Internet of Medical Things – IoMT
In this article, we will go over the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) in detail. We shall look into various topics like IoMT, the difference between IoT and IoMT, How IoMT works, the benefits of IoMT, and the risks of IoMT. Finally, we will conclude by going over a few applications and the future of IoMT. So buckle up, take notes, and read till the end of the article for the best benefits.
What is IoMT?
IoMT is short for “Internet of Medical Things”. In a nutshell, IoMT uses IoT sensors and devices that connect to healthcare IT systems to provide better healthcare to patients. Sometimes, IoMT is also referred to as healthcare IoT.
IoMT is an application of IoT in the healthcare sector to aid doctors in giving better care and treatments to the sick. These medical devices connected over a network are equipped with wi-fi to allow machine-to-machine communication.
One of the most common use case scenarios of IoMT is “remote patient monitoring”, where IoMT devices remotely monitor patients in their homes and spare patients from travelling to a hospital whenever they have a medical question or change in their condition.
Today, IoMT is streamlining clinical workflow management and improving patient care, both inside the healthcare facility walls and in remote locations.
How does IoMT work?
IoMT functions very similarly to IoT. There are numerous sensors that collect information that is sent to the cloud for processing. But for the sensors to communicate or send data to the cloud, they need a protocol, AKA connectivity.
Once the connection is established, the sensors send the analyzing data to the cloud for processing this data into digital form. Why a digital form? The data needs to be converted to digital form so that machines can understand it and then perform tasks based on it.
The final stage or component of the working of IoT is the UI, where the user gets to control set automation or schedules, where a pre-programmed task is triggered when all the parameters are met.
To learn more about how IoT works, you can read my article on the workings of IoT, where I have explained all 4 components that make up an IoT ecosystem in detail.
What is the difference between IoT and IoMT?
As mentioned earlier, IoMT is an application of IoT. IoT and IoMT are very similar, as they have many technologies in common, like cloud platforms, sensors, connectivity, machine-to-machine communications, data analytics, and so on.
The only difference is the purpose they are used for. If we take IoT into consideration, it is used in various other applications like CIoT (consumer Internet of Things), IoMT (Internet of Medical Things), IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things), agriculture, transportation, and so many more countless examples.
IoMT, on the other hand, is used solely in the healthcare sector to improve clinical workflow management and improve patient care. It also helps doctors and other healthcare personnel to provide better healthcare for patients.
What are the benefits of IoMT?
IoMT has several benefits and advantages for both patients and healthcare providers. Let us look at 3 significant benefits that make IoMT very common in healthcare facilities.
1. Personalised
As we saw above, IoMT devices are designed to track patients in such detail and depth that wouldn’t be possible during a brief office visit. So, IoMT offers patients personalised, precision therapeutics and diagnosis.
2. Patient empowerment
IoMT devices, such as wearables, let patients take control of their vitals, giving them the information they would otherwise have to visit a doctor to get. Using IoMT, patients can now keep tabs on their health in real-time, rather than waiting for an annual checkup
3. Remote monitoring of patients
As I mentioned in the introduction, this is the best benefit of IoMT. IoT in itself means collecting and storing data, which is what the IoT-enabled remote sensors are doing. They collect the patient’s vitals and then transmit that information securely to the physician.
What are the challenges of IoMT?
For any IoT ecosystem, there is only one disadvantage – security. Medical data is highly secured, mostly by HIPAA ( Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), and providers have a heavy burden to compromise its prevention.
Another challenge of IoMT is interaction, as practically, IoMT equipment from one vendor would work seamlessly with another vendor’s infrastructure, but that hasn’t been the case.
The inability to update IoMT devices is another drawback that results in the patchwork of products with different capabilities across the market. Even though IoMT devices are state of the art and up to speed in market trends, it is not easy to upgrade or update with new features after a few months of use.
Let us take a look at some of the challenges that come with IoMT:
1. Legal challenges
We know that IoMT collects a lot of data, but it is not always clear who legally owns that data. Here is an example to understand what I mean to say: Say a city-owned medical device captures data from a patient, stores the data in a third-party cloud application, and later shares the data with a private healthcare organization. Who owns the data in this case? The city? The patient? The software provider? The healthcare organization?
2. Technical challenges
The distributed infrastructure of IoMT allows the devices and software systems to communicate securely with one another. However, the protocols and security standards constantly change, which causes compatibility issues as new technologies are introduced if older systems cannot keep up to date with these changes.
3. Regulatory challenges
As we already saw, the sensitivity of medical data gives rise to significant regulation about how and where it can be used, along with specifications about how the technology should be secured.
Applications of IoMT
I have already written another article that covers 10 examples of IoMT, where I have covered applications like heart rate monitors, robotic surgery, glucose monitors, connected lenses, hygiene monitors, ingestible sensors, and more. Nonetheless, let us take a look at some IoMT devices:
1. Wearable healthcare devices:
Most smartphone and watch companies have a smartwatch that has various biological sensors to monitor patient vitals, hormone levels, heart rate, etc. Apart from smartwatches, there are even rings and bands that do the same.
2. Activity trackers
These devices are similar to wearable devices, but they are chunkier and more advanced than smartwatches. These devices also track fitness activities such as calories burned, heart rate, steps, body fat percentage, and more.
3. Patient implants
Implants that are connected (basically IoT implants) help doctors get real-time insights into crucial biological data. These are mostly used on more fragile and really old patients.
Segments of IoMT
We already saw that 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, in the community, in hospital settings, etc.
1. On-body segment
We can broadly divide this segment into consumer health wearables and clinical-grade wearables. Consumer health wearables are devices like activity trackers, bands, wristbands, sports watches, smart garments, etc. These devices are not regulated by health authorities. However, they may be endorsed by experts for specific health applications based on informal clinical validation and consumer studies.
Clinical-grade wearables are devices that are generally certified/approved for use by one or more regulatory or health authorities. These devices are used with respect to expert advice or a physician’s prescription.
2. In-home segment
The in-home segment of IoMT includes personal emergency response systems (PERS), remote patient monitoring (RPM), telehealth virtual visits), and so much more.
An RPM system involves continuous monitoring of physiological parameters to support long-term care in a patient’s home in an effort to slow disease progression.
3. In-clinic segment
The devices in this segment are used for administrative or clinical functions. In-clinic segment devices differ from those in the community segment in one key aspect, and that is instead of the care provider physically using a device, the provider can be located remotely while a device is used by qualified staff.
What is the future of IoMT?
IoMT is a booming industry. It is growing so rapidly that it is expected to reach 176 billion dollars by 2026. Moreover, with the era of artificial intelligence and machine learning, IoMT devices may evolve to be predictive to determine when slight changes in biological signals indicate the potential for a future problem.
With time, IoMT devices may become so advanced that healthcare providers can slowly shift focus from prescriptive to preventive, potentially allowing patients to live longer and healthier lives.
Even insurers may lower premiums for consumers who opt into real-time monitoring. Even robotic surgeries and other advanced diagnostic systems will continue to advance their capabilities so that patients who need in-person medical care will experience better diagnoses and treatments.
Summary
As you have seen, IoMT is a splendid application of IoT that streamlines clinical workflow management, improves patient care, and helps healthcare professionals provide better healthcare services.
In this article, we have gone through various topics like what IoMT is, the difference between IoT and IoMT, How IoMT works, the benefits of IoMT, and the risks of IoMT. We finally conclude by reviewing a few applications and the future of IoMT.