Improving Patient Outcomes Through IoHT Technology

The modern, dynamic environment of healthcare, the Internet of Healthcare Things is revolutionizing patient care. IoHT provides health care professionals with a fully integrated view of a patient's health condition in real-time by seamlessly integrating data from various connected devices-from wearables to sophisticated medical equipment. Thus, this strong technology does more than just aggregate data; it allows for proactive, individualized care, where clinicians can monitor, assess, and modify the treatment plans if needed in the patient's current health status.

In this interview, Balasubramanian (Bala) Sankaranarayanan, CEO and President of Thryve Digital Health LLP, highlights the transformative potential of IoHT in healthcare. By seamlessly integrating data from a wide range of connected health devices, IoHT offers a comprehensive and personalized view of a patient's health.

Excerpts: 

How Thryve Digital Health is Driving the Adoption of IoHT in Healthcare

How does IoHT help create a comprehensive view of a patient's health by integrating data from various sources, including wearables and other connected health devices?

IoHT (Internet of Healthcare Things) is a real game changer in healthcare. Imagine your smartwatch, fitness tracker or any kind of physiology monitor - it’s not just counting your steps anymore; it's picking up on things like your heart rate, sugar levels, how well you slept, your blood oxygen levels and even your level of stress.  

When we bring all this data together with what’s already in your electronic health records or telemedicine apps, we get a much clearer, fuller 360 degree picture of your overall health.

This isn’t just about more data—it’s about actionable insights. Take chronic conditions like diabetes, for example. Your doctor can see real-time data from your Continuous Glocose monitor wearable, spot trends, and catch issues early, adjusting your care on the fly instead of waiting for your next appointment. This is a huge leap from the old way of doing things, where information was scattered and siloed—now, it’s all in one place.

Your doctors, specialists, and you, the patient, all have access to the same information. That’s where the magic happens—better communication, smarter decisions, and ultimately, better health outcomes. It’s all about moving towards care that’s preventive, personalized, and truly centered around the patient.

Can you elaborate on how IoHT enables healthcare providers to develop more personalized care plans based on real-time data and patient preferences?

The beauty of IoHT lies in its ability to continuously collect real-time data from multiple devices—whether it is wearables like fitness trackers or more advanced medical devices like glucose monitors or even other implants. This constant flow of data gives healthcare providers a 360-degree view of a patient’s health at any given moment.

Now, why does this matter for personalization? It means clinicians are not relying on just periodic check-ups or static health records. They can monitor patients dynamically, adjusting care plans in real time. For example, if a patient's blood pressure spikes or their activity levels drop, a doctor can be alerted instantly and tweak the treatment plan on the spot. This makes managing chronic conditions, like diabetes or heart disease, far more proactive.

 "IoHT is revolutionizing the face of the healthcare industry, bringing healthcare from being reactionary to being preventative, thus a tool that empowers a patient as well as clinicians with decision-making tools and better communication tools leading to and delivering better outcomes."

Beyond data, IoHT personalizes care by incorporating patient preferences directly into their treatment plans. If a patient prefers lifestyle changes over medications, healthcare teams can tailor effective plans accordingly. It’s no longer one-size-fits-all; it’s about coming up with a proactive, personalized care pathway, that is “just right” for the individual — and also reducing hospital visits and improving health outcomes.  

How is IoHT contributing to the assessment and management of mental and emotional health, and how does it complement traditional approaches to mental healthcare?

Traditionally, understanding mental health relied on visits and self-reports, which are still important. However, IoHT takes it a step further by offering real-time insights. Wearables and connected devices track things like sleep patterns, activity levels, stress levels and heart rate—clues that can reveal changes in mental well-being before they become serious.

This means we can get a fuller picture of a person’s emotional health over time, spotting trends or red flags that might be missed in a routine checkup. Healthcare professionals can then adjust care plans right away, based on current data, rather than waiting for the next appointment.

What’s great about IoHT is that it doesn’t replace the human touch or therapy; it complements it. By filling in the gaps between visits, it provides extra information that helps the physicians detect patterns, identify possible triggers, and manage emotional well-being more proactively. In short, IoHT adds precision to mental healthcare, helping us respond faster and more effectively.

How can IoHT improve operational efficiency in healthcare GCCs, such as by streamlining workflows and reducing administrative burdens?

When we think about how IoHT impacts our daily operations, it’s all about working smarter, not harder. Connected devices let us collect real-time patient data, whether it’s monitoring vitals remotely or tracking recovery. This means more personalized care with fewer routine check-ins and hospital visits—saving time for both staff and patients.

Operationally, IoHT optimizes resource management. Smart equipment tracking systems ensure we don’t waste time searching for devices or facing unexpected shortages. It’s all automated, cutting down on manual tasks and letting healthcare teams focus on what really matters: patient care.

One of the most exciting benefits of IoHT is improved communication across departments. Whether it’s an alert from a Healthcare technician sitting in India about a patient in New York needing immediate attention or streamlining global interactions between clinical and administrative teams, IoHT helps us react faster and work more cohesively. This makes care delivery not just efficient but also highly responsive.

What are the key challenges in managing and securing large amounts of healthcare data generated by IoHT devices? How can GCCs address these concerns?

The rapid spread of IoHT devices brings challenges, especially with data security. We’re gathering a lot of sensitive information through various devices, each one a potential target for cyber threats.

Last year’s ransomware attacks and data breaches highlighted just how vulnerable even well-secured systems can be.

Second, interoperability is a massive hurdle. Different systems and devices are not always communicating effectively, creating data silos that can hinder access to crucial information. It’s like having a team where everyone speaks a different language. Without a common language—or standardized data formats and protocols—efficiency and security both take a hit.

