Two-thirds of healthcare providers plan to increase mHealth expenditures in 2012

Two-thirds of healthcare providers in the U.S. plan to implement or improve their use of mobile technologies in the next 12 months, according to a new survey conducted by CompTIA.

Source: CompTIA

The report indicated that more than 50 percent of healthcare professionals already use smartphones for their work. 38% of physicians with a smartphone are using medical-related apps on a daily basis and half of them are expected to do so over the next 12 months. At the same time, 25% of healthcare providers are already using tablets and another 21% expect to do so in the coming year.

"While laptop and notebook PCs are commonplace in the medical community, the next wave of mobile adoption is well underway as providers turn to tablets, smartphones and applications to increase productivity and improve patient care," the authors noted.

The report shows that almost one-third of providers use smartphones or tablets to access Electronic Medical Records or Electronic Health Records systems, with 20% expecting to start engaging in this mobile usage within the next year.

While mobile health (mHealth) is on the rise the use of telemedicine solutions remains low, with just 14% of healthcare professionals actively following news and trends in telemedicine and 37% expressing little interest in the topic.

Healthcare providers see the greatest benefits of telemedicine in the areas of continuing medical education (61%), specialist referral services (44%) and patient consultations (37%).

The U.S. helathcare sector employs over 17 million workers. The total healthcare spending will total over $2.7 trillion in 2011, making it the single largest componenet of the U.S. GDP.

GSMA: Asia Pacific mHealth market to rise by 70% to $7 billion by 2017

The Asia Pacific mobile health (mHealth) market will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of almost 70 percent to $7 billion in 2017, the GSMA and accounting firm PwC said in a joint report.  

In a report, entitled ‘Mobile Health – Enabling Healthcare’, the two bodies said that mobile health services that represent the largest opportunity across the region are monitoring services (55% market share in 2017) and diagnostic services (24%). 

Source: GSMA & Decisive Media. Photographer: Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert

The report indicates that the Chinese mHealth market will be the world's largest in 2017. This will be driven by growth in monitoring and diagnosis that will facilitate the delivery of effective healthcare to a widely spread population who have poor health access.

This trend creates a market opportunity of some $2.4 billion in China, well ahead of other large markets such as Japan ($1.3 billion) and India ($540 million). 

"The figures are in line with our expectations," said Ofer Atzmon, Vice President for Business Development and Marketing at Aerotel Medical Systems. "We have identified Asia and the Pacific in general, and China in particular, as strategic markets and have expended our activities there accordingly".    

Monitoring represents the biggest opportunity in Japan (63% market share) due to the large number of elderly, while diagnostics represents the biggest opportunity (67%) in India as most Indians live in rural areas. 

“Mobile health is a prime example of how mobile operators can leverage existing platforms and technology to provide innovative services to connect people throughout Asia Pacific,” said Michael O’Hara, Chief Marketing Officer, GSMA. 

“Asia Pacific’s predicted growth in connected devices, through an array of applications, means that the region is on the threshold of radically transforming the lives of its consumers, professionally and personally. To make the Connected Life ubiquitous, it’s vital that the mobile industry works with key adjacent industries in the region, including healthcare,” added O’Hara. 

Aerotel to showcase a personal GPS location mHealth device at Medica 2011

Aerotel Medical Systems will present a variety of remote monitoring and mobile health (mHealth) solutions at Medica 2011 in Dusseldorf, Germany on November 16-19, 2011 at Hall 9, Stand C01.

Aerotel intends to present its innovative GeoSkeeper, a personal wireless GPS location and tracking device, at Medica, which is the world largest medical trade fair.

GeoSkeeper offers a new level of safety beyond existing PERS (Personal Emergency Response System) and traditional social alarm systems. The GeoSkeeper is expected to soon receive the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Certification, paving the way for further strengthening of Aerotel's position in the lucrative US market.

In a newly designed booth in Medica, Aerotel will also showcase the Connect-CELL telehealth homecare hub, which was recently awarded by Connected World Magazine the prestigious gold Value Chain Award in the home health category. The Connect-CELL hub is part of Aerotel's e-CliniQ system, which is one of the most cost-effective home telehealth solutions available today with proven clinical and economical benefits.

