEO of Generali France and Chairman of Europ Assistance.

“We are pleased to engage in this ambitious partnership that aims to harness digital technology to improve health services for everyone. At Orange, we are convinced that digital transformation is an important source of progress and that the potential for e-health is immense. This is a major challenge for society and, as a responsible operator, we believe that we can contribute to this effort. By creating a multidisciplinary ecosystem bringing together major European groups and startups, we are providing ourselves with the means to accelerate the development of solutions for the benefit of both patients and caregivers”, said Stéphane Richard, Chairman and CEO of Orange.

A digital platform to stimulate innovation in the digital health ecosystem

This project will be hosted on an online platform centred around an institute whose main mission will be to bring together experts, institutions, schools, universities and hospitals around issues concerning the use of data and digital tools in the healthcare sector. The platform will also be the entry point for interactions between founders, partners and startups to launch hackathons, initiate competitions, and share data and expertise in compliance with regulations and ethical standards.

A unique place in Europe, located in Paris

The ecosystem will be located in the heart of Paris. It will include a creative laboratory, a Fab Lab, a Data Lab and a Living Lab in which patients and healthcare professionals will be able to develop, test, adjust and assess solutions. In addition, a specific laboratory will also be dedicated to ethical and economic issues. It will synergize the PariSanté Campus, which aims to structure and federate an international digital health sector, open to national and international partnerships.

The post Sanofi, Capgemini, Generali and Orange announce the creation of a digital ecosystem dedicated to e-health, a first in Europe appeared first on IoT Business News.

The Internet of Things (IoT) has made it easier for point-of-care centers to track and analyze sensitive medical data for their patients. But with so much confidential data transmitting to and from physicians, it’s crucial that IoT medical devices use safe communication protocols that encrypt their data.

Unfortunately, many IoT medical devices have major security vulnerabilities, which put patient data at too much risk and can make it harder for healthcare professionals to rely on them in the future. What’s more, many IoT devices rely on a limited pool of computing resources, which makes it tough to create solutions that can keep their data encrypted on wireless networks.

To better understand the security vulnerabilities that IoT medical devices face, it’s important to know exactly which products are most at risk of being hacked. In this article, we will cover the four IoT medical devices that are most susceptible to cybersecurity breaches and how to protect them.

1 – Wireless Infusion Pumps

Wireless infusion pumps, as the name may suggest, remove the need for physicians to give their patients vital medical fluids in-person. Instead, these IoT devices can talk with a patient’s electronic health records to speed up fluid infusions and cut down on healthcare costs.

However, the wireless connection protocols that these pumps use can provide low-hanging fruit for cybercriminals to pluck. Wireless infusion pumps, just like a tablet or home computer, need to be hooked up to a network to take in data from a server and send it back out to receiving devices, which makes them vulnerable to malicious software that finds its way onto a wireless network.

Protecting IoT data on the cloud can help point-of-care centers avoid threats on an unencrypted physical network. This is because cloud storage services such as Google Drive or DropBox offer a reduced number of entry points that hackers can use to gain access to a network and compromise IoT devices.

Furthermore, medical organizations can use Google Drive and Dropbox for storing files that contain protected patient information while maintaining HIPAA compliance, so long as a business associate agreement (BAA) is signed with either service.

2 – Implanted Devices

Implanted devices, like the ones that track your body’s cardiovascular functions, wirelessly transfer patient data to expedite the healthcare they receive. However, a faster rate of data transfer doesn’t mean much if it compromises a patient’s confidentiality and puts their health at risk. Hackers who remotely access implanted medical devices can wreak havoc on their functionality and subsequently endanger patients’ lives.

The biggest security issue with implantable devices lies in the way they communicate with each other. Wireless communication systems, like Medtronic’s Conexus protocol, often fail to stop data breaches because they don’t include an incident response plan. Fortunately, in early 2020 Medtronic released patches for security flaws for its devices that had been disclosed in the prior two years.

While this can offer a little assurance, the simple fact remains that these kinds of devices still freely transmit wireless information without authenticating or encrypting it, and they have no Plan B in place in the event that hackers intercept their data. It’s no surprise, then, that implantable devices can be exploited by cyber breaches such as DDoS attacks.

3 – Smartpens

Smartpens are a godsend to physicians who need to quickly access a complete snapshot of their patient’s medical background. These small IoT devices can store and quickly transmit massive amounts of sensitive data to pharmacies and point-of-care centers. It certainly sounds convenient for both patients and doctors, but much of their information is at risk of being compromised.

Smartpens, like implanted devices, expose themselves to cybercriminals with gaping backdoors that can be opened via their network communication protocols. Instead of safely accessing medical records by installing protective software, smart pens often rely on servers directly connected to the internet to store and access sensitive data. Once a hacker exploits these communication protocols, there’s not much left standing in the way between them and a server filled to the brim with confidential patient records.

4 – Vital signs monitors

The IoT makes it possible to remotely monitor a patient’s vital signs using Bluetooth technology and allows doctors to rapidly respond to changes in a patient’s vitals, but it comes at the cost of low-quality encryption methods. This is why as an additional option to relying on the cloud to store patient data, healthcare companies should investigate alternative encryption protocols that target low-power IoT devices.

One solution is for medical companies to make it a policy to always use virtual private networks (VPNs) that come with proven encryption protocols like IKEv2 or L2TP/IPSec when connecting IoT devices to the organization’s network. Using a VPN will hide the IoT devices’ IP addresses and ensure that company and patient data transmitted over the network are kept untraceable.

In any case, encryption protocols need to start compensating for vital signs monitors’ limited pool of computing resources by becoming more sophisticated. Right now, too few encryption protocols for IoT vital monitors sacrifice their quality by being low-power solutions themselves.

Conclusion

It’s crucial for IT teams and cybersecurity personnel working for healthcare companies to know what medical devices powered by IoT are most at risk of hacking and cyber-attacks. A complete understanding of how data assets become vulnerable can help medical organizations figure out how to protect them. This becomes truer than ever as more IoT medical devices are being developed and deployed to hospitals, health clinics, and even patients’ own homes.

Healthcare businesses can give their IT departments a head start in the near future by combining a monitoring view of their active IoT medical devices with the rest of their security initiatives. Right now, the solutions to gain broader visibility into each IoT device that is online are limited. However, creating strategies to discover and detect security threats that integrate with IoT medical devices can safeguard sensitive medical data and protect vulnerable patients.

The post 4 IoT Medical Devices That Are Vulnerable to Hacks appeared first on IoT Business News.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a sector that hasn’t seen vast technological improvements in recent years, and the healthcare industry is no exception. One reason for its rapid technological innovation has been due to its adoption of the IoT, or the Internet of Things.

