Digital transformation is changing the healthcare landscape as more and more medical devices come online, both next generation systems and legacy equipment, with many allowing remote access. Digital patient data continues to proliferate beyond the confines of the medical facility as well.

Deloitte recently published a report that took a predictive “Glimpse into the future of connected care with MedTechs”. In particular, the report took a holistic view of what they believe to be the key trends and drivers that will shape the connected care landscape and the uncertainties that will have an impact on the industry by 2030.

There was general consensus that medical device technology is a vital component of the healthcare sector, while the market transforms itself from a focus on products towards a focus on connectivity and integration, based on evolving technologies like AI, IoT, and predictive analytics.

Deloitte envisioned 4 different scenarios where connected care could create and sustain value through 2030.

• Scenario 1 – Ahead of Diseases: In a world where both MedTech players and the tech players find their niche within the healthcare ecosystem, society will benefit from predictive diagnoses and position itself ahead of diseases.
• Scenario 2 – Trust vs. Convenience: In the Trust vs. Convenience scenario, MedTech and tech players offer fragmented product and service portfolios that are fighting for every inch of market share.
• Scenario 3 – Everyone Doing Everything: In the Everyone Doing Everything scenario, newcomers have given up on entering the healthcare market. MedTech players are now trying to build up their own data platforms fed by their various medical devices.
• Scenario 4 – All About the Patient: In the All about the Patient world, health-related data is regarded as a commodity, but exclusively for MedTech companies. Attempts by outsiders to gain access fail due to high regulatory requirements. Patients benefit from user-friendly devices and advanced predictive diagnosis.

Within these potential scenarios, Deloitte laid out some of the uncertainties that will play a role in how these predictions take shape. One of those uncertainties pertained to the competitive landscape, with question marks as to how far tech giants will be able to enter the MedTech market and whether smaller startups with novel technologies will be able to gain entry and at what success rate? The second uncertainty is the accessibility of standard healthcare data as restrictive data privacy standards, issues with cybersecurity and the lack of standards for interoperability may limit the potential to utilize artificial intelligence and therefore prohibit predictive diagnosis.

While cybersecurity was not an emphasis in the report, at Wibu-Systems, we believe that security of patient data, healthcare software, and connected medical devices in what is becoming known as the Medical Internet of Things will have a huge impact on the MedTech industry between now and 2030 and beyond. Will manufacturers adopt a security by design approach for product development? How stringent will government regulators be in forcing manufacturers to adopt security best practices? How will interoperability, or lack thereof, impact the integration of legacy medical systems? These are just a few of the security-related uncertainties that can be added to the list.

A few years ago, we published an article on Protecting End Point Security of Medical Systems which highlighted many of the vulnerabilities inherent in connected medical systems and how several of our medical device customers are addressing these threats to their systems, software and data with advanced protection, licensing and security mechanisms. The points covered in the article ring as true today as they will in 2030.