Forecast: The five most likely areas of the Internet healthcare industry to grow in 2015

The author has previously compiled rock Tiyatien on the 2014 annual Internet Medical Investment Summary report. According to the report, Malay Gandhi, general manager of Rock Tiyatien, recently predicted the 5 major areas of Internet healthcare investment that were most likely to grow in 2015 years. What are the five major areas? The specific analysis is as follows:

Will the bubble of Internet health investment be dashed? Malay Gandhi don't think so.

What will happen in the next 1 years? We are not sure now, but over the past 2014 years, we all know that Internet health investment has been exploding. According to a recent annual report by the famous American Internet medical incubator Rock Tiyatien, the total investment in Internet healthcare over $4 billion trillion last year, and forecasts that the figure will continue to grow in 2015.

Malay Gandhi, general manager of Rock Tiyatien, who has long worked with his start-up company, said:

"Internet medicine is not a bubble. Many people, including patients, doctors and payers, are dissatisfied with the current health care situation. In the past 20 years, advanced technology has not fully penetrated the medical industry, now it is time. We see a series of Internet medical companies offering truly valuable services to our customers, and many potential companies are participating. ”

It is hard not to pay attention to the "pop" of internet health care, especially since last year's capital markets had exceeded 10 billion dollars in a single quarter, the first time since the internet age. However, Gandhi pointed out that even under the Internet wave, a quarter of investment of more than 30 billion dollars, the overall market looks very rapid, but in fact, the entire capital market is still relatively conservative.

As Gandhi says, it is because of the dissatisfaction with the healthcare industry that the growth of Internet healthcare investment has been facilitated. In 2014, 258 Internet healthcare companies received more than 2 million dollars in investment.

According to Rock Tiyatien's report, the six biggest investments in Internet healthcare last year (accounting for 44% of total Internet healthcare investment) were: Large data analysis ($3.93 billion), consumer participation ($3.23 billion), digital medical equipment ($3.12 billion), telemedicine ($ 285 million, personalized medical care ($2.68 billion), health management ($2.25 billion).

And what is the growth trend for 2015?

The following are the 5 major areas where Malay Gandhi believes internet healthcare investment is most likely to grow rapidly:

1. Telemedicine

Telemedicine was the fastest growing area of internet health care last year, with a total investment of 300 million dollars, up 315% per cent year-on-year. Access and reimbursement are the two core issues that can sustain growth in telemedicine. A report from the American Tele-Medical Association (ATA) shows that 22 states in North America have received a grade A comprehensive rating for medical quality permission standards. Gandhi said: "We have found positive trends." ”

More positive signals include the development of certification procedures by the American Tele-Medical Association (ATA) for suppliers who provide consulting services to patients, and the CMS confirmation that 7 new telemedicine services will be reimbursed from this year onwards. There are, of course, still some challenges in terms of access that could hamper the growth of telemedicine investments.

For example, although more than 40 bills are being discussed in Congress, there are still no corresponding national standards for telemedicine. Gandhi said: "Although we cannot expect to legislate in the short term, this trend is at least present." ”

Reimbursement growth is relatively slow, but it is only a matter of time before commercial insurers accept and adopt a telemedicine provider.

Gandhi also said the network may be narrowed and aligned to specific telemedicine providers, but will certainly cover telemedicine. What happens when a consumer prefers to use his own telemedicine rather than the telemedicine service the insurance company recommends for him, which will be of interest to us.

2. Payer Management & Hospital Management

Extremely high operating pressures and slim operating margins will continue to drive the growth of 2015-year payers ' management investment. Reducing management costs is critical to all payers, as they face a limit on the minimum lending rate and a billions of per cent bill that is always inefficient.

"Look at these companies that we are now, most payers need to cut about 15% to 50% of their management costs to ensure a sizeable profitability under the minimum lending rate," Gandhi said. "Now this is a lot of pressure because the payers can't pass on the management costs to the consumers anymore. ”

Hospital-managed investments will also grow for similar reasons. Because many medical service providers are willing to use short-term management gains for long-term fund investments. But Gandhi said he did not think there would be a high growth in electronic health records (EHRS).

