Aging Populations and Increased Healthcare Costs Driving Growth of Telehealth
Healthcare providers in the U.S. are embracing telehealth, as indicated by Kalorama Information’s latest research report on the telemedicine patient monitoring market. According to the research firm, the telehealth market in the U.S. grew from 4.2 billion in 2007 to over 10 billion dollars in 2012. While the market is still relatively small, it’s accelerating as awareness of the cost effectiveness of telehealth grows.
Kalorama defines telemedicine as a patient monitor used outside of an acute healthcare setting that can transmit vital signs or other information to a healthcare professional for interpretation or action, usually from a patient’s home. Two-way communication in audio or video, EHR/EMR data transfer advanced diagnostics are among the additional features that some of these devices provide.  The trend today is to wrap the term telemedince under telehealth, a broader definition of remote healthcare that does not always involve clinical services.
According to Kalorama’s research, escalation of the patient monitoring market in the U.S. is being driven by a number of factors including:
- Aging population
- Increased healthcare costs
- Dwindling healthcare resources
- Advancing technologies
- Proven cost effectiveness of patient monitoring
“The jump in growth in remote healthcare technology isn’t all that surprising”, says Joel E. Barthelemy, Founder and Managing Director of GlobalMed. “These technologies are quickly becoming commonplace for healthcare organizations and providers across the U.S. and around the world as telehealth enables providers to evaluate, diagnose and treat patients remotely on a  cost-effective basis.”
The report indicates the telehealth market will continue to grow through advancement and development of new technologies and through replacement of older monitoring equipment by wireless or remote monitor. Growth will also be fueled as issues related to compatibility, privacy, and security are resolved.