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DATAMONITOR: Homecare telehealth expected to grow despite current barriers to adoption(M2 PressWIRE Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) RDATE:30082007 London -- The desire to overcome the challenges facing all healthcare systems, including pressures to increase quality of care while decreasing overall healthcare costs, has lead to a growing interest in the application of telehealth solutions. In particular, homecare telehealth, also known as remote patient monitoring (RPM), is gaining traction and has already surpassed the clinical telehealth market. A new report by independent market analyst Datamonitor predicts the homecare telehealth market will grow at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 56% compared to 9.9% in the clinical market. The Datamonitor report, "Telehealth's Increasing Role in Healthcare," expects that the overall global telehealth market will exceed US$8 billion by 2012. Telehealth is the use of a digital network to provide automated monitoring and treatment delivery to a patient who is in a different physical location than the medical expert providing treatment. It can refer to simple communications like emails sent between patients and providers to extremely complex procedures like remote robotic surgery. Today, common forms of telehealth include video conferencing and home monitoring devices. For example, diabetics would be able to transmit their blood sugar levels to their provider for review, via a telephone line from the comfort of their home. This monitoring can improve patient outcomes and reduce the number of visits patients need to make to the hospital. Telehealth includes all aspects of the delivery of healthcare, including the administrative, financial and educational as well as the clinical areas of healthcare. The road to widespread telehealth adoption has a number of speed bumps A growing, ageing population coupled with a shortage of healthcare providers is one of the leading drivers of telehealth adoption. Telehealth increases access to healthcare by allowing providers to see more patients in less time without geographic constraints. Rising healthcare costs have also been at the forefront of recent healthcare agendas. Telehealth can decrease overall healthcare costs by monitoring patients daily and preventing them from requiring emergency care and expensive re-hospitalizations. However, significant barriers affect the uptake of telehealth. "Despite the benefits of telehealth, the lack of reimbursement for telehealth continues to be the most pressing challenge to widespread adoption," says Christine Chang, healthcare technology analyst with Datamonitor and author of the study. "With no financial incentive for healthcare providers to implement the technology, providers are likely to view telehealth as an increase in workload without a subsequent increase in pay." The telehealth market is increasing rapidly despite its current limited focus Despite the lack of reimbursement, the market's growth is nevertheless being driven by the sheer growth in numbers of the elderly and chronically ill population. While the use of telehealth is currently confined to a relatively small number of patients with a few particular conditions, in the near- to mid-term the adoption of telehealth will expand to greater numbers of patients and more areas of healthcare, leading to an even larger market. In the long-term, telehealth devices will also be directly available to general consumers, further increasing the scope of the market. Before uptake can increase, however, telehealth needs to move into the forefront of healthcare agendas and become an integral part of the daily practice of medicine. Successful telehealth solutions will be easily incorporated into clinical workflows and linked to other healthcare technologies like electronic health records (EHRs). Telehealth solutions must meet the needs of a diverse set of end users Additionally, to further increase adoption rates, telehealth solutions need to be better tailored to their end users. Telehealth technology is still in its early stages; devices are simplistic, yet complex at the same time and have not reached their full clinical potential. Furthermore, the market is not one-size-fits-all. Patients and providers are not all the same and thus, the technologies that they prefer will be different. The mismatch between available technologies and the day-to-day realities and preferences of end users needs to be addressed. Accuracy, mobility and ease of use are a few of the criteria that end users will use to judge which solutions they will purchase. Chang concludes: "Telehealth is an emerging market with great potential to increase the quality of care, improve the delivery of care and decrease costs. Today's strong customer base will continue to grow as the benefits of telehealth become more apparent. However, the work flow processes and technology need to improve before telehealth adoption becomes more widespread." Ends Notes for Editors: Datamonitor's report, "Telehealth's Increasing Role in Healthcare," examines the market, strategy and technology forces driving the adoption of telehealth. This report also provides a forecast of spending on telehealth solutions in North America and Europe through 2012. Datamonitor is the world's leading provider of online data, analytic and forecasting platforms for key vertical sectors. We help our clients, 5,000 of the world's leading companies profit from better, more timely decisions. Through our proprietary databases and wealth of expertise, we provide clients with unbiased expert analysis and in-depth forecasts for seven industry sectors: Automotive & Logistics, Consumer Markets, Energy, Financial Services, Healthcare, Retail and Technology. Datamonitor maintains its headquarters in London and has regional offices in Frankfurt, New York, San Francisco and Sydney. CONTACT: Krishna Raoin, Press Office, Datamonitor Tel+ 44 20 7551 9336 e-mail: [email protected] email [email protected] Suzanna Eygabroat, Press Office, Datamonitor, US Tel: +1 585 374 6326 x 17 e-mail: [email protected] Denis Mason, Press Office, Datamonitor, Asia-Pacific Tel: +61 2 8705 6903 e-mail: [email protected] WWW: http://www.datamonitor.com ((M2 Communications Ltd disclaims all liability for information provided within M2 PressWIRE. Data supplied by named party/parties. Further information on M2 PressWIRE can be obtained at http://www.presswire.net on the world wide web. Inquiries to [email protected])). Copyright 2007 M2 Communications Ltd. |