"I do not think there will be an increase in the investment in electronic health Records (EHRS)," he said. But I think there is a big increase in the flow of clinical work and in many areas related to electronic health records (EHRS). ”

While continuing data from electronic health records (EHRS) will boost investment in large data analysis, Gandhi believes the electronic health record (EHRS) market itself is mature. That is to say, many of the alternatives to Electronic health records (EHRS) will appear.

According to a survey by Rand think tank, 61% of doctors believe that electronic health records (EHRS) improve the quality of medical services, but 43% still believe that electronic health records (EHRS) reduce their productivity, and only 35% believe that electronic health records (EHRS) improve their job satisfaction.

Gandhi said: "I think we will still see the continued growth of peripheral investment in electronic health records (EHRS)." Even with a lot of dissatisfaction with electronic health records (EHRS), I'm still not sure whether investors will invest in alternatives, especially if they continue to invest in finding solutions to the problems existing in the current electronic health record (EHRS), so don't expect an increase in investment, but of course, Investment in the periphery of the electronic health Record (EHRS) will continue to increase. ”

3. Participation of medical consumers

The clear point is that the so-called medical consumer involvement is not simply giving you an app, and then your doctor will be there to remind you to take part in your own health management, but to get consumers involved in health care and Medicare spending and choices.

There will be substantial growth in investment in this area in the future, especially now that consumers are pointing to health plans, including the High Deduction Health Plan (HDHPS), are on the rise.

According to a survey by the American Enterprise Employee Health Organization, the cost of health care for large employers will increase by 6.5% in 2015. As a result, many companies offer consumer-directed health plans to reduce medical costs.

81% of employers surveyed said they would provide at least one consumer-directed health plan in 2015 years, compared with 72% in 2014. About 1/3 of employers (32%) said they would only provide consumer-directed health plans in 2015.

And these changes will boost the growth of investment in the consumer sector. Now, more than 30%-40% of all medical spending comes from consumers ' pockets, which include the insurance costs of compulsory purchases.

"Consumers are forced into the market and they are forced to realize how bad it is," Gandhi said. For the past 5 years, they have been easy to buy what they like on the Internet. For most people, buying health insurance at an official medical facility is the worst spending experience they've ever had. Consumer discontent will also drive an increase in investment in health care and consumption processes, which is why this category of investment has great potential. ”

4. Digital Therapy

Digital therapies have experienced explosive growth in 2014 years, and this growth trend will widen further in 2015. Many companies are emerging from this category, including Omada, Propeller Tiyatien, Lantern, Wellframe, and Wildflower Tiyatien, all of which demonstrate that software can be used to deliver clinical results. Many companies in this field embraced Angel investment two or three years ago and conducted rigorous research on their effectiveness, and now their products have been commercialized and become a new and effective business model that differs from the pharmaceutical companies ' model.

From mental health services to disease management interventions, digital care can be sustained in terms of population health management and the continued traction of the shadow Toll service reimbursement model.

Gandhi: "75% of all medical consumption is related to chronic diseases, and 80% of heart disease and diabetes can be prevented by lifestyle changes." So we have to realize that life behavior management software has huge market potential. From the business models created by these young businesses, I see a lot of possibilities in the future. ”

5. Personal Health Tracking tools

The media has been delighted with the sound development momentum of the 2014 Personal Health tracking tool. However, Gandhi that while this area shows sustained growth potential, the passwords on how to use these opportunities are not yet fully untied.

Nevertheless, Gandhi believes that the potential of this area will be the driving force for continued growth in investment in this area. Solutions around day-to-day mental health activities and sleep will be a potential growth area.

"We haven't fully figured out how to expand the possibilities for these health-tracking apps and related tracking devices, and that's why I think this is going to continue to grow, and there's a lot of unmet demand in this area," Gandhi said. ”

If Gandhi's predictions are correct, 2015 will be a landmark year for Internet healthcare. Of course, it is hard to imagine how much innovation, and how many failures, will be made to explore market demand. However, if we have as much expectation as these investments, we will see a lot of gains in 2015. Internet healthcare is becoming a new leader in the field of venture investment, and it will also be a wake-up bell for the new Year and probably a boom.

(Responsible editor: Mengyishan)