Proliferating Points of Care: Following the Patient’s Path
We are accustomed to defining the Point of Care (POC) segment of healthcare as physician offices, hospitals, and pharmacies. Also, retail clinics are growing at 25% to 30% annually, adding to the locations where healthcare is available. But, as with everything digitally connected these days, the definition is increasingly out-of-date. As mHealth platforms continue to grow in usability, diversity, and penetration, POC has come to include home computers, mobile phones, tablet computers, and personal digital assistants.
Additionally, the menu of communications and the ways in which POC affects patient care have continued to grow. In this new two-way paradigm, patients are not only receiving information but also delivering it, via wearables that track the details of their conditions and general health, and even by checking their own research and personal experience against what the doctor might recommend.
All this has helped propel the POC sector to a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 10% and a current size of $440 million, heading for $500 million or more in 2016. But it brings with it obligations that are rapidly changing how we use the POC opportunities.
Continue reading Mark Heinold's column on PharmaVOICE http://www.pharmavoice.com/article/2015-11-mobile-communicating/