Care Management Solutions Present Growing Opportunities For Vendors
By Megan Williams, contributing writer
As healthcare continues to transition to a more results-driven era, smart VARs will want to stay on top of the changes. Care management solutions are looking to be one of the most promising areas of opportunity, an expectation supported by a Markets and Markets report.
Report Summary
According to the report, the care management solutions market is expected to grow to $15.7 billion by 2021 — up from a current $6.93 billion and amounting to a CAGR of 17.8 percent over the next five years. Growth in the sector is largely attributed to a new wave of implementation initiatives that are pushing more of the burden of risk onto healthcare payers and moving it of off of providers.
Other factors include a move toward more patient-centric care, the growth of an elderly population, the impact of chronic diseases, an increase in medical tourism, a need to reduce costs across the industry, and innovation in the IT and big data sectors.
While growth is predicted in many geographic areas, Europe is expected to dominate, largely driven by a need to improve efficiency in healthcare and governments working to improve care coordination while also improving quality. Primary stakeholders include:
- healthcare providers and institutions
- insurance companies
- HIT service providers
- venture capitalists
- government bodies
- corporate entities
- ACOs
The report provides segmentation of the market by component, end user, application, region, and delivery mode.
For Vendors
Vendors interested in connecting with the opportunity in this sector will want to pay particular attention to advancements and news around ACOs, interoperability, patient-centered care, and population health.
In terms of ACOs, it will be important to stay on top of their ever-evolving needs. Care management systems will be needed to support preventative, proactive, and cost effective care that facilitates ACO health. These organizations will be looking for capabilities including care coordination, care venue transition management, wellness management, disease management, and population management.
Additionally, disease registries will be important, as they give providers the ability to understand and identify cohorts of patients by care needs, as well as review summary data sets, and intervene when care levels are not where they should be. Potential upsells in this area include EHRs, patient registries, HIEs, patient portals, telemedicine, and advanced data analytics.