Smart Meter, the No. 1 supplier of devices and data to the remote patient monitoring (RPM) market, will introduce a new cellular-enabled glucometer at the HLTH Conference in Las Vegas starting October 8th.

The iGlucose® Essential builds on the company’s reputation for supplying secure, cellular-enabled RPMTM, vital sign monitors. The new iGlucose® Essential delivers an FDA-cleared, reliable blood glucose monitor packed with features that make it easy for users to manage their diabetes better.

The iGlucose® Essential is ergonomically designed for patient comfort, is lightweight, and simple to use, all leading to more frequent and regular testing. In addition, it has a large, easy-to-read display screen combined with one-button operation and automatic shutoff that make this monitor incredibly patient-friendly. There is no need to log testing results in a separate journal since the iGlucose® Essential is cellular-enabled, so test results are automatically sent to the user’s care team. The new glucose meter also includes onscreen alerts for Ketone and Hypo conditions, giving users more control in managing their condition.

“When developing the feature criteria for the new iGlucose® Essential, we put the patient’s needs first,” said Casey Pittock, Smart Meter’s CEO.

“We know the key to controlling diabetes is for patients to test regularly so both patient and provider understand blood glucose levels. With these many patient-centric features, we feel testing has never been easier.”

Healthcare continues to be a priority target for cyber hackers, costing organizations more than $10 million a year¹. One of the main reasons is that healthcare data is considered to be 50 times more valuable² than financial data alone.

As with all of Smart Meter’s cellular-enabled RPM devices, the iGlucose® Essential utilizes proprietary cellular technology to transmit the reading instantly through our Private Data Network, the only one in the United States specifically created for RPM, developed in collaboration with AT&T. This ensures a reliable and secure transmission every time. And unlike unsecured Bluetooth® devices, our solutions will only connect and transmit patient data through our network.

“While some healthcare data organizations struggle to always have secure transmissions, Smart Meter made it a priority several years ago,” said Smart Meter’s Chief Marketing Officer Bill Bassett. “In fact, we were recently recognized with a Systems and Organizations Control (SOC) certification after an independent audit by a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) verified our multiple layers of robust security.”

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Berg Insight, the world’s leading IoT market research provider, today released new findings on the mHealth market.

The number of remotely monitored patients reached 56.8 million in 2021 as the market acceptance continues to grow in several key verticals. This number includes all patients enrolled in mHealth care programs in which connected medical devices are used as a part of the care regimen. Connected medical devices used for various forms of personal health tracking are not included in this figure. Berg Insight estimates that the number of remotely monitored patients will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.2 percent to reach 126.1 million by 2027.

The three main applications are monitoring of patients with sleep therapy devices, glucose level monitoring of patients with diabetes and monitoring of patients with implantable cardiac rhythm management (CRM) devices. The number of remotely monitored sleep therapy patients amounted to 27.5 million in 2021, driven by ResMed and Philips that together dominate the sleep therapy market. Glucose level monitoring has grown significantly in the last years and is now the second largest segment with 9.1 million connections at the end of the year. The growth is driven by the increased adoption of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems from providers such as Abbott and Dexcom. The CRM market is led by companies such as Medtronic, Boston Scientific and Abbott that started to include connectivity in CRM solutions more than a decade ago. Other device categories include ECG, telehealth, medication compliance, blood pressure monitors and others.

The demand for home monitoring solutions has grown greatly in the last years. Healthcare systems around the world have undergone a transformation to adopt to value-based care – a care model that requires care solutions to be both cost-efficient and of high quality. Healthcare industry players have responded to this by developing data-driven solutions, such as self-engagement apps that rely on behavioural analytics to coach patients in how to manage their conditions.

“mHealth and home monitoring can help ease the burden of an already strained healthcare sector, as it eases the access to patient data and both increases the efficiency and improves the quality of care,” says Samuel Andersson, IoT Analyst at Berg Insight.

As regulations and reimbursement rates have been changed in favour or remote patient monitoring solutions, the growth is expected to continue. Several European countries have started to follow the US and either already introduced or plan to introduce reimbursement for remote patient monitoring in the near future.

Mr Andersson concludes:

“This trend has been going on for years, but the COVID-19 pandemic greatly accelerated the development, as it forced providers to adopt to remote patient monitoring and telehealth solutions. This helped overcome the institutional hesitancy and conservatism that previously were a major barrier for the adoption these solutions.”

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The pandemic pushed the digitization of the healthcare industry forward. IT technologies, such as healthcare IoT, have helped provide quality care in the comfort of one’s home and drive telehealth solutions’ popularity. Though the advances of IoT in healthcare are already significant, there is still room for growth. The IoT medical device market is expected to develop proactively and reach $94.2bn by 2026, according to MarketsandMarkets.

Although the prognosis is inspiring, IoT deployment could be a challenging endeavor. For healthcare providers, another digital tool means an additional investment. So what are the significant benefits of IoT that could justify it?

IoT for healthcare: why is it important?

In the healthcare industry, IoT powers the crucial aspects of hospital operation – remote patient monitoring and hospital management automation.

Remote patient monitoring

Remote patient monitoring (RPM) is a relatively new way of care delivery patients can get from where they are due to IoT medical devices connected to the Internet. Connected IoT devices collect patients’ vitals 24/7 and upload them to a cloud, EHR, or another secure data storage. Then, patients can share their records with doctors. Thanks to the availability of the patient’s health indicators over time, doctors can early detect general tendencies and alarming signs in the patient’s health parameters.

Smart hospital management

IoT in healthcare is not only about monitoring patients remotely. The technology also brings operational benefits to healthcare providers. For example, IoT-based technology enables automated inventory management. IoT- and RFID-powered tools help hospital staff keep track of drugs, medical products, equipment, and workflows, improving visibility and reducing expenses.

Healthcare IoT: top 3 benefits

We’ve selected the top three benefits that prove a hospital’s investments in IoT bring value.

Cost savings

Chronic condition patients require the most expensive treatment. As MDLinx reports, 90% of the hefty annual healthcare spending in the US goes for treating chronic patients or managing their conditions. Logically, care providers seek to lower the costs preventing relapses and improving the quality of life for those patients. This is where remote patient monitoring can help.

For example, Vheda Health, a chronic care company from Columbia, Maryland, created a digital chronic management platform that manages high-risk chronic conditions with the help of remote monitoring technologies. Patients received a care package based on their health condition, including a customized mobile device and remote monitoring device. This helps patients to monitor their health better, preventing additional hospital admissions and reducing healthcare expenses. As a result, in 2021, Vheda Health’s customers reduced their healthcare costs by over 41%.

Long-awaited offer for patients

Patients prefer to avoid visits to a clinic. First, it’s about the cost. Secondly, the American Journal of Managed Care researchers found that going to the provider’s premises takes at least 100 minutes. Meanwhile, the actual appointment covers only a fifth of that time. The rest goes for traveling to the location and waiting in line. As a result, the Medical Group Management Association reported that 49% of medical groups witnessed an increase in no-show rates in 2022. However, missing the due appointments may worsen patients’ health outcomes and quality of life.

Some healthcare providers opt for home care to spare patients the need to travel to the hospital, and IoT for healthcare can help here. Thus, UMass Memorial Hospital from Worcester, Massachusetts, partnered up with Current Health, a home-based care company. Current Health produces sensors and remote monitoring devices to ensure at-home care to chronic condition patients and those recovering from different physical traumas or surgeries.

