World Market for Telehealth Set to Grow Exponentially

New Players, new technologies, and increased demand are driving the global market for telehealth, according to a new report from InMedica (Wellingborough, United Kingdom), a medical research company.

Honeywell HomMed (Brookfield, WI, USA), with a 15.4% market share, was the leading supplier for telehealth in 2009 worldwide. However, with the newer market players such as Philips Healthcare, Bosch Healthcare, and Cardiocom (Chanhassen, MN, USA) penetrating the market in the last few years, Honeywell HomMed has been gradually losing market share, leaving Bosch Healthcare as a close second with a 14.9% market share, with the gap closing quickly. The competition to supply healthcare providers with the equipment for telehealth is also increasing, as more and more contracts involve high volumes as the number of patients enrolled onto telehealth programs increases year-by-year.

Acording to InMedica, there are some very well established suppliers of home-use medical devices, such as Viterion TeleHealthCare (Tarrytown, NY, USA), that are likely to leverage their positions to capitalize on the increased interest in home monitoring. However, manufacturers of professional healthcare equipment, such as Siemens Healthcare, GE Healthcare, and Philips Healthcare, may also choose to enter the telehealth market and provide complete solutions; in August 2010, GE Healthcare and Intel announced a joint venture focused on telehealth and independent living.

Telecom companies are also working with healthcare providers to enable the transmission of patient readings to monitoring stations and subsequent feedback to the patients. As a result, telecoms companies stand to be responsible for the management of a huge amount of secure data traffic; how they choose to manage and bill the level of data they will have to deal with, once professional telehealth services become widespread is unclear, but they will certainly welcome the business. The consumer side of telehealth may be particularly lucrative for telecoms providers looking to add additional value to their existing offerings.

"Mobile phone networks could offer online data management services to people who want to store and analyze readings they have taken using a home-use medical device that can link with their mobile phone,” said InMedica research analyst Neha Khandelwal. "With the market for telehealth predicted to grow at over 55% in the next five years, more and more companies from outside the healthcare market are likely to get involved. The competitive landscape will look quite different in two or three years.”

Related Links:
InMedica
Honeywell Hommed
Cardiocom
Viterion TeleHealthCare