Market for health care biometrics to reach $5 billion by 2020

TORONTO - Feb. 17, 2015 - PRLog -- In a white paper issued this week, Biometrics Research Group, Inc., the parent company of BiometricUpdate.com, estimates that the entire global marketplace for biometric solutions in the health care market will reach approximately US$5 billion by 2020.

The new report, entitled "Biometrics and Health Care" examines how biometric technology is applied to the health care industry, mainly in the United States. The research expects that biometric use will reflect the growing demand for health care fraud prevention, along with the need to improve patient privacy and health care safety.

The research report notes that since inefficiency and fraud are overriding administrative concerns for the health care system within the U.S., Americans can expect increased investment in health care security protocols that involve biometrics.

Adoption of “health care biometrics” will mainly take place in hospital, clinics and other facilities. The report notes that “health care biometrics” is utilized for access control, identification, workforce management or patient record storage. Biometrics in health care often takes two forms: providing access control to resources and patient identification solutions.

In terms of workflow, these tools will protect health care resources and medical data. Concerning patients, biometric systems will be used for patient identification. While small-scale implementations will be used in the United States, we expect that large-scale patient identification systems will be rolled out in emerging and developing countries.

The report also found that along with the growing demand for biometrics solutions to combat fraud and improve patient privacy, along with health care safety, biometrics are also increasingly being used for medical monitoring and mobile health care.

The report finds that "medical biometrics" will continue to develop into a growth market due to increasing demand for “wearable” consumer electronics. The increasing use of mHealth applications will also drive the utilization of biometric authentication for security purposes.

Biometrics Research Group, Inc. estimates that wearable health and fitness sensors will exceed 40 million shipments by 2015.

Due to expotential growth in biorhythm monitoring technologies, Biometrics Research Group, Inc. expects the biorhythm monitoring market to reach US$100 million in sales by 2015, thereby enhancing the bottom line for consumer electronics retailers.

Biorhythms are defined simply as the rhythms of life, and include vital body functions, including heart rate and blood pressure. A new category of devices that can monitor and analyze biorhythms have emerged in the form of wearable devices, which have become extremely popular.

Indeed, wearable computing was a key highlight at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show. The Consumer Electronics Association, which organizes the annual trade show, projects that U.S. wearable unit sales will reach 30.9 million units, up 61 percent, and generate US$5.1 billion in revenue in 2015. This represents a 133 percent increase in revenue streams. According to CEA, most of these wearables will be fitness bands and trackers, along with smart watches and eyewear. A wide number of products based on biorhythms were demonstrated at the show.

Biometrics Research Group, Inc. expects popular interest to drive market growth for wearable devices as well, thereby enlarging the global marketplace for biometric solutions in the health care market.