Global Demand for Home Medical Equipment to Reach $28 Billion in 2016

World demand for home medical equipment is projected to increase 7.0 percent annually to $28 billion in 2016.  The United States will remain the largest market globally based on its extensive network of home health care providers, high health care spending intensity, widespread insurance coverage, and shifting patient care strategies toward home settings.  The large developing countries of Brazil, China, India, and Russia will be among the fastest growing worldwide markets for home medical equipment as increasing economic prosperity boosts the level of third-party and direct consumer payments applied to health care.  In these countries, home health care activity will expand rapidly due to cost saving advantages and ongoing shortages in professional medical providers. These and other trends, including market share and product segmentation, are presented in World Home Medical Equipment, a new study from The Freedonia Group, Inc., a Cleveland-based industry market research firm.  

Worldwide demand patterns for various types of home medical equipment will follow evolving demographic and epidemiological trends.  An increasing prevalence of chronic conditions, especially respiratory disorders, kidney failure, and cancer, will boost global demand for home therapeutic equipment 7.5 percent annually.  World demand for home patient support equipment is forecast to increase 5.5 percent annually with mobility assist products continuing to dominate sales.  Home patient monitoring equipment markets will see mixed worldwide growth.  Monitors for blood glucose, blood pressure, coagulation, heart rate, sleep apnea, and general physiological parameters, along with home alert systems, will see the fastest growth.

Home medical equipment markets in Western Europe, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and other developed countries will provide demand for a complete range of therapeutic, support, and monitoring products with per capita sales levels of all three groups staying comparatively high.  Overall growth in most of these markets will decelerate and will remain below the average worldwide pace as national health insurance plans impose tighter controls on benefit coverage and product reimbursement rates.  Home medical equipment demand in the vast majority of developing countries will increase well above the global average as health care markets expand with improving economic growth.  Affluent residents covered by private health insurance or who are able to afford direct payments will account for most sales in these countries.

The Freedonia Group is a leading international business research company, founded in 1985, that publishes more than 100 industry research studies annually. This industry analysis provides an unbiased outlook and a reliable assessment of an industry and includes product segmentation and demand forecasts, industry trends, demand history, threats and opportunities, competitive strategies, market share determinations and company profiles.