A rising market for healthcare peripherals and increasing smartphone processing power will cause the number of patients monitored by mobile networks to rise to 3m by 2016, according to the Juniper Research’s latest report on the mHealth sector.
Remote patient monitoring, where the smartphone will be a hub, will also reduce the cost of mHealth services by reducing the need for tailored devices that are costly.
According to the research firm, the monitoring of cardiac outpatients is currently leading this segment, as insurance reimbursement plays a crucial role in the US market.
But, with time, Juniper Research feels that management of diabetes, COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder) and other chronic diseases will also be important segments in the remote patient monitoring market.
Report author Anthony Cox said remote patient monitoring will step in to reduce the cost burden of unhealthy lifestyles and aging populations.
Among the other forecasts made by the research firm, mobile healthcare and medical App downloads will reach 44m in 2012 and 142m in 2016.
Juniper Research feels developing markets continue to benefit from SMS-based education programmes and will benefit in medium term from app-based healthcare services such as mobile ultrasound that are now being developed and also markets globally have yet to adopt EHR (electronic health records) in a big way, which would also help the market of mHealth offerings.