Due to the cooperation with Current Health, the clinic managed to serve more patients outside of the hospital setting. The clinic set up an at-home care program and gave the interested patients armbands that measure their heart rate, skin temperature, and blood oxygen level. They also gave patients iPads for round-the-clock access to their assigned clinicians.

The new care delivery model was successful. The hospital provided home care to nine to twelve patients daily. As a result, the facility’s one-month readmission rate was reduced by 20-30%. Among other benefits are a lower rate of infections and deep vein thrombosis in the participants compared to inpatients.

Working with Current Health, UMass Memorial managed to improve care in the community. They also resolved the problem of the low bed capacity typical of Central Massachusetts clinics.

Improved visibility and workflows

As a part of hospital inventory management solutions, IoT tools offer hospital staff a range of features that help speed up some work processes and boost their effectiveness.

For example, medical IoT streamlines stock tracking and searching for drugs, products, and other medical goods. It enables a user to find the necessary item with just a click. Besides, users stay informed about the item’s status. Users can also activate alerts about item status updates.

Besides, users can check the history of operations on the items, the actors, and the updates they made. This feature gives the staff crystal-clear visibility of the item’s journey across the hospital and the clinicians responsible for the changes.

Inventory management solutions can also help clinicians modify established workflows. For instance, In Los Angeles, California, Adventist Health White Memorial clinic managed to accelerate the turnaround time in their operating room by about 25 minutes thanks to the radio frequency identification technology (RFID) employed. As a result, the team reduced patient wait time at all checkpoints, from registration to postoperative recovery.

Conclusions

Implementing specific IoT solutions in the healthcare industry provides benefits that help resolve critical challenges providers face daily. First, it’s about saving the funds that are always insufficient. For instance, remote patient monitoring fosters timely prevention of relapses and unplanned hospital stays, which are expensive for patients and healthcare providers. Such tools can also speed up the diagnostics and treatment of diverse diseases and injuries.

Secondly, IoT-driven patient monitoring tools power a care provision model patients enjoy the most – at-home care. Home-based care suits chronic condition patients, those recovering from contagious diseases and fractures, and those with difficulties traveling to the facility. At-home care improves patient outcomes and their experience. For providers, it offers better ways to manage their resources.

As a part of a hospital inventory management solution, healthcare IoT helps providers improve the visibility of their operations and streamline the established workflows. For example, clinicians and nurses can view who is responsible for a task, what they should do, when, and with who. Improved visibility can assist with rapid response to unexpected situations and successful crisis resolution.

All of the above justifies the investment in healthcare IoT solutions, as they help upscale hospital services and improve patient outcomes, experience, and satisfaction.

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Berg Insight has found in its latest research that around 8.6 million people in Europe were using connected care solutions at the end of 2021.

The figure refers to users of traditional telecare, next-generation telecare and telehealth solutions in the EU27+3 countries.

Until 2027, Berg Insight forecasts that the number of connected care users will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.1 percent to reach 17.1 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 next-generation telecare will overtake traditional telecare solutions and become the largest segment with a forecasted 7.7 million users in 2027. Traditional telecare will follow with 7.5 million users and the telehealth segment will have an estimated 5.7 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 Careium, TeleAlarm and Chubb. 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, Everon, Vitalbase and Vivago in activity monitoring; Navigil, Libify, Oysta Technology, SmartLife Care and Smartwatcher in mobile telecare; and Evondos, Vitavanti, AceAge and iZafe Group 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 Huma, Luscii, Dignio, Comarch, eDevice 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 digitalisation enables new types of solutions that can advance the delivery of care to the next level. This includes next-generation telecare systems with new functions as well as integrated solutions that enable a combined delivery of telecare and telehealth services.

“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 telecare devices, but also from other sources such as smart home sensors, healthcare records and connected medical devices”, said Samuel Andersson, IoT Analyst at Berg Insight. Another trend worth noting is the effect that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on the adoption of telehealth and remote patient monitoring solutions.

Mr. Andersson concluded:

“As lockdowns and quarantines were imposed all around the world, healthcare providers were motivated to adopt remote patient monitoring and telehealth solutions. This helped overcome some of the institutional hesitancy and conservatism that previously were major barriers for the adoption these solutions.”

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Eseye’s Award-Winning AnyNet+ eSIMs and Cellular IoT Expertise Enable Telli Health to Achieve Verizon Network Device and eUICC Certification.

Eseye, today announced that it has enabled Telli Health’s innovative range of global remote patient monitoring (RPM) devices, including a blood pressure monitor, blood glucometer, pulse oximeter, and thermometer, to become the first in the global healthcare device marketplace to achieve eUICC certification on Verizon’s award-winning 4G LTE network in the United States.

With Verizon as part of Eseye’s global federation of connectivity partners, Eseye can offer IoT connectivity across the U.S. through its award-winning AnyNet+ eSIM, featuring an embedded Universal Integrated Circuit Card (eUICC) and multi-IMSI capabilities, which can ensure Telli Health devices stay connected to the Verizon network.

Device certification on Verizon’s LTE network means that a device is confirmed to be technically compliant with and fully functional on the network. By attaining device and eUICC certification on Verizon’s expansive LTE network, Telli Health can scale its RPM solution across the U.S. medical IoT market, incorporating Verizon mobile connectivity that has been awarded #1 for Wireless Network Quality a record 28 times in a row by J.D. Power.

Telli Health selected Eseye to manage this process end-to-end, utilizing Eseye’s unrivaled technical device and network expertise to achieve eUICC certification.

Working with Eseye, Telli Health successfully achieved certification, including:

• Device preparation and behaviour analysis.
• Onboarding with AnyNet+ eUICC eSIMs to ensure the RPM device responds to changing connectivity environments.
• Testing the device and ensuring it has passed tests for eUICC-compliant network switching.
• Launching the device and enabling eUICC localization to Verizon once devices are live.

Will Dos Santos, Head of Sales, Telli Health emphasizes the importance of Verizon certification to Telli Health: “Achieving certification onto Verizon catapults us above our competitors and ensures our patients can reliably use our RPM devices even in more remote and rural areas. Eseye’s technical expertise and support was invaluable during the certification process. Verizon certification has positioned Telli Health for further success in the RPM market, with plans to deploy a total of 300,000 devices by the end of 2022.”

Erik Varney, Managing Director, Telematics and Industrial IoT, Verizon Business, added, “eUICC is transforming global IoT connectivity for business. It’s enabling the multinational enterprise to achieve interoperability and securely connect their devices locally to Verizon’s leading LTE network for IoT. Eseye and Telli Health are key contributors in establishing this cutting-edge service for the market, utilizing Verizon’s long-heralded network performance and reliability..”

Reliable connectivity central to Telli Health’s RPM proposition

Telli Health decided to design and build bespoke hardware so it could provide the best and most efficient solution for patients and healthcare providers.

To achieve this, it knew a multi-network approach was essential to deliver the reliable, ubiquitous connectivity fundamental to ensuring the accuracy of its RPM solutions. However, this introduced challenges in terms of device network certification and roaming capabilities, something that healthcare decision makers in Eseye’s 2021 research cited as a major issue..

