European Remote Patient Monitoring Market

Innovation and advanced technology continue to play a significant role in the remote patient monitoring (RPM) market, making available devices increasingly attractive. These are the latest findings from Frost & Sullivan (Frost, Palo Alto, CA, USA), an international consulting firm.

However, while technology is constantly changing to support better healthcare services, steadily improving patient monitoring capabilities, the limited reimbursement offered by European governments is dampening market potential. The lack of adequate reimbursement streams will pose a major challenge to companies wishing to boost their unit sales and market revenues. Privacy and confidentiality issues are further clouding the market.

"A critical challenge is governments' refusal to reimburse remote monitoring of patients,” said Frost & Sullivan research analyst Janani Narasimhan. "With no financial incentive for healthcare providers to implement this technology, providers are likely to view RPM as an increase in workload without a subsequent hike in pay. On the other hand, connecting personal health information to the Internet exposes this data to more hostile attacks than paper-based medical records.”

"The heightened demands of an aging population and a related increase in chronic diseases are encouraging market growth,” added Ms. Narasimhan. "RPM has the potential to change the way patients manage their own conditions so that they become the keepers of their own healthcare.”

Frost and Sullivan has found that the European RPM market earned revenues of U.S. $175 million in 2007 and estimates this to reach $400 million by 2014.


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