A growing senior demographic, combined with other economic, social and technological developments, are driving investment and demand for home monitoring devices that can extend and improve in-home care, says a recent study from ABI research.

As the market transitions from safety-focused offerings toward health monitoring and extending and enhancing the comfort, safety and well-being for seniors living in their own homes and care homes, monitoring devices will grow to more than 36 million units in 2017, up from under 3 million units in 2011 – a compound annual growth rate of 55.9 percent.

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Over the same period, home monitoring will almost double its share of the wearable wireless device health market to 22 percent up from 12 percent, ABI researchers point out.

“Healthcare providers and caregivers alike are looking for devices to improve the monitoring of seniors in their own homes as economics and demographics increasingly drive that demand” said Jonathan Collins, principal analyst at ABI Research and author of the study.

The ability to leverage wireless communications – either using short range or cellular – in a form factor that can be worn without restriction or discomfort will help extend the ability of seniors to live independently and care givers to provide crucial care, the report shows.

[See also: Mobile health monitoring market on the rise.]

The potential of this market will bring new players into the market, from traditional specialists to established healthcare device players, and a range of new start-ups looking to leverage device availability and broadband connections into senior’s homes.

“Connectivity suppliers, wearable device and health gateway vendors, online applications and existing vertically integrated players are all ramping up their offerings to meet the demands of this growing market,” said Collins.

The established personal emergency response systems (PERS) and ambient assisted living (AAL) market has traditionally been a service sold directly to consumers and largely separate from medical monitoring. But the ABI report finds that, given the significant link between seniors and chronic disease management, these services will be increasingly integrated with healthcare monitoring.

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