According to Global Telemedicine Market – Growth, Trends & Forecasts (2015-2020), the global market for telemedicine is expected to surpass $34 by 2020. Certain factors have led to the exponential growth in this market. These factors are the hasty rise in software markets, and an increase in the number of chronic disease incidents. Also, the increased aged population has also contributed to the consistent growth of telemedicine.
North America accounts for 40 percent of the global market size. A majority of healthcare systems are trying to reduce the number of hospital visits. Also, with telemedicine patients are monitored efficiently from a home environment, and they can access services of a medic promptly anytime. These conveniences and benefits have resulted in the growth of the market. The increase in healthcare costs has increased the efficiency of telemedicine.
This kind of medical services delivery is popular and advantageous for patients aged over 60 years. Since many patients in the developing countries are located in remote areas, their monitoring requires telemedicine for efficiency. Therefore, remote monitoring of the patients is another factor that is expected to propel growth to surpass the $34 billion mark by 2020.
Nonetheless, high technology costs, poor implementation, reimbursement concerns and physician support are hampering the growth of this market. This global market can be segmented on the basis of type, technology, applications and geography. The types of telemedicine include clinics, tell hospitals and home. Their applications include teledermatology, teleconsultation, telesurgery, telepathology, teleradiology and many others.
The major participants of the market include Medical International Research, Aerotel Medical Systems, Healthcare Solutions Inc., 3M Health. Telemedicine uses health information technologies to achieve its goals thus it is complementary with health IT. Telemedicine provides remote clinical services, and it is a subset of telehealth. These kinds of services are provided using the Internet, video conferencing, and store-and-forward imaging.
Some of the technologies involved are a bit expensive. However, with the increase in demand for the telemedicine services in developing nations, the global market is consistently expanding. This expansion rate has resulted in analysts predicting that telemedicine market growth will exceed $34 billion in five years.