REPORT SCOPE
INTRODUCTION
Home medical equipment (HME) is a multibillion-dollar market. Since BCC published its last study of the HME market in 2007, the market has continued to evolve, as populations age and a growing number of older people wish and are financially able to live in their own homes for as long as possible, rather than going into a nursing home or other institutional care facility. These demographic and attitudinal shifts in the healthcare market are reinforced by technological developments such as wireless home monitoring and economic trends such as the rising cost of institutional care, and a growing receptivity to home healthcare among physicians and private and public insurers.
Since the prior research study was published, the market has continued to evolve, due to factors such as aging population, increased incidence of heart disease and other conditions requiring close patient monitoring, and technological developments such as wireless remote monitoring.
STUDY BACKGROUND
These trends are global, at least in advanced industrial nations. However, most published analyses of the HME market focus on the U.S. market. Since U.S. medical equipment manufacturers are among the largest suppliers to the global healthcare market, they need to gain as detailed as possible an understanding of international markets for their products, including HME.
STUDY GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
This report is intended to provide an objective, quantitative analysis that addresses the global market for HME in the context of technological change and an evolving market. More specific objectives are to:
- Identify and segment the main types of HME that have been commercialized to date
- Analyze the historical and current value of shipments of each of these product segments in specified applications, end-user and geographical markets
- Identify and evaluate the impact of demographic, technological, regulatory and other factors that will drive future demand in each of these segments
- Forecast the value of future shipments in each segment
- Identify promising new technologies and products still in the development and testing stage that are likely to be commercialized successfully in the next 5 years
- Identify leading HME vendors.
INTENDED AUDIENCE
The report has been written for the entire medical and healthcare interest community, but is tailored especially for readers with an interest in the marketing and management dimensions of home medical equipment, such as:
- Manufacturers and distributors of HME
- Regulators and health insurers
- Investors
- The financial and analyst community.
SCOPE OF REPORT
This report is an analytical business tool whose primary purpose is to describe and analyze the dynamics of the global market for home medical equipment. Home medical equipment is defined as durable equipment (i.e., equipment with an expected service life of at least 3 years) that:
- Can withstand repeated use
- Is primarily and customarily used to serve a medical purpose
- Generally is not useful to a person in the absence of an illness or injury
- Is not implanted inside the patient’s body
- Is appropriate for use in the home
- Does not require a trained medical professional to operate
- Usually requires a doctor’s prescription to buy (e.g., excludes most canes, walkers and other elderly and disabled assistive devices)
- Generally does not include drugs and other consumables.
While the report’s coverage is global, it focuses on the major international markets for HME. The latter are generally limited to the major industrial nations including:
- United States
- Canada
- China
- France
- Germany
- India
- Italy
- Japan
- UK
- Other G-20 nations.
The report includes sections on the following topics:
- Major product types and applications, both commercial and developmental
- Market size and segmentation, including historical data on sales by product type, and geographical market
- Market drivers and constraints
- Detailed market projections through 2015
- Patent analysis
- Competitor profiles.
METHODOLOGY AND INFORMATION SOURCES
The findings and conclusions of this report are based on information gathered from manufacturers and distributors of HME, multilateral and government agencies, care givers, insurance companies, and other knowledgeable sources. Interview data were combined with information gathered through an extensive review of secondary sources such as trade publications, trade associations, company literature, and online databases to produce the baseline market estimates contained in this report.
The base-year for analysis and projection is 2009. With 2009 as a baseline, market projections were developed for 2010 through 2015. These projections are based on a combination of a consensus among primary research sources combined with our understanding of key market drivers and their impact from a historical and analytical perspective. The analytical methodologies used to generate the market estimates are described in detail in the section on Detailed Market Projections.
All dollar projections presented in this report are in 2009 constant dollars.
ANALYST CREDENTIALS
The author of this report is Andrew McWilliams. Mr. McWilliams is a partner in the Boston-based international technology and marketing consulting firm, 43rd Parallel LLC. In addition to being the author of the previous (2007) edition of this report, Mr. McWilliams is the author of several other BCC Research studies of the healthcare and related industries, including:
- HLC016C Microelectronic Medical Implants: Products, Technologies and Opportunities
- HLC036C Medical Robotics and Computer-assisted Surgery
- HLC038C Patient Monitoring
- HLC047B Disabled and Elderly Assistive Technologies in the U.S.
- HLC051E The Market for Minimally-invasive Medical Devices
- HLC070A Preventive Healthcare Technologies, Products and Markets
- AVM050B Smart and Interactive Textiles.
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DISCLAIMER
The information developed in this report is intended to be as reliable as possible at the time of publication and of a professional nature. This information does not constitute managerial, legal, or accounting advice; nor should it serve as a corporate policy guide, laboratory manual, or an endorsement of any product, as much of the information is speculative in nature. The author assumes no responsibility for any loss or damage that might result from reliance on the reported information or its use.