Given the volume of data, accuracy is crucial to avoid wrong treatments. We need strict data governance with tight controls and regular audits to keep data accurate and patients safe. This involves advanced security, strong data management, and technology that ensures data is secure and effectively integrated – ready to be accessed by the right stakeholders at the right time to enable the right health outcome.

How can GCCs ensure that IoHT systems are interoperable with existing healthcare infrastructure to facilitate seamless data exchange and care coordination? 

Enable the right Enterprise Data Foundation: The Healthcare enterprise data foundation needs to be able to securely injest, manage, process and transmit large amounts (petabytes+) of structured, semi-structured and unstructured data, across multiple formats, from different sources and locations, 24x7x365, and at scale.

Implement data middleware / abstraction solutions and standards: Middleware can act as a bridge between different healthcare systems, translating and transferring data to ensure that all systems can communicate effectively without needing to overhaul existing applications and infrastructure.  Using universally recognized standards like HL7/FHIR will help, as these standards enable different systems to 'speak the same language,’ allowing for smoother integration of data across various healthcare platforms​. 

Engage with AI and ML: These technologies can be employed to manage and interpret the vast amounts of data generated by IoHT devices. AI can help in identifying and standardizing data from different sources, making it more accessible and actionable for healthcare providers.  AI/ML solutions can also detect and eliminate noise within the huge amounts of data, which helps the physicians focus on actionable datasets and drive the next best action for patients.

Collaborate closely with vendors: It is essential for GCCs to work with IoT device vendors to ensure that the devices seamlessly integrate into the existing healthcare IT systems and Enterprise data foundation. This includes ensuring devices can connect to and communicate with legacy systems and newer platforms alike.

Leverage cloud-based solutions: Cloud services offer scalable options for data storage and sharing that can support the high volume of data generated by IoHT devices and ensure its availability across the healthcare system. They also support real-time data access, which is crucial for timely healthcare delivery​.

Prioritize data security and compliance: As data is shared across systems, maintaining its security and ensuring compliance with regulations like HIPAA is paramount. GCCs should support their enterprises by proactively investing in skills related to Data security measures, such as encryption and secure authentication.  When deployed, these measures will protect sensitive health data during transmission and storage.

Do you believe that healthcare 5.0 will be driven by GCC-centric person-centric revolution? What role will IoHT play in this transformation?

The shift to Healthcare 5.0 is reshaping care to be more personalized and patient-centered. GCCs are central to this evolution, driving innovations that make healthcare more accessible and tailored to individual needs. Now, where does IoHT fit into this?

It's like the central nervous system of Healthcare 5.0. IoHT devices collect real-time data from patients—everything from heart rates to sleep patterns—and this data is important for healthcare providers. It enables us to understand patient needs in unprecedented detail, predict health issues before they become critical, and tailor treatments that are specific to individual health profiles.

In this new era, the challenge for GCCs is not just in deploying IoHT solutions but ensuring these technologies work seamlessly with existing healthcare systems. This interoperability is crucial because it ensures that all the pieces of the healthcare puzzle fit together perfectly, enabling data to flow where it is needed and when, thus ensuring care is both efficient and effective.

How can GCCs effectively implement enterprise AI solutions to leverage the potential of IoHT data and improve patient outcomes?

Data quality and accessibility: First and foremost, ensure that the data collected through IoHT devices is of high quality and easily accessible. This involves establishing robust data governance frameworks to enhance data integrity and ensure interoperability across different systems.

Leveraging advanced AI capabilities: Utilize advanced AI technologies such as generative AI, which can analyse extensive data sets to uncover new patterns, reduce noise, predict disease progression curves, and enhance patient engagement and care. There are AI enabled technology solutions available today, that allow healthcare GCCs and enterprises to experiment with and customize proprietary AI models, thus tailoring solutions to their specific needs.

Integration with existing systems: Seamlessly integrate AI solutions with current healthcare IT application and data infrastructure. This might involve using the use of data abstraction layers and APIs, that facilitate data exchange and enhance system interoperability, ensuring that these Physician support / Decision augmentation engines work in tandem with existing technologies without disrupting clinical workflows.

Regulatory compliance and ethics: Embed compliance and ethical considerations into the development and deployment of AI solutions. This includes adhering to regulations such as HIPAA and GDPR, ensuring patient data privacy and security, and implementing ethical guidelines to govern AI use.

Education and training: Educate and train healthcare professionals on the benefits and use of AI. This helps in easing the integration process, gaining clinician buy-in, and ensuring that the AI tools are used effectively to enhance patient care and operational efficiency.

How is Thryve Digital Health contributing to the advancement of IoHT solutions and their adoption in the healthcare industry? Can you share any specific case studies or examples of how Thryve's IoHT solutions have improved patient outcomes or enhanced healthcare delivery?

Thryve Digital Health is deeply committed to creating a happier and healthier world for our employees, customers and the millions of members and patients in our service ecosystem.  We partner with our Enterprise in their stated mission to reimagine Healthcare and the way Health journeys are managed for millions of stakeholders we jointly support!

IoHT is a critical piece of the future of Healthcare – and Thryve Digital is supporting our enterprise in various pilots and POCs in this space.  We have also activated our ecosystem of Product, Technology, Academia and Co-Innovation partners to support us in this journey.

Some of the IoHT related programs we have worked on include building the right foundation for IoHT adoption at scale, such as rearchitecting the Enterprise Data Foundation to support the large amounts of data streaming into the enterprise – while others include pilots dealing with patient-facing use-cases, such as ensuring the Patients susceptible to chronic conditions incl. Diabetes are proactively identified and placed into specific care pathways that can improve their wellness and mitigate disease onset.