What is IoMT, the internet of medical things?

What is IoMt?

The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), also referred to as Internet of Things (IoT) in healthcare, includes all medical devices, infrastructures and applications able to collect and transfer medical data over a network without any human intervention.

From wearable medical devices that track patients’ health condition to in-hospital IoMT sensors that help monitor stocks, things have dramatically transformed the healthcare industry improving patient safety while reducing healthcare cost. Accordingly, The IoMT market is expected to grow by more than 38% by 2026.

IoMT offers considerable business opportunities.

Major advantages of IoT in healthcare include :

improved treatments by enabling constant monitoring at home and in hospitals, supporting physicians in their treatment options and allowing early diagnosis
cost reduction by cutting down on unnecessary doctor appointments, hospital stays and readmissions, and by facilitating asset management
prevention of surgical complications by limiting the risk of retained surgical instruments and improving hygiene monitoring of devices.

Both major players as well as small and medium-sized enterprises can get their fair share of the business as the market is highly fragmented. Two recent innovations illustrate this trend ; in the field of knee surgery, PIXEE, a French Medtech start-up, successfully launched Knee +, a solution that provides real-time assistance to orthopedic surgeons using Augmented reality. On its side, Zimmer Biomet partnered with Apple to develop Mymobility platform, a digital care management platform that uses iPhone® and Apple Watch to provide a connected experience between patients and their care team, delivering information and instruction to optimize patients’ surgical preparation and recovery.

Data privacy and security are the backbone of every successful solution

Market opportunities should not overshadow potential challenges, for those who want their share of the cake. Data privacy and security are the main market restraints. Data privacy raises the legal challenge of who owns data emitted by an IoMt device and how to destroy data once it has been shared into the network. Data security refers to cybersecurity risks bearing in mind that cyber attacks targeting the healthcare industry have increased by 45% last year.

IoMT is one of the most significant recent developments in the healthcare industry. The betting is that the market will continue to grow as more business players realize the potential of connected devices to keep them competitive.

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