The Internet Medical of Things: Feeling the Pulse

What is IoMT?

The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) is a term that describes all medical devices connected to a healthcare provider’s computer system through the internet. These devices can generate, collect, analyze and transmit healthcare data.

IoMT is an amalgamation of medical devices and applications that can connect to health care information technology systems using networking technologies. It can reduce unnecessary hospital visits and the burden on health care systems by connecting patients to their physicians and allowing the transfer of medical data over a secure network. According to Frost & Sullivan analysis, the global IoMT market was worth $22.5 billion in 2016; it is expected to reach $72.02 billion by 2021, at a compound annual growth rate of 26.2%.

The IoMT market consists of smart devices, such as wearables and medical/vital monitors, strictly for health care use on the body, in the home, or in community, clinic or hospital settings; and associated real-time location, telehealth and other services.

Recently, major advances in technology are driving innovation in medtech, leading to the development of an increasing number of connected medical devices that are able to generate, collect, analyse and transmit data. The data, along with the devices themselves, are creating the IoMT – a connected infrastructure of medical devices, software applications and health systems and services.

So what is actually happening?

Across the globe, hospitals and insurance companies are using sensor data produced by wearable devices to monitor patients’ heart rate, glucose and oxygen levels, and physical activity, and conduct routine checkups via video calls to free up physicians’ time and prevent mass gatherings. Other forms of IoT devices getting traction in the healthcare sector include pill dispensers, point-of-care (PoS) solutions, and iBeacon or RFID-based asset tracking systems. But with innovation comes greater responsibility.

In 2021, more wearable devices that previously fell into the wellness category could end up on the FDA’s radar. Consumer electronics companies will have to make sure their devices generate data in a unified format, interface with other components of an IoT system, and are resilient to cyberattacks.

Wearables make up a large amount of IoMT devices. They fall into a few general categories.

On-body devices: This includes consumer wearables such as smart garments and activity trackers. Clinical-grade wearables are devices used with expert advice or a physician’s prescription, such as a smart belt that detects falls and deploys hip protection for seniors.

In-home devices: This includes patient monitoring devices used by clinicians to monitor patients. These are used most frequently on those who were recently discharged from the hospital or who are managing chronic diseases.

In-clinic devices: These include systems used within a healthcare operation for administrative functions, often in connection to electronic healthcare records.

Relevance and role of AI in IoMT

While the IoMT has the potential to help alleviate some of the cost, access and care coordination challenges facing health care, AI can help speed up the process of analysing the collected data points through millions of connected medical devices. AI companies will need to develop new strategies to harness the data and make their business and operating models relevant and competitive through value creation.

Frost & Sullivan expects artificial intelligence (AI) and cognitive computing to generate savings of over $150 billion for the healthcare industry by 2025. These technologies are mostly used to deal with the complexity and growth of medical data. AI in healthcare IT allows many providers to pursue precision medicine approaches based on the real-time integration of a patient’s genomic, clinical, financial, and behavioral data to improve outcomes.

It is imperative that healthcare IT providers devise AI-based business models that fetch real benefits in the form of tangible return on investment (ROI) to end users - the benefits must be there and felt. There must be a real impact. More importantly, the patient-generated data which the AI has generated, has multiple uses for diverse healthcare stakeholders. Fully informed consent from patients coupled with 100% compliance with stringent data usage regulation has to be ensured to remain relevant, trusted and effective in the market.

The Future of IoMT

Approximately 60% of global health care organizations have already implemented Internet of Things technologies. Additional health care is witnessing a paradigm shift as digital transformation puts technologically advanced and connected products in the hands of consumers and gives patients and physicians even in the poorest and most remote locations better access to health care facilities. 

In the next three to five years, the status-quo is going to improve dramatically. Democratization of AI is now made possible by big IT companies such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, IBM Watson Health, Philips, GE Healthcare, and Salesforce. These companies are offering cost-effective infrastructure support to modular and speciality-specific vendors, striving to help end users embrace precision diagnosis, treatment and follow-up for patients and their family members across the care continuum.

Indeed, the future of IoMT is trending toward large-scale growth over the next several years. However, 2021 has the potential to be a pivotal year for the IoMT Market as it aims to tackle major global social and economic issues associated with the pandemic. Continued advancements of IoB and AI are predicted to make a big play in 2021. These trends position the IoMT market as a strong contributor in the continued fight against COVID-19.