According to Berg Insight, the market for home health monitoring of welfare diseases was worth approximately US$11billion in 2008, and is growing with about 10 percent annually. Berg estimates that 300 million people in the EU and the US suffer from one or several diseases such as cardiovascular irregularities, respiratory problems or Diabetes where home monitoring can become a treatment option. Among those, about 25 percent would benefit from existing wireless home monitoring solutions available and another 50 percent who would benefit from handset integration of existing medical devices.

A new research report from the analyst firm sites demographics, technology development, new advancements in medical treatment and rising healthcare as contributing factors to increased focus on early diagnosis and home treatment in the mHealth market.

Compared to other industries there is currently a wide gap in the adoption of new technology in the healthcare sector. When it comes to communication technologies, healthcare applications are sometimes several generations behind the latest advances in telecom. Currently, wireless medical monitoring services generate only minor revenue, but the field shows great potential.

The Berg Insight report highlights some progress in the adoption of wireless technology among manufacturers of medical monitoring equipment but there is still a long way to go before remote monitoring becomes a standard procedure in the healthcare sector. Instead consumer-oriented health applications are anticipated to take the lead in the mHealth segment.

“We foresee a development where health and medical monitors are networked to the personal handset via Bluetooth or other short-range technologies“, says Tobias Ryberg, Senior Analyst, Berg Insight. “There will also be a plethora of health-related smartphone apps that will be able to receive and analyze data from medical devices.” He adds that health applications is currently one of the fastest growing application categories on Apple’s AppStore.

Berg Insight recommends handset manufacturers and mobile operators to work closely with leading suppliers of health and medical equipment to create offerings that take advantage of the opportunities with mobile communication. Standardization bodies such as the Continua Health Alliance will play a vital role in creating interoperability between medical devices and mobile handsets. This will enable application developers to create intelligent smartphone apps that help mobile subscribers keep track of their personal health.