Sectoral applications of IoT: Big advancements in healthcare

Siemens Digital Industries Software offers solutions for medical device companies for product lifecycle management, as well as platforms to address product development challenges. 

The internet of medical things

The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) refers to the application of IoT for medical and health-related purposes, data collection, and analysis for research and  manufacturing. It is a connected infrastructure of medical devices, software applications, health systems, and services.

According to Business Insider, the market for IoT medical devices is estimated to grow at a CAGR of over 29% from 2017 to 2022, reaching USD158bn (from USD41bn in 2017). An earlier estimate suggests there were 4.5 billion devices connected to the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) in 2015, with this expected to have grown to 20 to 30 billion devices today (source: GE and Business Insider). The devices concerned represent a wide range of areas, from patient monitoring (in and out of hospital settings) to telemedicine, to sensors measuring vitals, to smart beds, to AI-based medical imaging analysis and diagnosis.

In the healthcare and care delivery sector, data from electronic health records (EHR) containing personally identifiable information and patient generated health data, along with other machine-generated data, is gathered and provided to healthcare providers for real-time monitoring and treatment, and also used for compliance reasons.

The application of IoT in the manufacturing process

Mr. Sezgi Oezener, Analyst, HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt AG said supply chain disruptions and raw material shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and demand cyclicality have become an increasingly popular topic in MedTech company conference calls and webcasts. Although only a fraction of the world’ semiconductor chips end up in medical devices, and producers are known to be more sensitive towards the needs of the healthcare sector, chips are a key component for many life-saving medical devices such as MRI machines and blood-sugar monitors for diabetes.

However, lead times for chips have been getting longer while prices have been rising. Philips recently lowered its growth and margin outlook due to supply chain issues, including shortages of electronic components, while Fujifilm SonoSite, which makes portable ultrasound machines, reported paying over 43 times more than normal for a key component in short supply.

All this, along with the pandemic-driven rise in demand for certain products, makes precision timing and more efficient production processes even more critical for Medtech companies.

Smart applications

Siemens Digital Industries Software offers solutions for medical device companies for product lifecycle management, as well as platforms to address product development challenges. Siemens has also recently been awarded a contract by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that will provide the latter access to its Xcelerator portfolio, which includes integrated software capabilities for design control, risk management, product lifecycle management, and manufacturing execution, among others.

Philips is providing end-to-end connectivity solutions not just for its own products but also for external healthcare companies by leveraging its experience in integrating and combining consumer and clinical data. It also, in cooperation with Open Market, created a mobile messaging remote sensor technology alerting users of system issues in MRI systems.

Carl Zeiss Meditec will connect its medical technology devices to Microsoft’s cloud and leverage Azure AI and IoT technologies for new digital services for improved clinical workflows, treatments, and device maintenance.

Zeiss Ecosystem promises to connect all existing Zeiss devices, providing seamless access to data and connecting applications from diagnosis to device ordering to procedure and post procedure exams in a compliant and secure way.

Cybersecurity is key

Global Digital Health Partnership, a collaboration of 330 countries and territories and the WHO formed to support the effective implementation of digital health, published a draft Medical Device Manufacturer Internet of Things Code of Conduct in January 2020, where it highlights the importance of: 1) confidentiality of patient information; 2) integrity of data; and 3) availability of data to authorised entities to ensure proper functionality of medical devices. Further emphasis is made on establishing proper cybersecurity policies, an issue rendered even more critical in the context of rising ransomware attacks targeting the healthcare industry.