Chronic Disease Management Grows mHealth

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

The mHealth market is poised to grow to $41 billion by 2020 and experts credit the expected growth to chronic disease management and sensor technology.

A report from Soreon Research posits the mHealth market is expected to grow to $41 billion by 2020 due in part to an increase in demand for chronic disease management technology and the availability of sensor technology. Currently, the market is only at $2 billion dollars.

Fierce Mobile Healthcare reports the healthcare growth segments that will drive the market's 65 percent annual growth rate include diabetes, obesity, sleep disorders, and cardiovascular disease. The key drivers of future growth include advances in sensor technologies, ubiquitous mobile Internet, and strongly growing populations with chronic diseases. According to the report, the financial pressures on healthcare systems provide fertile soil for innovative solutions.

“Today, we are at the mere beginning of this deep transformation of the healthcare sector. New technologies are being developed by innovative medtech companies, pharma, mobile phone manufacturers, software companies, start-ups and research organizations around the world,” says Pascal Koenig, Research Director at Soreon in an announcement. “The penetration of smart wearable healthcare technology will take years, even decades in some cases. However, the combination of enormous clinical benefits with the potential for cost savings will result in a strongly growing market.”

“The focus of healthcare will shift from treatment to prevention. Future medical care will be highly personalized and new players will change industry dynamics,” emphasizes Koenig. “Providers of wearable technologies and software companies are playing an increasing role in the medical field, thereby challenging the established relationship among patients, doctors and hospitals.”