A major development in the wearable technology and devices market is quickly becoming popular, according to new research conducted by Transparency Market Research. The firm found that the wearable devices market, or the remote patient monitoring devices market, is anticipated to reach $0.98 billion by the end of 2020—at a compound annual growth rate of 14.2%.
Remote patient monitoring is the latest innovation in the health care industry, as it eliminates the need for patients to make repeated visits to the physician’s office. The precision of such devices has the potential to improve diagnosis and provide a more customized treatment or post-treatment recuperative plan. The most significant growth drivers for the markets are the growing role these devices will play in diagnosis and treatment plans of chronic diseases such as diabetes, arthritis, and osteoporosis.
While most companies try to appeal to various segments of the wearable devices markets, some made innovations in the health care industry to help physicians better monitor patient goals. Lake Bluff, Ill-based Abbott Laboratories, for instance, is engaged in the discovery, development, manufacture, and sale of a line of health care products, including diagnostic products and medical devices. Joel Goldsmith, Abbott’s senior director of new product innovation, spoke out about the importance of wearables in the medical field, and how it changes the environment of the workforc
“The introduction of wearables as a category—plus the startups fueled by the growing awareness of mobile and consumer health technology—has changed the game,” Goldsmith says. “A lot of what we do looks more similar to a mobile app company than a traditional medical device company.”
This merge between medical devices and advanced mobile technology has created need for new talent. The new talent that wearable medical devices already bring into the medical industry and their influence was also noted by the vice president of Abbott Global Talent Acquisition, who said: “Increasingly, new types of expertise are in demand, including informatics, software engineering, and digital data strategy.”
It’s not surprising then that tech industry giants like Apple are moving into the health care and medical arena. In August, for example, Apple revealed that it has a new patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office—with the company wanting to own a new wearable health device that could be fashioned into different accessories. It could be a watch, a ring, a brooch, or something else entirely, insiders say.
