Manufacturers are increasingly using wireless technologies for functions that are critical to patient well-being, using a variety of bands. Some of these bands are exclusive to medical devices, but many are shared with other applications or entities:
• Inductive radio, which is typically below 200 kHz
• Medical Device Radiocommunication Service (MedRadio), typically 401-406 MHz, includes medical micropower
• Medical Implant Communication Service (MICS), typically 401-406 MHz
• Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) bands are various specific bands shared by medical devices, military devices, and various scientific devices
• Medical Body Area Networks (MBANs) are adjacent to the 2.4 gigahertz ISM band and
allows multiple sensors on a patient’s body to communicate with a control unit
• Wireless Medical Telemetry Service (WMTS) is a safe, proprietary band also used for sensors, like the MBANs, but typically limited to critical care in healthcare facilities.

Many bands used by medical devices are also shared with the military, so the hardware must have cognitive readability to allow priority to military communications. There are exceptions, for example, medical micropower networks (MMNs) are a subset of MedRadio specifically for implanted nerve stimulators. Thanks to extensive negotiations with the military and the FCC, MMN bands can only be used for these implantable nerve stimulators.
Some bands used by medical technology are not limited at all. Wi-Fi is essentially ubiquitous in medical facilities. Most facilities use a secure network used
to transmit patient data both within the facility and to other medical facilities. MRI, X-Ray, and other screening or diagnostic devices may transmit images
or data through the secure Wi-Fi network, and it can also be used for tracking patient or staff movements through the facility. Off-the-shelf technologies like
Wi-Fi have pros and cons: widespread use of Wi-Fi makes interoperability easier and using a tried and tested technology like Wi-Fi in a new medical device reduces development time. However, Wi-Fi technologies have generally poor product support,
become obsolete relatively quickly due to consumer technology churn, and operate on very crowded bands (2.4 and 5 GHz).
Bluetooth is also becoming more widespread in healthcare; there is a new use case called the Bluetooth Health Device Profile that has been specifically developed for use in transferring medical data. Common current uses for Bluetooth include inventory tracking, sensors, and glucose monitoring.