The Internet of Things (IoT) is bringing myriad benefits to the health care industry, transforming the way practitioners care for their patients. With a stream of breakthroughs in connected health care, health care providers are coming to expect real-time visibility into diagnostic data, patient records, inventory, health alerts and more.
This expectation poses a challenge for providers of connected health care solutions: As volumes of connected devices and the number of facilities proliferate, so do choices. What network technology offers the reliability needed for smart hospital operations? How can you connect your specialized devices so that they work together efficiently and accurately while also protecting patient privacy, ensuring regulatory compliance and keeping costs under control?
Build your smart health care solutions using tools and technologies that deliver health care providers the greatest benefit from medical IoT so they can expand the reach of what they do best ― care for their patients.
The Building Blocks of a Smart Health Care System
Patients and health care providers will benefit from smart, connected health care systems. The key to success is starting with the best-suited wireless connection strategy and expert tools.
Private LTE Networks
As the number of medical IoT applications grows, smart health care facilities and medical IoT solution providers are turning to private LTE ― a dedicated wireless network separate from the wide-area macro network ― to meet their connectivity needs. Benefits of private LTE over Wi-Fi include better security, latency management, better indoor and outdoor coverage, absolute control over the network and more.
5G Health Care Technologies
Emerging 5G technologies promise superior performance aligned with the rising demands of the medical IoT market, promising to transform telehealth, creating significant positive impacts for health care providers and their patients. Among other benefits, 5G technologies, including private networking (private 5G), enable the fast transfer of large data files, real-time remote monitoring and sensor innovation.
IoT Modules
Smart health care is built around specialized devices such as sensors, surveillance systems and wearables — all of which must be connected. A module-based approach to connectivity solutions offers the broadest IoT product portfolio on the market. There are several options to choose from that serve the medical IoT sector, target specific health care solution needs and easily adapt across multiple technologies.
End-to-End Security
Protecting patient data and privacy are paramount. Ensure the technologies you build on are real-world tested from providers with a long-standing commitment and a solid track record in security and privacy, specifically in your market and application area. Providers should help customers protect their IoT data, devices and infrastructure from internal and external threats, including exposure to connectivity, modules and platforms originating on or traversing networks and servers from or in countries not subscribing to the strictest security and privacy norms. Your security chain is only as strong as your weakest link in it.
IoT Applications for Health Care
Connected devices and the services that go with them are reinventing health care by keeping workers and patients informed in real time with what they need to know to attain optimal health outcomes. Reliable connectivity is essential.
Remote Patient Monitoring
Enable end-to-end medical IoT remote monitoring solutions for real-time actionable insights that improve health care outcomes while reducing health care costs. With access to real-time patient data, medical providers can make smarter and faster decisions about treatment to prevent emergencies and reduce hospital readmissions. Patients can extend their care with at-home services that reduce the costs associated with lengthy hospital stays.
Asset Tracking for Medical Devices
Keep track of medical device location and functionality with IoT-enabled asset tracking. IoT-enabled asset tracking helps health care providers extract real-time information, replace inventory at the right time, locate and identify missing items, and perform proactive replenishments for materials such as personal protective equipment and other medical supplies.
Secure Health Care Data Collection and Analysis
Protect patient data privacy while gathering and transmitting data at lightning-fast speeds. With 5G, large files can be transmitted between doctors and hospitals exponentially faster than with under-powered legacy wired networks. That means more timely diagnostics, second opinions, treatment starts and adjustments.
Public Health and Infectious Disease Prevention
Prepare for improved responsiveness to public health emergencies, such as COVID-19, and boost resilience to future events. IoT solutions, supported by 5G, enable real-time monitoring, alerts and communications that can keep health care professionals informed and ready during emergency circumstances so that they can save lives.
Wellness and Fitness Tracking with Wearables
Help individuals gain better control over their health outcomes with revenue-generating smart wearables that offer health monitoring and fitness tracking. Wearable devices allow for remote monitoring of various vital signs and health statistics. This visibility provides valuable information to health care providers and helps them to stay connected to patients. Patients also gain better visibility into their health care and can make better-informed choices.
