The purchase of administrative devices required to comply with US meaningful use requirements for electronic medical record (EMR) systems are having a noticeable effect on the handheld healthcare device market. These are the latest findings of Kalorama Information (New York, NY, USA), an independent medical market research firm.

The EMR incentive program, created by the US Health and Human Services (HHS; Washington DC, USA) in 2009 to boost paperless medicine, was specifically designed not to reward mere purchases of software. To qualify for the federal government incentives, hospital and physician groups are required to show that they have entered patient visits and transactions electronically. However, EMR is not the only driver of handheld devices in healthcare; several other factors are also driving the growth of this market, including cost restraints, medical error reduction measures, government incentives, expanding capabilities of devices, and off-site medical care.

The market includes patient monitoring devices such as ultrasound and electrocardiogram (ECG) systems, which have historically accounted for the largest share of sales in the handheld market, largely due to the range of product availability. This is changing with the growing applications and capabilities of tablet PCs, and the need to enter patient data electronically. The total market for handheld devices in healthcare reached USD 11 billion globally in 2011, reflecting over 10% annual growth since 2007.

As a result, administrative device usage has grown dramatically over the last five years with the growing use of personal digital assistants (PDAs), smartphones, and tablet PCs that are taking hold in the healthcare industry. Tablet PCs in particular are being used for a variety of functions in the healthcare field, including access to patient records at the point of care (POC), improved viewing capabilities for medical images, and easy offsite patient monitoring.

“Meaningful use of EMR means meaningful use of handhelds, as the patient-centered nature of healthcare work doesn’t permit a lot of desk time; we think that realistically it means handheld devices,” said Bruce Carlson, the publisher of Kalorama Information. “The use of handheld devices in healthcare was growing before the first EMR payments were wired. Better patient outcomes and the ability of providers to always have a patient record in front of them…have driven purchases even more.”

Guangzhou Jia Yu medical equipment Limited