Healthcare IoT: technology overview & top 10 applications

November 15, 2023

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Internet of things
Healthcare IoT

by Sergey Ivanov,

Head of Healthcare Center of Excellence

The Internet of things (IoT) in healthcare, called the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), usually refers to medical wearables and other devices connected via the Internet that gather and analyze patient data. IoMT systems have proved effective in different use cases, from early diagnostics to pandemic prevention.

Itransition helps care providers choose a healthcare technology suitable to their practices, implement IoT solutions into day-to-day workflows, improve device and software interoperability, and overcome any software-related challenges.

IoMT market statistics

projected IoMT market worth in 2022

Deloitte

IoMT market CAGR between 2021 and 2028

Fortune Business Insights

number of IoMT devices that will be deployed globally by 2026

Juniper Research

Applications of IoT in healthcare: key areas

Remote patient monitoring

Remote patient monitoring (RPM) devices can continuously measure health parameters and synchronize the data with clinical systems. This way, clinicians can view the history and real-time data about a patient's health conditions, carry out deeper analysis, and receive alerts of dangers to a patient's health.

Telehealth

IoT technology enables telemedicine practitioners to conduct remote patient examinations and instruct patients on how to conduct certain treatment procedures during virtual neurology visits and telepediatric or telepsychiatry sessions.

Efficient diagnostic & treatment

Using smart medical equipment, doctors get results of various examinations like blood tests, MRIs and CT scans, and X-rays much faster. If the devices are connected to analytical systems powered by artificial intelligence, then doctors can receive intelligent insights based on this data.

Additionally, IoT technology makes diagnostic and treatment procedures possible to perform during virtual neurology visits, telepediatric or telepsychiatry sessions.

Patient self-care

Patients can keep track of their physical and mental health, sleep, and nutrition, get notified of abnormal health indicators and learn to lead healthier lives or manage their condition more effectively with the help of wearable medical devices connected to health and wellness apps on their smartphones.

Smart hospitals enablement

Hospital IoT enables automatic environmental tracking and control in the facilities: air and water quality checks, hygiene monitoring, and temperature balance. It also simplifies inventory management in the hospital and notifies personnel in case of emergencies. Smart hospital devices ensure more responsive care, allowing patients to regulate their medication or notify personnel if needed.

Medication management

Equipment like medication pumps, adverse reaction trackers and drug interaction trackers can ensure timely, safe and accurate administration of medication to patients. Meanwhile, pharmacies can employ smart weights, storage monitoring devices, and discharge and labeling machines to support precise medication management as well as proper storage and disposal.

How IoT in healthcare works

Some people imagine IoT devices as intelligent robots because the system appears to be highly automated. In fact, any object (mechanical or digital) that has a unique identifier (UID) and the ability to collect and transfer data over a network without human intervention can be a part of IoT. Such devices might also analyze the acquired data prior to sharing it or act upon the information they get from one another.

IoT can make use of multiple technologies and protocols to exchange data, but the most widely employed are radio-frequency identification (RFID), near-field communication (NFC), low-energy Bluetooth, low-energy wireless, radio protocols like ZigBee, Z-Wave and Thread, LTE Advanced, and WiFi-Direct.

These technologies enable low energy use that prolongs the lifetime of devices, supports secure connection, and enables various coverage ranges.

Top 10 use cases of IoT in healthcare

New use cases for healthcare IoT appear every day. Below, we list some of the most popular ones.

Remote patient monitoring

Using IoT devices to monitor a patient's condition in the ward or at home is the most common application of the technology. IoT-powered equipment that automatically collects metrics like heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, or glucose levels in the blood spares patients from traveling to their provider for health checks. Activity trackers also can shed light on a patient's lifestyle and habits, while mood management tools can facilitate more accurate mental assessment.

Medical alert systems

These are a subset of RPM devices that alert family members, caregivers, or medical personnel that their help is needed. Worn mostly by people who don’t need constant care, but are at risk for accidents: elderly who can fall and easily break a hip, pregnant women, people experiencing sudden bouts of vertigo or migraines or patients with impaired motor function. If an accident happens, the device will send an emergency message to a designated number.

In-hospital patient monitoring & diagnostics

There are also medical IoT devices that monitor all of a patient’s vitals in a hospital setting when a patient's condition requires constant observation and swiftly notify personnel about any dangerous changes. For example, heart monitors can alert healthcare professionals when patients are experiencing arrhythmia, palpitations, tachycardia, or other abnormalities of the heart rhythm.

