OREANDA-NEWS. Technology enablement of a host of segments of the healthcare industry is largely being considered a viable way of overcoming the numerous shortcoming of the existing healthcare industry. By making healthcare delivery services more patient-centric and expansive in terms of geographical reach, especially making services more accessible to remote areas, IT-enabled healthcare solutions are rapidly becoming the face of the modern-day healthcare industry.
 
Transparency Market Research (TMR) estimates that the global IT-enabled healthcare market will exhibit a remarkable 11.8% CAGR over the period between 2014 and 2020. If the number holds true, the market is expected to rise to US$210.32 bn by 2020.

In this blog post, TMR analysts discuss about some of the market’s recent developments:
 
What are the key factors influencing the demand for IT-enabled healthcare solutions across the world?
The rising prevalence of chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and obesity, which require continuous long-term monitoring has been largely credited as the key factor enabling the adoption of technology in the healthcare industry. The market has also gained considerable traction owing to the several government initiatives focusing on the improved efficiency of healthcare services and infrastructure.
 
Realization of the core role that digitalization can play in bringing about this change is the key factor compelling government bodies to lay more focus on IT-enablement of the healthcare industry. Point in case is the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) system of Australia. Implemented by the government of Australia as a way to encourage the implementation of eHealth solutions in the country, the program aims at providing a secure digital summary of crucial healthcare information of patients, which can be accessed by patients as well as healthcare providers. The PCEHR system also provides various healthcare services including consultation on pathology and diagnostic images and reports.
 
Apart from the monetary and management-related benefits that the move from traditional paper-based systems to digital ones can bring, other benefits such as more expansive reach of healthcare services, remote monitoring, and home diagnosis for people located in remotest of locations are also driving the healthcare industry towards a digital era.