NEW YORK
(GBI Research) – Unhealthy modern lifestyles, ageing populations and struggling
national health services will combine to create huge demand for Electronic
Medical Records (EMR), according to a new report by medical intelligence company
GBI Research.
The new report shows that information communication
technology (ICT) is to play a leading role in future medical care, as more
efficient administration of diverse healthcare practices will lower costs to
countries. Governments are expected to drive the market by implementing
national schemes to bring medical records up to date in a technological age.
Improvements in medical technology are enabling individuals
to live longer, and many developed countries face spiraling healthcare costs
due to aging populations, which place increased pressure on existing
infrastructure. This is proved by the growing ratio of healthcare expenditures
to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In addition, lifestyles are becoming more
westernized, creating an increasing prevalence of lifestyle diseases. These
factors lead to a growing proportion of citizens needing significant medical
care.
To counter this challenge, the World Health Organization
(WHO) is promoting ICT-facilitated solutions, or eHealth, as key enablers for
efficient healthcare services. Many countries across the world have already
agreed that eHealth will play a major role in the future to improve access to
high quality health care, and have declared action plans to adopt the new
technologies.
According to a study by Harvard
Medical School
in 2008, administrative automation could cut 5% from total healthcare spending,
which represents $100 billion in the US. This can be achieved through
the simple reduction of adverse drug events, medical errors, and complications
such as hospital acquired infections.
Similarly, overuse of emergency departments and unnecessary
ordering of clinical and radiology tests results in losses totaling $55 billion
each year. Massive expense could therefore be saved by implementing EMR systems
in healthcare practices, and a large number of government initiatives aiming to
capture such savings are expected to propel the future EMR market.
The EMR market is expected to be boosted by the large number
of government initiatives taking place globally to transform patient records in
electronic form. These initiatives offer huge financial incentives for
hospitals and physician practices who adopt EMR. The global EMR market is
expected to reach $7.8 billion in 2017, growing at a CAGR of 10% during
2010-2017. Within this, the US
is the largest national EMR market, accounting for more than 32%.
