The remote patient monitoring market is expected to grow at a 16 percent compound annual rate over the next several years, driven primarily by an aging population that’s increasingly afflicted by chronic diseases.

The value of the global remote patient monitoring market is expected to reach $506 million in 2017, up from $184 million in 2010, according to a new report from GBI Research.

Remote patient monitoring (RPM) refers to the collection of data from medical devices such as pacemakers and implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs), for example.

Chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease are expected to increase health costs in developed economies in the coming years, which will push hospitals and health providers to search for ways to reduce health expenditures. RPM could represent one means of controlling costs by reducing in-office visits and hospitalizations, according to the report.

RPM also helps doctors track patients’ health while enabling patients to remain in their homes, which can be appealing to patients because it cuts out travel and wait times associated with in-office visits. RPM holds potential health-improvement benefits because the technology can deliver alerts before potentially life-threatening complications become visible.

Currently, the RPM market is dominated by two major players: Germany-based Biotronik and Minnesota-based Medtronic. Biotronik holds 23 percent market share, while Medtronic holds 20 percent. The next-biggest players are St. Jude Medical (14 percent), Boston Scientific (9 percent) and Philips Healthcare (8 percent), according to the report.

Biotronik says its Home Monitoring product can reduce in-office follow-up for patients with cardiac implantable electrical devices (CIEDs) such as pacemakers and ICDs by 40 percent.

“Hospitals, health insurance companies and politicians need to find solutions for handling the workload that results from follow-up visits for CIED patients,” said Dr. Carsten Stoepel, a physician affiliated with Biotronik. “There are two possibilities: pay to increase the capacities of the hospitals, or look for ways to work more efficiently, such as remote patient management tools like Biotronik Home Monitoring.”

[Photo from flickr user Bludgeoner86]

 

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