The IoT has incredible potential in the healthcare sector. In fact, the IoT in healthcare is projected to be valued at $534.4 billion by 2025. Examples of uses for the IoT in healthcare applications include automating patient care workflow, tracking the location of medical equipment in real time, and enabling machine-to-machine communication.

But while healthcare organizations have been making huge steps towards newer technology to help improve resource allocation and eliminate any lost time, including with the IoT, a major concern is the increased vulnerability this comes to cybercriminals. As hacking has been on the rise since the COVID-19 pandemic began, cybersecurity needs to be an utmost priority for health organizations.

Cybersecurity in the healthcare sector

Cybersecurity has become more important than ever in the digital age, and when dealing with medical records and patient data, it should be at the forefront of any health organization’s mind.

A major factor to consider with cybersecurity in the healthcare sector in particular is ensuring that you are compliant with the HIPAA, or Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This basically means that the data and personal information of your patients must be protected at all costs and given the same level of care as the patients’ own personal health.

This is why healthcare organizations are seriously upping their IT budget and hiring cybersecurity specialists. Hospital and healthcare organizations have also been utilizing HIPAA compliant hosting to prevent medical record data breaches in the cloud and to protect patients utilizing wearable IoT technology.

Keep in mind that web-based attacks account for almost 50% of cybersecurity threats, so the adoption of better security measures for the increased number of IoT devices in healthcare should not be overlooked. Ransomware attacks in the healthcare industry have also been on the rise for years, and as the name suggests, the attacker has to pay out to get their data back, the healthcare industry has taken the lion’s share of these types of attacks.

Testing security measures is a prevalent way of ensuring your healthcare organization is secure from cybersecurity threats, and a number of tools can help spot vulnerabilities. For example, with the use of DevOps tools (or tools that combine IT operations with software development), HIPAA compliance can actually be automated, allowing your teams to have control over the systems efficiently and with much more ease.

The cost of poor cybersecurity

Due to the nature of cybersecurity threats, no industry is immune, and anyone connected to technology and the internet is inherently vulnerable. This is why it is critical that medical organizations understand the cost and repercussions of poor cybersecurity.

Data breaches cost the health industry almost $6 billion each year and it’s on the rise, so it is no small issue to address, and as alluded to in previous sections, the increase of IoT has a wealth of benefits, but if these devices are ill-protected these pros are negated by the issues.

For the medical industry, the cost of improper cybersecurity is much more than monetary. If organizations fail to protect their data, they are damaging their credibility, reputation, and patients’ privacy.

Protecting patient information

Medical errors are bound to happen from time to time. A good percentage of these are attributed to human error, and this is one of the reasons why the IoT has become so prevalent, due to its ability to help reduce these errors.

Errors such as patient mixups, missed allergies or other important medical information can be stored on IoT-connected wristbands, but when left unprotected, this information can fall into the wrong hands. Machines will simply make less errors or typos when recording data, making IoT medical technology a vital tool for collecting, storing and checking patient data.

Needless to say, protecting patients’ data and their privacy should be a top priority for any medical or health organization, but despite this, there’s been a rise in breaches, with the cost of a data breach in healthcare more than twice the mean across other industries.

Preventing hackers from accessing patient information with specialized hacking requires specialized tools to prevent that from happening. It’s for this reason that all health organizations need to make it a rule if they haven’t already to encrypt all patient data that is run through a hospital network.

What’s more, is that data encryption is hardly an expensive investment and will not add much cost to a hospital’s IT budget. Several reliable virtual private networks (VPNs) are available at little to no cost, while incorporating proven encryption measures such as L2TP and IKEv2.

Critical strategies to improve cybersecurity

The significant financial implications of cybersecurity can’t be overlooked, whether its security professionals or health informatics, there’s a lot of people ensuring medical organizations stay secure.

Here are a few practices suggested to improve health organizations cybersecurity:

1. Creating a secure culture – having cybersecurity education and training for healthcare professionals with every member of the organization being responsible for patient data protection, devices and having a security-first culture
2. Adopting safe device habits – employee onboarding should focus on having training for best computer/device use practices and security software
3. Protecting mobile devices – mobile devices have become commonplace in healthcare settings, but with these come new threats. Encryption, password protection, and other security measures are vital to ensure information remains secure
4. Utilizing a firewall – any device connected to the internet is recommended to have a firewall
5. Backup and storage – plan for the unexpected, back-up information regularly and store this backed-up data separately from the main system
6. Rotate strong passwords – having to change passwords may feel tedious, but using strong passwords that require changing every few months will keep systems significantly more secure
7. Limit access to protected data – only give access to people who need it, this limits the potential for internal leaks too
8. Install anti-virus software – installing and keeping software updated is critical to ensuring health care systems are protected
9. Control network access – no new software, applications, or programs should be installed by staff without proper authorization
10. Manage physical access – computers and devices with sensitive data should be locked in secure areas to limit physical device theft

Prior to the IoT, doctor’s interactions with their patients were mainly physical and text-based communications, with doctors having no real way to monitor their patients’ health on an ongoing basis.

IoT devices in healthcare signal the movement of the industry towards more efficient and effective services by health organizations, providing the potential of keeping patients healthier and allowing medical professionals to give premier care. Additional bonuses in the form of higher patient satisfaction and engagement have come from the use of IoT devices too, due to interactions being more simple and vastly more efficient.

Conclusion

Understanding the risks and rewards of utilizing IoT devices in the healthcare industry is important for health organizations moving forward. The increased adoption of the Internet of Things is definitely where the industry has been heading, and with the proper security, the benefits of IoT devices for healthcare can be reaped.

The post Why We Need to Start Incorporating Better Cybersecurity Measures for IoT Devices Used by Health Organizations appeared first on IoT Business News.

Connected medical devices are an important tool for medical practitioners leaning into telehealth through the COVID-19 pandemic. Real-time data relay and visibility are vital, helping healthcare providers manage chronic conditions, maintain accessibility, improve outcomes and reduce the overall cost of care.

With patient health on the line, keeping connected devices secure is mission critical. Security isn’t static; manufacturers need to continuously update not just the software on a device, but the security measures used on the device as well. Patients and providers count on manufacturers to build devices that can be trusted out-of-the-box and through end-of-life.

Many internet of things (IoT) devices in healthcare lack proper authentication – the method of allowing access to only trusted apps, users and systems. The result puts devices at risk of data breaches or device hacking, causing direct harm to the patients and healthcare providers that depend on the device operation and its uptime.

With no clear-cut set of IoT security standards to reference, industry experts recommend using public key infrastructure (PKI) and digital certificates as an effective way to securely authenticate devices without compromising interoperability. PKI is a battle tested tool used in IT to manage the digital certificates and keys that protect digital identities associated with people, applications and devices.

Unique device identities provide mutual authentication as the device attempts to connect to gateways, update servers or other devices – without the need for static passwords or tokens. Digital certificates provide device makers with a method to communicate securely with devices even after they’ve been deployed into the ‘wild’.