“Since Medica 2010, we've expended our presence in Asia, the Pacific and Eastern Europe,” said David Rubin, Aerotel Medical Systems President and CEO. “Medica 2011 will provide us with an excellent opportunity to present our cutting edge solutions to those who are not familiar with them yet.”

With more than 4,560 exhibitors and 116,000 square meters of floor space, Medica 2011 is considered as the leading event for in the medical industry. Two thirds of the exhibitors this year are from outside Germany and more than 60 countries will be represented at the fair.

Aerotel ready to conquer Asian market

Armed with a new investment by a Chinese IT giant and wide variety of innovative solutions, Israeli medical equipment provider Aerotel Medical Systems is ready to utilize its vest experience and enter the fast growing Asian telemedicine market.

Aerotel, which provides modular, mobile and home based telemedicine and telecare solutions, has recently attracted an investment from China's Neusoft Corporation. 

The move is part of Aerotel's overall strategy of expanding its activity in Asia in general and in the Chinese lucrative market in particular. A recent report by Espicom Business Intelligence estimates that the Chinese medical device market grows at an annual rate of some 13 percent, turning it into one of the fastest growing markets in the world.

The analysts noted that prospects for medical devices spending are huge as the Chinese government has committed heavily in the construction of thousands of hospitals, healthcare centers, clinics. This will inevitably lead to spending on medical devices at an unprecedented rate in a relatively short space of time.

Aerotel intends to utilize Neusoft's position as a local market leader in the fields of medical equipment, medical IT solutions and healthcare services. The company will offer Asian populations cost-effective, high-quality and user-friendly medical diagnostic systems and devices for home care, eHealth and telemedicine, as well as telecare and personal safety.

With a client base of over 50 countries around the globe and more than a decade of rich experience, Aerotel is well positioned to successfully enter the Asian market. Judging by its previous practice, the company has all it takes to smoothly penetrate large markets.

So for example, Aerotel is currently providing Ambulance staffs in Brazil with devices to monitor people injured in car accidents or and other emergency situations. By using Aerotel's solution, paramedics can record ECG trace and transmit it within minutes to a remote medical centre using their mobile phones. The service provides significant benefits, including critical time savings, enhanced level of emergency treatment, expert guidance to the ambulance staff and increased chances for patient recovery form critical situations.

In the United States, Aerotel provides remote monitoring services of health problems for congestive heart failure patients. The technology, which allows heart patients take readings like their weight, blood pressure and other key metrics, saves money and makes users life much easier.

In Europe, Aerotel's GeoSKeeper personal safety and location system has won great popularity. The mobile service enables the accurate location of seniors, children and lone workers. By wearing the light-weight device on their wrist the users' accurate location can be sent to family and caregivers in real time. 

 A report published last year by research company, Global Industry Analysts, predicts that the global market for ECG telemetry devices will reach some $1.1 billion by 2015. 

The analysts, which defined Aerotel as one of the major players in this field, noted that Asia-Pacific represents the fastest growing market as it is expected to grow by an annual rate of more than 5 percent over the next four years. 

This is attributed to aging population and growing cases of heart disease or cardiovascular diseases. In addition, rising expenditure and scarcity of alternative home care resources and services are expected to add to growing demand for home telemetry monitoring devices.

Aerotel, which recently launched its services in New Zealand and Australia, is now aiming at the growing Chinese market, allowing it to establish a strong foothold in the Asia-Pacific market.  

World telehealth market to reach $990 million by 2015

The global telehealth market is expected to continue growing at a command annual growth rate (CAGR) of 43.4 percent to $990 million by 2015, according to a report by medical research company InMedica.

InMedica analysts predict that the market will continue to rise to over $1 billion in 2016 and has the potential to reach $6 billion by 2020. 

The authors said that increasing demand for healthcare, associated with ever increasing disease prevalence and an ageing population creates a significant challenge for the delivery of care. The number of people with chronic condition is forecast to increase dramatically by 10%-20% over the next ten years. Moreover, the aging demographic will lead to a significant increase in disease co-morbidities in the population that is over-65. 

Telehealth, also known as Telemedicine, means using information and communications technologies for the delivery of healthcare services. Telehealth reduces the unnecessary hospitalizations and reduces waiting lists for medical treatment with a significant saving factor on economic resources. This technology gives patients the ability to monitor the specific parameters of their conditions and then have the information sent directly to their physicians for management of their disease process via telephone, cellular or the Internet.

