Sales to exceed $3 billion by 2019 driven by Apple and Samsung APIs

Healthcare-focussed smartphone interfaces launched by Samsung and Apple will be instrumental in propelling the global healthcare accessory hardware market to $3 billion by 2019, according to a new report from analyst house Juniper Research.

The report argues that greater visibility and availability of healthcare smartphone platforms will encourage independent device manufacturers to launch a wider array of increasingly sophisticated mobile health products. Such devices include blood pressure cuffs, oximeters for diabetes and sleep monitors for sleep apnoea.

However, the report observes that although Apple’s HealthKit and Samsung’s Architecture for Multimodal Interactions (SAMI) user interfaces will popularise consumer digital health, they could also impact the opportunity for bespoke remote patient monitoring devices. 

Report author Anthony Cox noted that: “As health platforms support more ‘medical’ devices, rather than just today’s fitness trackers, they will usurp the territory occupied by chronic disease monitoring companies.”

The report also notes that, driven by aging populations and increased chronic disease incidence, ‘ObamaCare’ is bringing about a rethink in how healthcare needs should be addressed, with the medical profession increasingly considering the role of digital health. This will manifest itself in several ways including: healthcare companies investing in major digital healthcare players such as Epocrates and AirStrip; advanced electronic health records (EHR) becoming the glue to create wider digital health ecosystems; and regulatory authorities embracing the role of digital health and imposing less stringent regulatory obligations on digital health companies.

It found that despite a more positive outlook for the digital health industry’s future, widespread, well-documented trials are still needed to galvanise take up of remote patient monitoring projects. Furthermore questions remain over how digital healthcare projects will be reimbursed.