This is where the Eseye AnyNet+ eSIM’s ability to localize onto the Verizon network was a critical factor for Telli Health. Verizon’s LTE network is essential for enabling devices beyond just population centers and into rural and under-served communities, where access to healthcare is difficult. A reliable connection is essential to deliver a steady stream of patient data, whilst building patient and doctor confidence in RPM solutions, potentially leading to better health outcomes and more efficient healthcare resource allocation in the future.

Since partnering with Eseye, Telli Health has witnessed:

• A 73% improvement in unique daily data transmissions, whereby reliable connectivity can provide data in real time.
• A 67% reduction in patient churn.
• A 94% reduction in support costs; RPM devices work out-of-the-box, leading to an 80% increase in patient onboarding times.

Nick Earle, CEO, Eseye concludes:
“Eseye is uniquely positioned in the market to offer a superior level of specialist technical support for customers, such as Telli Health, to achieve eUICC certification onto the required network, including Verizon’s in the US.”

“Adoption of eSIM technology in multi-country IoT deployments, where devices can seamlessly localize onto the network with the strongest signal, is only going to increase. Similarly, we expect to see a growing requirement for a managed-services approach to IoT, which can guide customers from ideation and proof of concept, through the design, development, and deployment of global IoT solutions at scale.”

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• Smart Meter IoT Devices in Remote Care Programs Dramatically Improve Health in 84% of Diabetes Patients and 88% of Hypertension Patients
• First-in-Class Smart Meter Cellular Pulse Oximeter to Debut at CES 2022

What’s the news?

AT&T is teaming up with Smart Meter to improve health outcomes for patients with chronic conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure.

Smart Meter supplies healthcare providers with cellular remote patient monitoring (RPM) devices and services, including the SmartRPM solution, iGlucose®, iBloodPressure 2.0, iScale and soon, the iPulseOx, being unveiled at CES 2022 in Las Vegas. These devices run on AT&T’s nationwide IoT network, known for its reliability and coverage.

Chronic diseases are the leading causes of death in the U.S., and they’re on the rise. Hypertension can lead to 2 of the biggest killers in this country – heart disease and stroke – while diabetes ranks 7th for deaths. But studies show remote patient monitoring can help change this. For example, 84% of diabetes and 88%1 of hypertension patients at highest risk for severe disease complications experienced significant improvements in their health when using the Smart Meter iGlucose and iBloodPressure as part of RPM programs.

Why is this important?

Consistent use is a must for an effective RPM program. So, the simpler the solution, the more likely the patient will use it. Smart Meter’s cellular-enabled devices simplify RPM. They are an easy out-of-the-box solution; just insert the included batteries and press the start button. The monitoring devices contain IoT SIM cards, so they automatically send the patient’s data over the AT&T IoT network to the SmartRPM cloud. The healthcare provider then accesses the data there via secure log-in.

Unlike cellular-enabled RPM devices, Bluetooth-enabled monitoring devices require the user to pair the device with a smartphone or tablet, download the data, and then send it to the doctor. It’s a more complicated solution that oftentimes involves troubleshooting. This can be intimidating and frustrating for users and can lead to them not continuing with the RPM program. Cellular RPM devices help lessen the technological divide and are more accessible to patients of all ages, regardless of digital literacy and access to connectivity.

What are the benefits?

For patients, Smart Meter’s cellular RPM devices mean easy access to improved healthcare with the peace of mind that comes from frequent assurances and support. For health care providers, the benefits include ready access to more complete patient data and the ability to act on it in near real-time, while automatic record keeping meets requirements for reimbursement.

Because of these benefits, a growing number of doctors are embracing RPM. A recent survey found 43% of clinicians believe RPM adoption will be on par with in-patient monitoring in 5 years.

What are people saying?

“The iGlucose solution proved to be an outstanding resource for my clinical team to enable greater insights into our patients’ results between visits. More than 70% of participants required some form of intervention prior to their next in-office visit, and as a result, there was a reduction in emergency room visits and need for hospitalizations, demonstrating better overall diabetes care.” – Dr. Gail L. Nunlee-Bland, MD, Howard University Diabetes Treatment Center

“Our collaboration with Smart Meter is another example of how our IoT connectivity is advancing connected healthcare. IoT-enabled devices ultimately provide a quicker and more convenient patient service with better outcomes for both the patient and the healthcare provider.” – Joe Drygas, VP of AT&T Healthcare Industry Solutions

“As an early RPM innovator, Smart Meter has done extensive work to drive the best outcomes by improving patient engagement and adherence, and our cellular alliance with AT&T has been a large part of our success.” – Casey Pittock, Smart Meter CEO

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Berg Insight, the world’s leading M2M/IoT market research provider, today released new findings on the mHealth market.

The number of remotely monitored patients reached 45.6 million in 2020 as the market acceptance continues to grow in several key verticals. This number includes all patients enrolled in mHealth care programs in which connected medical devices are used as a part of the care regimen. Connected medical devices used for various forms of personal health tracking are not included in this figure.

Berg Insight estimates that the number of remotely monitored patients will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.8 percent to reach 115.7 million by 2026.

The three main applications are monitoring of patients with sleep therapy devices, monitoring of patients with diabetes and monitoring of patients with implantable cardiac rhythm management (CRM) devices.

The number of remotely monitored sleep therapy patients amounted to 23.5 million in percent in 2020, mainly driven by ResMed and Philips that together dominate the sleep therapy market.

Glucose level monitoring has grown significantly in the last years and is now the second largest segment with 6.2 million connections at the end of the year. The growth is driven by the increased adoption of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems from providers such as Abbott and Dexcom. The CRM market is led by companies such as Medtronic, Boston Scientific and Abbott that started to include connectivity in CRM solutions more than a decade ago. Other device categories include ECG, telehealth, medication compliance, blood pressure monitors and others.

Samuel Andersson, IoT Analyst at Berg Insight, says:

“One of the most promising segments is medication compliance, which we expect will have the strongest growth in the next five years.”

More than 50 percent of all connected medical monitoring devices rely on cellular connectivity today and has become the de-facto standard for most types of connected home medical monitoring devices. The number of mHealth devices with integrated cellular connectivity reached 24.1 million in 2020. The use of BYOD connectivity will increase the most during the next six years, with a forecasted CAGR of 22.1 percent.

“BYOD involves low cost and the technology is mostly adopted in patient-centric therapeutic areas such as diabetes and asthma that have younger patient demographics compared to many other chronic diseases. Many of these patients prefer to use their own smartphone as the interface instead of carrying around a dedicated device for remote monitoring”, concluded Mr. Andersson.

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Hospital systems investing in virtual care turn to IoT managed services to enable remote patient monitoring platforms.

KORE, a global leader in Internet of Things (IoT) services and solutions, today announced that it has teamed up with Myia Health, an enterprise platform for healthcare delivery in the home, to provide major hospitals with software and IoT managed services that ensure IoT devices are kitted and shipped to patients who are being treated where they live.

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the pace of digital transformations in all industries, especially in the healthcare sector.

“The connected health segment has experienced 18 years’ worth of innovation and IoT adoption during the 18 months of the pandemic,” said KORE President and CEO Romil Bahl. “And the pace isn’t slowing down. Virtual patient care and remote patient monitoring have become the go-forward norm in part because IoT has matured, and we can service this demand with our one-stop-shop IoT enablement services.”

Powered by advanced data analytics, Myia’s platform connects clinical actions with patient outcomes and identifies patients with the greatest need for high-touch care. When a patient is identified as vulnerable in a population or upon discharge from the hospital, KORE and Myia collaborate to handle the device logistics and deploy Myia’s patient and clinician software technology that allows healthcare providers to manage patients’ health in a continuous and preventative manner from the home.

