mHealth: Healthcare Goes Mobile

Mobile health (mHealth) solutions that allow patient consultation and monitoring, among other benefits, are surging in popularity as the spread of smartphones and tablets expands, says healthcare industry analysts GlobalData in a new report.

The latest research* states that the global mHealth market was worth $1.2B in 2011, but will jump in value to reach $11.8B by 2018, climbing at an impressive Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 39%.

mHealth involves the use of mobile applications and devices to monitor a patient’s health remotely and is streaking ahead as the fastest growing segment within the telehealth and telemedicine market.

GlobalData attributes the substantial predicted growth to the widespread use of mobile phones that allow faster, easier and broader access to healthcare services. Products such as the iPhone, as well as Android and Blackberry platform devices all offer ‘apps’ that cover a wide spectrum of healthcare topics – from fitness and nutrition, to diagnostic imaging.

The large majority of the mHealth market is taken up by software and services, accounting for 80% of the total. The two other sections of the industry are hardware, which makes up 12% of the market, and network and connectivity, which occupies the remaining 8%.

The software and services portion of the industry is driven by rapidly emerging health apps designed to fill key gaps in the mobile healthcare market.  Approximately 70% of available healthcare apps are consumer focused, while the remaining 30% are designed for medical professionals – the latter of which are typically more sophisticated and can offer clinicians access to patient information and the ability to conduct further analysis such as creating 3D anatomical models.

The US is the main market for mHealth solutions and made a contribution of $660m to the global market in 2011. Europe and the Asia-Pacific region contributed $420m and $120m, respectively.

* Telehealth and Telemedicine – Global Opportunity Assessment, Competitive Landscape and Market Forecasts to 2018

This report provides key data, information and analysis on the global telehealth and telemedicine market.

This report was built using data and information sourced from proprietary databases, primary and secondary research, and in-house analysis conducted by GlobalData’s team of industry experts.

About Globaldata
GlobalData is a leading global business intelligence provider offering advanced analytics to help clients make better, more informed decisions every day. Our research and analysis is based on the expert knowledge of over 700 qualified business analysts and 25,000 interviews conducted with industry insiders every year, enabling us to offer the most relevant, reliable and actionable strategic business intelligence available for a wide range of industries.