Security starts at design

Pre-pandemic, device makers and industry regulators worked to implement measures that would ensure security is built into the device at design and sustained through its lifecycle. Building crypto-agility in at device design is becoming a foundational best practice. Historically, if a healthcare device failed, the entire fleet would be recalled for update or repair – a time consuming and inefficient process. In the case of a full fleet recall, making sure all products were properly updated was difficult.

Today, building with crypto-agility means that cryptography on a device can be changed out or updated remotely and securely if it depreciates over time. In combination with PKI, device tracking and cybersecurity incident management becomes simpler, giving manufacturers the ability to respond and address issues and long-term threats immediately.

When designing a security architecture and ideal state platform for IoT devices manufacturers can start with eight basic cryptographic considerations:

1. Engage the product team that owns the vision and understand where the device will be two, five, ten years from activation.

2. Stay ahead of expired certificates and outdated keys or algorithms that could put the security of your devices and safety of patients at risk.

3. Create a plan to manage how these devices will migrate to new keys and algorithms as they become available, and within a reasonable timeframe to limit downtime of devices.

4. Ensure compatibility with a variety of cloud environments for credential, certificate, symmetric key and signing vault storage.

5. Manage distributed and global manufacturing facilities to ensure the same security standards and protocol are adhered to.

6. Employ multi-factor authentication at device activation and commissioning for identity confirmation.

7. Control unconnected devices or devices outside network range using mobile devices as a secure gateway. This is an important step to establish a trusted gateway to marshal data to the IoT cloud.

8. Implement a crypto key management system to connect the ecosystem across IoT, cloud, the gateway and the manufacturing device. This system helps manage all applications within the ecosystem, enforces permissions for people interacting with the systems and maintains an audit trail supporting compliance requirements.

In many cases, IoT devices are not constantly connected to the internet, but they have intermittent connection. Whether online or offline, a trusted connection and/or intermediary is needed for field maintenance or interval repairs.

No device is hack proof, but adoption of cybersecurity best practices in design and development gives device makers the ability to drive innovation while mitigating the risk of emerging threats, especially as connected medical device usage rates climb in a post-COVID world.

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Wireless IoT sensor manufacturer Aranet releases a new medical grade human body temperature sensor especially for healthcare professionals battling COVID-19.

The new solution is designed to take off some of the load of the most heavily understaffed hospitals dealing with sick patients. The latest edition to Aranet sensor ecosystem is a complete system where up to 100 sensors can be added to a single base station.

The new solution means that medical professionals can monitor the patients without coming in direct contact with them. The system is currently being tested in several large healthcare institutions.

Other benefits of Aranet medical thermometer include accuracy of 0.1 °C / 0.2 °F, exceptionally long range, extra soft and flexible cable, as well as no field calibration necessary – the sensors come pre-calibrated for lifetime. The set-up of the system is simple and quick, saving time when every moment counts. Custom alarms can be set for each patient, allowing medical staff to prioritize patients who need immediate care. The built-in local memory within the PRO base station guarantees continuous data collection even if the internet connection goes down or is not available.

Main benefits of the Aranet system include:

1. Simple and quick set-up – saving time when every moment counts

2. Exceptionally long-range radio – allowing to cover large areas of the hospital up to several hundreds of meters

3. 24/7 monitoring – providing detailed, easily-accessible history of each patient’s temperature

4. Customizable alarms – allowing medical staff to prioritize patients who need immediate care

5. Redundancy – built-in local memory within the PRO base station guarantees continuous data collection even if the internet connection goes down or is not available

6. Data agglomeration – allowing centralised data collection through Aranet Cloud from all base stations in use for a complete overview of the situation within the hospital

7. No field calibration necessary – sensors are factory calibrated for lifespan

As the novel coronavirus is spreading and taking its toll on the world’s population, it’s also exposing the deficiencies in global healthcare systems and their ability to respond to a major epidemic. Aranet is acting fast in the current situation, expanding their medical sensor portfolio with a new SpO2 sensor in the making. The upcoming sensor measures peripheral capillary oxygen saturation – an estimate of the blood oxygen level.

Aranet offers industrial IoT environmental monitoring solutions for a variety of businesses, making it easy to collect and analyze real-time data.

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Ericsson, Sony Network Communications Europe, and Telenor Connexion make it easy to connect people and things with intelligent tracking and monitoring solutions. Ranging from cargo to IoT healthcare devices for patients, tracking increases mobility and improves reliability and efficiency.

Using Telenor Connexion’s network, Ericsson IoT Accelerator for global connectivity, and Sony Network Communications Europe’s smart IoT services, the three partners are collaborating to enhance real-time location and tracking solutions for different sectors.

Use cases for Sony’s Visilion platform include the logistics and healthcare sectors where sensors can provide information about the real-time position of anything that is connected. Locating valuable hospital equipment with healthcare IoT tracking devices such as ECG machines and hospital beds, knowing where nursing staff and patients are in the hospital, can save time and improve resource allocation.

Similarly, the mSafety platform comes with a user friendly wearable (a device that an end-consumer can wear such as a watch) that can be used in the healthcare, wellness or safety sector. Wearables can be used to monitor users and provide information about health data such as body temperature and heart rate, track location and send alert notifications in case of an emergency.

Anders Strömberg, Director, Head of Wearable Platform Department, Sony Network Communications Europe, says:
“As the use of cellular technology matures, this can have a positive impact on the future of mobile health services and the safety and welfare of end-users.”

Mats Lundquist, CEO of Telenor Connexion, says:
“We are proud to be a long term partner of forward-thinking companies like Sony Network Communications Europe and to support their business growth and future IoT products and services.”

Kiva Allgood, Head of IoT, Ericsson, says:
“This is a great example of how IoT Accelerator can liberate our partners’ IoT solutions and services to scale globally and deliver value to end-users.”

Ericsson IoT Accelerator is the Ericsson’s IoT connectivity and device management platform, providing enterprises with a unified solution that manages IoT operations of any scale, using worldwide mobile network infrastructure. More than 35 service providers, spanning more than 100 countries, are currently part of the Ericsson IoT Accelerator ecosystem. The service currently enables reliable, scalable, and secure connectivity management of IoT devices to more than 5000 enterprises globally. With more than 50 million devices onboarded on to the platform including over 3 million eSIMs, the Ericsson IoT Accelerator is a truly global platform.

Sony Network Communications Europe focuses on connectivity solutions and offers IoT cellular platforms such as Visilion and mSafety, providing cellular connectivity and wearable tracking devices.

Ericsson projects that the number of IoT connections, including NB-IoT and Cat-M technologies, will reach almost 25 billion by 2025.

The post Telenor, Sony and Ericsson team to develop smart IoT healthcare devices appeared first on IoT Business News.

