Introduction
The Internet of Things is a critical topic of discussion and one of the areas that we expect will significantly contribute to the overall pace of innovation and change within the digital ecosystem in the years ahead. This technology is already enabling everyday items that consumers interface with to become smart in the sense that they collect and transmit data in an increasingly sophisticated capacity. This has far-reaching implications across virtually every industry you can imagine. When IoT is combined with the advent of machine learning and artificial intelligence, it becomes clear that our world is on the brink of a revolutionary shift that is beyond anything we have witnessed in human history.
This newsletter explores the subject of IoT from a variety of standpoints and features differentiated content than previous editions. First, we are pleased to debut Manatt Digital’s new podcast, “Manatt Insights.” Our guest this month is Adrian Sexton, CEO of Titan Platform—a global smart content and device company that is an innovative player in the IoT space. Second, we have a webinar led by two of our financial services lawyers, Richard Gottlieb and Donna Wilson, discussing IoT and its impact on the financial services industry. Lastly, Mary Ermitanio has penned her take on IoT’s impact on the digital health system. We hope you enjoy this month’s newsletter.
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Manatt Insights Podcast: Titan Platform CEO Adrian Sexton
Manatt Digital is firmly dedicated to advancing the collective consciousness as it relates to the future of all things digital. As part of this ongoing effort, we will now be including a podcast as part of our monthly newsletter. Welcome to the newly minted “Manatt Insights” podcast! Each month we will hold detailed conversations with thought leaders and innovators in the digital space and provide our audience with an in-depth look at some of the most cutting-edge areas of digital media.
For our inaugural episode, director Ned Sherman sat down with Adrian Sexton. Adrian is the CEO of Titan Platform, a global smart content and device company that is disrupting multiple industries including entertainment, telecoms, artificial intelligence and IoT (connected homes). In this episode, we speak with Adrian about where he believes smart entertainment and IoT is going, the long-term implications of AI and machine learning, and the L.A. digital media scene at large. Take a listen!
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Financial Services, Technology and the Internet of Things
The Internet of Things is the interconnection of computing devices embedded in everyday objects that touch every industry, including the financial services industry. Today, we have apps that enable us to control our finances, our cars and our homes from mobile devices, and financial services providers and vendors are increasingly incorporating IoT.
As increased connectivity becomes more common, attorneys from our financial services and privacy and data security groups have created a new webinar exploring what is happening in IoT, the effects of consumer-facing technology on the financial services industry, the potentially applicable statutes and regulations that affect the use of this technology, and hot-button issues and practical pointers for addressing and mitigating potential risks.
The presentation will provide you with information on:
- The Internet and the financial world—financial services products that raise IoT concerns
- Financial services regulatory issues
- Data security and privacy issues
- Practical pointers: minimizing risks, defending against claims
Speakers:
Richard Gottlieb, Co-chair, Financial Services Group
Donna Wilson, Co-chair, Financial Services Group; Chair, Privacy and Data Security Group
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IoT in Healthcare: Opportunities and Challenges for Health Systems
By Mary Ermitanio, Manager, Manatt Digital
As part of Manatt Health’s digital health newsletter series, we discussed how digital health technologies can be used to achieve better health outcomes, increased patient loyalty and higher reimbursements for providers by improving patient engagement. Connected devices, including mobile phones, wearables and medical devices, can enhance the patient experience in multiple ways—from ensuring that a patient takes her medication on time to improving the accuracy of a diagnosis to adjusting the temperature in a hospital room.
The current view of the patient’s profile and history is summarized in electronic health records. This digitization of provider-generated patient data was, at one point, a disruption to hospital system workflows but is now widely adopted. The rise of the Internet of Things, with the massive volumes of patient-generated data that come with it, will be a much larger wave of disruption that the healthcare industry must prepare for. Organizations that strategically and operationally align themselves with the opportunity can benefit from the new wealth of patient insights and efficiencies created by integrating connected devices into the patient journey. Here are a few examples of the benefits of IoT:
- Patient lifestyle data can assist physicians in prescribing the right treatment. The Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in partnership with Medidata is using a combination of wearables and apps to study the impact of treatments on cancer patients.
- Remotely monitoring patient activity can cut costs by reducing unnecessary visits. Glucose monitors and vital signs sensors that patients use remotely can transmit critical data to caregivers, who can then offer advice virtually. Over time, the accumulation of patient data across devices can be used for prescriptive and predictive insights that enable caregivers to identify potential problems early on, improving preventive care.
- Ensuring adherence to and effectiveness of medication can improve health outcomes. Proteus Digital Health has created an ingestible sensor that when consumed sends data to the patient’s mobile device and to caregivers. More basic use cases of ensuring adherence include reminders and active patient logging via mobile apps. The data exchange–connected devices help create more engaged patients and proactive caregivers.
As with all industries with more access to consumer data than ever before, health organizations face significant, but not insurmountable, challenges in managing, interpreting and protecting patient data. Interoperability of disparate data sources must be addressed as more devices become connected and need to communicate with each other and with the organization. As patient data pours in, health systems must have the infrastructure, resources and processes in place to extract from it actionable insights that caregivers can use. Finally, with cyberattacks becoming an almost daily headline, health systems and their partners must invest in features and capabilities that will protect their networks.
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