Tablet PCs in Healthcare a 1.7 Billion-Dollar Market: Kalorama

NEW YORK - July 15, 2013 - PRLog -- The global market for tablet PC devices in healthcare is expected to increase to $1.7 billion for 2013, reflecting an increase of nearly 27% over the prior year, according to Kalorama Information.   The healthcare market research publisher says several factors are driving the growth of this market including a shortage of qualified medical professionals, cost restraints, medical error reduction measures, expanding capabilities of devices, off-site medical care and more.   The finding was made in Kalorama’s new report, The Market for Tablet PCs in Healthcare.

Kalorama’s estimate included sales for tablet devices, including hybrid and convertible tablets, where medical professionals or institutions have used these devices for at least 50% health-related use.    The report says that revenue growth will remained strong.  The increasing adoption of tablets in the health industry will drive developers/manufacturers to continue to rollout new, advanced products, securing a healthy market for upgrades and replacement units.

“Tablet PCs are increasingly being used for a variety of tasks in the health field including access to patient records at the point of care, improved viewing capabilities for medical images, and easy offsite patient monitoring,” said Melissa Elder, Kalorama analyst and the author of the report.

Viewing radiology images, ordering e-prescriptions, and filling out a patient’s EMR record are among the tasks that physicians and other healthcare professionals are using tablet PCs for in a healthcare setting, according to the report.

“These are among the devices making EMR a reality in healthcare, without them it would be difficult to pin healthcare workers to a desktop,” Elder said.    

The report says that Apple’s iPad has continued to grab a larger share of the market each year, but that there are other competitors interested in the healthcare market.  Among the vendors in this market are Samsung, Research in Motion (BlackBerry), Panasonic, Hewlett Packard, Motion Computing, Lenovo, Fujitsu, Tangent and others, though all are struggling to keep pace with the adoption rate of Apple.  

The report, The Market for Tablet PCs in Healthcare has breakouts of usage of Tablet PCs and of the market by customer type (nursing home, physician offices, hospitals) and by geographic region. The report provides case studies, follows trends and profiles key companies in the market.  The report can be found at: http://www.kaloramainformation.com/Tablet-PCs-Healthcare-7669302/