Page 6 - ATEN Healthcare Solutions Guide

Trends in

Smart Healthcare

IoMT and Connected, Integrated Smart Healthcare Systems

The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) is a connected infrastructure of medical devices, software applications, and health systems and
services, and this move toward integration of different healthcare delivery systems into one mechanism has created the concept of
Smart Healthcare. Not only has this pushed the focus from just caring for the sick to promoting the general health and well-being of
people, but it has also driven technological advances, especially in the realm of solutions that connect various health IT systems for
ease of control and communication.

As a broader trend, smart technologies such as virtual health, wearables, sensors, and biometrics are already driving this transition to
new healthcare delivery models, ones that focus on streamlining processes and make use of the most cutting-edge digital innovations
and information systems. For example, VR systems help train residents as well as assist surgeons in the operating room by guiding
them in 3D. Such developments, including those in AI, cognitive technology, and robotics are accelerating automation, while
telehealth, digital medicine and remote monitoring are already part of larger connected, integrated smart healthcare systems.

Increasing Demand for High-precision Medical Imaging
Reliable video has always been an important component to healthcare IT, predominantly related to the exponential growth in the use of
picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) that are used to securely store and digitally transmit electronic images and
clinically-relevant reports. As the volume of digital medical images grows throughout the healthcare industry, and data analytics of those
images becomes more prevalent, the demand for video at the highest possible resolutions for the most detailed images continues to
increase.

The seamless and stable transmission of such high-resolution video has become such a prerequisite that medical imaging systems are
expected to be able to handle up to 4K, and delivery must also be low-latency across long distances with no signal degradation. This
means that in addition to high-precision AV signal extension devices, other infrastructure equipment, such as KVM switches, must also
be able to support the required resolutions and refresh rates.

Digitization Driving Demand for Increased Security

As we move toward patient-centered healthcare models and medical information systems, this is requiring new levels of security and data
protection that are unprecedented. Alongside the digitization of healthcare records in electronic medical record (EMR) systems in the push
for paperless hospitals are the ever-increasing government regulations surrounding data management and patient privacy in this field.
Patients not only expect their medical data to be secure, but it is also a stringent legal requirement that solution providers must contend with.

Furthermore, there are unexpected opportunities as hospitals continue to update their IT systems and infrastructure. Secure KVM switches,
for example, that are commonly seen in government and military environments to provide safe and secure switching between computers on
different security level networks, are now finding innovative uses in healthcare systems, due to these aforementioned privacy concerns, by
allowing medical staff to easily switch between sensitive patient data and non-private applications on the hospital network.

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