In recent years, the IoT market has shown rapid expansion and growth, especially in the medical field. IoT use in healthcare is expected to be worth $534.3 billion by 2025. Among its most useful applications are medical wearables, which enable accurate data collection and the ability to monitor vital signs. These contain various types of PCBs, including flexible PCBs and rigid-flex PCBs that are smaller and lighter than other types, making them more ideal than their rigid counterparts. In addition, many of these devices also contain temperature sensors, and skin perspiration sensors to help monitor symptoms. Because this technology is constantly developing, here are some of the latest trends in medical wearables:

Applications in cardiology

Many fitness wearables like the Apple Watch and Fitbit have the ability to detect a person’s heart rate, which comes in handy during exercise. However, applications in the field of cardiology are still a generation away from becoming feasible. One of the most well-known studies on wearable healthcare technology so far is the Apple Heart Study, which demonstrated the possibility of smartwatch-based atrial fibrillation screening. They are now currently partnering with Johnson & Johnson in a large-scale clinical trial, to not only screen for the condition but actually detect the condition and treat it as well. The good news is that professional cardiologists in The Heart Rhythm Society appear to endorse the technology: “Wearables can contribute to an early diagnosis and to a better management of diseases,” but the helpfulness of continuous screening techniques is still being debated.

Applications for sleep disorders

When it comes to monitoring sleeping habits, mobile apps, online programs, and wearables are some of the most popular methods. Through this technology, you can track your sleep patterns and address any areas of concern for improvement. However, commercial fitness devices have limited accuracy when it comes to measuring short naps or tracking light and deep sleep. In contrast, the Withings ScanWatch is allegedly going to be the first FDA-approved wearable designed to detect sleep apnea and various abnormalities. This year, it is likely the divide between consumer wearables and traditional diagnostic forms of testing will lessen. Remote patient monitoring is becoming more prevalent across large hospitals, with higher projected numbers of FDA-approved devices to help enable this. While using this technology can give you a better understanding of your sleeping habits, it is unlikely that they’ll fully replace conventional forms of sleep testing soon.

Applications in diabetes management

The management of chronic diseases like diabetes is a concern for many affected individuals. To remedy this issue, medical wearables perform a variety of functions. They can help track blood sugar patterns, issue reminders about medication, and provide general advice for diets and lifestyles. A popular tool is the traditional insulin pump which is designed to manually deliver medication to control blood sugar levels depending on the required level. More recently, developers are venturing into the creation of “Closed Loop Systems,” which automatically monitor a patient’s blood sugar levels in real-time and automatically adjust the level of medication for them. In addition, the startup Klue has created a behavior tracking software that uses AI to determine a patient’s meals and give insight into their behaviors. Automating the identification of meals and adjusting insulin delivery can dramatically simplify a diabetic’s lifestyle. Investing in wearable technology that is affordable, minimally invasive, and can be made widely available should be a priority for companies in this field.

Ultimately, medical wearables can have a massive impact in the field of healthcare. Continuous end-to-end software testing is vital to ensure their success in the long run. While more research and development is needed to determine their full potential and efficacy in terms of dealing with disease, they show significant potential in improving the lives and jobs of patients and doctors worldwide.

The post The Future of IoT in Healthcare: Wearable Technology appeared first on IoT Business News.

Tele2 IoT is supporting Finland’s 9Solutions to ensure the functionality of healthcare services in exceptional circumstances.

Tele2 IoT will help 9Solutions to bring its Nurse Call Lite solution to the healthcare community.

Tele2 IoT is proud to be a part of helping 9Solutions to bring its Nurse Call Lite solution to the healthcare community. Tele2 IoT will continue to support them in their efforts to enable medical personnel to work in safe and secure environments.

9Solutions has responded to the fight against Covid-19 battle by introducing Nurse Call Lite, an adaption of its Nurse Call solution. Nurse Call Lite offers a ‘plug-n-play’ solution that facilitates communication between nursing staff and patients in a secure and safe way, as well as management of urgent and non-urgent calls from patients. Nurse Call Lite is particularly suited to field hospital environments, as well as hospital hallways, where overflow patients are currently being treated.

The wireless devices are equipped with Tele2 IoT SIMs.

• “In these challenging times, we all need to help out in any way we can. We are happy to be part of this solution and we hope that it will make a big difference for both patients and healthcare workers“, says Fredrik Stenberg, CEO of Tele2 IoT.

• Tele2 IoT responded to our connectivity needs within 45 minutes. The response was fast, professional, and the team helped us with whatever we needed, says Sami Herrala, CEO 9Solutions.

• Equally important was roaming. No one can guarantee that a specific mobile network will be working at any given time or at any particular location, so Tele2 IoT’s roaming solution is incredibly important, Sami Herrala concludes.

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Healthcare is rapidly developing with tech novelties. The Internet of Things will bring significant changes to patient care. Doctors and healthcare providers already use it in their workflow.

Some hospitals, like Saratoga Hospital, apply IoT technologies for remote consultations, patient monitoring, and improve health outcomes.

Let’s find out how healthcare can benefit from IoT!

Why Healthcare?

IoT has an enormous potential in the healthcare field. Data provided by the sensors can help to diagnose diseases and constantly monitor health conditions. On top of that, IoT software can detect the precursors of illnesses and stop its progression in the early stages.

Looking at the market forecasts, you can see that this field is remarkably promising. By 2025 IoT healthcare will reach $534.3 billion.

Internet of Medical Things (IoMT)

The essential function of IoMT is monitoring patients’ health conditions and informing the doctor about its deterioration.

IoT in healthcare includes a number of things like wearables, medical supply chain, patient monitoring, and so on. It helps patients stay in touch with doctors and nurses. These devices take the pressure off the workers who support a lot of patients.

Five Basic Advantages of IoT in Healthcare

IoT applications and devices for healthcare are getting more common throughout the world. And of course, there are good reasons for it. So, let’s get through some of them.

Health Monitoring

IoT apps for healthcare can monitor health conditions and send an emergency signal in case of heart failure, asthma attacks, or any other accident. A recent use case by Apple is a Fall Detection System. When a person falls, Apple Watch shows an alert. If the user didn’t respond with “I’m OK”, the device calls an emergency and sends notifications to emergency contacts specified by the user.

Better Patient Experience

With IoT technologies, patients don’t have to stand in lines anymore. Modern devices provide a much more comfortable way of communicating with the doctor. Patients can be examined by doctors, not even leaving their homes.

As for emergency patients, Mt. Sinai Medical Center uses a solution called AutoBed. It allowed to reduce the waiting time of urgent patients for 50% and admit 59,000 patients with only 1,100 beds available.

Drug Management

With IoT, doctors can control the process of taking medicines. Healthcare providers can adjust the dose and monitor the effectiveness of treatment. The app automatically will send notifications to patients when they should take their drugs. Moreover, IoT simplifies the process of getting a prescription. Physicians can provide prescriptions online, so patients won’t spend their time in queues.

