OPPORTUNITIES IN LIFE SCIENCES. Scottish Enterprise. Assisted Living An Overview. Supporting a globally competitive Scotland

Transcription

1 OPPORTUNITIES IN LIFE SCIENCES Scottish Enterprise Assisted Living An Overview Supporting a globally competitive Scotland

2 1 SUmmARy Assisted Living The current healthcare system will have to adapt to cope with the rapid rise in the older population and the increased incidence of debilitating chronic diseases (many linked to lifestyle rather than age per se) predicted over the next 40 years. One in five people will be over 60 years of age by Around 60% of deaths annually already can be attributed to hard-to-treat chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and cancer, at great cost to society. Nevertheless, today s ageing and chronically ill population wish to maintain their independence and quality of life: assisted living products and services aim to help them fulfil these aspirations. Two markets that are essential components of the assisted living market are: home medical equipment and digital healthcare. A wider use of home medical equipment and digital healthcare is expected to benefit patients, care providers and payers by: Allowing people to remain in their home and live independently for as long as possible; increasing the quality of care by providing physicians with actionable information (home monitors and sensors); reducing healthcare costs by decreasing hospital stay through preventative care. The opportunity for economic benefit is dual: digital healthcare technologies will increase the cost effectiveness of the healthcare system; and development of these technologies and provision of associated services will boost economic development. Scotland has key strengths in this field because of its industrial and academic base but also due to proactive government policies. Today s ageing and chronically ill population wish to maintain their independence and quality of life

3 2 ThE NEEdS Of ThE AgEINg ANd ChRONICAlly Ill Products and services to assist the elderly, disabled or chronically ill to live independently span many areas of everyday activity which people find challenging such as bathing, dressing, walking and eating. Assisted living is only one aspect of dealing with chronic conditions. Other essential aspects include the early detection (e.g. diagnostics), prevention, treatment and monitoring of disease. Outside of healthcare, the elderly and chronically ill may need support in a number of other aspects of life including: housing (e.g. housing communities, home adaptation), environment (e.g. adapted transportation, provision of services in the home), personal finance (e.g. equity-release products), role in society (e.g. slower transition out of labour market, lifelong learning). In the healthcare area, home medical equipment and the emergence of digital healthcare are some avenues being explored to assist people in managing their health. In the healthcare area, home medical equipment and the emergence of digital healthcare are some avenues being explored to assist people in managing their health. Home Medical Equipment is defined in this report as durable equipment with a service life of more than three years that is not useful in the absence of illness or injury and generally requires a physician s prescription. Examples include assistive devices (e.g. wheelchair), insulin pumps, monitors and sensors. Digital Healthcare is defined in this report as the delivery of healthcare at a distance using information and communication technology. The digital healthcare market consists of three broad categories of products: 1st generation products are non-connected, stand-alone, single purpose devices (monitors and sensors). Patients may use a monitor to perform some measurement and telephone the results to a physician. 2nd generation products are connected devices without interactivity, that send signals in one direction; 3rd generation products are connected devices with interactivity (bi-directional data-flow). home medical Equipment and digital healthcare have areas of overlap particularly in the case of monitoring devices (e.g. blood pressure monitors). With technology advances in sensors and monitors, and trends toward device integration within digital healthcare systems, it is likely that these two fields will merge over time.

4 3 home medical EqUIPmENT Market and Key Drivers The home medical Equipment (hme) market can be subdivided in to several product segments: assistive devices (e.g. wheelchair), insulin pumps, respiratory aid products (e.g. oxygen concentrators), dialysis equipment, and monitors and sensors (e.g. blood pressure monitors). Consolidated global market for hme is in the range of $19.2 billion (2010) and expected to reach $22.8 billion by 2015, which represents a CAgR* of 3.5%. The growth for different subsectors varies however from 1.7% (assistive devices) to 21% (dialysis equipment). Key drivers include population growth, ageing, the fact that more older people are living in their own homes, physician attitudes towards home care, hospital and nursing home costs, and a renewed emphasis on prevention (policies). however, several restraints exist including securing regulatory approval for new products and obtaining insurance coverage which requires demonstrating accuracy, simplicity and benefits to patients and/or the healthcare system. Opportunities There are emerging opportunities for technology development particularly around non-invasive sensors (glucose, cholesterol) and a new range of sensors that better blend into people s usual environment (textile). Scottish Strengths medical technology is one of the key life sciences subsectors in Scotland with a significant company base relevant to hme that spans large companies such as lifescan Scotland to small dynamic startups such as SureSensors. Scotland has also key academic strengths in this field with specialized institutes and groups (e.g. Strathclyde Institute of medical devices, The Institute for medical Science and Technology, The Care Technology Research group) but also a significant research base in areas of electronics, optoelectronics and sensors, and informatics. There are emerging opportunities for technology development particularly around non-invasive sensors (glucose, cholesterol) and a new range of sensors that better blend into people s usual environment (textile). * Compound Annual growth Rate

5 4 digital healthcare Market and Key Drivers digital healthcare incorporates telehealth and telecare. Telehealth is the delivery of health-related services and information through telecommunications technology. The marketplace for digital healthcare is mostly at a nascent stage. This is particularly true for home telehealth technologies which are worth $371 million today and are expected to increase at a CAgR of 11.2% to reach $631 million in The market drivers for digital healthcare include demographic changes, increased demands on healthcare services in the developed world, reduction of healthcare resources, move to disease prevention rather than treatment, and advances in technology. however, there are still significant barriers to adoption. In particular, the unclear boundary between health and social care makes it difficult for business to understand who the buyer is and to bring products to market. There is a clear need for both new policies and models (e.g. payments systems and reimbursement, business models) and technological/infrastructure improvements (broadband access, confidentiality, monitoring tools) to realise the full value of this market. Scotland goes from strength to strength in the digital healthcare area Opportunities The growing acceptance and use of telehealth offers opportunities to several groups: For healthcare companies to integrate home medical equipment as part of connected systems; For network operators, system integrators, and healthcare it companies to build such systems; For service providers (carers) to enhance their offering to patients and productivity by using such systems. Scottish Strengths Scotland goes from strength to strength in the digital healthcare area: Over 30,000 people are already receiving telecare and telehealth through pilot projects such as the telecare Development Programme and the telehealth Programme. One of the DALLAS (Delivering Assisted Living Lifestyles at Scale) communities will be set up in Scotland and will play a catalyst role in propelling Scotland ahead in this area. Scotland has extremely strong academic research in the underlying discipline of informatics, electronics and sensors, a large base of medtech companies including a number of innovative SMes and several companies already focusing on the digital healthcare market. the Scottish Government has been very supportive of digital healthcare programmes. its support to the above mentioned programmes is giving a clear edge to Scotland in this area. 1 Technologies for Long-Term Care and Home Healthcare: Global Markets, BCC Research, April 2010.

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