Market Research
Healthcare Reform to Boost Telehealth 55% in 2013

Healthcare Reform to Boost Growth in Telehealth Market by 55 Percent in 2013
Austin, TX 19 Dec 2012 – From 2010 to 2011 usage of remote patient monitoring, or telehealth, increased by 22.2 percent as the number of patients enrolled worldwide reached 241,200. However, telehealth device revenues only grew by 5.0 percent from 2010 to 2011; and 18.0 percent from 2011 to 2012. InMedica, a division of IMS Research (now part of IHS Inc.) attributes slow revenue growth over the last year to poor economic conditions leading to restrictions in healthcare funding particularly in Europe, and ambiguity on the impact of healthcare reform and readmission penalties on telehealth in the U.S.
In the U.S., there remained considerable uncertainty on the future of the US healthcare market and the role of telehealth in this market throughout 2012. As the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) began penalizing U.S. hospitals for readmissions in October 2012, many healthcare providers remained unclear on the potential impacts on their institutions and are yet to implement a post-acute care plan.
Older Adults’ Acceptance of Assistive Robots for the Home
The following is taken from a Georgia Tech research project that was supported in part by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (National Institute on Aging) under the auspices of the Center for Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement (CREATE-center.org). The market research explored general awareness and likely acceptance of assistive robots among 21 independent living seniors.
Robots have the potential to support older adults at home as they age in place, as well as if they live in assisted living or skilled nursing residences. They can conceivably support older adults for various activities, including self-maintenance and enhanced activities of daily living. For example, robots could assist older adults in performing a task, such as providing stability as they get dressed. They could also execute tasks that older adults can no longer do themselves, such as opening a jar, or tasks that may be unsafe to perform, such as retrieving items from a high shelf or (eventually) driving a car.
Health Care Waste: What $750 billion could buy.
According to the prestigious Institute of Medicine (IOM), “Thirty cents of every dollar spent on U.S. health care – a total of $750 billion – was wasted in 2009 on unnecessary services, excessive administrative costs, fraud and other problems.”
Read the PBS report.
There are many ways to portray healthcare inefficiencies. One way is to ridicule the industry by reflecting its waste onto other industries, as listed below. Another is to explore what the $750 billion in wasted money could buy, as Allison McCartney did in her infographic (below). We could also examine what’s possible if healthcare were to adopt best practices from other industries, including the computer industry.
Social Media in Politics
I’ve posted several articles about social media in HEALTHCARE, including:
- Patients Find and Help Each other in Social Media
- Social Media Growth is Fastest among Boomers
- Consumers use Social Media more than Health Companies
- Physicians find and help Patients through Social Media
- Physician use of Social Media
This article is about social media in POLITICS. While I try not to subject you to my own political views, they probably shows sometimes when I discuss things Obamacare, Medicare, regulatory oversight, and the future of medicine. But no matter what side of the issues you’re on, you may enjoy this infographic, because so many health-related issues are at stake in this year’s election. And if you feel compelled to do so, share your thoughts below and justify your views to others.
Population of over 60-year-olds to reach 1 billion by 2020
New UN report calls for urgent action by governments to address the needs of the “Greying Generation”
- 80% of world’s older people will live in developing countries by 2050
- Over 60 population will be larger than the under-15 population in 2050
The number of older persons is growing faster than any other age group, says a new report, Ageing in the Twenty-first Century: A Celebration and a Challenge, released 10/1/2012 on International Day of Older Persons by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, and HelpAge International.
The new report underlines that, while the trend of ageing societies is a cause for celebration, it also presents huge challenges as it requires completely new approaches to health care, retirement, living arrangements and intergenerational relations.
In 2000, for the first time in history, there were more people over 60 than children below 5. By 2050, the older generation will be larger than the under-15 population. In just 10 years, the number of older persons will surpass 1 billion people-an increase of close to 200 million people over the decade. Today two out of three people aged 60 or over, live in developing and emerging economies. By 2050, this will rise to nearly four in five.
Poverty in America — it’s not what you think.
As our presidential candidates debate the issues, what will they say about Poverty in America? And how do they plan to address the problem?

The Line is an important documentary that cover the stories of people across the country living at or below the poverty line. They have goals. They have children. They work hard. They are people like you and me. Across America, millions are struggling every day to make it above The Line.
Poverty is a drag on the economy that also affects the cost of healthcare, as I’ve written before in this blog.
- America’s Obesity Epidemic – a BIG Problem
- Sleep Apnea and Poverty: How Socioeconomics Impacts Diagnosis & Treatment
- States Slash Home Health Care & Services for the Neediest
Read the rest of this entry »
What’s Possible for Health Care?
If a new healthcare model saved $1 trillion per year, then those who wouldn’t get their old share would vigorously fight such disruptive change. So what’s possible and what’s likely are two different things.
The infographic below looks at some goals for the U.S. health care system and how they might be achieved by adopting practices used by other industries. It makes me think of my of my early days at IBM, where I compared tech innovation in the Computer industry with that of the Airlines industry.
“If the airline industry evolved with the same speed as the computer industry, we could fly half way around the world in an hour for fifty cents worth of gasoline in an airplane too small to sit in and when we arrived at our destination it would be cheaper to throw the plane away than to have it serviced and parked overnight.”
6 Ways TV Might Be Killing You
Reprinted with permission from Online Psychology Degree
According to the latest statistics, watching television is America’s No. 1 pastime, and Americans watch an average of four hours and 39 minutes of television every day. For people lucky enough to get eight hours of sleep a night, the time spent watching television eats up one-quarter of their waking life, and their life may shorten considerably unless they can summon up the nerve to unplug their big screens. So before you set your DVR to record the two-hour premiere of that new reality show where two competing families of forensic scientists swap their pets for medical experiments, consider these six ways watching television might be killing you.
1. Too much sitting:
Wearable Technology Market to Exceed $6 Billion by 2016
Wearable Technology Market to Exceed $6 Billion by 2016
Northampton, 08 August 2012 – Increasing demand for actionable, real-time data in a range of applications is driving strong demand for wearable technology. 14 million wearable devices were shipped in 2011; by 2016, wearable technology will represent a minimum revenue opportunity of $6 billion, according to World Market for Wearable Technology – A Quantitative Market Assessment – 2012, a new report from IMS Research. Read the rest of this entry »






