Digital healthcare, remote patient monitoring and IoT
27 January 2023

Digital healthcare, remote patient monitoring and IoT

27 January 2023

In an earlier blog “The growing IoT healthcare sector – and the need for IoT Connectivity”, we wrote about how and why “the global internet of medical things (IoMT) market is expected to swell to a $158 billion valuation in 2022, up from $41 billion in 2017”.

This new report by Juniper Research about Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) was also an interesting read for our IoT team. It predicts that:

The total number of patients using Remote Patient solutions will reach 115.5 million globally by 2027; equating to 1.4% of the total population. This is an increase from 75 million in 2023”.

The RPM devices discussed in the report test for cardiac conditions, diabetes and cancer and include:

    • ECG
    • Blood Pressure INR Test
    • Pulse Oximeter
    • Glucose Monitor
    • Bluetooth Scale
    • Smartwatches

The report has some impressive numbers:

 Market Size in 2023: $72bn         Market Size in 2027: $110bn

Expectations are high and driven by greater pressure on healthcare systems, including clinical staff shortages and limited space within hospitals.  RPM enables “care to be moved outside of overstressed healthcare facilities; boosting healthcare providers’ efficiency”.

Remote Patient Monitoring and Global Connectivity

Healthcare is just one of the market verticals that Telecom26 is focused on - and we are already providing Global IoT connectivity to digital healthcare providers around the world.

Key to the success of RPM is the ability for devices to send information about the patient – their heart rate, their blood glucose, their blood pressure etc – in real-time so that it can be analysed at a medical centre, and interventions ordered if necessary.

Devices will need to be easy for patients to use and connecting them to a network straightforward. 

For device manufacturers, application providers and integrators operating across multiple markets, enabling native connectivity will be essential.  Healthcare organisations do not have the knowledge or the people hours to be installing and activating local SIMs before they are sent to patients.

Devices will need to be shipped with global IoT SIM cards that can connect to networks in any country. And this is where Telecom26 comes in…

Telecom26 - your partner for IoT connectivity

At the heart of Telecom26’s IoT service for digital healthcare programmes across the world are our global eSIMs and physical SIM cards. 

These can be inserted in medical devices that need connectivity either when they arrive at the clinic, or at the point of manufacture.  This means that wherever the medical device ends up, with a Telecom26 IoT eSIM card it can connect to the local network.

Just one of our eSIMs in an IoT device:

  • Provides access to all of the networks covered by our global roaming service. That’s 1100+ cellular networks belonging to 650+ mobile operators in 200+ countries.
  • Removes the need to worry about the coverage of a single MNO, or the existence of roaming alliances. Our eSIMs select the best performing network in the area, cross-border, while providing enterprises with the freedom to change SIM profiles and services with ease.
  • Can be customised with routing profiles built for each IoT device according to a customer’s needs and budget. For example, for organisations that are more price sensitive we can ensure that our Global eSIM cards automatically connect to the cheapest service in the area.

In a nutshell, Telecom26 enables data connectivity, anywhere - so that your IoT device can connect to the best available network, regardless of location.

Telecom26, IoT connectivity, digital healthcare and SystemOne

In the case study section of our resource library you can read about how Telecom26’s IoT connectivity is helping to control the spread of infectious diseases.

In a nutshell, we are providing IoT connectivity to the eHealth and mobile health services of SystemOne, a pioneer in the rollout of eHealth and mobile health programmes.

Initially, the SystemOne diagnostic devices used by medical personnel in Ghana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe had Telecom26’s global IoT SIM cards inserted inside them.

This approach was so successful that Telecom26’s contract was extended to provide connectivity to clinics across Africa including Lesotho, Malawi (where Telecom26 replaced Vodafone) and Nigeria. In addition, SystemOne began using Telecome26’s global IoT SIM cards outside Africa in Bangladesh and East Timor.

In Angola, SystemOne’s medical devices connect via a router using Wi-Fi to our mobile broadband, ensuring that critical services stay online.

Together, SystemOne, Telecom26 and IoT networks are saving lives across the world - and helping countries respond more effectively to outbreaks of infectious disease by identifying positive cases faster and allowing a big-picture view of disease spread across a region.

Interestingly SystemOne is using the software of one of the remote patient monitoring vendors, a Tier1 Pharma company, profiled in Juniper’s report – so, we’re playing our part in the development of this fast-growing field.

You can read more about our IoT eSIM service here.

And more information about Telecom26’s IoT Connectivity for Healthcare portfolio can be found here.  

Catching-up in-person

We will be at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona from 27 February – 2 March and will be launching several new services and discussing lots of other global and maritime connectivity subjects including:

  • Our growing global network of 5G partners
  • Our eSIM packages – Telecom26 provides a complete range of eSIM and eUICC solutions that enable seamless profile delivery and management and remove the need to ship and deploy physical SIMs

If you’d like to arrange to meet there then please book a meeting.

Or if you’d like a call to discuss how our maritime connectivity and maritime cellular communications services can connect the people and devices on-board your vessels as they travel around the world then please get in touch.

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