The market for services and technologies to help patients remain at home is one of the fastest growing healthcare segments. Even before COVID-19, there was increasing momentum for care outside the walls of healthcare facilities. Now after a year of the pandemic, more money and effort is being invested in home care solutions.
8.65% CAGR
According to a recent report from Precedence Research, the home healthcare market was valued at US$ 167.28 billion in 2020 and is anticipated to double to US$ 383.66 billion by 2030 – a CAGR of 8.65%.
The growth in home care is happening worldwide:
- The Quebec government announced an additional $100 million for home care on top of $1.7 billion it had already budgeted for 2021
- The Ontario Ministry of Health has provided $2.88 billion in funding to home care in the 2019-2020 fiscal year
- Australia will fund an extra 10,000 home aged care packages in 2021 at a cost of $850 million
Growth Drivers
There are many factors driving the growth in demand for home care services and technologies. The biggest factor is the aging population. The WHO estimates there will be 2 billion people over the age of 60 by 2050, far outstripping the capacity of every country’s existing long-term care and healthcare facilities.
Keeping this aging population healthy and at home will be critically important.
Other drivers include:
- The desire for more convenient care that does not require lengthy travel or waiting rooms
- Affordability (home care is cheaper than care in most facilities)
- Increased reimbursement for at-home services
- Safety
- Improved mental health
“We are definitely seeing meaningful movement towards home care,” said Ahsish V. Shah, CEO of Dina, makers of an AI-powered care coordination platform that helps the elderly live at home independently. “This is not just because of COVID. There was a movement already before COVID towards providing more home health services to people in the community. It’s safer. It’s cheaper. It’s better for everyone’s mental health.”
“Hospital-at-home and other ‘@ home’ models (primary care, nursing home, labs, Rx, etc.) have been around for more than 20 years,” stated Zayna Khayat, Future Strategist at SE Health and a contributing author to The Future of Aging. “The key to keeping and even expanding momentum to where it could and should be, is courage of the incumbents to try to deliver services outside of their walls, and partner with experts in in-home care if they do not have the in-house capabilities to work in this care setting.”
CMS Boost
In March 2020, CMS launched the Hospital Without Walls program to help the US healthcare system handle the surge in COVID-19 patients. Under this program, hospitals were able to provide healthcare services beyond the four walls of their facilities.
In November, CMS expanded the program to give healthcare providers more flexibility including: “allowances for safe hospital care for eligible patients in their homes and updated staffing flexibility designed to allow ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) to provide greater inpatient care when needed.”
Hospitals wanting to participate need to apply for a special waiver and CMS is closely monitoring the program to ensure the safety of patients and compliance with their waiver criteria.
“This is clearly a sign that CMS is taking care-at-home seriously,” stated Shah. “Now that there is a financial reimbursement framework in place, healthcare systems are starting to take it seriously. My hope is that this program remains in place after the pandemic subsides. It just makes sense to continue to fund care-at-home.”
Services, Devices and Software
The home care market is divided into three main categories:
- Services
- Devices
- Software
Although growth is expected in all three, Precedence Research predicts that the device category will outpace the other two. Evidence of this can already be seen in the number of new consumer and clinical-grade devices available for patients at home.
In their most recent earnings announcement, Best Buy CEO Corie Barry called out their focus on their Best Buy Health strategy including Consumer Health (products for customer who want to be healthier, sleep better, or need to monitor a chronic condition) and Active Aging (device-based emergency response and other services for those who wish to continue to live independently at home).
“In FY22, we plan to expand the Consumer Health product assortment, add additional devices and services to our Active Aging business, and add new remote patient monitoring offerings and a new technology platform in Virtual Care” said Barry. “In order to do this, we plan to invest in people, product development, and the ongoing development of our health technology platform and our data, analytics & intelligence engines.”
When a consumer electronics brand jumps into the home care business, can there be any doubt it is set to grow?