In 2015 a report generated by MarketResearch.com concluded that health care technology integrated with the Internet of Things (IoT) would create one of the largest areas of economic growth over the next few years. In fact, the estimate is that it will be a $117 billion industry before we hit 2020.
One of the reasons that we are going to see this growth inside the health care industry is due to the excessive need to do a better job in capturing and utilizing data. Inside all this valuable data is information that contains clues to solving health problems of today. Currently, most health data is sitting dormant and unable to contribute to the necessary analyzation we must begin processing.
The Millennials (ages 19-35 in 2016) will be the driving force in pushing the health care to ‘Internet of Things’ relationship
In 2016 the Millennials generation (ages 19-35) will surpass the Baby Boomers generation (ages 52 to 70). The new insight represents a significant shift in power and direction for the United States. Now that all the Millennials are of voting age they can make an impact in policy. With a voice that counts, the Millennials will have more influence over how the US will grow.
The Millennials will impact health technology because they have no resistance to using digital technology. Millennials are accustomed to electronic aids and have been communicating on the internet for most of their lives. These Millennials can see the tremendous advantages that an entirely interoperable health care system is to society. In fact, they expect everything is connected, and when it’s not they develop applications and technology to merge the analog to the digital.
Millennials working within the healthcare field is critical for the evolution of technology to unfold. We need the vision, foresight, and expectations that a Millennial has to help transpose an old industry that is still functioning below the current technological possibilities.
Another key to progressing health care lies within the INTEROPERABILITY of information technology
As medical data becomes interoperable and able to communicate with the various disparate systems, we will finally unlock the power of global analytics. Being able to merge the current health data with the new ‘Internet of Things’ IoT (everyday objects that have network connectivity, allowing them to send and receive data) will give way to a highly intelligent new form of medicine.
As a passionate team of information technology enthusiasts, we at Rural Health IT Corporation (RHITC) have dedicated our time to providing solutions that can help bridge the gap between all the existing health information exchanges and the new digital ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) enterprises. The fundamental principle behind our technology is the compatibility to incorporate without disrupting current workflows. Operating in the background within the native system provides an economically feasible approach to interoperability.
At RHITC we have centered our health information technology (HIT) around the underserved. We have known from the start that if our solutions could work for the disparate systems of the financially challenged organizations than we could bring ALL THE BIG DATA together. Being that we have the underserved in mind, we understand that a technological advancement only makes sense if as many organizations can use it as possible; solutions must include all demographics regardless of economic class.
The intention of helping the underserved has led our solutions to be the all essential adapter to enable fluid data communication.
One area that our team at RHITC is very excited about is Gamification. For those of you unclear as to what exactly Gamification is we offer this definition; Gamification - is the application of game-design elements and game principles in non-game contexts. Gamification commonly employs game design elements in so-called non-game contexts in attempts to improve user engagement, organizational productivity, education, evaluation, physical exercise, data collection, the usefulness of systems, and many others.
We are currently working on patient engagement tools that use Gamification applications. Through research, RHITC has concluded that when people are interacting with the ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) an excellent opportunity for gathering health data is presented. People have a strong desire to engage with electronic games. The Gamification applications help encourage patients and or consumers to take an active role in their healthcare and wellness. Built into these games will be financial incentives that encourage patients to participate actively and daily in their wellbeing, stay tuned for more on this in our next article!
When saving lives also includes saving money investors become interested and economic growth is possible.
Another factor that will contribute to the soon to be $117 Billion industry is the positive effect information technology has on increasing outcomes. George Mason University senior research fellow Robert Graboyes has this to say about interoperable data connected healthcare systems, “There is a convergence of technology that is opening up big data, artificial intelligence and it's allowing doctors to identify patterns in health that wouldn't have been available to intuitive practitioners.”
Here is short list of the many benefits we can expect by creating an ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) connected to healthcare
By monitoring patients and gathering data in real-time, we can detect things previously unknown. New insights and conclusions are possible when we capture data. Concentrating on an individual's illness and being able to analyze and track as much of their experience as we can have benefits for the entire population. When we have extensive data for each patient's unique health condition, we can then combine the data of others dealing with the same illness. The group data then gives answers to questions we never even thought of asking.
Wearable technologies allow the physician to gain insight 24 hours a day. Recently it has been noted that the time outside of the doctor's office is often the time that is most critical to understanding. For example, a small non-evasive patch on the skin could give insight to solving a skin disorder such as rosacea. Being able to monitor the data of the skin's reactions 24 hours a day can help understand this disease in a whole new way. For more information on wearable technologies and how they are going to help health care check out this ARTICLE
From a consumer standpoint, the resistance to all this gathering of personal data is security
The Baby Boomer generation and Generation X have real concerns about sharing personal information. These two generations remember the world where private information stayed within your home; they remember a time before the internet, a time before cloud based infrastructure and digital files. The guarded mindset makes them very leery of an integrated data sharing system whether it is a social media platform or health care application. In contrast, the Millennials generation is very open and quite fearless in sharing many details about their life publicly.
From an information technology standpoint, the solution to personal data security has two main areas of focus. The first is implementing the most advanced consent to share solution into all spheres of concern. At Rural Health IT Corporation we have taken the steps in making sure that we use the award-winning Consent2Share (C2S) tool within our solutions.
C2S was designed to integrate within existing Electronic Health Records (EHR), Health Information Exchange (HIE) systems, and other security sensitive platforms. Based on worldwide standards C2S has the highest quality privatized options. Sharing the information is in the power and control of the patient. You decide who sees what, and you choose what information and data pass-through for data analyzation. You are the authorization for what is considered sensitive information.
The second area of focus within the data security concerns is education. Empowering the population of the Baby Boomer and Generation X starts with teaching. Once they can comprehend the value of sharing data, we will have an enthused populace. Solving the Baby Boomer and Generation X concerns with detailed information on how their information is ultimately in their control, we begin the road to Big Data analytics. Fundamentally the Baby Boomer and Generation X need to grasp the vital necessity that health data analytics can provide in healing the lives of people. Often it is a matter of changing the public's perception. Read more about the impact perception is having on the Big Data evolution HERE
One thing is for sure we are on the doorstep of a soon to be amazing health care data architecture.
The innovation is happening all over the place. Every day new applications and digital technologies are entering the health care industry and changing the landscape. At RHITC we will continue to do our part in providing the interoperable information technology solutions that are connecting the ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) to health care.
One area that our team at RHITC is very excited about is Gamification. For those of you unclear as to what exactly Gamification is we offer this definition; Gamification - is the application of game-design elements and game principles in non-game contexts. Gamification commonly employs game design elements in so-called non-game contexts in attempts to improve user engagement, organizational productivity, education, evaluation, physical exercise, data collection, the usefulness of systems, and many others.
We are currently working on patient engagement tools that use Gamification applications. Through our, research RHITC has concluded that people interacting with the ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) have shown a need and a desire to interact with healthcare via electronic games. The Gamification applications help encourage patients and or consumers to take an active role in their healthcare and wellness. Built into these games will be financial incentives that encourage patients to participate actively and daily in their wellbeing, stay tuned for more on this in our future articles.
