Telemedicine to Save Healthcare Industry $21 Billion
Globally by 2025; Driven by Teleconsultation Services
A new study by Juniper Research has
found that telemedicine will save the healthcare industry $21 billion in costs
by 2025; rising from $11 billion in 2021. This represents a growth rate of over
80% in the next four years. The concept of telemedicine involves the remote
provision of healthcare services and includes technologies such as
teleconsultations, remote patient monitoring and chatbots.
The research identified teleconsultations, a service that enables patients and
physicians to interact remotely, as a key service that will enable these
significant savings. However, it cautioned that savings would be restricted to
developed nations where access to required devices and Internet connectivity is
prevalent. As a result, it predicted that over 80% of savings will be attributable
to North America and Europe by 2025.
Deregulation of Telemedicine Needed to Maximise
Growth
The new report, Telemedicine: Emerging
Technologies, Regional Readiness & Market Forecasts 2021 2025,
estimated that over 280 million teleconsultations were performed in 2019.
However, this rose to 348 million in 2020, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. It
anticipated that the activities of third party healthcare service developers
will be crucial in accelerating the deployment of emerging telemedicine
services, and increasing the uptake amongst healthcare providers.
However, the report predicted that the significant investment into integrating
telemedicine services, and the requirement of data protection, such as HIPAA
(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) in the US, will
discourage adoption amongst smaller healthcare providers. To foster the
adoption of telemedicine services, the report recommended that healthcare
regulatory bodies continue to deregulate telemedicine services to minimise any
remaining barriers to entry for smaller healthcare providers.
Research author, Adam Wears, remarked: ‘Any deregulation must ensure
that patient confidentiality is not undermined. Additionally, we recommend that
innovative and emerging teleconsultation services are integrated into existing
healthcare technologies, such as electronic health records, to maximise their
benefits to healthcare providers.’
Juniper Research provides research and analytical services to the global
hi-tech communications sector; providing consultancy, analyst reports and
industry commentary.
Source: Juniper Research media announcement