Hospitals have consistently encountered the same significant logistics hurdles, though, as they attempt to build their virtual care/virtual hospital strategies. The virtual care experience is possible because of the advancement in market-ready health monitoring devices and improved choice in and reliability of the required connectivity for those devices. Take, for example, a hospital located in the mid-western part of the U.S. It typically adds 5,000 remote patients annually, and each of those patients has on average three health monitoring devices.

Before leveraging KORE, this hospital was handling the sourcing and logistics for 15,000 devices that were out in the field. The hospital quickly realized that it made more sense to outsource these services to a third party to manage the sourcing, servicing, kitting and retrieval of those devices.

“Hospitals prefer to stick to their knitting and focus on giving care, not the details of ensuring a heart monitor device has arrived at the home of the patient and will work out of the box, including connectivity and secure flow of data,” Bahl said.

Myia CEO and Co-Founder, Simon MacGibbon, said:

“Myia utilizes its advanced analytics and machine learning to partner with major hospital systems to provide the digital infrastructure of their virtual operations, which fuels and optimizes patient outcomes, clinical operations and the economics of these state-of-the-art virtual command centers where many thousands of patients can be monitored and preventatively managed in near-real time.”

“KORE plays a fundamental role in the success of these endeavors because it handles all of the managed services and logistics of making sure the right devices are delivered to the right patients at the right time.”

With a chronic heart failure patient, for example, KORE kitting and logistics capabilities are critical to ensure the cellular connected sensors and tablet arrive at the home of the patient with the proper software and configuration. KORE integrates sensors that capture vital health stats such as blood pressure and oxygen levels along with temperature and patient weight. KORE testing ensures a flawless out-of-the-box experience at a most critical point in the patient’s recovery process.

“The ultimate outcome is that we’re helping keep people healthy after an acute event so that they don’t have to go back to the hospital and are as well-managed and healthy as possible. This ultimately will help improve patient outcomes, and drive down overall healthcare costs and utilization,” MacGibbon said.

As hospitals move into the new norm of virtual care, they are no longer just hospital caregivers. The hospitals now have a highly complex, home-based logistics piece of their business that they have never before encountered. AI, technology, and specialized managed services are enabling hospitals to make their visions for virtual care a reality, as effectively as possible, while ensuring the behind-the-scenes processes are as streamlined and cost-efficient as possible.

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IoT and healthcare is not a new concept, and it has been slowly finding its place in our healthcare system for years. One of the contributing factors in slowing the revolution has been the patient.

The very person it is aimed at helping. Shifting the role of medical providers from person to digital format is often met with some skepticism from patients, fearing a loss in the personable and human interaction medicine has historically had. The idea of a video call or virtual meeting with your doctor 18 months ago would have been unthinkable for many. How could a physician possibly diagnose a photo or treat an ailment through a screen? Covid-19 backed everyone into a corner and forced physicians to re-think and re-model their patient care. More importantly, perhaps, it forced patients into accepting a new age of treatment and consequently, and indirectly, facilitated the advancement of IoT in our healthcare system.

So, how can IoT revolutionize healthcare?

One thing that the pandemic required patients and medical staff to do was to maintain social distancing. Of course, there are times where it was impossible, but essentially every effort was made to ensure a 6 feet distance was kept between people at all times. Even from your physician. The other hurdle many physicians and patients faced during the pandemic was that of the requirement to quarantine. Thousands of people all over the world were required to quarantine at home to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and this presented serious challenges to daily life. This is where the use of drones has come into its own in the medical field. Drones not only enable the use of social distancing but have also been able to work around the requirement for quarantine successfully.

Drones allow for the rapid provision of distanced medical advice and care. They also make it possible to transport medical supplies to rural or remote destinations without ever having to leave the house, or hospital. Medical supplies can be transported between hospitals and labs faster than manpower alone and without social interaction. The use of drones allows patients to receive medical attention and or the supplies they need and ultimately creates a safer working environment for personnel and safer treatment options for patients, which is more important than ever during a global pandemic.

Currently, drone technology is just scratching the surface in terms of healthcare. Looking forward, it is not impossible to imagine a world where a drone takes on the role of an ambulance. As mentioned, they can deliver medical supplies and first aid kits quicker than humans to anywhere in the world, however remote. They can also be equipped with cameras enabling medical staff to see and treat emergencies they cannot reach in time-sensitive situations.

Drones are becoming more and more commonplace in today’s world, whether it is in the medical sector, for commercial use, or personal pleasure. Their technology and capabilities are advancing and evolving all the time. For a look at some of the most cutting edge drones available and how they are being used, visit https://www.drdrone.ca/

Monitoring

Monitoring and IoT have been in place for some time and are the most common way that IoT has impacted healthcare delivery. Remote patient monitoring involves IoT devices collecting data remotely from patients and transmitting it to the relevant medical professional. This means patients do not have to attend medical facilities, and physicians do not have to rely on patients to collect and report data themselves. Removing the margin for error. The benefits of this are wide-reaching without a global pandemic, but it is easy to see how the coronavirus pandemic has normalized and accelerated the use of remote monitoring.

Data commonly collected commonly includes blood pressure, blood oxygen levels, temperature, and heart rate. One of the newer metrics hoping to infiltrate the market is glucose monitoring. With millions of diabetes sufferers worldwide, the ability to continuously and effectively monitor glucose levels could truly have a revolutionary impact. Once data is received, the software will analyze the data and generate an alert to the treating physician should there be any inconsistencies or required treatment.

The pandemic has seen patient monitoring change gear and transforms from transmitting patient ‘at home’ data to the implementation of virtual hospital wards. The UK’s healthcare system, the NHS, implemented remote monitoring during the Covid pandemic to alleviate pressure on hospital beds. It worked by patients monitoring vitals such as oxygen levels at home and sharing the results via their smartphones or devices with their clinical team. It allowed patients and medical staff to monitor progress outside of the hospital setting and pick up any deterioration as soon as it began. It meant more critical care beds were available for those who needed them and allowed doctors to employ their attention where it is most required.

The UK has gone further than this and trialed the use of virtual wards when caring for patients at risk of hospital admission, irrespective of their Covid status. Patients are added to a ‘virtual ward’, and professionals from all medical and social care disciplines review the patient’s status from the data collected, without having to visit the patient to obtain it. The most appropriate member of their team can act upon the data received and where necessary visit the patient. This approach can help reduce hospital admissions and ensure the best package of care is in place for supporting patients either at home or on discharge from the hospital. Ultimately saving both time and money and improving patient care.

The UAE is rumored to be going even further than this and is in talks with a telecommunications provider to introduce the first virtual hospital to the region. While finer details are yet to be released, it does beg the question, is IOT paving the way for truly virtual healthcare?

Robotic surgery

Perhaps one of the most pioneering developments IoT has had in the medical world is robotic surgery. While the use of IoT in surgeries is not a new concept or even practice, the potential of the widespread use of IoT integrated surgeries would be game-changing.

IOT assisted surgeries can firstly reduce incision size and make surgeries less invasive and easier to recover from. Still, more importantly, they can allow surgeons to perform operations from a completely different location to their patients. The impact of this is vast. It would mean patients would no longer need to leave their local hospital to undergo the treatment they need. Patients wouldn’t have to cross the country, or even the globe, to receive potentially life-saving care. What is more, patients based in more remote locations will access the same level of healthcare and treatment as those based in bustling cities benefiting from city healthcare.

