Magazine menu Close Magazine menu

healthcare

Latest stories

Patient is in bed in a hospital room, while doctor writes on their chart. Lines show all the technology around the room and how it is centrally linked. Astrolab nanosatellites orbiting larger satellite

The hospital of the future: Could smart hospitals deliver better healthcare?

  • min read
    • Healthcare needs are getting more complex, and systems more stretched. To meet the demand for precision healthcare, hospitals need to evolve to become smarter and more efficient. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates healthcare will face a shortfall of 10 million healthcare workers worldwide by 2030. Is it sustainable to increase the workload of already stretched practitioners? Smart hospitals could make healthcare work more efficient and improve the quality of patient care. Smart hospitals and the rise of e-health Smart hospitals are part of the e-health phenomenon. A smart hospital improves patient care using optimized and automated processes, particularly the Internet of Things (IoT), to connect medical devices to AI and data analysis. Smart tech helps healthcare practitioners focus on providing high-quality care while reducing the barriers associated with using complex medical technology. Smart tech means smarter workflows One figurehead of the smart hospital movement is Humber River Valley Hospital, Canada. It's North America's first fully-digital hospital (think: online appointment scheduling, digital check-ins and your test results emailed.) It boasts robots and other tech to automate almost 80 percent of its back-office services like pharmacy, laundry and food delivery. This gives clinical staff more time to give back to patients. Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi (CCAD,) UAE, uses digital apps to support treatments. Pre-treatment, patients use apps to communicate with staff. During their stay, they use smart pads to access their info, daily plans and order food. At discharge, the app sends prescriptions to local pharmacies then sends them their bill. Neat. Can robots become care workers? Smart tech could help meet labor shortages: this means more android helpers. During the first COVID-19 outbreak, Wuhan Hospital, China, was staffed entirely by robots for several days. Produced by start-up CloudMinds Technology, they improved patient care and gave respite to over-stretched workers. Smart hospitals can automate and digitize traditional, labor-intensive processes. When healthcare is delivered quicker and more accurately, more people can be treated safer and quicker. Consider Johnson Control's Code Blue Activation system; When a patient reaches critical condition, it calls up an emergency care team in just 24 seconds. Could 3D printing replace donors? There's a relatively new tech in smart hospitals: 3D printing. Imagine the opportunities if surgical teams could print body parts, like prosthetic limbs or dental implants, on-demand. While the tech is in its infancy, there are promising advancements, though it's without the speed and capabilities needed for large-scale adoption. Engineers and medical researchers from the University of Minnesota recently created silicon-made scaffolding' that could benefit those with spinal cord injuries by restoring muscle control. Cells are printed onto the structure then implanted into the patient's spinal cord, with a bridge between cells. Can smart hospitals save lives? Given increased healthcare demands, hospitals may not have any choice but to change. Smart hospitals could improve the care we deliver and benefit our societies. But it will be a group effort. Professor Daniel Kelly, Cardiff University's School of Healthcare Sciences, thinks smart hospitals will be crucial for healthcare. But we have to understand how it will affect everyone, including those funding it. "As treatment for many diseases becomes more personalized, there's an urgent need for health systems to evolve. Smart hospitals are symbolic of a future standard of healthcare where we can remove the reliance on paper records and current digital systems' inefficiencies. Securing the smart hospital From sensitive patient information to medical records, it's easy to see why cybersecurity is a hot topic in healthcare. Hospital data and equipment are goldmines for hackers and criminal groups. Those goldmines become all the more accessible when introducing a connected system like a smart hospital. Firstly, traditional medical devices are outdated – they aren't secure by design. This means many wouldn't have been tested for vulnerabilities or built to connect with smart appliances or the internet. (A tough task to foresee the fourth industrial revolution, to be fair.) This gap can allow attackers to gain illegal access to systems and data. A survey by ENISA found the most critical threat to smart hospitals is malicious attacks – like malware blitzes and denial of service (DDoS) raids that take control of systems and devices, steal patient data (most likely to be sold on the dark web) and hold patient data hostage with ransomware. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, attacks on hospitals and health organizations have increased drastically, including this fatality triggered by ransomware in Germany. Human errors still pose one of the biggest threats to patients. Take drug pumps; smart hospitals, or more specifically their workers, deliver controlled doses of medications to patients. These systems prevent over or under-administration, but they have an over-ride button for emergencies. But what if the device isn't configured correctly? Someone could tamper with drug delivery, inadvertently or intentionally, which might have deadly consequences. These technological advancements are not just projects for the IT department: The smart hospital involves participation between technologists and healthcare practitioners. Ongoing collaboration is needed to protect it from cyberthreats to ensure smart systems can save more lives.
deepwell gaming therapy

