Remote Monitoring Market Poised for Growth

Earlier this month, Representative Anna Eshoo (D–CA) introduced the Medicare Remote Monitoring Access Act of 2008 in the House. The legislation would amend the Social Security Act to cover remote patient management services for certain chronic health conditions under the Medicare program.

Stephen J. Ubl, president and CEO of industry association AdvaMed (Washington, DC), applauded the bill's introduction, as well as the potential that remote monitoring holds for enhancing patient care and reducing healthcare costs. “What was once only science fiction is now patient care reality,” he stated. “With remote monitoring technologies, a physician can evaluate and manage complex chronic diseases from remote locations and provide real-time care for patients. Unfortunately, the adoption and widespread diffusion of such innovations have been stymied by antiquated reimbursement systems.”

Ubl noted that the legislation would require Medicare to cover remote monitoring services used to manage care for patients with congestive heart failure and cardiac arrhythmia. “It also requires CMS to work with stakeholders to develop a standard of care for using remote monitoring for those conditions,” he said. “We are pleased the bill also establishes a demonstration program to evaluate the promise of Medicare coverage of remote monitoring services for three other serious and chronic conditions: diabetes, epilepsy, and sleep apnea.”

Kalorama Information (New York City) reports that the development of remote monitoring technologies is being driven by current healthcare trends, including an aging population and a shortage of healthcare workers, as well as the advent of new wireless technologies. In a new report, High-Tech Patient Monitoring Systems, the market research firm reports that U.S. sales of new-generation patient monitoring systems added up to an estimated $3.9 billion dollars for device manufacturers in 2007—a figure that could more than double in five years.

The report—which encompasses wireless and remote patient monitors, patient data processing applications and equipment, and electronic medical record (EMR) data transfer equipment and applications—estimates that the U.S. market for new technologies in patient monitoring will grow to $11.1 billion by 2012, reflecting compound annual growth of 23.3%. Growth will increase over the forecast period as compatibility, privacy, and security issues continue to be resolved, the firm reports.

Kalorama further observes that the diseases that constitute the greatest portion of U.S. healthcare spending—asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, chronic heart disease, and diabetes—are also among those most amenable to patient monitoring. “Unfortunately, there are significant barriers to implementation, including costs, technological incompatibility, privacy and security issues, and education of healthcare personnel in use of the technologies,” the report states. “Through the efforts of federal agencies, international agencies, and industry groups, these concerns should be overcome in the foreseeable future, resulting in a more efficient, more productive, and more cost-effective healthcare system.”

The report notes that a vast number of companies offer some form of wireless and remote technologies, patient data processing applications and equipment, and EMR data transfer equipment. “Competitors supplying new technologies in patient monitoring to hospitals are large, established healthcare companies, often working in conjunction with information technology (IT) companies on an entire system,” the report states. “The home healthcare and other sectors are much more fragmented and are dominated by privately held companies.”

Within the hospital market, leaders include Abbott, Drager Medical, GE Healthcare, Philips Medical, Roche, and Welch Allyn, the report states. Leaders in the home healthcare market include Honeywell HomMed and Viterion TeleHealthcare.

In addition, some companies supply innovative products focused on a small segment of the market. Examples cited in the report include Medtronic and St. Jude Medical, both with cardiac monitoring products. Others, such as AMD Telemedicine, supply only peripherals.

To read more about the latest IT innovations driving medical device connectivity—including remote patient monitoring technologies—check out MX magazine's annual IT Showcase in the upcoming May/June issue.

© 2008 Canon Communications LLC

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