Surgeries like this are not without their challenges, but the development of 5G, high-resolution cameras, and advanced robotics has opened the door to the exciting expansion of robotic surgeries.

The downside to IoT and healthcare

The advancement IoT has brought to healthcare is astonishing, and this article is the tip of the iceberg. Healthcare is a fundamental need experienced by everybody worldwide, yet its distribution is not always equal. It is hoped that greater integration of IoT into healthcare systems worldwide will help even out healthcare distribution and those who benefit from it. It is not, however, without its challenges.

One of the biggest challenges IoT faces in healthcare is patient privacy and the security of data. As an inherent side effect of their use IoT devices will be required to obtain, store and transmit sensitive medical and personal data. If IoT is to be a mainstream player in healthcare, then patients need to trust developers and manufacturers with their most private information.

The onus is on the developers to ensure that anonymity and patient privacy is prioritized. Just as the onus is placed on them to ensure the devices are protected with the most stringent security. Hackers could access the device from anywhere in the world. Although hacking medical devices and sabotaging healthcare may seem unlikely or even extreme, whilst it is not impossible, the risk remains.

Perhaps a more likely concern faced by IoT users is that of data leaks and data mismanagement. Reports of data leaks are not uncommon, and the potential for sensitive data to be stolen and exploited remains a genuine concern that manufacturers will need to get on top of to ensure the efficacy of the IoT healthcare revolution.

What is more, it is incumbent that these devices be used, understood, and managed properly. Patients need to be aware of how their data is being used and why. Just as the professionals using them need to know how to use them to maintain their integrity and keep them from being accessed by the wrong hands. Adequate training must be given by employers to employees using IoT devices to ensure user practice is not at fault for the misuse of data. Potentially a much more likely scenario than an international attack on healthcare.

While the evolution of IoT in healthcare is not without its hurdles, it is fair to say that the role IoT is playing in the revolution of healthcare is unending, wide-reaching, and incredibly exciting for professionals and patients alike.

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Remote Patient Monitoring of COVID-Positive Patients with Diabetes Reduces HCP Exposure and Use of Personal Protective Equipment.

KORE, the independent global IoT leader, today announced an ongoing partnership with Dexcom, Inc., the world leader in continuous glucose monitoring (CGM), to rapidly deliver an innovative remote patient monitoring solution to assist care providers during the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Using the Dexcom G6 CGM system, healthcare professionals can reduce both the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and the number of in-person glucose level checks on patients who are receiving care for COVID-19 in the hospital.

In order to successfully monitor the glucose levels of patients who are being treated for COVID-19, healthcare professionals (HCPs) must equip themselves with fresh personal protective equipment (PPE) for each visit. Patients on insulin need several glucose checks per day, up to one per hour – meaning multiple PPEs are discarded each day, for each patient. With many hospitals and healthcare workers already experiencing a shortage or lack of proper PPE, the risk of exposure and infection grows significantly – as do the costs.

Dexcom’s solution allows for continuous glucose monitoring by measuring glucose levels automatically every five minutes and transmitting the data to a handheld mobile device, which can be accessed from a safe distance. HCPs can then safely and accurately monitor blood glucose levels remotely – only using one set of PPE daily in order to change out the device, or other times immediate intervention is necessary.

“Doing all that we can to support the health and safety of the patients and healthcare workers currently battling this novel virus is a top priority for our company,” said Matt Dolan, senior vice president and general manager at Dexcom. “It’s our hope to reduce their exposure, eliminate unnecessary waste of limited PPE supplies, and improve the efficiency of the hospitals who are treating these patients.”

Dexcom approached KORE Health to help launch this solution with record speed in order to maximize protection for areas that need it most. In reference to the project, Bryan Lubel, EVP of IoT Managed Services, commented:

“KORE Health was able to procure fully certified and ISO-compliant devices, complete engineering testing and approval, identify connectivity solutions and deploy the first wave of equipped devices in just over a week – ensuring rapid speed-to-market for this critical solution.”

“We are in an unprecedented situation and the KORE team is looking for ways to help,” commented Romil Bahl, President & CEO at KORE. “When the Dexcom team approached us to help in short timeframes, our healthcare team was up to the challenge.”

“We are honored that our knowledge and experience in connectivity and device procurement, certification, and deployment is playing a role in this innovative solution and that we are able to help in the global war against COVID-19. Our greatest thanks to both Dexcom and our front-line warriors as they take on this invisible enemy.”

“We are grateful to the team at KORE for meeting our requirements in such a short time in order to quickly launch this solution,” said Dolan. “Together, we will continue to do whatever we can to help those on the front lines fight this novel coronavirus.”

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• Memo Hub® monitors a person’s daily activity and flags potential minor issues before they become a crisis.
• During the current pandemic, it’s critical to support vulnerable people’s safety and wellbeing especially when alone for extended periods.
• The service is enabled by Eseye’s AnyNet Connectivity Management solution which delivers more than 99% uptime to the Memo Hub.

Millions of people are now being enabled to lead more independent and better-protected lifestyles thanks to a new smart IoT monitoring device, called Memo Hub.

Memo Hub supports the vulnerable to live confidently and safely at home, offering additional reassurance amid the current Coronavirus pandemic.

Created by next-generation telecare expert Alcuris Ltd., with the help of IoT connectivity specialist Eseye, Memo Hub connects to smart devices around a person’s home via Zigbee and Bluetooth, and monitors their daily activity., Typically it monitors a variety of items activity, such as when kettles and televisions are used and how often. Memo Hub then uses Eseye’s AnyNet Connectivity Management solution to reliably and securely backhaul the data to the Alcuris database on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud services platform.

The information and insight is then delivered to families and caregivers, via the Memo App or the Dashboard, triggering an alert if their usual pattern of behaviour changes and if there is cause for concern over their wellbeing. Any potential issues are flagged to caregivers quickly and preventative actions can be put in place.

Alexander Nash, Founder and Director of Alcuris, said:

“Our mission is to help older people, and those living with physical or mental health impairments, lead longer, happier and more independent lives, something that everyone deserves. With the threat that we are now facing, in the midst of this global coronavirus pandemic, it is crucial that the wellbeing of vulnerable people living alone is supported.”

Alcuris partnered with Eseye for its unique multi-network AnyNet 4G cellular IoT and Voice over LTE (VoLTE) connectivity expertise, which provides the highly reliable, resilient and critical connection between the Memo Hub and a 24/7 alarm monitoring centre and allows for multi-network switching instantly.

With more than 99% connectivity uptime, this multi-network reliably delivers data to Alcuris using Eseye’s native integration with managed cloud service, AWS IoT Core. This enables Alcuris to securely store data and perform in depth data analytics. Eseye’s multi-network system also allows for the uploading of software updates to the Memo Hub, ensuring it is permanently performing at peak levels. Effective and robust connectivity management is crucial – a connection failure could be the difference between life and death.

Nick Earle, CEO of Eseye, said:
“This is a significant step in the provision of care and support for independent older and vulnerable people. It’s a potentially lifesaving technology, and we are delighted to be a part of this innovative new product and service – especially at a time of such uncertainty and worry for families everywhere. The possibilities for IoT to enable market disruption and enhance our everyday lives are endless, which is why it is core to the Eseye vision.”