Are games the future of mental health treatment?

  • min read
    • In Kaspersky's Bring on the Future series, we meet people and businesses worldwide who are changing things for the better. One of the biggest challenges for mental health treatment is reaching more people who need it. Some don't realize they're mentally unwell. Others can't access therapy because of costs or waiting lists. Many don't like the idea of discussing their problems with a stranger. DeepWell DTx aims to change that by bringing mental health therapy to the masses – especially hard-to-reach patients – through gaming. Co-founders Ryan Douglas and Mike Wilson speak about why games are a great way to treat mental health issues – if you get the formula right. Why did you decide to start DeepWell now? We found that mental health came up constantly in our respective careers – Mike in gaming and Ryan in creating medical devices and therapies. We saw many people were missing the resources or help to treat disorders like anxiety and depression. We often talked about what we could do to address this unmet need, then the deepening mental health crisis alongside the Covid-19 pandemic pushed us to start DeepWell. What's DeepWell's philosophy? We put games and game developers first. There is no treatment without player engagement, so therapy must be embedded in a fun and engaging game. How has your team of 40 experts across gaming, science and mental health helped your success? Our diverse team is made up of professionals at the top of their fields. Neurosurgeons, lawyers, creative strategists and others all work in service of the game developer. Without the game's fun, there is no therapy. What can players expect might change after playing your games? Our games aim to help players improve their physical and emotional functioning. After playing consistently, you should notice greater resilience and capability to handle the stress and anxiety of daily life. How has gaming supported your mental health? Which games do you recommend for therapy? At the moment we're focused on virtual reality (VR,) using games like Pistol Whip and motivational fitness apps like Supernatural for leisure and exercise. These games have especially helped during the pandemic for getting off the couch and quelling anxiety with movement. We've also found immersive fantasy games like Lorne Lanning's Oddworld and American McGee's Alice, role-playing games (RPGs) like Wizard101 and world-builders like Minecraft therapeutic for us and our families. Any game that takes you out of your head has potential benefits. Who are your customers? Are businesses investing in these games, such as the healthcare industry, or any business hoping to improve employee wellbeing? We're reaching out directly to folks with mental health issues. We also partner with game developers, publishers and platforms to create new games or repurpose games that are already therapeutic. We hope our games will make mental health treatment accessible to a broader audience. Serious games have evolved as a genre in recent decades, especially in academia and healthcare. Do you align with it? We are not serious games. We rely on the power of play and engagement that good games provide. While we see the value of other approaches, this is what makes us different. How will your FDA games certification project benefit the industry and gamers? Being able to make claims and develop games with therapeutic intent, and to have players understand the therapeutic benefit of engaging, will change game development and the audience games can reach. Can you tell us about games you plan to launch? The first game we're working on focuses on addressing stress, anxiety and symptoms of depression on a VR platform. More to come closer to launch. How will you keep your products secure and safe for users? We closely follow the FDA and HIPAA guidelines and requirements for data management in prescription games. What will success look like for DeepWell? Widespread recognition of the power of game developers to develop Immersive Medicine and being able to produce many therapeutic options for a range of cultures and mental health conditions.
heathcare emotet

How could hospitals be better protected from cyberattacks?

