Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Heart diseases and aging will drive ECG telemetry market to $1.1B by 2015

The global market for ECG telemetry devices will reach some $1.1 billion by 2015, according to a new report on ECG telemetry devices markets issued by research company Global Industry Analysts

The authors, which defined Aerotel Medical Systems as one of the major players in this field, noted that while the economic turmoil has negatively impacted the medical equipment industry in 2008-2009 it had a moderate impact on the ECG telemetry market. This is attributed to aging population and growing cases of heart disease or cardiovascular diseases. 

The US represents the largest regional market for ECG telemetry devices worldwide and is expected to further increase as a growing number of Americans receive home care.

Global Industry Analysts said that rising expenditure and scarcity of alternative home care resources and services are further expected to add to growing demand for home telemetry monitoring devices. At the same time, Asia-Pacific represents the fastest growing market as it is expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 5% over the next four years. 


"Most of the larger hospitals are moving towards computerization for maintaining Electrocardiogram (ECG) records and investing heavily in data management systems to allow physicians to assess the comparative analysis of patients’ histories," the report stated. "The data management system offers hospitals with increased efficiency, reduces data loss, and provides accurate billing for medical procedures. This method of data assembly offers operational and administrative advantages to healthcare institutions justifying its expense."

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

mHealth among '100 Things to Watch in 2011'

mHealth, medical and public health supported by mobile devices, is one of the top '100 Things to Watch in 2011', according to marketing communications firm JWT.

In its annual forcast, JWT said that people should look for mobile health applications to help improve health care and change the way patients and their physicians interact. It gave as an example doctors using smartphones to access patients’ medical histories and patients monitoring their own blood pressure and glucose levels.

JWT added that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is currently funding research into mHealth. And with 500 million people forecast to be using mobile health apps by 2015, global opportunities in this market are valued at as much as $60 billion.

“Many of the items on our list reflect broader shifts we’ve been tracking over the past few years, such as the evolution of the mobile phone into an ‘everything hub,’” said Ann Mack, director of trendspotting at JWT. “Others reflect counter-trends
for instance, to balance out our growing immersion in the digital world, people will increasingly embrace face-to-face gatherings and digital downtime.”