Telehealth has become a rapidly evolving field, thanks to recent technological breakthroughs, such as miniaturized sensors and advancements in telecommunications means that allow an almost permanent contact in case of need. Telehealth can offer cost-effective remote monitoring solutions that can seamlessly operate from anywhere at anytime. 

The report illustrates that home-monitoring is becoming increasingly relevant in the treatment of chronic diseases. Home-use medical devices in Teleheatlh services, such as blood glucose meters, pulse oximeters, weight scales and peak flow meters are being deployed to monitor four main diseases – congestive heart failure (CHF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes and hypertension.

"The main driving force behind the sharp growth of the Telehealth market are the new solutions for monitoring chronic diseases answering the growing need for such solutions that will hold down healthcare costs," said Ofer Atzmon, Vice President for Business Development and Marketing at Aerotel Medical Systems. "From our experience the strongest demand is for hypertension (monitoring of blood pressure) solutions, followed by diabetes (monitoring of glucose and blood pressure), CHF (monitoring of blood pressure and weight) and COPD (monitoring of SpO2 and spirometry values)."

“Many public healthcare systems now have targets to reduce both the number of hospital visits and the length of stay in hospital,” said Diane Wilkinson, Research Manager at InMedica. “This has led to a growing trend for healthcare to be managed outside the traditional hospital environment, and as a result, there is a growing trend for patients to be monitored in their home environment using telehealth technologies once their treatment is complete.”

She noted that the US is the most established market for telehealth by far. So for example, the Veteran’s Health Administration’s extensive home Telehealth service aims to provide some 92,000 patients with Telehealth services by next year. Wilkinson added that there has also been some large-scale trial activity in Europe, mainly in the UK.

iPhone mHealth application market to grow by 44% to 13,000 apps in 2012

Some 9,000 iPhone health applications are already offered by Apple's AppStore and the number is expected to continue rising further in coming months, according to a report published by MobiHealthNews.

The report, which is based on an analysis of Apple's AppStore, further indicates that by next summer the number of iPhone health applications will rise by 44 percent to some 13,000 apps.

The report shows that the average price of a paid health app is gradually rising as the average price for a paid health application rose to $3.21 on July 2011 from $2.77 in February.

Another report, published earlier this month by research company Technavio, predicts that the global mobile health applications market will reach $4.1 billion by 2014 compared to $1.7 billion in 2010.

"The number of health apps for consumers has grown at a steady, linear rate over the past 18 months," MobileHealthNews researchers wrote. "We expect it to continue on this track unless the regulatory environment changes drastically and scares off would-be developers from creating useful health apps for consumers"

The MobiHealthNews report indicates that the largest group of consumer health apps in the AppStore are cardio fitness apps, which account to 16.36% of all iPhone mHealth apps. The majority of these apps are running apps, which have attracted millions of users in the past year.

Diet related apps account to 14.15%, ahead of stress and relaxation apps (11.4%) and women's health apps (7.27%).

The authors note that while Apple’s health, fitness and medical categories claim to offer thousands more apps, many of these can't be seriously considered as mHealth related.

Aerotel enters Australia and New Zealand, partners with Elemental

Aerotel Medical Systems has launched a new personal safety service in New Zealand and Australia in partnership with Elemental Technologies, a leading Australasian provider of solutions for personal safety, aged care and healthcare.

Elemental Technologies will offer a new 24 hours by 7 days a week service, based on Aerotel’s highly successful GeoSKeeper personal safety and location system. The service will enable finding the accurate location and providing immediate assistance to elderly persons or people with dementia, offering users and family members safety and peace of mind. In addition, GeoSkeeper will be distributed in New Zealand and Australia by Elemental Technologies.

"We have formed a partnership with Elemental Technologies to bring our personal safety solutions to the Australia and New Zealand markets,” said Ofer Atzmon, Vice President for Business Development and Marketing at Aerotel. “This agreement is another step in our global market expansion."

“After conducting a comprehensive search, we have found GeoSKeeper to be the most sophisticated and well established personal safety device on the market,” said Patrick Rogers, CEO and Co-founder at Elemental Technologies. “The combination of mobile phone and GPS technologies grants freedom to the wearer to travel away from home or work and confidence to their caregivers that they can be located and communicated with, anytime and anywhere.”