Firm sees Health Data Gateway as Strategic Investment Focus
for device makers, care providers
New
digital health research from Parks Associates predicts U.S. unit sales of
networked medical devices will exceed 14 million units by 2018, more than five
times the sales from 2012. In the report Networked Medical Devices: Innovations
& Business Models, analysts attribute multiple factors in driving this
market, including an aging population and reforms spearheaded by the Affordable
Care Act (ACA).
"The addressable market for networked
medical devices includes 68 million Americans with hypertension and 26 million
with diabetes," said Harry Wang, Director, Health & Mobile Product
Research, Parks Associates.
"Consumers are also
demanding more autonomy in managing their care, which will drive the market in
2014 to improve patients' self-care experience. Network
connectivity will enable new business models built on health software and
services instead of hardware and
consumable sales."
Parks Associates reports networked medical devices,
including weight scales, glucometers, and ECGs, will use a variety of networking
protocols, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and ANT+, to enable patient self-care and
point-of-care diagnosis.The networking functions on these medical devices
create the need to aggregate sensor, test, and behavioral data, so solutions
such as Qualcomm Life’s 2Net platform, which aggregates device data and can
transmit to the cloud, will become more important in 2014.
"The health data gateway market will garner substantial
interest from both device makers and care providers,” Wang said. “Health data
will be a hot commodity in this ACA era. Device makers and health
data gateway providers, both incumbents and start-ups, will leverage these data
to build new revenue opportunities and create new business partnerships."
Parks Associates analysts noted Alere’s acquisition of
MedApps adds a cloud-based solution to the company's offerings. Omron
Healthcare’s Bluetooth blood-pressure monitor is competing with
smartphone-based WiThings’ solution, and Insulet’s OmniPod Insulin Pump will
face challenges from San Diego-based Tandem Diabetes Care and U.K.-based
CellNovo. In niche device categories such as pulse oximeter and sleep apnea
test devices, innovations from incumbents such as Nonim, Masimo, and ResMed and
start-ups such as iHealth Labs and NovaSom will broaden the use cases of these
devices for both end users and care professionals.
Device categories analyzed in Networked Medical Devices:
Innovations & Business Models include weight scale, blood-pressure monitor,
glucometer, insulin pump, ECG, pulse oximeter, sleep apnea test, and home INR
test.
About Parks Associates: Parks Associates is an
internationally recognized market research and consulting company specializing
in emerging consumer technology products and services. Founded in 1986, Parks
Associates creates research capital for companies ranging from Fortune 500 to
small start-ups through market reports, primary studies, consumer research,
custom research, workshops, executive conferences, and annual service
subscriptions.
The company's expertise includes digital media and
platforms, entertainment and gaming, home networks, Internet and television
services, digital health, mobile applications and services, support services,
consumer apps, advanced advertising, consumer electronics, energy management,
and home control systems and security.
Each year, Parks Associates hosts industry webcasts, the
CONNECTIONS™ Conference Series, and Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer.
