Dive Brief:
- According to a report from IHS Technology, global revenue for home health care devices and services will shoot up to $12.6 billion in 2018. That's up from $5.7 billion in 2013.
- IHS noted that many home health devices are converging. For example, a device might have telehealth capabilities, activity monitoring or integrated heart rate sensors, MobiHealthNews notes in its report.
- Along the same lines, according to MobiHealthNews, AOL co-founder Steve Case believes that digital health companies today offering "features" will be phased out in favor of firms offering platforms over the next 5 to 10 years.
Dive Insight:
It makes a great deal of sense for home health technologies to converge, as consumers are more likely to use products that are convenient. The study doesn't get into the issue of what institutions and doctors will do with the massive amount of data produced by these home health devices. Some have already said they simply don't have a means of integrating all of this data into their workflow. That is likely to be a stumbling block in the maturing of this market.