Ingestible sensors

Healthcare providers use pill-shaped diagnostic devices for gastrointestinal problems detection (colon cancer, irritable bowel syndrome, duodenal ulcer, etc.), treatment monitoring, and preparation for surgery. When ingested, the sensor can send different kinds of medical data to a connected app, like images of the digestive system, levels of various substances inside it, or even the content of the gut’s microbiome.

Medication dispensing

Patients can get implantable drug delivery devices, like insulin or buprenorphine pumps or histrelin and other hormonal implants, that dispense accurate doses of medication throughout the day. Such devices release therapeutic agents to the area where it is most needed. They can also be connected to health monitoring devices that signal exactly how much drug should be injected depending on the patient’s health metrics.

Asthma management

Connected smart inhalers can analyze environmental factors, patient’s health metrics and inhaler use rate to warn patients of an upcoming asthma attack via notifications on their device of choice. Such inhalers can also remind patients to adhere to their treatment plans.

Medicinal footwear & clothing

Smart garments that automatically adjust the pressure on different body regions or their moisture levels and temperature can be used for diabetic foot ulcer prevention, lymphedema or deep vein thrombosis (DVT) treatment, wound care and rehabilitation, and alleviation of various motor dysfunctions.

Environment monitoring

Hospitals can also make use of wireless sensors that react to the slightest changes in temperature, humidity, air quality and levels of contamination in labs and hospitals. These devices can ensure that medications, biological materials, and medical equipment are in proper condition and the facilities are safe for patients and personnel.

Item inventory tracking

Hospitals can tag high-value hospital equipment, like wheelchairs, infusion/dialysis stations, and smart beds, or equipment that should be located at a particular place, like defibrillators, with Bluetooth-based iBeacons, RFID, or QR tags. This can make asset tracking easier and prevent lengthy searches for misplaced items.

Predictive maintenance

There are two ways predictive maintenance can be carried out in an IoT-enabled hospital. First, smart devices can self-check regularly and notify personnel about their working condition, and second, intelligent sensors can check traditional hospital hardware and alert the maintenance crew if a failure is predicted.

Patient flow tracking & management

Smart devices with face recognition installed in hallways and wards of modern smart hospitals can monitor patients from admission to discharge. This data can be fed into the analytics system to detect underutilized areas and locations that might become overcrowded and improve patient flow management.

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Best real-life examples of IoT in healthcare

These IoT solutions may seem like they came from the pages of a fantasy book, yet most of them are already gaining traction and used to enhance patient outcomes and quality of life around the globe.

Emergency care IoT solution

Itransition developed a multi-tenant unified HIPAA- and FDA-compliant digital health solution, enhancing the quality of patient treatment during the Code Blue event and enabling inventory management in resuscitation carts for Nuvara, a medical manufacturing company that specializes in carts and cabinets for medication delivery and administration in healthcare facilities. This solution automates and facilitates the retrospective surrounding the Code Blue event, which would improve the emergency care provision standards.

Image title: Cart check
Image source: itransition.com — Medical IoT solution for emergency care

IoT device management software

Our team delivered a ready-to-use iOS application to be connected to IoT devices like humidifiers, air conditioners, lights, etc., for a healthcare device manufacturer that serves senior care, home care, hospice, and acute care organizations. The solution enables users to manage their connected humidifiers precisely and conveniently when inside or outside the building, and is ready to be integrated with more devices.

Image title: Rules and detailed stats UI
Image source: itransition.com — IoT device management software

A digital healthcare company iRhythm developed a long-term continuous cardiac monitoring Zio patch that helps prevent atrial fibrillation. The device gathers patient data for 3 to 14 consecutive days and uses machine learning to assess a person’s overall cardiac health. The collected data is used to generate reports that can be integrated into the patient’s electronic health records, enabling a consulting cardiologist to make an accurate diagnosis and prescribe appropriate treatment.

Eversense continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) System offers a huge leap toward a better quality of life for patients with Type 1 and 2 diabetes. The device, implanted under a person’s skin, transmits data to a smart patch that synchronizes glucose level data with a dedicated mobile app every five minutes. Assessing this data, the system determines whether the blood glucose levels will exceed the pre-set benchmark and alerts the patient.