According to Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), there are more than 3.8 million individuals over the age of 65 living alone, while more than a million older or disabled people receive social care funded by the state.

Memo Hub will lead to more efficient caregiving: including improving how carers and support workers prioritise visits and expediting the process of checking in/out of patients’ homes – an important tool during times of restricted access. The service will also ease NHS pressures, as issues can be identified early and remedied so that hospital admissions are reduced.

The existing analogue telecommunication systems currently used to deliver telecare throughout the UK will also be defunct by 2025, and will have to switch to digital, making the development of solutions like Memo Hub vital.

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• The agreement will allow the implementation of telehealth monitoring solutions, which will increase the provision of healthcare for chronic patients in their homes.

• 31% of people in Spain suffer long term conditions and 80% of visits to initial primary care correspond to chronic patients.

Telefónica Empresas and Tunstall Healthcare, an international UK based provider of digital health and connected care solutions and services, with 2.5 million users in 51 countries, have reached an agreement to work together for the provision of solutions and services for remote patient management.

This alliance will help to develop this market and will strengthen Tunstall capabilities for preventive care at home for people with chronic conditions.

Abel Delgado, CEO of Tunstall Healthcare in Southern Europe, has pointed out:

“Our solutions for telehealth monitoring combined wit the experience of Telefónica and its commitment to e-health, allow us to deliver a top-notch solution with a clear vision of future for the health sector to face the current demographic, technological and economic challenges.”

“This kind of alliances are the key for the modernisation of the Health Systems of the future. It will allow the digital transformation of our customers and the development of new business models, closer to a service strategy rather than the current one that is more focussed on product. At Tunstall we have found a strategic partner that brings experience and vision in both the technological and health fields”, said Marisa Urquía, director of B2B Unit at Telefónica España.

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Industry-first healthcare wrist wearable now connected by LTE-M.

Sequans Communications S.A. and OneCare, Inc., are partnering to bring innovative health wearables to market using Sequans’ Monarch LTE-M/NB-IoT chip platform.

The first device is the OneLife Carewatch, a revolutionary remote monitoring care platform recently launched on a leading US mobile network, and the two companies are developing additional wearable devices based on Sequans’ Monarch technology. The OneLife Carewatch is the only certified, mass-produced standalone wrist wearable on the market today that uses advanced LTE-M technology to securely transmit data and information to the cloud.

The OneLife Carewatch features a robust platform and delivers five days of battery life, thanks to the ultra low power consumption capability of Sequans’ Monarch. The OneLife Carewatch is an advanced and powerful solution for remote patient monitoring, delivering data, predictive analytics, and comprehensive health information over the cloud via the highly secure OneLife Guardian Carewatch APP. Another unique feature of the OneLife Care platform is its ability to integrate with all other health/medical devices and provide doctors, clinicians, and patients with a wide-ranging view of overall patient health, becoming a “hub of care.”

“We are dedicated to becoming the world’s leading remote care monitoring and population health monitoring platform,” said Thomas Glaser, Chairman, OneCare.

“With our innovative Carewatch now connected by the always on and everywhere available LTE-M provided by Sequans’ ultra-efficient Monarch, patients are connected to their caregivers, and loved ones are connected to those needing monitoring for safety and protection in real time.”

“Our partnership with Sequans and use of Monarch technology ensures we are well-positioned to positively impact lives. Our mission is to promote caring for each other—OneCare, OneLife, One Million Cared For.”

According to Juniper Research, the healthcare wearables market will reach $60 billion by 2023 and remote patient monitoring devices will become “must haves.” The research firm reports that the healthcare wearables market is being driven by improvements in remote patient monitoring technology and its increased adoption by medical institutions. The firm forecasts that 5 million people will be remotely monitored by healthcare providers by 2023.

“It is very exciting to provide our technology for the OneLife Carewatch wearable that will surely help millions of people,” said Georges Karam, Sequans CEO. “The Carewatch’s ability to provide accurate, real time health data that improves health outcomes and may save lives, makes it one of the most important IoT applications in use today. The OneLife Carewatch platform represents the future of healthcare and I believe it will drive the faster adoption of IoT.”

The OneLife Carewatch is powered by Sequans Monarch LTE-M/NB-IoT Platform. Monarch provides full support for power saving mode (PSM) and extended discontinuous reception (eDRX) to enable long battery life, and it provides enhanced coverage modes, including a +23 dBm power amplifier, that extend coverage for deep-indoor and remote deployments. For LTE positioning, Monarch incorporates the positioning technology of Polte for accurate, low power, indoor and outdoor positioning capability using only the LTE radio. Monarch delivers programmable RF filtering for global band support in a Single-SKU, and proprietary dynamic power management technology, enabling rock bottom power consumption of 1 micro amp. Monarch is certified by operators around the world.

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Solving secure patient monitoring for a global healthcare company.

Device Authority, a global leader in Identity and Access Management (IAM) for the IoT, today launched their strategic partnership and joint customer with Wipro Ltd, a leading information technology, consulting and business process services company.

Healthcare providers and organizations are increasingly offering flexible services to patients outside of hospitals and doctor surgeries. We already know that the IoT has played a significant role in uplifting the healthcare industry. Smart medical devices are increasingly part of how specialized treatment is delivered to patients today. These devices are revolutionizing healthcare, making procedures more accessible and enabling physicians to better monitor how patients respond. According to Deloitte, the IoMT market is expected to reach $158 billion by 2022.

Together, Wipro and Device Authority are delivering a joint solution for a large multinational healthcare company who are launching a remote patient monitoring service. With a variety of different medical devices connecting and transmitting data, an extra layer of security is required. KeyScaler provides a hybrid security model for patient safety which includes real-time device authenticity validation and policy-driven device derived crypto for data privacy and compliance with HIPAA and GDPR. KeyScaler has the ability to combine PKI and device derived crypto using its policy-based technology, to provide the extra device and data trust and verification required by Medical use cases.

Darron Antill, CEO of Device Authority, said:

“Wipro’s global presence, deep understanding of Medical/Healthcare market and customers, and strong technical skillsets ensures that our strategic partnership can deliver secure, connected and compliant IoT solutions, as required by the client.”

“We are delighted to be working closely with the Wipro team to help solve security requirements for another medical customer. This provides us with a platform to extend into additional medical opportunities with Wipro, as well as develop the breadth and depth of industries that require secure IoT solutions.”

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The police in Korea plan to give Lineable’s Silver, a wearable Internet of Things (IoT) device, for free to actively locate Alzheimer patients.

Semtech Corporation announced that Lineable, a Seoul-based startup manufacturer of GPS trackers, has integrated LoRa® devices and wireless radio frequency technology (LoRa Technology) in its new wearable safety device, Silver.

Lineable’s Silver device, co-developed by the National Police Agency of Korea, SK Telecom and SK Hynix, is specifically designed for patients with Alzheimer’s. Through a hybrid GPS system, caregivers are notified when patients leave the house or out of the designated safe zone.

Many patients are not constantly monitored by a supervisor, and in Korea, about 10,000 Alzheimer patients go missing each year. Silver is currently being used by the police in Korea and the police plan to distribute 3,000 devices each year to Alzheimer patients, free of charge. During its first month of service in October 2017, the Silver device helped save six patients and in three months, it helped save 20 more patients.

