Patient Flow Management Solutions Market Analysis

Patient Flow Management Solutions Market - Insights

Patient flow management represents the ability of the healthcare system to serve patients quickly and efficiently, as they move through stages of care. Large volume of patient information is generated in the healthcare facilities due to rampant increase in incidence of chronic diseases across the globe.

The manual system of patient flow management is relatively unreliable and is prone to human error and data loss. Manual data management requires extensive manpower and is a cumbersome and relatively expensive task. However, hospitals and healthcare providers are now aware regarding managing the ever-growing patient flow by adopting integrated patient flow management solutions. Moreover, increasing prevalence of various diseases is expected to accelerate hospital admissions and patient flow, thereby resulting in increasing adoption of patient flow management solutions to manage daily patient flow across various hospitals and medical care settings.

Therefore, significant reduction in time, labor cost, human error, and data loss offered by patient flow management solutions and increasing burden of chronic diseases are major factors driving the market growth.                

The global patient flow management solutions market size is estimated to be valued at US$ 539.1 million in 2018 and is expected to witness a CAGR of 18.8% during the forecast period (2018–2026).

           Global Patient Flow Management Solutions Market Share (%), By Product Type: 2018 & 2026    

Source: Coherent Market Insights Analysis (2018)

Rising need to manage increased patient flow in healthcare facilities is driving growth of the market

Patient flow management solutions are used to regulate increasing flow of patients in and out of hospitals and other health care settings, which helps to reduce overcrowding and delay in care. Furthermore, as more people are gaining access to insurance and coverage and care, patient flow to hospitals and medical centers will increase, which could worsen the situation. A number of hospitals and healthcare systems are incorporating strategies to improve patient flow management.

For instance, according to the Nuffield Trust October 2016 report, volume of patients treated increased by 17% in zero-day patients between 2009-10 and 2014-15. Moreover, with 105,000 acute beds in use, occupancy increased from 98,000 in 2011 to 102,000 in 2014.

According to the California Health Care Foundation, April 2011, a national study conducted by patient tracking vendor to assess the challenges in patient flow management reported that around 68% of respondents believe that patient flow and logistics solutions have high potential to improve patient throughput at their facility.

Furthermore, real-time location systems improve patient flow by tracking patients, assets or staff members. These systems consist of tags that are deployed on the person or item being tracked and a network of sensors and transceivers are installed throughout the hospital that detect location of the tags in real-time.

Overcrowding in emergency departments, intensive care units, and other hospital departments could lead to adverse outcomes, as support staff in services such as laboratory and radiology are unable to keep up and physicians and nurses have less time to focus on individual patients. For instance, a study published in Medical Care Journal in January 2013 found that for each additional patient with heart failure, pneumonia, or myocardial infarction assigned to a nurse, the chances of readmission increased between 6% and 9%.    

Global Patient Flow Management Solutions Market Share (%), By Component: 2018 & 2026

Source: Coherent Market Insights Analysis (2018)

Technological advancements in patient flow management solutions is driving growth of the market 

Rising adoption of cloud-based models and increasing penetration and usage of portable devices in patient flow management solutions are expected to offer lucrative growth opportunities in the near future. Moreover, high return on investment achieved by the adoption of these solutions, significant demand for enhanced quality care of the patients, and need for cost reduction by hospitals are expected to contribute to market growth over the forecast period.

Patient tracking using real-time location systems (RTLS) offer several technologies such as radio-frequency identification (RFID), infrared and ultrasound, depending on the cost, infrastructure requirements, and percussion.    

Other developments in the field of patient flow management solutions include Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), which uses far less battery power than conventional Bluetooth technology. BLE enabled devices are able to create more efficient workflow when it gets integrated with RTLS and Electronic Health Records (EHR). The complexity of locating patients, staff, and visitors in the hospitals and healthcare environment requires a fully integrated combination of diverse technologies to achieve maximum advantage. 

North America is expected to be the most lucrative region in the global patient flow management solutions market. This is owing to factors such as high awareness and adoption of technologically advanced tools for improving healthcare facilities, in order to reduce patient waiting time and maximize bed utilization.

Increasing awareness due to conferences conducted on healthcare IT and its importance in hospital management, presence of major key players such as Change Healthcare and Allscripts Healthcare Solutions in the region, and inorganic growth strategies adopted by these players to strengthen their foothold in the market, is driving the growth of North America patient flow management solutions market. For instance, in Allscripts, attended the Global Healthcare Conference in New York, which is held in 6^th December 2018, which features companies which are working across different sectors including, patient flow management solutions, life sciences & diagnostics, medical technology and facilities & services.     

Increasing demand to fulfil unmet needs of patient flow management in emerging economies such as India and China is expected to aid in growth of the Asia pacific patient flow management solutions market. Moreover, increasing adoption of patient flow management solutions in developed countries such as the New Zealand and Singapore is contributing to growth of the patient flow management solutions market in Asia Pacific.

Key players operating in the global patient flow management solutions market include Getinge AB, Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc., Cerner Corporation, McKesson Corporation, Epic Systems Corporation, Aptean, Inc., Sonitor Technologies, Inc., Stanley Black & Decker, Inc., and TeleTracking Technologies, Inc.