Global Healthcare’s Three Big Forecasts: mHealth, Cloud Healthcare, and Regulator Environments

Frost & Sullivan (Mountain View, CA, USA), an international growth consultancy company, reported in December 2013 its three big predictions for the global healthcare market. Based on a “2013 Search for Growth” survey, which involved 1,835 executives in more than 40 countries worldwide, Frost & Sullivan’s insight highlighted new fields of growth and stated that mHealth (mobile health), the cloud in healthcare, and regulatory environments will be the major themes in 2014 and beyond.

“Frost & Sullivan’s research team has used the findings to select and prioritize the subjects that are deemed to be poised for the greatest growth,” explained Frost & Sullivan partner Dorman Followwill. “The insight has also been essential in unveiling the business outlook for pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, clinical diagnostics, and medical devices, as well as to provide a global perspective on the industry’s geographic hot spots.

mHealth expansion has been fuelled by the unprecedented spread of mobile technologies, as well as further developments in their novel application to address health priorities. It is mostly supported by mobile devices, such as mobile phones, patient monitoring devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and other wireless devices. The penetration outlook of mHealth technologies is significant in the following areas: wireless vital signs monitoring, location-aware telemonitoring systems, and Bluetooth wireless technology-enabled health trackers. It is a promising area of opportunity for healthcare growth and it will provide novel systems for participants and for both providers and patients across the spectrum.

Furthermore, as more healthcare information technology (IT) and patient monitoring tools are incorporated, every hospital facility will ultimately have to acquire a fully-enterprise wireless solution. The most innovative mobile healthcare solutions that best meet pressing healthcare needs will be adopted as the gold standard.

Enterprise-wide healthcare informatics will also improve the quality of medical services and efficiency of operations while slashing costs. Cloud computing is considered to be an essential enabler for enterprise-wide systems. Implementing cloud computing technologies correctly will help healthcare providers improve the quality of medical services and the effectiveness of operations, share data across geographic locations, and manage costs. The model can be applied in a range of ways, including data storage and data loss prevention, maintaining patient information records and authorized sharing of information.

The benefits that cloud computing provide can change the dynamics of the healthcare informatics industry over time. The need for efficient sharing of information across locations in a synchronized way will be a key driver for cloud computing in healthcare.

As for regulatory environment, recent healthcare reforms and policy initiatives across many countries have stressed the importance of quality of care more than quantity. In the absence of a sufficient proof of clinical benefit, reimbursements may become a major obstacle.

Overall, three big predictions may be expressed based on the survey’s findings: (1) as healthcare moves towards a customized medicine model, companion diagnostics will change drug development and the marketing process of drug candidates. Combining biomarkers and drugs will result in enhanced therapeutic efficacy and safety. (2) The healthcare and life sciences industry will additionally consolidate in this decade, with many big pharma companies looking for alternatives to the blockbuster model. (3) Lastly, the increase of new technologies capable of integrating medical devices into a connected platform will enhance the functionality of devices, decrease labor burden, and curtail errors.

Other significant areas that have emerged from the same survey include cancer market outlook, remote monitoring, drug delivery market, patient and consumer engagement, eHealth medical records, dashboards, medical devices growth drivers, drug discovery research outsourcing market, homecare market trends, video telemedicine, and cardiovascular therapeutics.

Frost & Sullivan collaborates with clients to utilize recent developments that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today’s market participants.

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