Telemedicine can be defined as a practice of caring for patients remotely, i.e. a situation when the healthcare service provider and the patient are not physically present with each other. The innovative and upgrading technology has enabled and offered easy doctor consultation via HIPAA compliant video conferencing tools, which is the most widely adopted and easy-to-use telemedicine software.

Market dynamics

The sudden outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic has boosted the market size of the telemedicine market. Factors such as the rising geriatric population, high prevalence of chronic conditions, and the cost-benefits of telehealth and telemedicine are majorly responsible for boosting the market growth. For instance, the United Nation's published report on World Population aging 2020 estimated the count of people, age 65 years or over, to be around 727 million in 2020; which in turn is responsible for favoring the telemedicine market.

Furthermore, the shortage of health care professionals and physicians is a major concerning factor during this crisis. Thus, the growing awareness about telemedicine, the advancements in telecommunications, and the support from private and public sectors for better covid-19 management will further increase the adoption of telemedicine, boosting industrial growth.

On the other hand, the lack of global regulatory norms, reimbursement challenges, and extensive use of social media is likely to restrict the demand for telemedicine in the near future. Besides, the strong demand for virtual assistants, implementation of Artificial Intelligence and analytics in the healthcare sector, and the requirement for high utility to combat infectious disease are likely to create profitable growth opportunities for the telemedicine business shortly.

Impact of covid-19 on telemedicine market

Coronavirus disease is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus and the sudden outbreak of this life-threatening disease transformed the existing offline healthcare services into an advanced online mode of service that delivers easy care to the patients via video conferencing.  As of 25 May 2021, there have been 167,252,150 confirmed cases of coronavirus, including 3,467,663 deaths, according to the World Health Organization.

This change reduced the risk of virus transmission and has also decreased the count of elective and preventive clinical visits, thereby propelling the growth of the telemedicine market worldwide. Other factors such as the lockdown imposed by the government and the focus on social distancing to prevent the spread of coronavirus have further pushed the adoption of telemedicine by both the patients and physicians.

Market segmentation

The type segment of the telemedicine market is fragmented into products and services. The service segment is expected to have the majority of market shares, accounting for the reduction in waiting time for consultation coupled with the adoption and offering of e-healthcare services by the hospitals.

Based on modality the market is divided into store-and-forward, real-time, and others. Factor such as the growing application of telehealth services in disease diagnosis, especially in radiology and dermatology, is responsible for expanding the size of the store-and-forward segment. Whereas, the growing count of smartphone users and the emergence of internet services in rural areas are expected to propel the growth of other segments.

The application segment is divided into teleradiology, telepathology, teledermatology, telecardiology, telepsychiatry, and others. The teleradiology segment is estimated to have a significant growth rate during the forecast period, owing to the technological advancements in S&F technologies and the dearth of skilled radiologists in rural areas. Besides, the increasing adoption of m-health apps along with the adoption of cardiac monitoring devices is pulling the growth of the telecardiology segment in an upward direction.

On the basis of end-users, the market is divided into Healthcare facilities and home care. Among these, the healthcare facilities are expected to have a maximum portion of market size, accounting for the growing use of telecommunication tools to train the professionals, availability of a significant number of service providers for virtual consultations, and the growing count of government-funded pilot programs for telemedicine. On the other hand, the growth of the homecare segment is attributed to the mounting count of geriatric populations globally, pocket-friendly services, and the adoption of telemonitoring to eradicate the need for clinical visits.

Region-wise, North America governs the global market, owing to the presence of prominent market players in this region. Besides, the shifting focus of healthcare professionals towards teleconsultations and strong government support is also likely to drive the growth of the North American telemedicine market in the next few years.

Prominent market players

The major players of telemedicine market are MDlive Inc., SteadyMD Inc., Maven, Inc., iCliniq, HealthTap, Inc., BioTelemetry, Inc., American Well, CVS Health, Synapse Medicine, Practo, Teladoc Health, Inc., Doctor On Demand, Inc., AMD Global Telemedicine, Aerotel Medical Systems (1998) Ltd., and Plantronics, Inc. (Polycom).