The company offers a variety of IoT solutions to help people check their vision and get prescription glasses, determine pupillary distance, check for color vision deficiency, and understand how well they distinguish between light and dark. However, EyeQue diagnostic devices can’t detect conditions like glaucoma, retinopathy, or macular degeneration, so they are not meant to replace annual visits to the doctor. Still, these IoT healthcare solutions come in handy for people who don’t have in-person access to an eye doctor.

Omnipod is an automated closed-loop insulin delivery (AID) system that works in sync with glucose monitoring devices. The device continuously checks glucose levels in the patient's blood to determine the optimal insulin dosage to be delivered through the smart insulin pump. The Omnipod system helps patients experience fewer “lows” and “highs” of blood sugar, which positively impacts their health and prolongs life expectancy.

Natural Cycles is an FDA-cleared hormone-free birth control solution that uses a sophisticated algorithm to evaluate women’s fertility based on their body temperature. Recently, Natural Cycles paired with smart ring producers, ŌURA, to make the family planning experience easier and predictions more accurate, with the smart ring monitoring body temperature throughout the day.

Image title: Natural Cycles Powered by ŌURA
Image source: naturalcycles.com—Natural Cycles Powered by ŌURA

PURELL SMARTLINK™ is a technology for healthcare staff tracking and safety goals improvement. The system consists of devices like an Activity Counter to track entries and exits in the wards and hallways and PURELL SMARTLINK™ Dispensers to capture soap and sanitizer dispenser activations. Software-wise, the system includes Network Gateway that transfers data through the Microsoft Azure Cloud and PURELL SMARTLINK Software that creates comprehensive visual reports using real-time data. The system measures staff’s hand hygiene performance, helping hospitals ensure that each member adheres to the hand hygiene rules.

Vaccines must be kept at a temperature of 2-8 °C, yet in low- and middle-income countries the cold chain often gets disrupted. The ColdTrace solution from NexLeaf is a remote vaccine temperature monitoring system that monitors the functional state of cold chain equipment and alerts designated personnel of malfunctions. Currently, NexLeaf is installed on 15,000 devices across 8 countries, with the company continually innovating the system and expanding the coverage area.

Image title: NexLeaf ColdTrace solution
Image source: nexleaf.org—A History of ColdTrace

Every 1.2 seconds, someone in the world is afflicted with a diabetic foot ulcer which then can lead to a foot amputation. Sensoria Health partnered with Defender to offer smart wound management footwear that can monitor the state of the patient’s foot ulcers and is comfortable to wear. The acquired data can then be used to improve the patient’s adherence to the treatment protocol and personalize the regimen more to accelerate rehab and prevent amputations.

Proteus Discover is a digital healthcare platform that helps medical personnel track medication adherence and health patterns in patients with hypertension, diabetes, and hepatitis C. The solution consists of an ingestible sensor, a wearable signal detector, a healthcare application for smartphones, and an online portal. The ingested pill transmits data to the patch that also measures the patient’s rest, activity, steps, and heart rate. The collected data is then sent to the patients’ mobile app and the clinicians’ dedicated portal.

Image title: Proteus Discover
Image source: timlin.design

Continuous monitoring outside of intensive patient care units helps clinicians detect early signs of condition deterioration or adverse reactions in patients and prevent them from happening. EarlySense has developed a contactless heart rate, respiratory, and motion monitoring system that allows hospitals and post-acute providers to intervene before the patient’s condition worsens. The system also identifies patients who are at risk for pressure ulcers, helping improve treatment experiences for patients.

IoT platforms used in healthcare

As the popularity of IoMT rises, so does the number of platforms the medical IoT ecosystem can be based on. Each platform has its own unique advantages for app developers, device manufacturers, and care providers.

Amazon Web Service (AWS) for Life Sciences

AWS IoT suite consists of multiple tools for powering smart devices of any complexity and size. AWS IoT Core lets connected devices securely interact with cloud applications and other devices; AWS IoT Device Defender helps secure a fleet of IoT devices; AWS IoT Events facilitates detecting and responding to events from IoT sensors and applications. Amazon also offers FreeRTOS – an operating system for low-power edge devices’ microcontrollers.

Microsoft's Azure IoT Suite

Azure IoT suite consists of managed and platform services across edge and cloud that connect, monitor, and control IoT assets. Azure IoT Hub and Azure Digital Twins provide the basis for companies to build customized solutions for complex IoT scenarios, while Azure IoT Central enables companies to quickly create IoT applications with a fully managed IoT solution offering.