Healthcare Automation

The Internet of Things can automate routine administrative tasks. IoT apps process large clusters of data and output various indicators of patients’ health conditions. Also, automated data gathering excludes the possibility of human mistakes in making a diagnosis.

Challenges of IoT in Healthcare

With great power comes great responsibility. This expression can be applied to IoT because of some strict regulations in the healthcare sector. Now, I will outline them for you.

Data Security

One of the main drawbacks of IoT in healthcare is poor security. Data safety is the top concern for digital healthcare because health records are confidential information. Hackers may try to get access to sensitive data with the help of different exploits and vulnerabilities. Thus, privacy concerns require you to spend more money on security software.

Standards like GDPR and CCPA stand out among all data regulations, as they have the strictest norms and fines.

Integration of protocols

To expand the functionality of digital healthcare services, providers apply a lot of protocols. Unfortunately, there’s no unified protocol or standard that deals with every device. That’s why the development of IoT apps in healthcare is a long term process.

Besides, your app should necessarily be HIPAA and HITECH compliant. These regulations are obligatory for healthcare providers who keep patients’ EHRs.

Data Overload

Mind that IoT devices can only process the information and transmit it to a doctor. Such a vast flow of information can overload physicians, and that may lead to difficulties in decision-making during treatment.

IoT Use Cases in Healthcare

Digital medical services allow us to save time both for physicians and patients. That’s a very promising field, so no wonder that giants like Apple and Google invest funds into the IoT for healthcare.

Let’s discuss several use cases for IoT and come through some examples of existing IoT projects.

Hospital Information Management System (HIMS)

HIMS deals with medical records, keeps and manages the data about doctors and patients. The System grants access to information about appointments, hospital rooms, and more.

Here are some of the advantages of the Hospital Information Management System:

• High-security level;
• Organised search of documents;
• Drug management;
• Access to EHRs;
• Improved overall patient experience.

Some companies offer turnkey HIMS solutions with the support of various devices. Some of them are:

• Aarogya
• eVisit
• myNapier
• Insta HMS
• eHospital

Electronic Healthcare Records System (EHR)

Another use case is EHR.

Electronic health records provide access to health information instantly and securely.

EHR is meant to store, modify, and share information among physicians and their business associates for improving treatment results.

This system is beneficial to doctors because of real-time information on tests and patient’s health conditions. As for the patients, they may contact doctors and get a consultation in no time.

However, a number of hospitals are still wondering how to build an EHR system. And the main issue throughout the development process is HIPAA compliance. So, be sure to hire a team of developers that know how to meet every needed requirement.

Mobile Healthcare

These solutions are also called mHealth apps. Usually, their purpose is to provide consultations online, arranging offline consultations, and so on. According to IQVIA, the App Store and Google Play contain 320,000 mHealth apps.

However, mobile healthcare apps can be used for treatment with the help of IoT. Apps, together with wearables, collect the data about physical activity and health conditions. So, it’s possible to develop IoT apps that can transfer healthcare data to smartphones.

Here are some types of mHealth apps:

• EHRs
• Meditation apps
• Fitness apps
• Sleep tracking apps
• Medical assets monitoring

Wrapping up

On the whole, I’d like to say that IoT technologies can have a significant positive impact on healthcare in the near future. Improved patient experience and time saving are supreme advantages of this approach. The last thing to remember is hiring a reliable and dedicated team of developers that can meet all of the privacy regulations.

The post How to Apply IoT in Healthcare: Best Approaches and Use Cases appeared first on IoT Business News.

Being presented by some as the defining event of our generation, the outbreak of Covid-19 has already closed down borders, forced schools and businesses to close, and left many under social isolation or quarantine to limit the spread of the virus.

The largest disruption and the most strain at this time is undoubtedly on healthcare services, as this virus appeared out of nowhere and has overwhelmed local services and hospitals alike.

In such a desperate situation, IoT devices may be able to alleviate some of the largest strains on doctors and nurses simply by making remote appointments possible, and making sure that high-risk patients do not have to leave their home to receive their usual treatment.

IoT in Hospitals

Connecting health systems together can reduce a huge amount of manual admin tasks by consolidating EMRs (electronic medical records), scheduling systems, and patient monitoring into one place. As all hospital resources are being stretched, having a tool to monitor patients all around the hospital and ensure that medication is delivered effectively will be a massive help.

Apart from the many cases of coronavirus sectioning off parts of hospitals and taking up a huge proportion of hospital staff’s time and attention, other high-risk patients still require the same levels of care. Devices that monitor glucose levels for diabetic patients, keep track of blood pressure and heart rate levels and alert to issues, for example, can allow hospital staff to take care of these patients remotely while in another section of the hospital.

Devices for patients at home can also connect to EMRs (electronic medical records) so that chronically ill patients do not necessarily have to visit the hospital or medical centre while still being attended by medical staff.

Connected medication & at-home care

Medical IoT devices that stay-at-home with patients are already being used to improve out-patient care and reduce recurring appointments and these devices can be taken advantage of even further during a crisis situation.

The above-mentioned glucose and blood pressure monitoring devices can be used by patients at home to make sure their care goes uninterrupted for the coming weeks. This includes things like reminders to exercise and medication alerts, and direct connection with medical devices to make sure that critical events like a heart irregularity or diabetic attack can be responded to immediately.

Connected medication is another way to reduce strain on medical staff. By giving patients regular alerts to take their medication and encouraging them to stick to the full course, doctors and caregivers have a real-time record of patients taking medication and can track the patient’s progress by connecting with other medical records. This is especially crucial for at-risk patients or those suffering from Alzheimer’s or dementia who may struggle to keep track of medication without regular at-home visits. Adhering to a regular course of medication is vital at any time, but when medical resources are stretched to their limits, ensuring that patients at home do not require any extra assistance is paramount.

Aside from helping reduce the burden on medical services right now, using connected medication could also help to develop a vaccine faster. By measuring patient progress and the effects of new drugs in real-time, researchers could conduct dispersed remote trials and potentially speed up development of a vaccine that would work on a wider base of individuals.

Maximising output and minimising stress

Nothing is certain about this current health crisis, we don’t know when it will be over or what the fallout will look like. But we do know that we have the tools available to reduce the risk as much as possible and help to alleviate healthcare services when they need it the most.

Simply by maximizing the number of patients that can be attended to by doctors in the hospitals, and reducing the number of people that need to come into the hospital for regular appointments, IoT could take a huge weight off the shoulders of medical staff.

As events unfold, IoT could well play a big part in alleviating the strain on our healthcare systems, only time will tell if remote care is ready for such a task.

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A new report from the IoT analyst firm Berg Insight has found that around 18.0 million people in North America were using connected care solutions at the end of 2018.

