The Journal of mHealth Vol 3 Issue 1 (Feb/Mar 2016) | Page 35

The Potential for the Internet of Medical Things

The Potential for the Internet of
Medical Things
First Digital Health Innovation Lab
at IoT Tech Expo, London proves a
successful formula with a showcase
of connected health technologies
Organised by The Journal of mHealth,
the first in a series of Digital Health
Innovation Labs, to be held at events
around the world during 2016, has
proven to be a huge success. Bringing
together a collection of innovative digital health solution providers, the event,
which was held as part of the IoT Tech
Expo Europe conference in London,
provided an opportunity for IoT professionals to meet digital health innovators
in an environment designed to bring
about inspiration and collaboration.
Healthcare offers huge potential for
IoT solutions that can provide intelligent options to improve care delivery
and reduce operational costs. From asset
management to the accurate tracking
of pharmaceuticals, sensor networks to
wearable real-time vital sign monitoring
the opportunities for data-driven care
provision, automation and intelligent
decision-making are vast.
As sensors, devices, and digital health
solutions become more prolific the creation of healthcare data is becoming
progressively easier and more sophisticated. But, data collection is only the first
step in the process. In order to be truly
useful, data needs to be communicated,
compiled, and analysed in ways that
enable new and effective methods of
intervention and activity. By embedding
individual sensors, solutions and data
points within a connected ecosystem
then it becomes possible to derive significant value from this collective insight.
The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT)
provides this ecosystem and, with it, new
ways to capitalise upon the value of this
data.
Within any care setting information flow
is essential for positive patient outcomes.
IoMT-enabled medical devices are critical to value-based care, not only for their
potential role in improving health out-

comes but also for their ability to directly
quantify value in healthcare. Connected
clinical decision tools can present a physician with diagnostic aids helping to
isolate a patient’s relevant symptoms,
present evidence-based treatments for
the diagnosed condition, display detailed
dosing charts, or alert in the case of a
contraindication or error. All of this
helps to improve the way decisions are
made and how resources are allocated.
The IoMT can also deliver patient
empowerment, which is incredibly
important, not only in an era of patientcentred care, but also in a time where we
are beginning to understand just how
much of a difference patient attitude
toward treatment can impact clinical
outcomes. Providing data-driven feedback to patients can help them engage
and make better health and wellness
decisions in real time, decreasing the
need for costly doctor visits, tests, and
hospitalisations and reducing the rate of
progression of the disease.
As healthcare systems increasingly value
efficiency and outcomes then so the collaborative sharing and interoperability
of data across the IoMT will become
an ever more essential element for the
whole industry.

The Digital Health Innovation Lab from
The Journal of mHealth is part of a
series of events and activities aimed at
showcasing mobile, digital and connected health solutions and devices from
companies involved in the digital revolution of healthcare. We have seen the rate
at which internet-enabled solutions are
being adopted across the entire healthcare ecosystem grow exponentially over
the past couple of years and we hope
that these events will help to support and
encourage this proliferation.
At this year’s IoT Tech Expo Europe
we were delighted to be able to feature
a showcase of innovative companies Medopad, HCi Viocare, endoscope-i,
and Medic Creations - who are all directly
contributing to this growing Internet of
Medical Things. n

Join us at our
next event!
Contact us for more details
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Journal of mHealth
The Global Voice of mHealth

The Journal of mHealth

33