Crossroads: Health Providers Embrace Remote Monitoring Cautiously

The Internet of Things (IoT) is being embraced by health care providers. Health care providers are scared witless about the security of medical devices and the Internet of Things.

The poet, Robert Frost, began one of his most famous poems “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood…”

Healthcare providers face a similar issue, but the one road is smooth and well-lit with lots of warning signs. It is wearable technology and other connected devices used to monitor patient activity remotely. The other road is dark, travelers are victims of criminal acts, this road relies on criminal advice and a payoff to criminals to traverse it.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is being embraced by health care providers. Health care providers are scared witless about the security of medical devices and the Internet of Things.

Providers and some patients fear that personal health information (PHI) and personal financial information (PFI) might be compromised by the IoT.

Nevertheless, there is no denying that the IoT makes doctors more efficient, is patient-friendly, reduces costs, and makes for better patient care.

How Do Health Providers & Their Patients Benefit from the IoT?

The most important rewards of IoT concern themselves with decreased costs of care and improved patient care. So, following are some of the ways health care providers and patients benefit from the Internet of Things.

1. Lower Costs – connectivity to remote monitoring resources allows for real-time patient monitoring. This is more convenient, who, by using wearable technology, don’t need to make an appointment for an office visit. This lowers patient care costs and increases provider revenue by allowing for additional income-generating patient visits that fill time for routine testing. Nursing home patients who have a medical condition that needs monitoring may be monitored remotely, thus avoiding a physician visit to the nursing home or rehab facility inpatient.
2. Reduced Errors – this is achieved through the accurate collection of information, workflows that are automated that combine with data-driven decision making. The results are waste reduction, system cost reduction, and of paramount importance, minimizing errors.
3. Better Treatment Outcomes – stems from the connectivity of remote patient monitoring through cloud computing and the way it connects the provider to real-time data. This allows for informed decision making and treatment that is evidenced based. In turn, the result is the timely provision of health care with improved treatment outcomes.
4. Disease Management that Works – Remotely monitored patients can stay monitored all-the-time and real-time data is always available to healthcare givers. When a patient device signals a deviation from normal parameters it issues an alarm message to the provider.
5. Better Patient Experience – Certainly, most patients using a remote device or wearable technology enjoy how patient-centric their care is. The Internet of Things gives providers the ability to come up with a more personalized high-standard of care by giving patients choices about their care, being proactive in well-care as well as illness, and better diagnostic accuracy.

Providers Worry About IoT Security

Providers from a family doctor receiving daily updates from a diabetic patient wirelessly, to the hospital where apps are used on any number of devices, the fear is that of IT security.

Patient privacy is the number one concern as each IoT device is a potential breach in security exposing patient medical and personal information.

Contact Veltec Networks we are an experienced provider of HIPAA electronic compliant security and other IT managed services. We are in San Francisco Bay Area and can be reached at (408) 849-4441 or info@veltecnetworks.com.