The patient monitoring market is expected to be worth more than $350 billion by 2025, as the focus is likely to move beyond device sales to solutions, according to a recent Frost & Sullivan’s report. The report, Patient Monitoring Industry—Analysis of Investment and Trends outlines the future of patient monitoring across the continuum of care, the shifts in the market, and investment opportunities.
Evolution of Patient Monitoring
Patient monitoring has evolved from ad hoc to continuous monitoring of multiple parameters, causing a surge in the amount of unprocessed and unorganized data available to clinicians for decision-making. To extract actionable information from this data, healthcare providers are turning to big data analytics and other analysis solutions. Predictive analytics is becoming a particularly important technology, as it not only presents the current state of the patient’s health but also predicts future illnesses. The success of this technology, among many others, attracted $566.3 million in investments in 2018.
“In the future, patient monitoring data will be combined with concurrent streams from numerous other sensors, as almost every life function will be monitored and its data captured and stored,” said Sowmya Rajagopalan, Advanced Medical Technologies Global Director at Frost & Sullivan. “The data explosion can be harnessed and employed through technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, etc., to deliver targeted, outcome-based therapies.”
Disruptive Innovations in Patient Monitoring
In addition to these machine learning and AI, patient monitoring solution developers will look to incorporate disruptive technologies such as:
1. Brain-computer interface (BCI)
From treating and monitoring users with mobility or speech disabilities, BCI now monitors and measures health metrics for healthy people and uses the information to analyze a person’s psychological state or emotional, cognitive state.
2. Wearables/Embedded/Biosensors
An increase in the chronic disease population and a shift in focus from treatment to prevention drive this technology. Continuous glucose monitors, blood pressure monitors, pulse oximeters, and electrocardiogram monitors are some of the main applications.
3. Smart Prosthetics/Smart Implants
These are crucial for patient management post-surgery or rehabilitation. They help in measuring the key parameters to support monitoring and early intervention to avoid readmission or complexities.
4. Nano-robotics/Digital Medicine
Digital pills and nanorobots are designed to monitor medicine intake to address the expensive, long-standing issue of non-adherence.
5. Advanced Materials/Smart Fabrics
This emerging field focuses on wound management, cardiac monitoring, and mental illness.
All these technologies and innovations are focused on providing real-time measurable value to the patient and healthcare institution. Future innovations will be aimed at mass personalization and availability.
