4 IoMT Trends You Need to Know About
You probably already know the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) is transforming the healthcare industry. What you might not realize is that IoMT itself is transforming, too.
Here are the IoMT trends that device manufacturers and HealthTech leaders need to know about.
1. Most IoMT projects are failing
Forecasters expect the IoMT market to be worth well over a trillion dollars by 2032.
So, would you be surprised to learn that most IoT projects fail? 60% of all IoT projects (that includes IoMT) don’t even get out of the planning stages. That’s because building successful IoT devices and the apps to support them isn’t easy.
You need hardware and software engineers, data scientists, cybersecurity specialists, app developers, and input from relevant experts, like healthcare professionals.
That’s a lot to manage — and most manufacturers can’t or don’t manage it.
For example, the FBI reported that 53% of connected medical devices in hospitals have well-known and exploitable security vulnerabilities that manufacturers leave unpatched.
But it’s not just security that’s bad. Sometimes, it’s bad software altogether. Zoll’s wearable defibrillator led to at least two deaths when it simply failed to function at all.
If IoMT device manufacturers want to succeed in 2024, they’ll have to prioritize effective cross-collaboration between teams (both internally and externally) and security.
2. IoMT isn’t just remote patient monitoring anymore
Internet-connected medical devices don’t just make at-home care easier. More and more healthcare organizations are leveraging RTLS (Real-Time Location Systems), or location tracking, to improve operational efficiency and staff experiences.
RTLS can be used to track patients, team members, and medical equipment across a local geographic area (e.g., a hospital or a campus).
Dr. Valerie McKinnis, Chief Medical Informatics Officer at Mountain Region CommonSpirit Health, is using RTLS to achieve what she calls the “quadruple aim”: enhancing patient experiences, improving population health, boosting her care team’s well-being, and reducing costs.
She told Healthcare IT News, “One of the nurses I recently spoke with at this hospital told me she really believed RTLS had helped her find the joy in medicine again. That sounds funny, right? How could RTLS change your life?
“But she said she feels like she saved probably at least one to two hours per twelve-hour shift by not having to spend as much time looking for people or things and has been able to notice she’s getting her charting done more efficiently and is getting home on time at the end of her shift, which she had not done for a long time. She is able to get back to her family and do all the other things that are important in life in addition to working.”
3. Combining data analytics with AI
Raw data isn’t very useful by itself. And IoMT devices generate a lot of medical data — vast amounts of it every second.
But by utilizing AI tools, we can process and analyze that data in real time, identifying patterns that would be impossible for humans to detect.
For instance, AI-powered analytics can predict if a patient is deteriorating hours or even days before it becomes clinically apparent. Some hospitals are even using AI to predict patient admissions rates to better manage bed availability and staff allocation. The combination of AI and IoMT even has its own acronym now: AIoMT (appropriate).
4. Taking advantage of 5G
5G is the fifth-generation mobile network. It is up to 100 times faster, more stable, and more energy efficient than its predecessor.
In the United States, 5G is poised to surpass 4G in popularity in 2024.
That’s a good thing for the effectiveness and reliability of at-home IoMT, where enabling remote services and capturing patient data has unsurprisingly been more difficult than in hospital settings.
Verizon says 5G is what makes “much of the IoMT frontier possible.” That could even include the rise of telesurgery, which demands strict latency minimums.
To ensure their devices are 5G-optimized, manufacturers need to consider several key components during the design, development, and deployment stages, including how to manage energy consumption and network costs.
Successful IoMT projects hinge on a few critical factors
- First, overcoming the high failure rate of IoT projects requires open collaboration, careful planning, and a commitment to cybersecurity.
- Second, IoMT is more than remote patient monitoring. IoMT can serve caregivers, administrators, and researchers — it can benefit anyone involved in HealthTech.
- Third, the integration of AI with IoMT (AIoMT) is revolutionizing data analytics. AI can analyze health metrics and operational data in real time, offering predictive insights that improve patient outcomes and optimize resource management.
- Lastly, the global rollout of 5G will enable more advanced and reliable at-home care solutions and support emerging fields like telesurgery, which requires minimal latency and high data throughput.
Onymos’ IoMT platform was built with all this in mind. It’s why our HealthTech customers trust us to help them digitally transform their products and services. If you need to build a new IoMT solution or enhance an old one, we can help.