Google's Brillo/Weave

Enables rapid implementation of IoT applications. The platform consists of two main parts: Brillo, an Android-based OS for the development of embedded low-power devices, and Weave, an IoT-oriented communication protocol that serves as the communication language between the device and the cloud.

Arm Mbed IoT

The platform helps connect devices powered by Arm Cortex-M microcontrollers into a secure, scalable, and interconnected IoT network and provides tools and services for healthcare application development with Mbed OS.

Essential devices in healthcare IoT

Software platforms can be viewed as the “brains” of IoT that analyze and transfer data, but it’s the devices that collect patient data in the first place. All IoMT devices can be sorted into three different categories: in-hospital, at-home, and on-body, and all of them have sensors and a network connection.

In-hospital devices

are those primarily used inside the healthcare facility: smart beds with vital signs’ trackers in hospital wards, blood collection devices in labs, medical imaging machines like CT scans, smart carts and barcode readers at the pharmacy, temperature, humidity, and hygiene sensors.

At-home devices

include medical devices that patients can use outside the healthcare organization, like scales, inhalers, thermometers, and baby monitors.

On-body gadgets

patients can wear most of the time. These are fitness trackers (often built into smartwatches), blood pressure and heart rate monitors, glucometers, and insulin pumps.

Data storage & analytics

EHR

In-hospital devices

At-home devices

Wearables

Medical apps

IoT communica-tion

Scheme title: Top Connected Devices in Hospitals
Image source: cynerio.com—Research Report: The State of Healthcare IoT Device Security 2022

as a percentage of all IoT/IoMT devices

Provide innovative health care with the help of IoMT

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Technologies to pair with healthcare IoT

A relatively recent development itself, IoT also works well with other cutting-edge technologies.

Robotics

There are numerous examples of robots playing the role of smart devices, interconnected with the hospital IT infrastructure. These are smart vacuums that receive signals from the areas that need cleaning, diagnostic robo-pills that send information from inside the patient’s digestive system, medication delivery robots, or robotic surgeons that help perform surgeries remotely

AR/VR

AR/VR devices connected to IoT sensors can help patients with sensory rehabilitation and gaining better control over their motor skills. AR/VR sets, integrated with robotic surgery equipment, can help surgeons perform precise operations by showing them an enhanced picture or even projecting the inside and outside of the patient’s body.

AI/ML

Sophisticated ML-powered systems can analyze healthcare data gathered by IoT sensors to draw valuable insights and make predictions. AI can act on the predictions and send alerts to doctors and patients or initiate other predefined protocols (dispense an extra dosage of medication, call emergency services, etc.)

Cloud

IoMT stores and transfers large volumes of data every minute. Making sure such processes are executed in the cloud safeguards patient data against natural emergency events or malicious attacks, and provides enough storage for conducting different operations and storing large amounts of data.

Our services

Consulting

Our experts help healthcare organizations assess their tech capabilities and requirements, define the most successful IoT adoption strategy, and elaborate a project roadmap aligning with their vision and budget.

Platform development

We can provide healthcare sector companies of any size with an IoT control center to easily manage, configure, and monitor the network of multiple connected devices under one roof.

App development

Our developers create robust, user-friendly mobile apps that complement the network of healthcare IoT devices, enabling employees and patients to access needed functionality anywhere, anytime.

Analytics

Our IoT experts deliver a custom healthcare BI system that can process high volumes of data generated from wearable devices and other IoT tools to provide healthcare companies with valuable insights for improved decision-making.

IoMT implementation roadmap

For IoMT implementation to go smoothly in any healthcare setting, medical providers should draw up a transparent and comprehensive roadmap first. Though each case is unique, our experts distinguish the following stages of IoMT development and implementation processes:

1

Team assembly & requirements gathering

First and foremost, you should put together a project team that will represent the majority of users, help define the requirements for the IoT system and equipment, and communicate with your development partners and IT vendors along the way.

2

Connectivity setup

Together with an IoT software vendor and device manufacturer, choose the IoT connectivity protocol that will work best in your case, drawing on the target coverage range and type of devices.

3

Prototyping

At this stage, the development team builds an interactive prototype consisting of an operable UI/UX and sets in place connectivity protocols. Using it, the internal project team and your software vendor can check the initial project hypothesis.

4

Medical software development & integration

After the software is complete, it is embedded into the medical devices or connected to its built-in system and integrated into the organization’s digital healthcare system.

5

Support & upgrade

Depending on your agreements, vendors and device manufacturers can provide ongoing support and upgrade their software, monitor its performance, and resolve upcoming issues.

