Healthcare providers must take full advantage of the Internet of Health Things, even if industry leaders do not yet fully understand its potential.
By Brian Kalis & Ronan Wisdom | Accenture
The Internet of Health Things (IoHT) is already delivering tangible cost savings, but continuous investment is essential. To succeed in the digital economy, healthcare providers and payers must take full advantage of IoHT now to grow their businesses in the long-term. Connected devices using the Internet of Health Things are beginning to transform healthcare delivery.
By introducing more connectivity, remote monitoring and information gathering, IoHT can encourage better use of healthcare resources, more informed decisions, a reduction in inefficiencies or waste, and the empowerment of health consumers. According to estimates, the value of IoHT will top US$163 billion by 2020, with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 38.1% between 2015 and 2020. Within the next five years the healthcare sector is projected to be #1 in the Top 10 industries for Internet of Things app development.
Accenture research shows healthcare executives are all too aware of the changes IoHT is bringing to their industry. Yet they also acknowledge that their leaders do not yet fully understand IoHT’s potential.
The Breakdown
What is the Internet of Health Things
The Internet of Health Things is the integration of the physical and digital worlds through objects with network connectivity in the healthcare industry. IoHT transforms raw data into simple, actionable information and communicates with other objects, machines or people. IoHT can be leveraged to improve access to health, quality of care, consumer experience, and operational efficiency.
Who is investing and how much?
It is not just technology departments that are investing in IoHT. While 57% of healthcare organizations surveyed say that their IT departments lead the IoHT charge, 26% say their research and development (R&D) divisions are leading their IoHT efforts and one in ten organizations even have dedicated IoHT subsidiaries or business units. Today, healthcare organizations allocate on average around 10% of their annual IT budgets to investments for IoHT solutions; this amount grows incrementally as the size of IT budgets as a whole grow larger.
Healthcare providers and payers are investing in IoHT programs in three areas of their businesses—remote patient monitoring (RPM), wellness and prevention, and operations—and are seeing real value from the initial programs. The value is being demonstrated from IoHT programs in the areas of medical or administrative/ operational cost savings, improvements in consumer experience, and revenue growth through consumer attraction/retention.
Value is being achieved from Internet of Health Things (IoHT) programs in three business areas:
• Remote patient monitoring (RPM)
• Wellness and prevention
• Medical and operational cost savings in the programs and patient populations to which it has been applied thus far.
Yet barriers to IoHT uptake, but no single barrier stands out significantly from the others as a particular inhibitor. In fact, executives see the top two barriers— privacy concerns and legacy systems— as equal hindrances. These top two are only slightly ahead of the next three cited barriers: security concerns, technology immaturity, and lack of budget.
Remote patient monitoring
Investments in RPM are strong but vary for providers and payers, and what is not invested today will likely be invested tomorrow.
Providers’ current investments in RPM IoHT lag behind wellness and prevention, and operations programs today—but are set to take off in the near term. The majority of both providers’ and payers’ RPM IoHT investments are focused on cardiac conditions. Interestingly, in the past, behavioral health has not received investment at similar levels, but the spotlight appears to now be shining on this area. Mental health, including behavioral health, is a relatively high priority for both providers (48%) and payers (55%). Almost all providers and payers say wearables are a component of their wellness and prevention Internet of Health Things (IoHT) investments.
4 takeaways for providers and payers
- The time is now. Despite challenges with security and privacy, inaction is not an option. There are players outside of traditional healthcare organizations looking at these same industry challenges and considering ways to capture the opportunity. If providers and payers do not invest in demonstrating IoHT value now, they risk losing out to non-traditional players. Going forward, providers and payers must identify parts of the business where IoHT solutions may be applied to do things differently—and do different things to grow in the long-term.
- Measure and build on successes. Providers and payers have already demonstrated value through IoHT—but they need to continue investments to better understand where programs are successful to prepare for future scaling. They need to measure effectiveness beyond the technology and then build on those areas of effectiveness quickly to offer value across the business. By demonstrating the benefits and best practices, providers and payers can strengthen business cases, encourage adoption and drive interoperability.
- Put consumers first. Providers and payers must continue to incorporate IoHT solutions that drive better experiences and healthier patient outcomes, along with key medical and administrative cost savings initiatives. IoHT solutions offer the seamless collection of patient-generated health data, enabling providers and payers to provide more convenient, personalized and effective care. They must train their workforces to make IoHT a part of the “new normal.”
- Form nimble partnerships. Technology and innovation partners can help payers and providers quickly test and learn how IoHT can drive business value to inform future scaling requirements. Strategy and change management partners can help to integrate these new technologies into their workflow, culture and training.
