Connected Device Strategies for RPM

Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) Market Size in the United States

Written by Continua | Feb 13, 2023 5:12:00 AM

 

Definitions

When thinking about market size, it's common for people to say "Remote Patient Monitoring" or "RPM" but mean very different things. Does it mean money spent:

  • On devices, or
  • On technology (software + devices), or
  • On technology + services, or
  • The amount billed to insurance or paid by the consumer? 

To complicate things even more complicated, remote patient monitoring is increasingly being included as one aspect of a bundled virtual care or remote care offering. For example, if an online Telehealth company like Ro includes a connected weight scale as part of their GLP1 program, is that remote patient monitoring? We will attempt to be clear on this in our estimates below.

Segmentation

Ways to Segment the Remote Patient Monitoring Market

There are several ways in which the RPM market is commonly segmented:

  • By geography
  • By customer type
  • By medical specialty
  • By medical condition
Market Segments

In this analysis, we will focus on segmentation by customer type, because that's what typically separates sales channels and companies. The most common customer types being served in the remote patient monitoring industry are:

  • Physician Practices and Health Systems - These could be further subdivided, because they are very different sales motions.
  • Payers - Insurance companies and risk-bearing employers
  • Direct-to-Consumer - Companies that market directly to users or patients. This can be further subdivided into medically-focused remote patient monitoring and wellness-focused devices.
  • Clinical Trials - There is a group of companies focused on utilizing connected devices to collect data that support clinical trials
  • Government - This is a smaller segment, but it's generally a different sales channel
Top U.S.-based Remote Patient Monitoring Companies by Market Segment

Here are some of the top Remote Patient Monitoring companies by market segment. Note: if there is a company that you believe should be added to this list please contact us and let us know!

Physician Practices and Health Systems
  • Selling Directly to Ambulatory Practices and Clinics: Note - most of these companies have evolved to provide full remote care solutions
    • Optimize Health
    • Athelas
    • 100Plus
    • Dozens of others
  • Selling to Health Systems: Companies selling directly to health systems may be billing CPT codes, or they may be proposing other types of value (e.g. reducing readmissions, general post-acute management, or to generally support the patient experience).
    • Biofourmis
    • Current Health (acquired by Best Buy)
    • Vivify (acquired by United Healthcare)
    • Health Recovery Solutions (HRS)
    • Care Innovations
Payers
  • Livongo (acquired by Teledoc)
  • Omada Health
  • Hinge Health
  • Sword Health
Direct-to-Consumer 
  • General Wellness
    • Fitbit (Google)
    • Amazon
    • Whoop
    • Oura
    • EightSleep
  • Selling to Health Systems:
    • Biofourmis
    • Current Health (acquired by Best Buy)
    • Vivify (acquired by United Healthcare)
    • Health Recovery Solutions
    • Care Innovations
Clinical Trials
  • Medable
  • Evidation Health

 

Market Size Estimates


Estimates

Disclaimer: This is an estimate. Use at your own risk.

Remote Patient Monitoring Services

The Remote Patient Monitoring services market has been growing somewhere between a 20% to 50% CAGR. This has been driven to a large degree by rapid expansion of RPM in the Physician Practices and Health Systems segment, which came with reimbursements that took effect in 2019 and effectively doubled the market size for multiple consecutive years. COVID also provided a tailwind.

However, the estimated market size for Private Payers and Employers is still larger, with companies like Omada Health and Livongo (Teledoc) booking hundreds of millions of dollars per year in revenue.

It should be noted that in many cases the connected device data is only a component of a larger set of care management services. The revenue to the connected device companies is therefore a fraction of this total.

Fitness Trackers

Today, the fitness devices market is likely many times larger than the market for medical remote patient monitoring devices. Apple Watch, which is more than a fitness device, the the clear market leader, with Fitbit and Garmin coming in at a distant second and third position. Many of these devices are not cleared by the FDA and are not typically used for more serious medical applications.

Conclusions

There are many interesting conclusions that could be gained from this data. However, one possible conclusion is that in top-performing products, it's difficult to separate the value of the medical data being generated from other functionalities. While health monitoring is a feature, the Apple Watch offers far more than just health monitoring (text messages, apps, other convenience, etc.). While health monitoring will often still be the product (especially in medical cases), in other cases it may be a feature that also includes aspects of status, convenience, social connection, entertainment or other innate benefits to their human end-users.

 

Data Sources and Assumptions

The estimates below are compiled based on the following data sources and assumptions:

  • Public billing information (Medicare) - Medicare publishes historical billing data. However, they generally publish about 2 years after the fact.
  • Commercial insurance - Assume that commercial insurance market for RPM is about equal to Medicare
  • Public company reports - Figures on total revenue numbers have been published for certain startups and public company division

Want access to the spreadsheet or the list of sources? Just contact us and ask ;-)