  • min read
    • "In wartime, a red cross on a hospital's roof protects it from bombing. But in cyberwar, there's no convention to protect hospitals," says Professor Dr. Harald Dormann, Head Emergency Room Physician at Germany's Klinikum Fürth hospital. With thousands of networked computers and medical devices crucial to patient care, Klinikum Fürth's quick thinking turned a malware attack into an unlucky day for cybercriminals. Tomorrow Unlocked's video, Malware: A New Virus in the Hospital, tracks how Klinikum Fürth's actions stopped the ransomware attack in its tracks and likely saved lives. How do cybercriminals use malware against hospitals? The first hint of an attack was when Klinikum Fürth's IT support team started receiving strange emails from users – a hallmark of the dangerously effective malware Emotet. Emotet also uses Wi-Fi networks to spread. If infected, a wirelessly connected device scans nearby networks and infects other devices using a password list. Klinikum Fürth found 65 systems infected with computer viruses and malware. Thanks to acting fast, they isolated the malware before it encrypted data and held it for ransom – usually the Emotet attack's goal. Malware is common. From March to June 2021, Kaspersky software blocked 1.7 billion malware attacks. It's also becoming more dangerous, with cybercriminals using particularly damaging malware like Emotet for fraud and ransomware attacks. The hospital's surgical cyberdefense Professor Dr. Dormann recounts how hospital staff stepped up when they learned of the cyberattack. "When our CEO told us what had happened, some were nervous. Some were pale. But all were motivated to act." First, they began diverting new patients to nearby hospitals. Then they disconnected the hospital from the internet to reduce the risk of infecting other institutions. They put together taskforces of clinicians, administrators and IT staff to analyze the problem. Then, prioritizing the most critical medical devices, they checked for malfunctions. Extra staff were brought in to help switch to paper-based working. How to stop and prevent malware attacks Klinikum Fürth's story offers many lessons. Their fast response shows why organizations should plan what they'll do if attacked. Cybersecurity education can help staff get wiser to threats like Emotet's use of spoofed emails. Strong passwords help defend against malware that uses Wi-Fi networks to spread. Read more about how to prevent and reduce the impact of ransomware attacks.
digital health report

How has COVID-19 changed medicine’s view of digital health?

  • min read
    • It's often said that necessity is the mother of invention. The last few years in digital health also show necessity is also the mother of adoption and acceleration. In a recent Deloitte survey, physician leaders reported increases in virtual appointments for nearly all types of care. For chronic condition management, appointments increased ninefold. In the same survey, more than half said their organization's virtual health strategy changed significantly in response to the pandemic. Telehealth is being adopted worldwide, from the UK's Babylon Health, to Doctolib in France, to China's Ping An Good Doctor. And it's been necessity – like quarantine regulations, contamination risks and growing consultation requests – driving the acceleration. The COVID effect Although the healthcare industry has historically been slow to adopt digital tech, the 'COVID effect' put telemedicine front and center for patients and providers. Kaspersky's 2021 report, Telehealth take-up: The risks and opportunities, confirms healthcare is ready to embrace digital. More than 90 percent of providers use some form of telehealth, such as video consultation, mobile app or remote patient monitoring. Interestingly, only half of providers used telehealth before COVID-19. The same report finds more than one in three, or 37 percent, in the medical community think tech could replace doctors by 2042. Is this fear of AI replacing humans or optimism about how fast digital technologies are advancing? At the same time, projected digital health adoption varies across regions. When will we see AI doctors and psychologists? Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Africa and Russia are most optimistic about digital doctors. Around half of healthcare professionals in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions think digital technologies could replace doctors in the next 20 years, but only around one in three in North America and Europe. These differences may arise from varying public perceptions of digital health. In China in 2019, publicized events in which digital technologies assisted in animal operations, minimally invasive heart surgery and remote brain surgery may have helped public and medical trust in digital health. In medical communities across regions, 40 percent predict there'll soon be digital replacements for psychologists. This may be because of the relative maturity of related technologies like text analysis and natural language processing (NLP.) What will most drive value in healthcare? Kaspersky's report found providers in the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and Latin America think AI and big data will be the biggest driver of value for healthcare by 2045. But North America and Russia think it will be telemedicine and mobile apps. Wearables are valued similarly across regions. These differences might be explained by differences in how regions innovate. In the US, it tends to within an industry: Uber and Lyft for ride sharing and AirBnB for travel. In the Middle East and China on the other hand, super-apps integrate services across industries, such as China's Meituan, providing everything from concert tickets to hotel booking to food delivery. Another factor could be government and business emphasis on AI, machine learning and data analytics. In 2019, I spoke at the AI Everything summit in Dubai, positioned as the largest AI conference in the world. The general level of interest in technologies like AI and uptake in other industries may influence how strongly healthcare professionals and patients welcome these. Taking advantage of digital health optimism How can we use the increased confidence in digital health to accelerate development? I suggest four approaches. 1.    Enhance rather than replace experts Digital health best works side-by-side with physicians, nurses and other care providers. For example, image recognition by machine learning can better detect some cancers. This could free up oncologists and radiologists from routine image-reading to focus on treatment. 2.    Carefully manage and govern data Health data is personal and sensitive. We must pay attention to how we collect and use it. In Kaspersky's survey, over half (52 percent) of frontline telemedicine providers said patients had declined video consultations over privacy and other data concerns. But healthcare systems can also use patient data to improve outcomes and reduce costs. We've seen encouraging results from using big data to improve clinical trial design. 3.    Improve data security across all stakeholders In Kaspersky's survey, around a third of healthcare organizations said they'd had cybersecurity issues, and 30 percent had had data breaches from virtual consultations. Causes likely include outdated IT systems, poor security and not following protocols. We must keep improving security technologies and practices across all stakeholders, like government agencies, insurers and nursing homes. 4.    Encourage collaboration To realize the potential of digital health, we need broader collaboration. To facilitate data sharing, we must share investment to build better data infrastructure and fairly distribute value gained from data. These negotiations will be critical to advancing data-related collaboration in healthcare. The healthcare sector showed its agility and solidarity throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The ramp-up of telehealth increased provider and patient optimism around digital health. Let's retain the momentum and build healthcare's capability to use technology securely and creatively to improve knowledge, efficiency and patient care.
drones emergency response

