Mobile apps are becoming a more significant component of the e-health movement, as the medical and insurance communities team up to try to add new efficiencies to the health care system without compromising the quality of treatment. Skepticism within the medical profession continues to be a barrier. But a new marketplace estimate suggests the confluence of several critical factors will open the way for a major market bust-out in the near future.
The latest market estimate comes from market research firm Visiongain, which pegs mHealth, or medical mobile device, sales at $6.7 billion by the end of this year.
This would represent a considerable leap, given that estimates earlier this year for the entire fitness and health app market came in at $8 billion by 2018 for this potentially lucrative, evolving market.
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What exactly is the mHealth market? Visiongain defines it as "a term used for the practice of medicine and health services, through mobile devices. In its most common form, it refers to using mobile communication devices, such as smartphones and tablets, for health services and information. mHealth applications include the use of mobile devices in collecting community and clinical health data, delivery of healthcare information to practitioners, researchers, and patients, real-time monitoring of patient vital signs, and direct provision of care, via mobile telemedicine."
Visiongain says the rapid expansion of the mobile health apps marketplace will be driven by — what else? — cost. The apps are coming down in price, which makes them more attractive to purchasers in general. And those attempting to control medical and health insurance spending are being drawn by the promise these apps offer of greater efficiencies in health care management.
"The emergence of low-cost smartphones has allowed wider access to app stores, which are now home to over a million mHealth apps," Visiongain said in a release. "These range between freemium apps geared around diet and daily fitness routines, scaling up to costly premium apps with elaborate clinical reference points, images, diagnostic, and monitoring functions.
"Austerity measures have forced many health departments around the globe to rein in their spending and find more cost-effective ways of operating. Enabling them to diagnose, monitor, and communicate with patients remotely, mHealth promises extensive cost-savings for healthcare professionals and institutions. This new industry will also pay dividends to network operators, software developers, and data platform management providers who may turn their core competencies onto the medical field."
While fitness and health apps continue to attract users, slow adoption overall has limited market growth thus far. But Visiongain may be prophetic in suggesting the time is ripe for a quantum leap in mobile health app sales. Consumers have shown they will use apps for certain fitness and medical uses due to their convenience and quick feedback, and now employers say they are in favor of integrating health apps into their employee health plan design because of the potential for telemedicine to contain health plan cost.
Meantime, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been directing more regulatory resources to health apps to try to keep up with waves of such apps as the tech industry competes for medical app market share. Visiongain's aggressive forecast takes into account this frenzy of app development activity.
"The advent of connected devices and M2M is offering a tremendous opportunity for health care professionals. Near-ubiquitous mobile networks are allowing carers to diagnose, monitor, and communicate with patients with unprecedented speed and efficacy," Visiongain said.
Its full report on the mHealth sector is available for sale here.
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
