Medical Internet of Things and Big Data in Healthcare

Abstract

Objectives: A number of technologies can reduce overall costs for the prevention or management of chronic illnesses. These include devices that constantly monitor health indicators, devices that auto-administer therapies, or devices that track real-time health data when a patient self-administers a therapy. Because they have increased access to high-speed Internet and smartphones, many patients have started to use mobile applications (apps) to manage various health needs. These devices and mobile apps are now increasingly used and integrated with telemedicine and telehealth via the medical Internet of Things (mIoT). This paper reviews mIoT and big data in healthcare fields.

Methods: mIoT is a critical piece of the digital transformation of healthcare, as it allows new business models to emerge and enables changes in work processes, productivity improvements, cost containment and enhanced customer experiences.

Results: Wearables and mobile apps today support fitness, health education, symptom tracking, and collaborative disease management and care coordination. All those platform analytics can raise the relevancy of data interpretations, reducing the amount of time that end users spend piecing together data outputs. Insights gained from big data analysis will drive the digital disruption of the healthcare world, business processes and real-time decision-making.

Conclusions: A new category of "personalised preventative health coaches" (Digital Health Advisors) will emerge. These workers will possess the skills and the ability to interpret and understand health and well-being data. They will help their clients avoid chronic and diet-related illness, improve cognitive function, achieve improved mental health and achieve improved lifestyles overall. As the global population ages, such roles will become increasingly important.

Keywords: Disease Management; Mobile Applications; Smartphone; Telemedicine; Wireless Technology.

Figure 1. An illustration of how this revolution in medicine will look in a typical Internet of Things (IoT) hospital, in practice.

Figure 2. A typical situation involved an elderly person, recovering from a medical condition at home, linked to a combination of several connected services streaming data towards different parties, such as family members, tele-carer and physicians.

Figure 3. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) data system.