According to a recent TokBox white paper, Beyond E-health Embedded Communications in Healthcare, a combination of factors will drastically change how healthcare is delivered over the next 5 years.
The growing and ageing baby boomer population, who will live longer and require increasing medical support.
Physician shortages are currently forecast at 45,000 in the US and projected to be 90,000 by 2025.
Pressures are forcing healthcare providers to reinvent existing models. U.S. healthcare spending is expected to reach $4.8 trillion in 2021, up from $2.6 trillion in 2010. Studies have shown that Medicare could save an estimated $45 per visit if in-person urgent care services were replaced with a telehealth visit.
The digital revolution and the continued growth and capabilities of mobile devices.
More than 100,000 healthcare applications can be downloaded today. 62% of smartphone owners have used their phone in the past year to look up information about a health condition.
Pew Research Center, April 2015 report
New technical advances such as Embedded communications, powered by Web-Based Real Time Communications (WebRTC), allows healthcare providers to directly embed live video, voice and messaging into web sites and applications.
By 2020, some are predicting that the majority of healthcare will take place outside of traditional hospitals, clinics and physician offices. Many doctor-patient consultations will be virtually delivered to patients in their homes, via connected medical devices. Physician consultations via video are taking place today. According to the report, they are projected to increase from 19 million/year in 2014 to an astounding 158 million/year by 2020.
Connected health solutions: home healthcare, web-based virtual conversations, remote monitoring via home-based medical devices; are projected to explode in the next few years. By 2018, the market for mobile health applications and solutions are projected to grow to $20 billion and revenues of over $13.5 billion for the virtual consultation industry.
According to report published early last year by Transparency Market Research, the global self-care medical device market (Blood Pressure Monitors, Heart Rate Monitors, Body Temperature Monitors, Blood Glucose Monitors, Pregnancy/Fertility Test Kits, Pedometers, Sleep Apnea Monitors and Nebulizers) is estimated to reach a market worth of USD 16.9 billion in 2019, growing at a CAGR of 7.0% from 2013 to 2019.
ATS has a clear vision for 2020; do you?
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