The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) market is increasing and is expected to reach $158.1 billion by 2022. The number of connected medical devices worldwide is also expanding and it is expected to increase from 10 billion to 50 billion in the next decade.
The healthcare industry is struggling due to the COVID-19 pandemic, growing populations of aging people, and an increase in chronic diseases and conditions. These difficulties lead to longer hospital visits and more prescription drug use, while the strained healthcare system struggles to keep up. Technology and IoMT can significantly improve the healthcare industry through:
- Patient status monitoring.
- Enabling telehealth solutions and responding to critical patient data quickly.
- Diagnoses and treatment.
- Targeted and personalized prescription medicine.
- Improved hospital communication and workflow.
- AI-enabled informed care decision-making and health predictions.
Technology and IoMT are already greatly improving the healthcare industry and patient experiences. However, as IoMT evolves, several challenges emerge in healthcare that must be addressed. Overcoming these 5 IoT challenges, connectivity, continuity, compliance, coexistence, and cybersecurity, is the key to supporting the growing IoMT market. Addressing these 5 main challenges in healthcare will help organizations with their digital transformation and create a more reliable, predictable, secure, and productive industry.
Connectivity
Data transmission must be seamless and reliable in the healthcare industry. Complex systems and dense device deployments need to work non-stop and cannot fail. If connectivity for some reason is interrupted, data transmission should recover and resume with limited or no intervention. Incorporating connectivity testing early in the development of devices is very important. It is also essential to proactively test for signal or power integrity issues before connectivity issues arise in an emergency.
Continuity
Battery life and operational continuity is a life-or-death issue in the healthcare industry. Device development must take steps to increase battery life by integrating components and understanding how to optimize and achieve a balance between power consumption and performance to provide uninterrupted access to essential patient data.
Compliance
Ensuring devices are compliant with up-to-date country regulations is extremely important in healthcare. Device makers need to do pre-compliance and compliance testing throughout the product lifecycle to avoid delays and revisions, stay competitive, and be first-to-market.
Coexistence
There are thousands of IoMT devices competing in the healthcare industry. Wireless devices must be able to operate in the presence of other devices and secure a stable, reliable connection. Early coexistence testing on IoMT devices based on insights from the environment it will be deployed in, is essential to avoid critical interference issues.
Cybersecurity
Any IoMT device can be used as a gateway for malicious attacks on other devices or whole networks. This is an important issue in healthcare, so devices must have security built into the earliest stage of device development and continuously validate the security throughout its lifecycle. Awareness of cybersecurity is also an important concern in the healthcare industry in order to avoid poor user practice.
Allegro Software’s Security & Connectivity Solutions
Allegro Software provides IoT Edge security and connectivity software toolkits to manufacturers worldwide. Our solutions are field proven in 275M+ devices and enable OEMs in various industries including the Healthcare industry. We offer IoT Edge device security, IoT device management, and machine to machine communications to help address some of the main challenges with IoT devices in the healthcare industry. Contact us for a consultation to learn more.
