Mobile health device market to grow 8X to $42B

Driven by adoption of vital-signs monitoring and in-vitro diagnostic (IVD) devices, the mobile health (mHealth) market will grow eight-fold from $5.1 billion in 2013 to $41.8 billion in 2023, according to a new report.

The report, from Lux Research, notes that after a slow start due to regulatory constraints and integration with physician workflows, clinical mHealth devices will overtake and far outpace their consumer counterparts, which include mHealth bracelets that measure physcial activity and some vital signs.

For example, last year, sales of clinical vital signs monitoring devices generated $372 million in revenue. By 2023, they’ll generate $16 billion — a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 46%. By comparison, consumer mHealth devices will grow from $2.5 billion to $7 billion, an 11% CAGR, Lux said.

“Clinical markets will be able to pay much more for comparable services, especially if a device is able to reduce patient recovery times or readmission rates, which can lead to outsized cost savings for the health care provider,” Nick Kurkjy, Lux Research associate and the report’s lead author, stated in a news release.

The report, titled “mHealth Showdown: Consumer and Clinical Devices’ Battle for Market Dominance,” notes that in-vitro diagnostic and vital signs devices will make up 75% of the mHealth device market by 2023.

“We project that these two will combine to make a $32.9 billion market by 2023,” the report stated.

The smartphone boom has also spurred increased venture capital funding for mHeatlh device companies, the report stated.

Venture capital funding for mHealth devices has risen sharply since 2007, reaching $480 million in 2013, driven by the launch of the iPhone and the growing popularity of smartphones.

This article, Mobile health device market to grow 8X to $42B, was originally published at Computerworld.com.

Lucas Mearian covers consumer data storage, consumerization of IT, mobile device management, renewable energy, telematics/car tech and entertainment tech for Computerworld. Follow Lucas on Twitter at @lucasmearian or subscribe to Lucas’s RSS feed . His e-mail address is lmearian@computerworld.com.

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