Global Telemedicine Market to Exceed $18 Billion by 2015

The Telemedicine market is huge and money from the Federal Government is being injected into it to make it grow faster!

According to a New Report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Driven by aging population, increased medical requirements in remote locations and technology advancements, the world market for telemedicine is projected to exceed $18 billion by the year 2015. Application of telemedicine is expanding virtually across all the medical areas. Telemedicine currently finds application in majority of medical domains including radiology, cardiology, dermatology, psychiatry, dentistry, pediatrics and pathology, among others.

San Jose, California (PRWEB) April 6, 2009 -- Telemedicine, offering quality services with significant cost savings, has given a new dimension to the healthcare sector. Although telemedicine programs have been in vogue for nearly half a century, the recent health care reforms have been instrumental in promoting the increased usage of such applications. Telemedicine services are used in several medical areas including diabetes control, primary health care, psychiatry, genetics, radiology, pathology, cardiology, dermatology and pediatrics, among others. Telemedicine programs have proved cost effective, and with curtailment of health care expenditures becoming one of the major concerns, such programs are being increasingly implemented in several nations across the globe.

The US and Europe dominate the world telemedicine market, as stated by the recent report published by Global Industry Analysts, Inc. In the US, federal grants to encourage telemedicine deployment and develop telecommunications infrastructure, has been responsible for wide adoption of the technology. Moreover, growing number of multiple chronic disease patients coupled with rapidly increasing population of aging baby boomers and lack of disease management and requisite healthcare facilities are expected to propel the market for remote monitoring of patients. Consequently, increased remote monitoring of patients bodes long-term growth for the telemedicine market.

How the stimulus package affects healthcare.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) was signed into law by President Obama on February 17, 2009. This landmark bill sets aside approximately $180 billion in federal funding for healthcare-related spending. Included in the legislation are significant provisions for health IT to encourage physicians, hospitals, and other providers to adopt and use electronic health records as well as other technology to advance the delivery of healthcare.

This unprecedented federal funding and support for technology-enabled healthcare will permanently alter the landscape of the industry for hospitals, physicians, payers, and ultimately patients.