Dive Brief:
- Widespread adoption of telehealth across the globe could save governments substantial amounts on healthcare costs as well as deliver medicial services to communities that have previously been under-served or too rural to receive care, GBI Research reports.
- GBI suggests telehealth is growing thanks to advancements in mobile technology and applications, as well as interest in cost-effective healthcare and rising populations.
- The report estimates wide usage of telehealth services could save more than $6 billion per year in in the U.S.
Dive Insight:
The estimated savings are based on the potential for telehealth to impact healthcare in a variety of ways, including reduced readmissions through remote monitoring, reductions in unnecessary ER visits through emergency mobile visits, and reductions to "wasted capacity" through mobile visits. Additional savings would be expected most notably through remote preventive care and assessments, communications and education.
However, challenges remain to the widespread implementation of telehealth, co-authors Rishikesh Mandilwar and Rodrigo Gutierrez Gamboa, managing analysts at GBI Research, report. These include concerns about data security and privacy, and a lack of IT expertise in some of the developing economies that could benefit the most.
The authors note the telehealth industry leaders currently include 3M, Aerotel Medical Systems, AMD Global Telemedicine, CardioComm, Honeywell HomMed, and Philips Healthcare.