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According to a new market research study conducted by Insight Research Corporation, those supporting the $2.3 trillion U.S. healthcare industry will be spending $55 billion over the next five years on telecommunications services.
The hospitals, physicians, pharmaceutical companies, and insurance providers that make up the U.S. healthcare system will aid in a 8.4 percent growth in telecommunications services over the forecasted period, increasing from $7.5 billion in 2008 to $11.3 billion in 2013.
The market analysis, "Telecom, IT, and Healthcare: Wireless, Wireline and Digital Healthcare, 2008-2013," stated that forces external to the healthcare industry, including an aging population and worker shortages, are pushing the industry to look for alternative approaches to current business practices.
Better practices are projected to heavily rely on telecommunications services. Most of the expenses inherent in the current system are related to the proximity of the patient and provider, as well as to the outdated administrative systems used to manage records and exchange information. Telecommunications can bridge these proximity gaps as well as provide a normalized set of baseline data that can remain secure and yet be shared among healthcare workers.
"Many of the trends we predicted in our previous study of the health care and telecommunications segments have come to pass, including increases in per capita spending, insurance premiums, and rates of treatment," says Insight Research President, Robert Rosenberg.
"Telecommunications and information technology providers have responded with more bandwidth, packet services, healthcare applications (video monitoring, electronic health records, and telemedicine), and wireless access to pull costs out of the current healthcare system," Rosenberg concluded.
Michelle Robart is a Contributing Editor at TMCnet. To read more of her articles please visit her columnist page.
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