The number of patients monitored remotely by mobile networks will rise to 3 million by 2016 according to a report by Juniper Research. The report says that cardiac outpatients are the group who benefit most at the moment but predicts in time the management of diabetes, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder) and other chronic diseases will further boost the take-up in home monitoring. Juniper says the activity is also showing positive results in terms of health outcomes and cost reductions but “more trials would still benefit mhealth in order to further convince the medical establishment of its benefits”, it says.  Unsurprisingly Juniper says increased smartphone processing power along with new healthcare peripherals will increase take-up of remote monitoring.  These Juniper figures are newly released by the research firm although the report itself was first published in November 2011.

A recent report by Berg Insight came up with a figure of 2.2 million patients with remote monitoring at end-2011, a figure that seems incompatible with Juniper’s findings.  But the Berg Insight report measured patient adoption of monitors or hubs with integrated cellular or fixed connectivity. Its figure does not include patients with monitoring devices connected to a PC or mobile phone. In contrast, the Juniper report covers only mobile networks in its remit.