Telemedicine: Opportunities for Medical and Electronic Providers

Additional Information

INTRODUCTION

STUDY GOALS AND OBJECTIVES This is an update of an earlier BCC report (December 2007). BCC’s goal in updating the report is to assess the impact of post-2007 technical, economic, legal/regulatory, business, and other developments on the global market for telemedicine technologies and services. Objectives of both the original and the updated studies include:

• Defining new avenues in the telemedicine market, mainly in terms of cutting-edge technology development, value-added services, and newer applications
• Providing an in-depth understanding of the economics of telemedicine in terms of business models, a cost-benefit analysis, and information for an investment business case
• Identifying opportunities for all the stakeholders in telemedicine
• Making a comprehensive market forecast (2010 to 2015) of telemedicine and all its key subsegments.

BCC’s key objective is to present a comprehensive analysis of the current telemedicine market and its future direction. REASONS FOR THE STUDY

Companies require clarity regarding the main markets for telemedicine technologies and services. BCC is interested in providing a comprehensive market forecast for multiple market segments (e.g., technologies, services, applications, geographical).

There has been a global focus on the use of telemedicine as a tool to cut down healthcare costs and bring about mammoth savings. BCC is interested in studying the ways in which collaborative healthcare can be better and more economically implemented through telemedicine. Recently announced best practices to cut down global healthcare costs, including outsourced medical services, home-based treatment, intervention as opposed to post treatment, integrated information technology (IT) environments, increased efficiency of healthcare resources, and reducing billing gaps, all point toward the increasing use of telemedicine.

BCC aims to identify the key success factors in the telemedicine market and to gauge the ways in which this market can significantly affect larger markets such as healthcare, health insurance, home care, telecommunications (telecom), networking, disease management, e-health, and healthcare IT. The report is well-timed, as major Tier I stakeholders are entering the telemedicine market.

INTENDED AUDIENCE

This report is intended for telemedicine hardware manufacturers, software providers, telecom and networking companies, the healthcare industry, and healthcare insurance companies. Key takeaways include the identification and quantification of markets for technology and services in the telemedicine market. Opportunities are defined in terms of market forecasts, avenues, trends, market drivers, and competitive gaps.

TELEMEDICINE HARDWARE MANUFACTURERS

This includes hardware manufacturers of home care units (e.g., vital signals), videoconferencing equipment, and store-and-forward (i.e., radiological and pathological) units. The report provides market forecasts for the 5-year period from 2010 through 2015. It provides analysis of recent technology developments and includes profiles of main players, benchmarking information, key buying criteria, and value-chain mapping.

TELEMEDICINE SOFTWARE PROVIDERS

Market forecasts are included for telehomes and telehospitals/clinics across different geographic markets.



TELECOM AND NETWORKING COMPANIES The report describes a business model that can be executed by large telecom companies that can use it to increase their market share over the near to midterm. Telecom companies can use the business model to facilitate consolidation. They can also get an overview of the total number of connections forecast for telemedicine users and a forecast of the market.

TELEMEDICINE SERVICE PROVIDERS

The report provides telemedicine integrators with a market forecast of the telemedicine service market. It highlights value-added services and unique business models of telemedicine that can help to win business success.

HEALTHCARE COMPANIES

Hospitals, home care companies, disease management companies, specialist, and clinics can obtain a detailed market forecast for telecardiology, teleradiology, telepsychiatry, teledermatology, telepathology, and other telemedicine applications.

HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES

Private and government health insurance companies will get a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the global telemedicine market and all its main players. This report provides business cases to aid their decisions when investing in telemedicine.

SCOPE OF REPORT

This report focuses on global markets for telemedicine technologies and services. The discussion is organized into nine chapters and appendices, as shown below:

• Telemedicine Overview
• Telemedicine Technologies and Markets (including analysis of key patents)
• Telemedicine Services
• Telemedicine Applications
• Economics of Telemedicine
• Opportunities Analysis
• Consolidation and Ownership Trends
• Profiles of Important Players
• Conclusions
• Appendices

• List of Telemedicine Programs Studied
• Allowable Telemedicine Providers and Services for Medicaid Reimbursement
• Medicaid Reimbursement Mechanisms for Telemedicine
• Acronyms

METHODOLOGY AND INFORMATION SOURCES

BCC Research obtained the information on which this report is based from interviews with manufacturers and users of telemedicine technologies and services, as well as from reviews of secondary sources such as company literature, conference proceedings, and related government data.

The previous edition of this report contained an in-depth benchmarking analysis of the top 176 telemedicine programs operating globally in terms of the technology deployed, funding arrangement, telemedicine suppliers, operations, and number of sites. The results of this analysis, updated where possible, are included here because of the unique nature of this report.

BCC Research based its market projections on various factors such as technology developments and industry issues, among other conditions. All market projections are expressed in 2009 constant dollars.