Bring better patient outcomes and new efficiency to healthcare with edge data solutions for operational technology – enabling real-time health analytics, smart hospitals, automated medical supplies logistics and more.
While recent medical advances like the Human Genome Project and nationwide screening programs have been partly enabled by IT in core data centers and the cloud, the essential nature of healthcare is physical. The ‘edge’ of a healthcare organization is any real-world environment where medical work is done or patient care is delivered – such as clinics, health centers, hospitals, ambulances, pharmacies, medical laboratories or in a patient’s home. Now recognition of the largely unexplored potential of much of the data generated at the edge is creating a huge new opportunity for healthcare organizations to bring better patient outcomes and new efficiency – with real-time health analytics, smart hospitals, automated medical supplies logistics and more. But as a maker of operational technology (OT) products for the healthcare sector, how can you take this edge opportunity?
Collecting patient medical data is a key part of modern healthcare, and many of the OT products in this space are made to do just that – ranging from digital thermometers, blood oxygen-level meters and heart-rate monitors, up to X-ray machines and giant MRI scanners. But there are also many other kinds of data that can be captured at the healthcare edge – such as data on the operating efficiency and utilization of equipment, or live data on the changing number of patients in waiting rooms or wards. Increasingly, healthcare OT products include integrated sensors, video cameras and embedded systems, all generating data.
The increasing sophistication of data analytics is revealing the potential extra value in all these kinds of information to enable better healthcare. But while some patient data can be analyzed centrally, it is impractical (and sometimes unlawful) to send most of it to core data centers or cloud platforms, due to issues of patient data security and privacy – as well as latency, connectivity and bandwidth costs.
Healthy innovation at the edge
To enable more real-time data analytics and unlock the resulting benefits, healthcare organizations are looking at ‘edge computing’– bringing more data connectivity, embedded systems, computing hardware and analytics software directly into edge environments like the hospital ward or clinic.
Makers of medical devices and other healthcare OT can upgrade their products with new edge data capabilities and features, enabling health organizations to:
- Leverage health data to support better treatment while meeting data privacy compliance requirements.
- Improve the patient experience at all stages of the healthcare journey.
- Reduce costs across the organization to free up budget for improving patient care.
- Optimize and simplify the healthcare supply chain.
Finding your edge X-factor
One good example of bringing new edge data capabilities to healthcare OT is in the area of medical imaging. A significant percentage of medical X-ray images taken are typically rejected by doctors and radiographers for problems with sharpness, cropping, exposure or other reasons. Repeating the X-ray costs healthcare providers money – and subjects patients to inconvenience and added risk. A leading healthcare equipment manufacturer has recently added edge-based data analytics to their X-ray equipment to help reduce rejected images by aggregating data across multiple systems and sites. This added-value feature has given their product a significant advantage in the market, while increasing the speed and accuracy of patient diagnosis.
If you’re a maker of healthcare OT products seeking to explore the edge opportunity, Arrow can help. As a trusted partner for healthcare technology makers, we bring the expertise, capabilities, products and services you need for edge success.
Ready to grow a healthy edge product strategy? Download our ebook on the evolving edge landscape and read our practical guide to developing your own edge OT solution. We’re on call to help you energize your product for the healthcare edge.
