Deviceability and the Prevalence of Digital MedTech
A 2025 study found that 55% of Americans said they regularly use artificial intelligence (AI), and more than 90% of the US population reports awareness of AI (1). Approximately 40% of adults utilize health apps to manage their health or stay connected with providers (2) and a vast majority of US adults (70%) actively use the internet to find health-related information (2).
The digital health market continues to grow. In 2024, the US digital health market was estimated at USD 79.10 billion and is predicted to surpass USD 248.11 billion by 2034 (3).
As the world opens up to technology advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), the Medtech and Biopharma industries similarly stand at the threshold of innovative technology advancements with the potential to improve the patient experience. Through the innovation and engineering of devices to solve a medical problem – Deviceability -there is great potential to improve the patient experience, especially for patients who live with conditions that must be managed carefully in order to live a full life.
In the two preceding articles in this series, we looked at Improving the Patient Experience to Ignite Business Growth and MedTech Innovation to Empower Patients (links below). In this brief article, we look to current examples of MedTech and BioPharma innovation, digital integration into treatments for many disease states, and deviceability to positively impact the patient experience.
Trends Driving BioPharma and MedTech Innovation
One important consideration for BioPharma developing pharmacologic and biologic treatments for patient conditions is to consider the place of the treatment administration. MedTech has been developing solutions which have helped with the patient and healthcare provider (HCP) treatment administration. In the recent Covid pandemic, remote care experienced explosive growth. Armed with that remote capability to care for patients, other opportunities are opening up for the patient to experience care outside of the traditional treatment models.
Hospital at Home
Many treatments for patients can be administered at home instead of in the hospital, bringing with that change in site of care the ability to free up premium hospital and clinical space, reduce the care burden traditionally placed on the HCP, and reduce the spread of unwanted viruses, bacteria, and infections by reducing patient interactions in a clinical setting.
Hospital-at-home solutions in MedTech and BioPharma innovation have the potential to improve personalized care for the patient outside of the clinic, increase efficiencies for the treatment of many diseases, and allow improved patient experience, compliance, and outcomes.
Remote / Decentralized Clinical Trials
Remote digital capabilities, deviceability, and improved digitization of clinical data has the potential to increase clinical trial efficiencies, which may help to expedite research, regulatory approval, and get new therapies into the hands of patients who need them.
Clinical trials serve as research studies to investigate the safety and efficacy of new medical interventions. These clinical trials test new treatments with strict controls in place and have traditionally involved on-site clinical collection of data. These clinical trials often require patients who live close to a clinical site to frequently appear in person for data collection, treatment administration, and monitoring. This heavy in-person reliance often slows down the clinical study time, restricts patient recruitment, and involves more cost to conduct the clinical trials than if the trials could be conducted partially remotely, relying on appropriate MedTech innovation to allow the patient to participate in and conduct the clinical protocol from their home. For rare diseases, which struggle to recruit patients for clinical trials, this would be an especially important advancement.
Innovation in the Hospital
Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) is an important component to MedTech innovation. RPM allows patient biometrics to be taken and monitored remotely, which frees up the HCP to care for other patients and learn of any concerns in a remote setting from the patient.
Remote Patient Monitoring with the Bambi Belt
RPM has limitless possibilities, allowing results to predict outcomes and alert HCPs of potential concerns. For many uses, this would allow the patient to be at home. But one great example of RPM is a recent MedTech innovation, the Bambi Belt for neonatal care.
Bambi Belt for neonatal care
Differentiated and important because of its material uniqueness, fit for preterm babies and typically worn in a Neoonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) incubator, the Bambi Belt allows premature babies’ vital signs to be closely monitored without wires, adhesives, or constant handling. The Bambi Belt single-use silicone material is placed below the ribcage of the neonatal patient, monitors heart rate (ECG) and dEMG for apnea, and alarms the NICU system with concerns.
Personalized Care at Home
Connected digital MedTech innovation creates convenient care for many diseases. Devices which allow remote patient monitoring outside of the hospital and clinic setting allow patients to access care from the comfort of home.
For cancer / oncology patients, digital medtech innovation would allow fewer trips to the clinic and have an advantage of early detection of complications, including monitoring for neutropenic fever (temperature, infections under chemo), frailty (monitoring physical activity), fatigue (wearable sleep patterns, identify and manage chemo-related fatigue).
For other disease states, digital MedTech innovative wearable devices would allow continuous vital sign monitoring. Though clinical workflows need to be integrated, AI and ML would allow the data to be interpolated for advance interpretation of common complications.
