How Telecom is Breaking Boundaries in Healthcare
As a 30+ year veteran of the Telecom industry, there was a time when I felt my job had no meaningful purpose and was so disconnected from humanity. Figuring out how to make switches talk to each other, or how to make them comply with federal mandates, or how to productize the latest video protocol filled my days. I longed to help others– those in need, beyond the C-suites getting rich off my work.
When I turned my attention to how my work was being used by customers, specifically those in the Healthcare industry, I had a revelation– while our work in Telecom would never discover the proverbial “cure to cancer,” it could enable our customers to do just that!
The most obvious and early application of Telecom technology to Healthcare is Telehealth, also known as Telemedicine – the use of audio or video conferencing to enable providers and patients to engage remotely and often on demand. It allows patients broader and faster access to general or specialized care regardless of their location, especially important for patients in under-served communities or those with conditions that make it difficult to leave home. While available for quite some time, never have we seen such prolific use as during the pandemic, allowing for both accessible and safe patient interactions with medical and mental health professionals. For instance, according to the American Telemedicine Association,
“over 75% of all hospitals in the United States now offer telemedicine services”
(Utilities One).
Apart from this, a study conducted by the University of California, “found that telemedicine reduced hospital readmission rates by 44% and reduced emergency department visits by 63% for certain conditions”(Utilities One).
An awesome application of Telehealth technology is Blueberry Pediatrics– a subscription-based, 24×7 on-demand pediatric Telehealth service. Among other things, they offer customers a kit that includes an Otoscope that sends live video of the child’s inner ears, enabling the Pediatrician to diagnose and prescribe treatment for common ear infections during the Telehealth session. This avoids the need for an often expensive and hard to schedule office visit. How great for a new parent in the middle of the night!
Enter the Internet of Things (IoT), or more specifically, Internet of Medical Things (IoMT). These are devices connected to the Internet, typically via Bluetooth, that run the gamut from wearables to implants to ingestibles to tracking apps on a smartphone or watch, and can be used in a variety of settings including hospitals and patients’ homes. Some of the top applications include remote patient monitoring (RPM) of glucose levels, heart rates/rhythms and even moods and depression. As published on Insiders Intelligence’s website on August 19, 2023, there will be an estimated “70.6 million RPM users in the US by 2025, up 56.5% from 2022. In three years, more than one-quarter of the US population will be regularly using a device that remotely tracks or collects their well-being or medical data for their doctors to assess.” The convergence of Telehealth and RPM enables even more effective and efficient management of chronic diseases that require constant care and attention.
A more recent development is the use of Edge Computing in Healthcare. Edge Computing is a term used to describe data or processes that are stored in “The Cloud”, but at the “edge of the telecom network.” In other words, at the closest possible point to the applications and devices needing the data or process outputs in near-real time. The combination of Cloud-based data at the Edge enables faster access to large amounts of data, low-latency (< 5 ms) processing and more efficient use of resources. One such application is robotic surgeries, where the robot is essentially an IoMT device that interacts with data and processes in “The Cloud” to perform its tasks.
When combined with artificial intelligence and predictive analytics, the plethora of medical data obtained through the use of these (hopefully secure) technologies can lead to powerful and innovative ways for more timely and accurate diagnosis, early risk identification and intervention, that will surely improve patient outcomes.
