Clinical telemedicine to expand by 2002

Citation

(1998), "Clinical telemedicine to expand by 2002", Industrial Robot, Vol. 25 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.1998.04925cab.015

Clinical telemedicine to expand by 2002

Clinical telemedicine to expand by 2002

Keywords Information technology, Medical, Telemedicine

Clinical telemedicine programs have existed in various forms for the past 40 years, but until the 1990s, most programs in the area of health care delivery either received federal or state funding or were limited to teleradiology. However, recent technological advances, such as powerful, affordable desktop computing, compressed video, high resolution digitizers, fiberoptics and image archiving, have opened the field to commercial expansion. While this new penetration of the commercial market will cause a significant rise in the volume of telemedicine, the total rate of revenue growth for health care-related information technology is expected to decline in most market segments ­ with the exception of telemonitoring equipment, peripherals for the fastest growing telemedicine specialties and interactive desktop systems ­ as per unit price decreases depress the total expenditure amounts.

According to a soon-to-be-released Business Communications Company study, RB-122 Telemedicine Opportunities for Medical and Electronic Providers, the total US market for health care related information was valued at $1.0 trillion for 1997, and is expected to rise to $1.2 trillion in 2002, reflecting an average annual growth rate (AAGR) of only 3.0 percent, despite the trend toward an aging population. This is attributed partly to the fact that managed care has effectively limited the growth in health care costs, and, as a result, sales of traditional big ticket items, such as medical imaging equipment, have stagnated.

BCC points out that the demand for telemedicine products, assuming that full reimbursement for these services continues, will rise. The US market is projected to reach nearly $3 billion in 2002, rising from an estimated $65 million in 1997, based on high growth rates of leading market segments such as interactive video room systems and telemedicine workstations and teleradiology systems. The value of telemedicine products, in particular in the interactive desktop unit segment, will see an estimated AAGR of 35 percent between 1997 and 2002, despite drops in per unit prices.

The real boom in this field will begin at the turn of the century as trends toward universal reimbursement and less restricted licensing arrangements take full effect. As reimbursement and other barriers recede, many of those sites currently conducting 50 or 100 teleconsults annually will increase their volume by many times. BCC concludes that products and services which can capitalize on the higher consulting volume (e.g. storage products and telecommunication services) could have exponential growth potential.