Healthcare IoT implementation best practices

Additionally, for an IoMT project to succeed, adopters must follow these healthcare industry best practices:

Data encryption

Hardware protection

Device tracking systems

EMI-shielding

HIPAA & FDA compliance

API protection

Authentication

Network segmentation

IoMT security best practices

Include clinicians in the implementation process

The development team should take into account the opinion of actual users of IoMT devices and software. Without their input, the system might turn out unusable.

Ensure data security & compliance

Patients are still very apprehensive of IoMT because of its many vulnerability points. Companies that develop IoMT software should embed relevant cybersecurity features in their product.

Update the IoT system with time

New tech solutions that can enhance the IoMT network’s security or productivity emerge every year. Healthcare companies should plan ahead to implement changes to their IoMT environment, expand the number of devices or their range of work, and provide new healthcare services.

Conduct continuous testing

For the IoMT ecosystem to operate without disruptions, its productivity and security must be continuously monitored and improved.

The benefits of the Internet of Things in healthcare

There are numerous advantages to using smart devices in healthcare, from cleaner surgical equipment to improved population health and everything in between.

Resource optimization & care cost reduction

Connected care enables patients to monitor their health, spot unusual health events, and turn to doctors before the condition worsens. It saves doctors’ time, preventing burnout and opening opportunities for professional growth.

Better health outcomes

By collecting patients data, IoT devices support the provision of medical care better attuned to the needs of a particular patient. Such care personalization improves its effectiveness and patient satisfaction.

Enhanced preventive care

Continuous patient monitoring lets doctors recognize early signs of an illness and timely start treatment. In the long run, IoT-enabled preventive care makes illness prevention and ambulatory and post-discharge treatment more effective.

Improved population health

Wellness monitoring devices promote a healthy lifestyle, boosting population health and reducing the number of such deadly conditions as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

Personalized & transparent insurance

With a better understanding of health patterns from continuous monitoring and care, hospitals can develop more personalized offers for patients.

Remote medical care delivery

A combination of telemedicine and IoMT enables remote primary care, rehabilitation, and treatment, allowing patients to perform certain medical procedures at home, providing patients with chronic conditions more control over their health, and advancing medical care accessibility for the population in underserved remote areas.

Streamlined hospital management

IoMT automates many manual processes, leading to a lower chance of contamination, quicker equipment turnaround, and temperature and air quality optimization for each facility. Smart equipment can monitor itself too, preventing unexpected failure and simplifying maintenance.

Overcoming common challenges of IoT in healthcare

Despite its benefits, IoT is still associated with data breaches, the risk of a crucial device failure, and other issues that put off healthcare providers and make them second-guess the decision to adopt IoT. However, IoT software developers and device manufacturers are successfully solving the existing problems and trying to prevent any upcoming ones.

Challenge

Solution

According to the Cynerio report, more than half of the IoT healthcare devices pose risks for hospitals that use them.

The same report points out that effective healthcare IoT segmentation (dividing the large network into smaller, more manageable sections) helps mitigate the most critical smart device risks.

There are many different communication protocols, which makes data collection much more difficult and slows down the processes.

Though device manufacturers have not reached an agreement on a single standard for communication protocols, they are working on standardization of the connection between IoT devices for smoother data transfer.

Huge volumes of data take up a lot of space and cause fatigue in professionals working with it.

Data management, analytical and charting tools and cloud-based storage make it easier to manage high volumes of data and transform it into comprehensible insights.

IoT is vulnerable to such unpredictable emergency events as energy disruptions and severe weather conditions.

Most healthcare facilities have already realized the importance of proper hardware and software backup. Most have already started to develop a disaster recovery strategy and adopt recovery tools.

Healthcare providers can struggle with expanding their IoT networks with new devices.

Healthcare organizations should make their IoT network future-proof by design. The best and most accessible way to do so is by applying cloud services for device management and data storage to create scalable architectures that can efficiently accommodate a growing number of devices.

Bringing connectivity into your hospital

The Internet of Medical Things encompasses all medical gadgets and software needed to operate them. Itransition has vast experience with the biggest IoMT-enabling platforms, all classes of medical devices, and the development of all kinds of medical software to deliver the most innovative IoT solutions for healthcare providers. We are positive that the IoMT market will advance unprecedentedly over the next few years, and are determined to contribute to elevating the quality of IoMT software.

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