Healthcare to Go: $950M in 2014

The market for wireless devices that monitor patients’ condition and report that data to healthcare providers is on the verge of explosive growth, according to a new study from ABI Research.

Over the next few years it will show a remarkable 77 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) resulting in global revenue of almost $950 million in 2014.
 
“Hospitals and other healthcare providers are being economically squeezed,” ABI Research vice president Stan Schatt said in a statement. “Doctors and hospitals are looking for ways to save money, and wireless patient monitoring has a huge potential to do that, for both in- and out-patients. It’s a lot more economical to monitor patients remotely at home than to have them come in personally for checkups that consume time and resources.”
 
The variety of sensors available is growing rapidly, measuring a growing array of vital signs and symptoms. Devices are getting smaller. There is even a prototype of a pill containing a digestible radio that will confirm the medication has been taken.
 
However future savings require present investment, and adding wireless communications to equipment adds cost. This is a significant hurdle, stated Schatt, so, “In the future we will see entire cellular networks designed as managed services for handling these machine-to-machine communications. The whole process will be outsourced, and software will monitor the incoming measurements. Medical staff will be alerted when the data indicates their intervention is needed."