Hospital, Heal Thyself
By Ron Rock
The interest large technology firms are demonstrating in clinical data invariably raises eyebrows among data watchdogs, privacy consumer right activists and healthcare regulators. Google’s “Project Nightingale,” a medical data partnership with hospital group Ascension Healthcare, has sparked a federal investigation and hearings on Capitol Hill. But the scope for technology-driven improvements in patient care and health sector operations does not have to involve tightly regulated personal medical records or clinical data. The physical facilities themselves, often rife with inefficiencies and potential sources of infection, can be vastly improved with Internet of Things (IoT) and other sensor data of the kind being piloted by Philadelphia-based Microshare Inc.
News that Google and other major technology companies are hungry for Americans’ health care data is hardly news at all. For years, the tech giants have been working around the edges through devices like Fitbit and wearables, in major enterprise initiatives to help digitize medical records and diagnostic data like Microsoft’s Azure Medical Devices business, and through algorithmic diagnostics like Google Flu, which tracks reports influenza cases by location.
In the United States, all of them, to a lesser or greater extent, have had to clear the regulatory hurdle of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), only to run into the brick wall of public mistrust. A similar dynamic exists in the European Union and other markets, too. The frequency of data breaches involving large firms like Target, Experian and Visa only deepened this suspicion, and the tech industry’s default modus operandi – encapsulated by Mark Zuckerberg’s famous motto – “ask forgiveness, not permission” – hasn’t helped much either.
But implementing technology in the health care sector is not only about blood pressure, sperm counts and CAT scans. In fact, almost one third of the commerce generated by what’s estimated to become a $503 billion[i] smart hospital industry by 2025 will be on the operational side, especially in the early years. Put more simply, the early health care adopters are interesting in locating errant wheelchairs, securing drug cabinets and tracking bed and room occupancy with IoT sensors, all activities that have little or no interaction with personal medical information.
Microshare, one of the world’s leaders in turning inert facilities into living, breathing entities, has outfitted one UK hospital with sensors that monitor basic maintenance, cleaning and occupancy information. The operator of the hospital, who requested anonymity because of the pilot nature of the program, notes that the intelligence gained went far beyond the simple cost savings and other efficiencies the client expected.
“One of the biggest surprises was that we actually have lowered infection rates simply by knowing, in real time and with precision, how many people are using washrooms and hand purifiers, and whether or not rubbish bins are overflowing,” the operator said.
In case after case, sensors installed to monitor simple, discreet activities like trash removal or refilling soap or toilet paper supplies in public toilets mitigated or even eliminated serious infection risks, improvement customer satisfaction and generally made the hospital a more productive, pleasant place. (An anonymized case study of this pilot project can be viewed on the Microshare website).
Deloitte, the global consultancy, recently published a study of smart hospital trends and made the same point.
Within the walls of a typical 200-bed hospital, lab specimens, linens, materials, drugs, and other goods travel 371 miles a week. In many ways, hospitals are mini-logistics companies that continuously move large volumes of material among labs, pharmacies, pantries, and administrative units. While this logistics function has cost, quality, and safety implications, it is not likely core to hospitals’ mission of providing patient care. Consider this: Nurses typically spend less than two hours of a 12-hour shift on direct patient care. The remaining time, they are doing paperwork, searching for medications and supplies, coordinating lab results, and even helping deliver patient meals.
For Microshare, producing such impact takes us into a new category. Early IoT data installations in large facilities invariably aimed at cost savings and efficiency. Sensors helped eliminate energy waste, identified preventable mechanical issues (HVAC and elevator vibrations, leaking roofs, shower stalls or water heaters), and counted foot traffic through shopping malls.
Yet all of these same data points, normalized, stored and curated by Microshare’s patent pending data solutions platform, also help push health care facilities toward greater sustainability.
- Occupancy sensors that identified under-utilized space can redirect financial resources toward parent care.
- Environmental sensors can detect high carbon monoxide levels, a proven productivity killer.
- Sensors in refrigeration units holding opioids and other drugs can not only register access but also ensure that temperatures don’t vary, eliminating expensive waste.
- Adding feedback sensors in bathrooms and common areas, for instance, can empower patients, relatives and hospital staff alike.
At Microshare, we believe sincerely that data is a net positive for humanity. For every story of data theft or manipulation, there will be hundreds and thousands of lives saved because remote diagnostics caught a disease before it became inoperable or allowed a terminal patient to die, remotely monitored, with dignity at home.
But those use cases will require serious debate, trade-offs and possibly even legislation to come into full fruition. For now, helping curb the alarming rise of in-hospital infection rates at a time when drug resistant bacteria stalk their hallways is a solid start.
[i] https://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/global-digital-health-market
Ron Rock is CEO and Co-Founder of Microshare, a leading provider of Data Strategy as a Service for the global facilities management, financial services and health care sectors.