Will drones be the next tech to transform healthcare?

  • min read
    • It was the longest five seconds of Dr. Shaf Keshavjee's life. On a late afternoon in 2021, he waited on the rooftop of Canada's Toronto General Hospital, watching a drone crest the horizon and hover above its landing pad. "It seemed to hover forever," says the director of the Toronto Lung Transplant Program. "In medicine, you do many stressful things with unknown outcomes. You're trained to handle it, because you have complete control of the situation," he tells me. "But this was different. I had to trust technology out of my control." The lungs, filled with oxygen and set at the correct temperature, traveled hundreds of feet in the air for nearly a mile over busy downtown Toronto. It took six minutes. This breakthrough flight was another rung on the ladder of a new application for drones in healthcare: Delivering organs quickly and efficiently for life-saving surgery. But at each rung, there are challenges – like responsible management of the crowded airspace of a new kind of highway. Flying medical supplies to kidneys and corneas Drones, unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) were once regarded mainly as a hobby. But they're now poised to reach a market value of 40 billion US dollars by 2027. Some hope autonomous aircraft like MightyFly will soon deliver goods to shoppers. Hunter Kosar, owner of US shipping company Twisted Nail Broker Services, noted a niche hybrid-electric, vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) autonomous aircraft could focus on transporting time-sensitive supplies like organs. "Organs are light, expensive and needed fast. Healthcare would pay a lot to receive a heart for transplant in 90 minutes instead of 4 hours." In 2019, Zipline crafted a fleet of drones to carry medical supplies to Ghana's remote areas. In 2021, UPS Flight Forward achieved a US first by drone-delivering COVID-19 vaccines in North Carolina. To healthcare specialists, drones are an obvious next step for delivering organs beyond the usual helicopter or plane. In 2020 drone start-up MissionGO Unmanned Systems' medical cargo branch partnered with Nevada Donor Network to successfully deliver kidneys and corneas. The 10-mile (16 km) kidney delivery was the longest organ delivery flight in drone history. The organs were intentionally unusable as the flight's purpose was research. Lab technicians took a graft of the delivered kidney and found no negative effects from the flight. "The organs didn't degrade," says MissionGO CEO Scott Plank. Plank is encouraged by healthcare working with airspace "to solve a major problem, produce a lower carbon footprint and foster a more efficient supply chain." MissionGO is one of the few drone firms with US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification to deliver human organs for transplant. It all began at University of Maryland in 2019 when a university team used a drone to deliver kidneys to a patient 2.8 miles (4.5km) away within 10 minutes. University of Maryland Medical Center's Dr. Joseph Scalea recognized he was onto something monumental and, within months, co-founded MissionGO. While organ delivery by drone is in its infancy, a concern nags enthusiasts like Dr. Keshavjee. "There must be a focus on safety and compliance. What will happen when drones take to the skies and start running into each other?" Managing a new kind of highway "Call us the Google Maps for drones, but the roads don't exist yet," says Michael Healander. His Detroit-based start-up Airspace Link may be about to become the US air traffic control system for drones. Already FAA-approved to oversee low altitude flights, Airspace Link helps drone pilots know where they can fly, any temporary flight restrictions ahead and nearest airport locations. They also communicate with 2,700 US airports, alerting them to any drones coming into their airspace. They use more than 50 datasets, from building footprints and heights to helipad locations to hyperlocal weather. Healander says drones are the future of delivering organs safely and efficiently. He also foresees other medical uses for drone delivery. "Delivering prescriptions to people with mobility challenges or in rural areas," he suggests. "Blood samples have to go to a lab, so instead of a patient waiting days, the drone could deliver the samples and the patient receive results in hours." Next time you happen to catch sight of a drone careening across the sky, it might be more than a tech lover having fun with a new toy. You may be witnessing a seismic shift in how we deliver critical medical treatment to those most in need.
Lifelong wellness technology