Convenient to the patient, mobile apps have the potential to create and improve communication with HCPs and patient community support, allowing the potential for seamless communication and an important improvement in patient satisfaction and experience.
Connected capabilities at home include drug delivery, remote patient monitoring, innovative treatment, patient community, and remote diagnostics.
Remote diagnostics have the potential to improve patient outcomes and experience by bringing testing to the patient at home without the presence of an HCP. Remote patient monitoring has the capability of recognizing physiologic measures like sleep patterns, heart rate, pulse ox, body temp, and activity levels to improve patient outcomes. The patient also can remotely report symptoms in real time, like pain levels, fatigue, mood, and therapeutic compliance, to be reported and interpreted for the HCP to improve the patient’s care.
Innovative Parkinson’s Tremor Treatment at Home
Cala Health created a wristwatch-style wearable device to deliver on-demand tremor relief therapy for patients with essential tremor and Parkinson’s disease. The Cala kiQ is prescribed to reduce action hand tremors through 40-minute sessions of wrist-worn noninvasive neuromodulation. This type of non-pharmacologic treatment for hand tremor has the potential to help patients at home, striving to live better despite their disease.
MedTech Deviceability
One recent success for digital MedTech innovation is the continuous glucose monitor, like the Dexcom G7 and the Freestyle Libre 3. These types of innovative wearable medical devices provide continuous real-time glucose monitoring, data recording, and digital reporting, and automatically adjust insulin delivery based on the glucose readings for patients with diabetes.
Previously, diabetes patients had to take readings of the glucose levels in their blood through physical finger sticks with a lancet, collect a blood sample, and apply it to a test strip inserted into a meter. The meter would display the patient’s blood glucose level, which needed to be recorded and reported, to manage medication levels for the patient’s health. The patient then had to manage to adjust their insulin through injection.
Other innovative MedTech wearable devices include monitors, watches, fitness trackers, electrocardiogram (Kardia), ultrasound (Butterfly), migraine treatment (Pulsetto), vein care (HelloVein), cuffless blood pressure (Caltech), and hemodialysis (Exorenal), among others.
All of these innovations have the potential to transform the patient experience, free up hospital space and HCP practice, as well as improve convenience and compliance for the patient.
For all of these digital MedTech innovations, AI and ML algorithms are important for the integration into clinical workflows. Predictive analytics need to be identified and implemented to improve treatment outcomes, and new biomarker technologies need to be developed for the continuous improvement of these MedTech innovations.
Conclusion
With new value-based care, requirements for reimbursement are aimed at improving patient care and reducing costs. These value-based care models require HCP reimbursement to be defined by patient outcomes instead of quantity of care (time spent). With value-based care, digital MedTech Innovation could help improve patient outcomes, experience and compliance, HCP efficiencies, and the societal healthcare burden.
Digital MedTech innovation is proving to be key to improved patient experience, compliance, and outcomes. Medtech innovation provides an important step forward for patient care.
Next up in this series on MedTech Innovation, we’ll take a look at the potential for health data integration to further improve the patient experience.
In case you missed the first and second in this series on MedTech Innovation, click here to read Improve the Patient Experience and Ignite Business Growth and MedTech Innovation to Empower Patients.
Contact Us
We’d love to hear from you. At JL Estep Strategic BioPharma Consulting, we’re passionate about improving the patient experience, and ways we can utilize our experience to help you and your company achieve your goals.
Contact us to learn more about ways we can help you improve the patient experience and see increased business success.
Learn more about us at JL Estep Strategic BioPharma Consulting
Leave a comment at this article on LinkedIn – accessed here
Author: Jennifer L Estep
Sources:
1: Pew Research Center. Public Awareness of Artificial Intelligence in Everyday Activities. 15 Feb. 2023, https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2023/02/15/public-awareness-of-artificial-intelligence-in-everyday-activities/.
2: Ratcliff CL, Krakow M, Greenberg-Worisek A, Hesse BW. Digital Health Engagement in the US Population: Insights From the 2018 Health Information National Trends Survey. Am J Public Health. 2021 Jul;111(7):1348-1351. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2021.306282. Epub 2021 May 20. PMID: 34014759; PMCID: PMC8493135.
3: Pew Research Center. Public Awareness of Artificial Intelligence in Everyday Activities. 15 Feb. 2023, https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2023/02/15/public-awareness-of-artificial-intelligence-in-everyday-activities/.