The mobile health (mHealth) market is expected to continue to grow fast as the global financial crisis strengthens the need for healthcare providers to cut costs, according to a new report published by business intelligence company GlobalData.
In a report, entitled "Mobile Health Devices and Applications – Global Market Briefing to 2018," GlobalData analysts said that mHealth market is expected will grow in value from some $500 million in 2010 to over $8 billion by 2018.
"The emergence of mobile technology has also been propelled by the financial crisis, which resulted in a renewed focus on improving cost efficiency, the improvement of clinical outcomes, and the quality of care provided to patients at home," the authors wrote.
In a separate report, published by the West Wireless Health Institute, it was predicted that the global wireless health market will reach $38.51 billion by 2016, at a CAGR of 19.43 percent from 2011 to 2016.
The report indicates that North America dominated the global wireless health market with around 45% share in 2011. The second largest market is Europe, and Asia-Pacific region is the fastest growing region with China capturing the largest market share of APAC region.
The difference between the figures in both reports is attributed to the fact that the mHealth market relates mainly to the usage of mobile devices by the health industry and specifically refers to the connection between the patient and the medical center. At the same time, the wireless health market refers to the wider usage of wireless technologies including at home, hospital and other locations as well as mHealth.
GlobalData predicts that the rapid emergence of mHealth technology will revolutionize future healthcare delivery and management by saving lives and reducing the economic burden imposed by growing chronic conditions such as diabetes, obesity and hypertension.
It notes that mHealth has proved to improve patient and physician convenience, enable remote monitoring, and improve care-coordination among medical professionals, patients and public health systems.
Ofer Atzmon, vice president for business development and marketing at Aerotel Medical Systems, will discuss the latest trends and success stories in Telemedicine at the Med-e-Tel 2012 Conference, which will find place at 18-20 April 2012 in Luxembourg.
The presentation will be held during the opening session titled: Global Telemedicine and eHealth Update. It will take place on Wednesday, April 18 in conference room 1, at 11:00-13:00.
The presentation will describe the evolution of the telemedicine market, discuss how business models can be established and will present recent case studies. Among others, it will demonstrate how to enable remote monitoring of various health parameters such as electrocardiogram (ECG), blood pressure, blood glucose level, weight, etc.
Atzmon will also talk about how mobile telehealth kiosks can helps bring healthcare to remote regions. The presentation will be given during the session on Evidence of Telehealth Outcomes, on Wednesday in conference room 3, at 16:00-17:45.
During the conference Aerotel will showcase its innovative mobile health and telemedicine solutions, including: personal GPS location and tracking system, GeoSkeeper; wireless homecare hub for chronic patient monitoring and disease management, Connect-Cell; and the HeartView, a personal hand-held 12-lead ECG monitor.
Med-e-Tel is an official event of the International Society for Telemedicine & eHealth (ISfTeH) and the international federation of national associations, who represent their country’s Telemedicine and eHealth stakeholders.