How smart employers can use health tech for better business

  • min read
    • The pandemic has changed how we live and work. Public health has dominated national news. Organizations have accelerated their use of digital technologies. As successful vaccination worldwide starts to reduce COVID-19's worst impacts, life slowly returns to normal. Melissa Fogarty, Joint Head of Corporate, London at international law firm Clifford Chance said in 2020, "Resourcefulness, dexterity and tenacity are crucial for those who will come out of the crisis in good shape." We know physical isolation and frequent online meetings can strain employees' long-term physical and mental wellbeing. What can businesses do to ensure staff can do their best and reach their potential? Digital transformation in health and wellbeing tech may have the answer. The consumer wellbeing tech and healthcare divide "The world's largest single source of digital health compliance" ORCHA assesses and accredits the growing number of healthcare mobile apps. Recent consumer wearables like Apple Watch collect clinical-grade data useful for diagnosis and preventative healthcare. But at a recent Nordic Healthcare Conference, ORCHA's Chief Operating Officer, Tim Andrews, said, "Whilst there's been huge interest in digital health, this is often not matched with adoption and usage, particularly in areas that impact healthcare systems. The opportunity perhaps missed most often is the ability for digital health to be embedded into healthcare systems." Andrews seems to be suggesting health devices and mobile apps aren't yet a big part of public health services, but should be. I think there are two main reasons for this. First, data privacy and security: If personal health data gets into the wrong hands, it may lead to misselling of health services and insurer or employer discrimination. Second, possible litigation against developers of health and wellbeing devices and apps, around classification as a medical device and eligibility to be prescribed by medical practitioners. Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly part of public health triage and medical advice, online or over the phone, but wearable devices and mobile apps rarely give medical advice. Telehealth and privacy COVID-19 has changed our perceptions of healthcare data privacy. Before the pandemic, it was inconceivable for democratic nations to use track and trace technologies to monitor citizens. Although still contentious, it's meant acceptance of telehealth as a way of protecting others. Back in 2014 in the American Medical Association Journal of Ethics, Timothy Hale and Joseph Kvedar, said, "Concerns about the privacy and security of telehealth systems may adversely affect people's trust in telehealth and threaten the ability of these systems to improve the accessibility, quality and effectiveness of healthcare… but many people, especially the chronically ill, believe the benefits of telehealth outweigh the risks." They recognized that it's in the interests of all health stakeholders, from patients to employers, insurers to healthcare professionals, to use and encourage use of healthcare technologies. Wellness tech and preventative medicine Employers want healthy, motivated staff. Employee benefits packages often include private health insurance, which may attract employees, but don't usually include preventative healthcare. Staff ill-health, absences and reduced performance are a massive cost burden. The US National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion estimates 90 percent of the nation's associated 3.8 trillion US dollar costs are from mental and chronic health conditions. Also back in 2014, Sir Simon Stevens, former Head of UK's National Health Service (NHS) called obesity a "slow-motion car crash." He suggested we need new interventions to promote healthy eating and lifestyles to avoid serious health and financial problems in future. We're seeing moves in this direction. Singapore's Health Promotion Board launched its National Steps Challenge, giving away free step-tracking watches. Its Ministry of Health Transformation Office started Mindline, an AI-enabled portal offering tailored support with mental wellbeing. Mindline helps