The ageing population and the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases will be two of the greatest challenges in North America during this century. It is widely believed that connected care solutions can ease the burden on society by enabling more efficient delivery of care and allowing people to live independently for longer. Berg Insight’s definition of connected care includes medical alert systems, connected medication management solutions and remote patient monitoring (RPM) solutions.

Medical alert systems, also known as personal emergency response systems (PERS), comprises solutions that trigger an alarm when the user presses a button or when a passive sensor detects an accident. Connected medication management solutions comprise medication dispensers, pillboxes, pill bottles, vials caps, blister packages, injection devices, insulin pumps and inhalers that are connected to a monitoring platform to improve medication adherence.

RPM solutions comprise connected medical devices and monitoring services that are used for remote management of patients suffering from arrhythmia, asthma, chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease, diabetes, hypertension or obstructive sleep apnea.

At the end of 2018, there were 18.0 million people that relied on connected care services in North America. RPM is the largest and most mature segment of the connected care market having a total of 16.1 million users at the end of 2018. The market for medical alert systems is considerably smaller with an estimated total of 3.1 million users, whereas the number of connected medication management users reached 900,000 at the end of 2018. There is an overlap between the market segments as medical alert users can also be equipped with a medication management solution or an RPM solution, and vice versa. The market is forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.3 percent during the next six years to reach 49.4 million connected care users by 2024. Berg Insight expects that RPM will remain the largest segment of the connected care market with a forecasted 47.4 million users in 2024. The number of connected medication management users and medical alert system users will at the same time reach 3.2 million and 4.3 million respectively.

The market for RPM solutions involves a wide range of actors, from specialised equipment vendors to integrated mHealth solution providers. The leading RPM application has thus far been sleep therapy compliance monitoring. Patients that suffer from sleepdisordered breathing such as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are typically prescribed an airflow generator. However, many patients find the devices unpleasant to use and poor compliance is common.

Payers increasingly require that patients comply with their treatment plans to be reimbursed for the device which has driven equipment vendors to connect the devices. The sleep therapy device segment is dominated by Philips and ResMed. The market for connected medication management solutions represents an interesting growth opportunity for companies from several markets. The use of connected insulin dosing systems has thus far gained most traction, but different connected solutions for pills and inhaled medication are increasingly adopted. In contrast, the market for medical alert systems is mature and key actors include Anelto, Essence Group, GreatCall, LogicMark, MobileHelp, Mytrex, Nortek and Phillips Lifeline

The North American market for connected care solutions is affected by several trends and developments that will have an impact on the competitive landscape in the following years. Changing demographics is driving the demand for home care, while technological developments and regulatory changes affect the competitive landscape for solution vendors. One of the major ongoing changes is the sunset of the landline telephone networks and cellular 3G networks, which forces equipment providers to upgrade their products. At the same time, the industry is becoming more patient-centric which calls for integrated systems and improved interoperability of connected care solutions. New companies are entering the connected care market and connected medication management solutions are today in the centre of attention for start-ups.

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IoT technology is becoming an essential element of healthcare. A recent report uses extensive research and data to forecast the trend of the IoT healthcare industry from 2019 until 2026.

In developing countries, IoT technology can connect patients who would otherwise struggle to see a practitioner to access healthcare. In developed countries, the technology can help medical institutions to respond to budget cuts and improve services.

IoT healthcare technology — such as Telemedicine — is already being used in many countries. The NHS is already using VR in a healthcare context, while remote monitoring of vital signals is becoming increasingly common. As the technology becomes more refined and inexpensive, greater adoption is expected across the globe. The report gives more detailed insight into the industry.

Internet of Things (IoT) in Healthcare Market report

The IoT in healthcare report details forecasts for 2019 through 2026, including major technologies and trends, market value and growth, restraints, and driving forces. It also highlights market segments individually, analyzes key industry players, and breaks down the market by region.

The report is based on historical studies, in-depth research, primary interviews and expert reviews. Secondary research comes from annual reports, broker and financial reports, government documents, company white papers and statistical databases, among other sources. The report, therefore, provides a comprehensive analysis of the IoT healthcare industry.

The industry analysis for ‘opportunity’ includes A ‘Five Force’ approach that examines buyer bargaining power, supplier bargaining power, the threat of new entrants, the threat of substitutes and the degree of competition.

Report Findings

The report is available in full for those who want to purchase it, but here is a summary of some of the key findings. It’s easy to see that the IoT healthcare industry is growing rapidly, yet steadily. The report also suggests which specific technologies and market segments are making the most ground.

Market Value – The Market value of the global IoT healthcare industry was $5,800 million in 2014.
According to the report, this is expected to reach $14,000 million by 2024. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is expected to be 12.2% between 2017 – 2024.

What are the main reasons for this growth?

Drivers – One of the major driving forces behind the growth of the IoT healthcare industry is greater adoption and accessibility. More healthcare institutes around the world are introducing IoT technology, and patients are more able to use them. IoT services are becoming more cost-effective. Cloud computing is a key factor in growth because it makes data more accessible to practitioners, manufacturers and service providers.

Restraints – Lack of consistency in interconnectivity and interoperability is a key restraint in the market that needs to be overcome. There are also security issues. Healthcare data is sensitive and, as such, it demands the highest levels of encryption and security. Reduction in the cost of connected devices has been identified as a key opportunity in the market.

Market Segments – Systems and software is the largest market segment by component type and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12.6%. This includes IoT sensors and accompanying software for medical devices that measure temperature, heart rate and blood pressure. There are already over 16.5 million patients worldwide whose signals are being remotely monitored. When it comes to application type, telemedicine accounts for the largest market share and is proving particularly effective in developing countries.

Regions – When it comes to regions, North America is by far the largest, having 40.3% market share in 2016. This is due to advanced healthcare facilities. Europe also owns a large market share and is growing at a CAGR of 11.7%. Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, and Central and South America have all been identified in the report as promising regions, where growth rates are expected to be high in the coming years.

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According to a new research report from the IoT analyst firm Berg Insight, around 7.8 million people in Europe were using connected care solutions at the end of 2018.

The figure refers to users of traditional telecare, next-generation telecare and telehealth solutions in the EU28+2 countries.

Until 2024, Berg Insight forecasts that the number of connected care users will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.1 percent to reach 17.3 million.

Traditional telecare is currently the largest and most mature of the three market segments, but the next-generation telecare and telehealth market segments are expected to have a higher growth rate in the next years.

Berg Insight expects that traditional telecare will be overtaken by next-generation telecare as the largest segment with a forecasted 8.3 million users in 2024. However, traditional telecare will follow with 6.2 million users and telehealth with 5.6 million users at the end of the forecast period.