“The Lineable LoRa-based device provides a universal solution for tracking Alzheimer patients at a low cost due to its low battery consumption and wide network coverage,” said Harris Shim, Head of Business Operations at Lineable.

“SK Telecom has created the first nationwide LoRaWAN network and Lineable is one of the first companies to develop a solution that leverages Semtech’s LoRa Technology to track people’s location.”

“Lineable’s Silver wearable technology has already seen early success in Korea by being able to locate Alzheimer patients in real-time,” said Vivek Mohan, Director of Wireless and Sensing Products Group at Semtech. “The LoRa-based device is able help the community and its police force by providing a technology that gives families peace of mind.”

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AT&T and Zywie, Inc. are helping physicians diagnose and treat patients with cardiovascular disease faster.

The companies announced that AT&T will provide wireless connectivity for ZywiePro, Zywie’s cardiac remote monitoring solution. The device will run on AT&T Control Center.

AT&T and Zywie are looking to offer highly secure, accessible monitoring for those with the disease. The Internet of Things (IoT) is changing the healthcare industry by securely delivering valuable data in near real-time.

The ZywiePro solution uses mobile and cloud technology to detect cardiovascular arrhythmias in patients. It sends doctors detailed diagnostics of the cardiovascular health of their patients.

“Network reliability is critical when wirelessly connecting medical and health devices”, said Steve Burger, area vice president, Connected Health, Internet of Things Solutions, AT&T. “Zywie has entrusted us to provide the highly secure wireless connectivity needed to make remote monitoring possible.”

“Zywie is committed to transforming cardiac patient monitoring, making it easier for patients to be diagnosed properly, leading to more efficient care and reduced costs,” said Emir Muhovic, VP of Sales, Zywie Inc.

ZywiePro is convenient, easy to use and flexible—serving Holter, Event, or Mobile Cardiac Telemetry in one device. It can monitor the heart’s activity for a minimum of 24-hours and a maximum of 30 days. The device captures potential rhythm irregularities and wirelessly transmits them as they occur over the AT&T network.

Alex Armstrong, COO and Founder of Zywie Inc. said:

“We are constantly looking for ways to make the ZywiePro solution better and collaborating with AT&T has provided the level of confidence that we expect in transmitting data securely and being able to scale.”

The ZywiePro eliminates the need for patients to make multiple office visits for adjustments to their enrollments.

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According to a new study released by Berg Insight, revenues for remote patient monitoring (RPM) solutions reached € 6.2 billion in 2015, including revenues from medical monitoring devices, mHealth connectivity solutions, care delivery platforms and mHealth care programs.

RPM revenues are expected to grow at a CAGR of 32.1 percent between 2015 and 2020, reaching € 25.0 billion at the end of the forecast period. Savings attributable to payers and care providers will by far exceed this amount as connected care solutions can allow better health outcomes to be achieved more cost efficiently. The new care models enabled by these technologies are furthermore often consistent with patients’ preferences of living more healthy, active and independent lives.

The healthcare industry is advancing towards an age where connected healthcare solutions will be part of standard care practices.
“These are very exciting times for everyone involved in the industry. mHealth solutions are approaching mainstream market acceptance and we are now very close to the tipping point”, said Lars Kurkinen, Senior Analyst at Berg Insight.

He describes how several market forces now are coming together which will make mHealth care programs available for tens of millions of people in the next few years.

Mr Kurkinen continues:

“Changes in the payment landscape is without doubt the most important factor. This finally allows the incentives for payers, providers, patients and physicians to be aligned, which is absolutely crucial for the adoption of any new healthcare product.”

Another major trend is the consumerization of medical-grade mHealth devices and apps. In the last few months of 2015, hundreds of thousands of consumers have connected medical monitoring devices via their smartphones to cloud platforms. This marks a substantial shift that will open up new opportunities in the remote patient monitoring market in the coming years. “Payers and healthcare providers will have opportunities to 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”, concludes Mr Kurkinen.

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The number of remotely monitored patients grew by 51 percent to 4.9 million in 2015 as the market entered a growth phase fuelled by rising market acceptance in several key verticals.

This number includes all patients enrolled in mHealth care programs in which connected medical devices are used as a part of the care regimen. Connected medical devices used for various forms of personal health tracking are not included in this figure. Berg Insight estimates that the number of remotely monitored patients will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 48.9 percent to reach 36.1 million by 2020.

The two main applications are monitoring of patients with implantable cardiac rhythm management (CRM) devices and monitoring of patients with sleep therapy devices. These two verticals accounted for 81 percent of all connected home medical monitoring systems in 2015. Telehealth is the third largest segment with 0.41 million connections at the end of the year. All other device categories – including ECG, glucose level, medication adherence and others – stood for less than 0.2 million connections each at the end of the year.

The sleep therapy segment accounted for the majority of the market growth in 2015. ResMed was especially successful with its new Air Solutions family of sleep therapy devices that includes a cellular M2M module as standard and is supported by a comprehensive range of health informatics software that enable healthcare organizations to provide better care more efficiently. ResMed surpassed Medtronic as the world’s largest provider of connected healthcare solutions for remote patient monitoring in 2015. Earlier in 2015, Medtronic became the first company in the world to surpass the milestone of 1.0 million remotely monitored patients.

Another landmark event in 2015 was that cellular connectivity surpassed PSTN and LAN as the most widely used connectivity technology for remote patient monitoring. The number of PSTN-connected devices has started to decline sharply as a result of the decline in PSTN subscriber bases and the forthcoming digitalization of PSTN networks, whereas the use of LAN and Wi-Fi connectivity for remote patient monitoring has remained very limited to date.

Lars Kurkinen, Senior Analyst, Berg Insight, says:

“Cellular continues to be the only technology that can be used to reliably connect every patient with their healthcare providers.”

An emerging alternative is that patients use their own mobile devices as health hubs. The bring your own device (BYOD) model can in theory be very cost-efficient as no dedicated hardware or subscriptions are needed, but accounted for less than two percent of all connections in 2015. Mr. Kurkinen predicts that BYOD will be especially useful for patient-c entric engagement programs in therapeutic areas such as diabetes and asthma that have younger patient demographics compared to many other chronic diseases. In fact, many of these patients will prefer to use their own smartphone as the interface instead of carrying around a dedicated device for remote monitoring.

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Telenor Connexion provides French eHealth provider, SRETT, a connected solution for remote monitoring of patients affected by sleep apnea.

In Europe, approximately 2 to 5 % of the population suffer from sleep apnea. The disorder is characterized by pauses in breathing during sleep and this can cause drowsiness during the day as well as a broad spectrum of serious medical conditions.

One of the most common and effective treatments for moderate to severe sleep apnea is the use of a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device. This device keeps the patient’s airway open during sleep by means of a flow of pressurized air into the throat.

French telehealth provider SRETT has developed T4P, a universal remote monitoring solution for all types of CPAP devices. The T4P is unique as it is the only solution adapted to fit all CPAP devices on the market. The connected T4P collects and analyzes data from the CPAP remotely and in real-time.

Reliable real-time data

With the T4P, device health professionals are able to provide a more proactive and efficient care for patients treated at home.The T4P provides them with tools and knowledge to empower patients to manage their condition from home – reducing travel time, hospital visits, and burdens on both the patient and the system, while improving the care teams’ efficiency and ability to follow patients. Patients benefit from increased, continous and personalized monitoring and experiences as well as an increased level of safety.