users identify and get help for underlying problems like domestic violence and financial strain, and gives healthy living advice alongside options for medical and talk therapies. Another example of a win-win ecosystem using technology and gamification is insurers like Vitality Life offering an Apple Watch to customers with benefits linked to healthy living data. How to use wellness tech in the workplace I see two main ways businesses can use health tech to give employees lifelong benefits and their business immediate results in reduced absenteeism and greater engagement. Telehealth devices and gamification are a win-win Telehealth devices include wearable tech that tracks health patterns, giving early warning of problems and advice. Rather than tracking employee health directly, HR departments can offer telehealth devices and apps with training as part of the benefits package: A win-win digital ecosystem. By working with health insurers and organizations like ORCHA, they can also help shape the lifestyle behaviors behind obesity and other chronic, avoidable conditions. Using gamification (game-orientated) strategies like those used in mobile apps can encourage employees to set health targets and form teams competing for the best improvements. Here are some good examples of the benefits of wellness gamification strategies. Italian games specialists Imaginary pioneered wellness technology within 'serious games.' Their flagship rehabilitation product Rehability helps people who've had strokes and other debilitating conditions recover at home under a clinician's remote supervision. It reduces the costs of care and, through gamification, encourages patients to comply with the clinician's advice, shortening their recovery times. Solutions like Rehability could be part of corporate health packages, helping staff improve physical and mental health at home or supporting recovery from conditions like Long Covid. Immersed in digital therapeutics Digital therapeutics involves using technology to give therapy for physical and mental health. It helps avoid or reduce the need for medication or surgery, and empowers people to manage their own health. There's growing use of virtual reality (VR) for stress management and treating other mental health problems. Organizations are starting to use VR headsets or other immersive technologies like 360-degree projectors to offer employees chill-out space. Spanish company BroomX pioneered affordable 360-degree projectors that have many uses, including digital therapeutics. Although originally designed for cultural and educational sites like schools and museums, research suggests immersive experiences may benefit mental health. At the 2021 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Broom X and hospital partners discussed how they've used immersive mindfulness therapies in hospitals to treat and prevent staff and patients with mental illness. What corporate leaders should do next Organizations wanting to harness the power of health tech for their employees have many ways to add physical and mental wellbeing technologies and apps to their people management strategy. What's right for each business comes down to their circumstances and what their people want. It's a fast-moving, high-growth area. Leaders must choose the right partners when selecting technologies for employee benefits packages. Big technology players like Apple, Google and Samsung are pitching hard with new devices and applications. The many health and wellbeing mobile apps available can feel like a jungle to navigate. It's worth discussing options with organizations like ORCHA that are there to evaluate independently. Organizations with an ethos of preventative healthcare, using technology and gamification to add value to their employee experience may see benefits in competitive advantage alongside healthier, more productive and motivated staff.
by Innovating leaders.
Innovative tech.
About Secure Futures

Secure Futures magazine is your go-to business guide for opinions, trends and insight into the world of technology and cybersecurity. We help your business to bring on the future. Brought to you by Kaspersky, the global cybersecurity experts.

  • For all other countries