The traditional telecare equipment market in Europe is highly consolidated. The two major players – Tunstall and Legrand – hold leading positions in nearly all markets even though they are challenged by local players such as Doro and TeleAlarm. The next-generation telecare market is on the other hand more fragmented. In addition to the leading telecare equipment vendors, companies active in the next-generation market include specialised providers such as Essence Group, Just Checking, Vitalbase and Vivago in activity monitoring; Everon, Libify, Oysta Technology, SmartLife Care and Smartwatcher in mobile telecare; and Evondos, Innospense and MediRätt in medication compliance monitoring.

The telehealth market is similarly a fragmented market that is evolving quickly and includes both start-ups and well-established solution providers such as BodyTel, Capsule Technologies, Comarch, eDevice, Luscii, OpenTeleHealth and SHL Telemedicine.

The European connected care industry is facing major changes that will reshape the competitive environment for solution vendors and service providers during the coming years. One of the main developments is the ongoing digitalisation of telephone networks around Europe. Large-scale replacements of telecare equipment will be needed as analogue devices do not function reliably on digitalised networks. At the same time, the market has seen new types of solutions that can advance the delivery of care to the next level. This includes next-generation telecare systems with new functions and more attractive design, as well as integrated solutions that enable a combined delivery of telecare and telehealth services. While the solutions are improving year-by-year, the adoption of next-generation telecare and telehealth solutions is still modest.

Sebastian Hellström, IoT Analyst at Berg Insight, said:

“Connected care actors want to innovate and provide better solutions for people, but they are held back by the slow adoption in public care systems in Europe.”

He adds that positive signs can be seen in countries such as Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom where insurers, legislators and national health systems have taken steps to implement next-generation telecare and telehealth solutions at a larger scale.

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According to a new market report from Berg Insight, revenues for remote patient monitoring (RPM) solutions reached € 17.5 billion in 2018.

This includes revenues from medical monitoring devices, mHealth connectivity solutions, care delivery platforms and mHealth care programs.

RPM revenues are expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.4 percent until 2023, reaching € 46.1 billion at the end of the forecast period. Most of the revenues come from the sales of connected medical devices. New care delivery platforms shows the highest growth rate, with an expected CAGR of 53.1 percent during the forecast period. The new care models enabled by these technologies are often consistent with patients’ preferences of living more healthy, active and independent lives.

Healthcare systems around the world are currently undergoing a major transformation to adopt value-based care ¬– a care model that requires care solutions to be both cost-efficient and of high-quality. Healthcare industry players are responding to this by developing data-driven solutions to optimise healthcare. One example is the use of self-engagement apps that rely on behavioural analytics to coach patients in how to manage their conditions. This can include reminders to take medication, recommendations to handle certain symptoms and real-time adjustments of the treatment plan to address changes in the patient’s condition. Berg Insight believes that patient engagement apps are likely to become a standard practice in many chronic disease management programmes and that this will spur the adoption of mHealth solutions.

Consumer-oriented mHealth devices of medical-grade standards are at the same time gaining traction on the market. During the last years, millions of consumers have connected medical monitoring devices via their smartphones to cloud platforms.

Sebastian Hellström, IoT analyst at Berg Insight, says:
“Payers and healthcare providers can take advantage of this trend, as consumers that already have started to use connected medical devices more easily can be onboarded onto new mHealth care programs.”

Similarly, medical researchers will have the possibility to collect data in volumes that have never been seen before. However, gaining access to patients’ data may also become more complicated than before. New regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation give individuals more control over their personal data.

Mr. Hellström continues:

“Previously, patients have barely been able to access their own health records. This is about to change and in a few years’ time it will become much easier for patients to not only view their data, but also suggest changes to it and even decide whom to share it with.”

Healthcare actors will have to make it attractive for patients to share their data. Those who do, may get access to rich information including everything from daily activity habits to ECG, blood pressure and blood sugar readings.

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New findings from Juniper Research reveal that wearables, including health trackers and remote patient monitoring devices, are set to become ‘must haves’ in delivering healthcare, with $20 billion forecast to be spent annually on these devices by 2023.

Meanwhile, assistive hearables, or connected hearing aids made available via healthcare providers, as well as directly to customers at varying price models, will mean this sector generates revenues of over $40 billion by 2022.

The new research, “Digital Health: Disruptor Analysis, Country Readiness & Technology Forecasts 2018-2023”, found adoption of healthcare wearables will be driven by improvements in remote patient monitoring technology, in addition to increased adoption by medical institutions. Juniper forecasts that 5 million individuals will be remotely monitored by healthcare providers by 2023.

The research forecasts that the advanced ability of AI-enabled software analytics to proactively identify individuals at risk of their condition worsening will witness increased confidence among medical practitioners and regulators with regard to sensor accuracy.

Wearables to Become an $855 Million Service Opportunity

As wearables become part of patients’ treatment plans, OEMs will seek to adjust their business models and generate revenues from devices being monitored. For example, selling data produced by the devices to insurance providers. Juniper forecasts that service revenues of this nature will reach $855 million by 2023.

However, data privacy and consent will continue to be a significant barrier. Improving healthcare systems, such as using AI-enabled software analytics, is contingent on patient data being anonymised. Some insurance providers are changing the dynamics. In order to be covered, they require a data feed from the policyholder’s device.

Research author Michael Larner added:

“It is vital that patients are made aware of how their personal data will be used. If not, making wearables a ‘must have’ to provide personalised care or receive medical insurance risks a backlash from patients and heightened regulatory scrutiny; stalling the effectiveness of remote monitoring.”

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Among the many technological developments of recent years, the Internet of Things stands out as one of the most promising. The potential of interconnected smart devices to implement tasks without human intervention has already proven its benefits in many industrial sectors but it is now about to become a game-changer in the healthcare space as well.

IoT Set to Play Crucial Role in Healthcare

Harnessing big data in order to improve personal healthcare with the help of IoT tech is quickly gaining ground among developers in the field – and the industry is set to grow even more. As of January 2018, the largest segment of IoT projects across the globe were smart cities, claiming a 23% industry share, followed by connected industry at 17% and connected building at 12%. Connected cars at 11% and smart energy at 10% complete the top five, but healthcare applications are already rising. They occupied the 6th spot and 6% of the market, and all signs show that the sector is set to develop further. The Mt. Sinai Medical Centre in NY managed to reduce emergency room waiting time by 50% by harnessing IoT, while other professionals are looking into IoT applications in chronic disease treatment, medication prescription, inventory and patients tracking, and telehealth.

Data is set to play a major role in the merging of IoT tech and the healthcare sector. Healthcare is an industry that by definition handles sensitive data. Therefore, making sure that IoT applications adhere to strict safeguards and standards is crucial. Companies actively engaged in developing healthcare-related IoT applications are focusing their attention on data security in an effort to adequately protect the data they gather from internal and external threats including ransomware, data theft, and compromised or careless users with legitimate access rights who could pose a danger. This includes taking steps like discovering rogue databases, correctly identifying sensitive data in order to increase protection, and adhering to regulatory requirements like those outlined in HIPAA, GDRP and SOX. This focus is all the more important since IoT networks are prone to many vulnerabilities that have not yet been sufficiently addressed, as the industry is still developing and learning.

