The market analysis firm TechNavio has published a new report on the Global LBS Market in Healthcare Industry 2015-2019. LBS stands for “location-based services” and its use is growing rapidly in the healthcare field. According to the report, these services rely on WiFi and other wireless indoor tracking techniques for a wide range of functions: indoor navigation, tracking staff and patients, location-based messaging, and asset management. The company forecasts a compound annual growth rate of more than 30% from 2014 to 2019.
One interesting aspect of the report results is the role that wearable Health Tech devices will play in this growth. According to Faisal Ghaus, Vice President of TechNavio, “in 2014, around 10 million units of wearable devices were sold worldwide and this number is expected to grow nearly tenfold in the coming years.” As a result, data from these devices will help hospitals reduce various operating costs by “a significant amount over the next six years.” They will generate useful data about the movements of doctors, staff, and patients.
Advanced analytics will be able to work with the enormous data sets produced by these devices, which will help guide everything from patient treatment to the purchase and maintenance of medical equipment. The bottom line is that the wearable market is likely to have a disruptive impact on the existing healthcare systems.
