Overcoming Patient Hesitancy in Regard to the Internet of Medical Things

The vast and growing domain of the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) is transforming patient care in ways that were once unimaginable. The IoMT is contributing to vast improvements in the speed and accuracy of even the most complex of medical diagnoses. It is revolutionizing patient monitoring and care, supporting continuous surveillance of patients’ health status in real-time, immediately alerting caregivers and clinicians to concerning changes in the patient’s vital signs, and providing practitioners with a more comprehensive profile of the patient’s overall wellness.
 
Despite the profound advantages of the IoMT to patient care, however, many prospective beneficiaries continue to resist the adoption of these technologies in their own medical care regime. This article examines the sources of patient hesitancy in regard to IoMT technologies and describes the critical privacy issues product developers must address if they are to increase patients’ acceptance of IoMT.

Fear of Data Breaches

It’s perhaps not surprising that approximately half of American adults feel deeply concerned about healthcare security and the confidentiality of their private information. Also not surprisingly, these data security concerns are often deeply rooted in anxieties about the vulnerability of health technologies to data breaches.
 
Unfortunately, health consumers’ fears are not without foundation. In recent years, a wide array of industries and some of the world’s wealthiest, most powerful, and ostensibly most secure institutions have been rocked by data security breaches.
 
The proliferation of media stories in the aftermath of cyberattacks on financial institutions, tech giants, and even the federal government has had significant impacts on the behavior and attitudes of health consumers. There is evidence, for example, that substantial segments of the patient population are now withholding critical health information over data security concerns.
 
Without intervention both to shore up the health tech security and to widely publicize those enhanced security measures in ways that will effectively assuage consumers’ fears, the trend of withholding personal data promises only to further entrench resistance to IoMT, where the patient’s ability to control the collection, storage, and dissemination of their data may be limited.

Fears of Unauthorized Access and Misuse

As suggested above, one of the greatest challenges to consumer acceptance of IoMT is the fear that stored data will be accessed by unauthorized personnel, leading to misuse of the data. For instance, because a significant proportion of IoMT data is stored in the cloud, patients may have little or no control over how cloud-stored health data are accessed or distributed.
 
Access to cloud storage systems means, in essence, that a patient’s medical records may be retrieved at any time, from anywhere, and by anyone who has proper authorization or who can breach the security system. For IoMT-hesitant health consumers, remote data collection and disseminated and cloud storage often appear far less safe and private than paper records locked in a filing cabinet in a medical office equipped with surveillance cameras.

Fear of the Unknown

Another critical issue in regard to the failure of consumers to adopt potentially lifesaving devices is simply the patients’ lack of knowledge about IoMT technologies. Consumers’ fears that they do not have a sufficient understanding of how the devices work seem to amplify their privacy concerns.
 
Prospective end users, for instance, may be deterred by the worry that their own unfamiliarity with the device could render it vulnerable to a data breach. This issue may be especially detrimental if the product design is inordinately complex, particularly for those who are tech naive.

Meeting Health Consumers Where They Are

It can be difficult for experienced product developers to recall what it was like to experience technology for the first time. For those who came of age in the wake of the digital revolution, tech anxiety may be something they understand more in theory than in practice. The rising generations, after all, were practically born with a device in their hand and, as such, embracing new technologies can seem as natural to them as breathing.
 
This, though, is generally not the case for large segments of the patient population, particularly the Gen Zers, Baby Boomers, and members of the Silent Generation. For them, tech can often be more of a test than a tool, a necessary evil rather than ready-to-hand good.
 
This is why it behooves technologists to approach and provide development with the same empathy that healthcare providers are often required to exhibit. IoMT hesitancy, after all, is not about recalcitrance or ignorance. It is generally rooted in reasoned principles and legitimate experience.
 
And that means that product developers must prioritize user experience (UX) in technology design in order to allay consumers’ fears that their own unfamiliarity with these devices could compromise their data. It also means that developers must pursue the highest standards of data security, particularly as advances in tech interoperability proceed apace.
 
This will, almost inevitably, catalyze a more reassuring public narrative concerning data security in health technologies. It will change consumers’ perspectives on privacy vulnerabilities in this sector because, unlike other industries, data breaches in health tech will become increasingly rare and limited.

The Takeaway

Patients’ reluctance to embrace IoMT technologies is deeply rooted in legitimate concerns over health privacy. Understanding health consumers’ fears in regard to health tech security is critical if product developers are to produce technologies that will truly be embraced by their target audience.
 

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Adrian Johansen uses her experience in the healthcare technology industry to provide straightforward information to the public. You can find more of her writing on contently.