Internet of Things Community Announces New Centre of Excellence

Developments seem to be moving rapidly in the field. In early fall, the Internet of Things Community, a group that claims it is the world’s largest partnership of IoT practitioners, professionals and corporate executives in the field, has revealed its plan to establish a global Center of Excellence that will focus exclusively on IoT healthcare applications. The Center will have a mandate that will include developing guidelines and best practices to streamline IoT adoption by healthcare professionals. It will also create its own platform for sharing knowledge and resources across the industry, including a learning portal, and will be involved in organizing conferences and identifying other venues for enabling insight exchange among IoT professionals.

The initiative is spearheaded by Chris Sullivan of Zebra Technologies, an Illinois-based company that is active in data capture and identification services for businesses. John Gresham of Cerner, which focuses on health information and electronic health record solutions and hardware, will act as vice chair of the new Center. Among the first priorities of the Center is to work on a framework focused on big data and analytics, personal health management, raising venture capital for new startups that are taking their first steps in the IoT healthcare field, developing comprehensive strategies for healthcare providers, and offering solutions for underserved communities.

It remains to be seen whether the news about this new Center of Excellence will manage to gather enough enthusiasm and support around the project and act as a contact point between the healthcare and IoT industries.

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Asavie IoT Connect Enables Medtech Innovator Deliver Global Support Service To Defibrillator Manufacturers and Owners.

Asavie, today announced that CardiLink, a pioneer in Medtech device monitoring is leveraging Asavie IoT Connect to securely monitor and maintain fleets of Automated External Defibrillator devices (AED) deployed in public spaces and corporate campuses.

The CardiLink cloud platform provides AED owners and manufacturers with critical insights into the operational effectiveness of their device estates. This capability assists their compliance with health sector legislative directives in both the EU and U.S. that oblige them to maintain a system in which the AED state is logged.

Asavie IoT Connect provides on-demand secure and private connectivity for each AED endpoint. The AED devices are authorized and authenticated onto a private network off the public internet, thus minimizing their exposure to cybersecurity threats. Using Asavie IoT Connect’s elastic network topology, CardiLink can segment AEDs into unique private networks per manufacturer, per country and per owner, which protects the devices and data and assists with adherence to regulations such as the EU GDPR data protection laws and the EU Regulation 2017/745 pertaining to medical devices.

Lars Wassermann, CEO, CardiLink, said:

“Asavie’s global presence enables us to address a global market and optimize the security of the connected medical devices. The service facilitates rapid deployment, providing us with the ability to scale easily in any region. Furthermore, the capability to create on-demand private network connectivity for individual manufacturers, per user, per country helps us comply with the data privacy regulations in each of the countries we operate in.”

Welcoming the announcement, Ralph Shaw, CEO, Asavie, said:
“We are excited by this engagement with Medtech innovator, CardiLink. Manufacturers and service providers operating in regulated sectors need to protect their data from exposure to cyberattacks and security breaches. Asavie eliminates the risk for these companies by providing the on-demand, scalable, intelligent IoT connectivity services on private networks, isolated from the public internet.”

“Companies rely on us to provide the secure IoT connectivity from their device to the cloud so that they can concentrate on harnessing the potential of the IoT and innovate their businesses,” continued Shaw.

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The home will emerge as an increasingly valuable site for enhancing the healthcare experience as part of the progression of digital, remote, connected and virtual care.

Health systems are evolving beyond care delivery of the diseased to encompass numerous health and wellness touchpoints, transforming it from disease management to health management.

This was one of the key issues discussed at the recent Frost & Sullivan GIL Executive Briefing on the topic “The 2025 Smart Home for Delivering Healthcare” at the Conrad Centennial, Singapore on 13 September 2018.

Reenita Das, Partner and Senior Vice-President, Transformational Health, explained:

“With the transition from volume- to outcomes-based care, there will be significant impact on patient engagement strategies in terms of adoption of wearables, apps and digital therapeutics with value and innovation remaining relevant.”

One of the most notable disruptions in healthcare services over the next five years will be the concept of Smart Homes, which involves a connected ecosystem of sensors and devices on and around the individual at home.

According to Frost & Sullivan, smart homes will amplify the benefits of precision health through personalization, decentralization, collaboration and prevention.

Smart homes will evolve from serving critical care needs to monitor and manage overall health and wellness of the individuals

Driven by the Internet of Things (IoT) and other technologies, smart home can deliver improved consumer experiences by communicating data between wearables, home monitoring devices, home-based sensors, consumer electronics and mobile apps.

With this paradigm shift, the focus of a smart home will evolve from meeting critical care needs such as Aging-in-place, Chronic Disease Management and Post-acute Care Monitoring to focusing on overall health and wellness in areas of Maternal, Infant & Child Health, and Care for physically and Intellectually Disabled and Health and Wellness for All.

Smart Home as testbed for evolution of Technology Interventions for Medical Specialties

At present, current tech interventions for medical specialties work in silos, providing disease-specific insights. For instance, blood glucose levels are solely monitored by individual machines such as Glucometers and CGMs.

However, the intelligent homes of the future will bring together technology to offer a holistic picture of person’s health, providing quantifiable changes over time. An example would be the smart toilets and sensors in the home of the future which will analyze factors such as the number of bathroom visits, urine output and chemical composition

Smart homes will offer multiple opportunities in terms of health and wellness and ageing-in-place

In-depth connected ecosystems focusing on wellness and management will offer the greatest opportunities to industry and non-industry players. There will also be an increased need for cross-industry partnerships.

Although healthcare providers prefer developing in-house solutions but industry partnerships will help them establish therapeutic ecosystems that deliver value through multiple points of care.

With this in mind, technology giants are fast advancing into the healthcare industry, some with traditional, horizontal ICT offerings whilst others with unprecedented vertical strategies and business models. All aim to capitalize on the next inevitable step in healthcare digital transformation – a massive data and workload exodus to the cloud which will impact providers, payers, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment companies and government agencies.

With data the new currency in healthcare, there is greater need for cybersecurity risk management services to prevent loss of confidential patient data and workflow disruption across critical care infrastructure. However, many healthcare organizations lack the dedicated resources to manage this. Hence, they will increasingly depend on vendor partners to provide cyber-risk management and compliance services such as threat assessment and incidence response.

In addition to cybersecurity, another major hurdle would be the interoperability of various data systems and devices that are critical to capturing holistic patient outcomes. Other challenges include changes in the regulatory framework and payment models; significant dollar investment in new technologies and workflows, and cultural and consumer behavior shift across all industry stakeholders.

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