Remote patient monitoring (RPM) refers to the remote monitoring and clinical management of a patient’s vital signs through the use of devices in the home environment. Monitoring solutions are customized to suit the individual patient and allow them to better manage their health. Vital signs data is transmitted to a central server, where information can be viewed by a clinician or the patient. This allows caregivers to monitor a patient’s condition and take appropriate action to manage health (iData Research Inc., 2024).
RPM solutions include the peripheral devices needed to monitor vital signs and collect data, systems for transmitting the data to the server and software to display the data. Some common peripheral devices include blood pressure cuffs, weight scales, blood glucose monitors and pulse oximeters, where the devices included with each solution will vary depending on the patients’ condition. Data from these devices may be transmitted using a telephone line, broadband, GSM and Bluetooth. This data is displayed using software systems, which may be viewed by the patient, caregiver, clinician or physician, who can use this information to better manage an individual’s health.
The European RPM market can be further segmented into disease conditions management and cardiac implantable electronic devices. Disease conditions management includes the sale and lease of primary cycle home healthcare equipment and clinical disease management equipment. Cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) refer to modern pacemakers, implantable loop recorders, implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs), cardiac resynchronization therapy devices (CRT-Ds) and hemodynamic monitors. Remote monitoring of these devices can help reduce the need for in-office follow-up visits by ensuring that the device is working properly and that the patient’s health status is normal (iData Research Inc., 2024).
RPM Growing at a Significant Rate
The remote patient monitoring market is growing at a fast rate and growing faster than other markets within patient monitoring. The main drivers for this growth include the increase in health conditions, the high proportion of elders in the European population, technological advancements, customizable healthcare and the decreased availability of healthcare professionals (Boikanyo, Zungeru, Sigweni, Yahya, & Lebekwe, 2023).
Increase in Health Conditions
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes, hypertension or high blood pressure, chronic heart failure and tachycardia are all conditions that are supported by RPM devices. Some conditions are becoming more prevalent, such as COPD (Blanco, Diego, Bueno, Casas-Maldonado, & Miravitlles, 2019), and as a by-product, the RPM market is experiencing growth.
High Proportion of Elders
The population over the age of 65 is increasing rapidly as a result of the aging baby boomer population (Eurostat, 2024). This demographic shift will impact the total patient monitoring device market as more individuals begin to use the healthcare system than ever before. In particular, a rising interest in patient monitoring and homecare solutions among patients as well as increased procedural volumes will facilitate market growth in order to meet the increased demand within the healthcare system.
Technological Advancements
As technologies become more efficient, effective and safe to use, the market for remote monitoring devices will continue to grow and adoption will increase. Improvements and the increased availability of wireless data transmission networks will facilitate the development of platforms for RPM. Growth in this market is expected to be quite strong in countries where the wireless infrastructure necessary for RPM is already in place (iData Research Inc., 2024).
Cost Savings for Healthcare Providers
As our average lifespan increases, the demand for individualized healthcare increases. People want the best care possible in order to live longer. Remote monitoring can be customized for each individual as physicians and patients can choose which parameters are important to measure based on the individual’s health condition, geographical location and lifestyle. The demand for this personalized healthcare will contribute to market growth (iData Research Inc., 2024).
Decreased Availability of Healthcare Professionals
Across Europe, there are fewer healthcare professionals available to provide care services to the increasing number of chronically ill patients. This is especially detrimental for rural populations that already experience limited care provision on account of the modern migratory trends, which greatly favor metropolitan areas. Moreover, the accelerated population growth is expected to place greater pressure on healthcare providers as they struggle to cope with the increasing admission rates and reducing bed availability. As a result, there will be a greater need for accessible and timely treatment programs throughout the care continuum, which telehealth monitoring may help to meet. Healthcare policies for patients in rural areas have already been put in place in the last several years and will provide such individuals with access to telemedicine, thereby stimulating market growth (iData Research Inc., 2024).
Disease Conditions Management Growing Faster Than Cardiac Devices
While all segments within the RPM market are growing, the majority of growth is driven by the disease conditions management segment. This growth is driven by cost avoidance and containment models by health agencies and the increased provision and adoption of home and remote telehealth services throughout Europe. In recent years, there has been a shift toward the leasing model, which now commands over 80% of the market. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 augmented this trend dramatically as hospitals chose to forego massive capital equipment expenditure and instead opt for the leasing option (iData Research Inc., 2024).
Conclusion
Despite the fact that many patient monitoring markets are mature, the remote patient monitoring market will continue to grow. While an aging population and increase in health conditions can be growth factors shared by nearly all patient monitoring markets, the flexibility in healthcare options provided by remote monitoring devices is largely unmatched. Additionally, as remote technology continues to evolve, so will the remote patient monitoring market.
The disease conditions management market is the biggest reason for why the RPM market is growing at such a fast rate. Not only does the larger market size of disease conditions management amplify this effect, but the shift toward cost-avoidant containment models will cause it to grow at a faster rate than cardiac implantable electronic devices.
For more information, please see the report Patient Monitoring Equipment Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis - Europe - 2024-2030 - MedSuite by iData Research.
About the Authors
Graham Diett is a research analyst team lead at iData Research. He develops and composes syndicated research projects regarding the medical device industry, publishing the EU Patient Monitoring Equipment report series.
Kamran Zamanian, Ph.D., is CEO and founding partner of iData Research. He has spent over 20 years working in the market research industry with a dedication to the study of medical devices used in the health of patients all over the globe.
About iData Research
For 19 years, iData Research has been a strong advocate for data-driven decision-making within the global medical device, dental and pharmaceutical industries. By providing custom research and consulting solutions, iData empowers its clients to trust the source of data and make important strategic decisions with confidence.
References
Blanco, I., Diego, I., Bueno, P., Casas-Maldonado, F., & Miravitlles, M. (2019). Geographic distribution of COPD prevalence in the world displayed by Geographic Information System maps. European Respiratory Journal.
Boikanyo, K., Zungeru, A. M., Sigweni, B., Yahya, A., & Lebekwe, C. (2023). Remote Patient Monitoring Systems: Applications, Architecture, and Challenges. Science Direct.
Eurostat. (2024). Population Structure and Ageing. Eurostat Statistics Explained.
iData Research Inc. (2024). EU Market Report Suite for Patient Monitoring Equipment - 2024. Vancouver.