The communications solutions used for the connected T4P device is provided by Telenor Connexion. Data collected, recorded and analyzed by the medical device is transmitted anonymously over the GPRS network to a central server, where it is stored and processed.

On a daily basis the T4P collects key therapy indicators such as daily duration of therapy, mask leak rate, residual apnea and therapy pressure. The patient data is uploaded automatically to healthcare professionals facilitating personalized and ongoing monitoring of patients’ condition.

SRETT seeks to grow its market

“Following the successful launch of the T4P in France, we are now looking to expand our market abroad. We have chosen Telenor Connexion as it is one of the most advanced connected solutions provider with its multi-operator solution. Thanks to its highly qualified technical support and a sophisticated web portal it is much easier to manage the solution”, said Loic Bosvieux, Marketing and Sales Director at SRETT.

Fredrik Åkerlind, VP of Sales at Telenor Connexion, said:

“Sleep apnea is considered to be a major problem, and has a major social impact on public health. With its solution, SRETT has proven that they are an innovative company. We are proud to be part of this smart eHealth solution and delighted to support SRETT on their journey to international success.”

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Berg Insight estimates that revenues for remote patient monitoring (RPM) solutions reached € 4.3 billion in 2013, including revenues from medical monitoring devices, mHealth connectivity solutions, care delivery software platforms and monitoring services.

RPM revenues are expected to grow at a CAGR of 35.0 percent between 2013 and 2018, reaching € 19.4 billion at the end of the forecast period. Savings attributable to payers and care providers will by far exceed this amount as connected care solutions can allow better health outcomes to be achieved more cost efficiently. The new care models enabled by these technologies are furthermore often consistent with patients’ preferences of living more healthy, active and independent lives.

While the healthcare industry is advancing towards an age where connected care solutions will be part of standard practices, this progress is still far from uniform.
Lars Kurkinen, Senior Analyst, Berg Insight, said:

“The growth in the remote patient monitoring market is today centred on very specific market verticals and regions. Most of the market growth in the sleep therapy segment has for instance occurred in the US and France, where frequent compliance audits are becoming more common.”

He adds that the telehealth market benefits from local and regional project financing in several European countries, whereas remotely monitored medication dispensers gain traction among home care providers in the Benelux and Nordic countries in particular. In addition to this, the first pharmaceutical companies have recently initiated rollouts of connected adherence monitoring solutions that are bundled together with specific drugs.

“Another high-level development that will have a major impact on the use of connected care solutions in several countries during the coming years is the shift from fee-for-service reimbursement systems to pay-for-performance structures that emphasize cost-effective delivery of quality care”, adds Mr Kurkinen.

In the US, one example of this development is the large number of RFPs for telehealth solutions that are being issued due to the hospital readmission reduction programs.

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GeaCom’s Phrazer is a hand-held device that gathers patient data while interacting with them to register, triage and educate.

Telit Wireless Solutions, a global provider of high-quality machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions, products and services and GeaCom, a company that is dedicated to increasing access to quality healthcare through the development of innovative technology, today announced that GeaCom has selected Telit’s HE910 mini PCIe data card to enable high speed mobile data connectivity for Phrazer. Phrazer is an Edison Award winning CITE device that keeps patient centered care at the forefront as healthcare regulations continue to change.

Phrazer leverages M2M technology employed in the HE910 mini PCIe data card to provide the same level of care received in hospitals by patients in remote locations around the world. The ability to videoconference and control each device remotely is a key benefit, as is the use of culturally relevant on-screen caregivers to get the best, most accurate information form patients. This allows the same high level of care to be provided to patients regardless of languages, literacy levels, culture, gender or background.

The U.S.-made Phrazer is FDA and HIPAA compliant. Phrazer has an antimicrobial case and has been medically designed to be intrinsically safe. Patient data is instantly inserted into the correct fields of the clinician’s EMR system and real-time audio updates provide the caregiver with timely, critical patient information.

“We selected Telit’s HE910 mini PCIe data card because it provides high-speed performance on HSPA+ networks. Moreover variants having the same mini PCIe form factor will allow us to market Phrazer globally,” said Mat MK Johnson, Founder/CEO, GeaCom, Inc.

“The combination of form factor and high data rates are ideal for a compact product like Phrazer that handles multi-stream audio and videoconferencing traffic.”

“Phrazer is an innovative device for a market rich in opportunities,” said Mike Ueland, President of Telit Americas. “The HE910 PCIe integrated in the device not only delivers high speed data for Phrazer but also provides GeaCom the flexibility of expanding the reach of its product with the use of the fully compatible DE910 PCIe EV-DO data card requiring no change to their application.”

The 3.75G HE910 mini PCIe data card delivers 21 Mbps-down and 5.7 Mbps-up data rates on HSPA+ networks and is fully compatible with its EV-DO counterpart, the DE910 mini PCIe; thereby, providing connected device makers the maximum range of options for North American cellular operator support. The HE910 mini PCIe data card is particularly well suited for devices with high throughput requirements such as mobile computing, kiosks, PDAs, e-readers, tablet PCs, and consumer electronics in general. Several variants are offered, ranging from low cost tri-band models with reduced throughput, to fully-loaded configurations including receiver diversity and high sensitivity A-GPS functionality.

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Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, announces its Cinterion® M2M technology is providing secure wireless connectivity for a next generation smart health and wellness M2M hub, developed by Vignet Corp.

This award-winning and cost-effective Hub¹ consolidates information from medical sensors by leveraging a cloud-based server that transforms data into easy-to-understand insights. Gemalto’s Cinterion® 3G/4G module enables the cellular transmission of data so that healthcare providers can provide remote care to patients. The end-to-end solution meets US privacy regulations like HIPAA², ensuring patient information is accessed only by authorized individuals.

According to Juniper Research, the remote patient monitoring solutions are expected to save healthcare providers up to $36 billion by 2018. The Gemalto-enabled Vignet Hub solution collects data from many sensors and devices such as pedometers, electrocardiogram patch, sleep sensors, weight scales, blood glucose and blood pressure devices and provides a dashboard view of overall health status to authorized caregivers and the health system. Medication reminders and behavioral prompts are delivered to the touch screen on the Hub or to the user’s mobile device to help with chronic disease management.

The mHealth technology sends alarm notifications to healthcare providers when medication is missed or thresholds are met which can improve remote patient monitoring and medical response time. Integrating Gemalto’s connectivity, the Vignet Hub provides an innovative, secure, HIPAA and privacy-compliant system. The Hub controls the collection, transfer, integration, and analysis of information while reporting sensor or manual based health related data about the patient’s well-being.

“Gemalto is leading the industry in enabling an end-to-end infrastructure that can handle disparate data and groups across the health and wellness landscape,” said Praduman Jain, CEO, Vignet Corp.

“The M2M solution’s connectivity across any network is crucial to addressing global needs such as extending physician oversight and medical care delivery to rural areas, and hard to reach populations.”

“Vignet Corp and Gemalto are at the center of the Internet of Things with innovations in remote patient monitoring that can reduce hospital re-admission, the duration of hospitalization, or the number of clinical visits for a more comfort oriented healthcare experience,” said Paul Kobos, Head of M2M, Gemalto North America.

“The growing aging population and an increase in chronic conditions are pushing healthcare systems to their limits, highlighting the need for modern solutions like the Vignet Hub that provide superior efficient management.”

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