Smart Hospitals Market

Market Overview

The global smart hospital market is expected to grow at 23.8% CAGR during the forecast study period.

Hospitals worldwide are under tremendous pressure today while facing depreciating factors, such as operational cost pressures while serving a rapidly increasing aging population suffering from chronic lifestyle diseases. Thus, hospitals are looking to explore ways to improve their productivity and efficiency, aiming to reduce operational costs and boost profit margins. On the other hand, the patient community is evolving, whose preferences are needed to be addressed to achieve optimal customer satisfaction. Naturally, hospitals are opting for digital technologies as a solution. 

Digitization trends have a high impact on hospitals worldwide with more and more digital smart hospitals emerging. Smart hospitals are technology-driven medical settings equipped with advanced devices and software, where infrastructure makes extensive use of emergent technologies, such as AI and IoT, to reduce the workload and minimize the operational cost associated with all the procedures included in a hospital. The smart hospital market has primarily evolved to create more integrated, efficient spaces to suit the needs of their end-users and medical practitioners.

Market Dynamics

Market Drivers

An Increase in Technological Advancements in Healthcare with a Need for Cost-Effective Solutions in Hospitals Drives the Market

Digital health has seen a rise over the past decade as more and more healthcare authorities seek a solution to complicated market problems through technological advancements. Like all other growing sectors emergence of technological domains of machine learning, cloud-based services, AI, and big-data-driven growth in the smart hospitals market. The world healthcare scenario has seen changes along with the spread of COVID-19 and owing to this the world has witnessed a major shift in preference for technology-powered healthcare, fueling the smart hospitals market to grow. 

In such times where epidemics have claimed lives and threatened millions, as well as the livelihoods of hundreds of millions more, the ability of smart hospitals to provide a wide range of population health support is crucial. Already in this current crisis, the ability of smart hospitals to use leading-edge technology to gather data effectively and safely has proven to be a huge boon to healthcare professionals. 

In Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, cutting-edge AI-powered robots had been deployed to improve patient care and provide necessary breaks to healthcare workers. A Softbank-backed Beijing startup named CloudMinds Technology innovated these robotic helping hands and for several days the hospitals were majorly staffed by them.

Significant Government Interest and Funding in Digital Healthcare Infrastructure Is Expected to Present Novel Opportunities for the Global Smart Hospital Market

The healthcare industry offers great potential for the installation of new technologies, such as AI, machine learning, and automation, particularly with regard to driving down operational efficiencies, enhancing the quality of care, and patient engagement. Moreover, the increase in government support and investments in the healthcare sector, especially in developing economies creates lucrative opportunity pockets in the market. 

According to a recent report by the U.S.-based Centre for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy, India falls short of 600,000 doctors, with the ratio of doctors to the population at 1:10,189, which indicates treatment inaccuracy and errors. Thus, to provide accurate and safe medical care to these patients, hospitals are adopting smart technology-driven features like electronic medical records, automated checkups, and others. A statistical report pulled from the third global survey on eHealth reported by the World Health Organization (WHO) suggests that there has been healthy growth in the adoption and usage of national electronic health record (EHR) systems with approximately a 46% increase in the past half a decade globally.

Further, healthcare reform under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), approved by the United States Supreme Court requires the installation of electronic medical records for all medical practitioners and healthcare-based institutes.  

The initiatives undertaken by the Indian government during the digitization movement, including the introduction of digital biometric identification cards (Aadhaar), have created a favorable ecosystem for the digital healthcare market. Further, some major renowned private hospital franchises in the country, such as Fortis, Max, and Apollo, along with some government hospitals, such as All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in urban areas of India are leveraging the benefits of having digital and smart hospital features and widely seeking to implement the same throughout their chains nationwide.

Regional Analysis

The regional analysis has been made considering the trends of the smart hospitals market, in the regions of North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Central and South America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, and Africa.

North America Is Expected to Dominate the Smart Hospital Market in the Global Arena

The market dominance by North America can be attributed to the well-established healthcare infrastructure, technological advancements in Silicon Valley that have powered the technological aspects, and most importantly, an increase in the adoption of artificial intelligence software and devices across various hospital settings in the state. Further, the market is fueled by the rising adoption of healthcare IT solutions and real-time patient management systems in the region and is expected to grow and dominate in the forecast period. 

For instance, a Chicago-based company Allscripts introduced its first cloud-based electronic health record system having machine learning features for implementations in hospital infrastructures throughout the state at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. Allscripts charges a monthly subscription fee of USD 100 to use the software, giving users the option to pay for the EHR solution in smaller installments.

Further, the presence of major key players like Alphabet INC., Philips, and GE Healthcare, among others in the home territory, has increased the adoption and boosted the smart hospital markets. A massive advantage has been the government involvement and initiatives focused on digital health that can be reasoned for market domination.

Asia-Pacific Region Is Anticipated to Show a Significant Growth Rate during the Forecast Period

The gradual increase in government interest in the propounded and modern healthcare system and initiatives for the implementation of IT solutions in healthcare in the APAC region has driven the market towards witnessing steady growth. The regional market growth can be attributed to the increasing number of hospitals and surgical centers in the region, owing to the rise in the diseased population. Furthermore, the modernization of the healthcare infrastructure and increasing demand for state-of-the-art technologies, and increasing comparison to western countries, in the healthcare sector has aided the growth of the healthcare industry in China, Japan, India, and South Korea.  

In countries like India, the huge revenue from medical tourism has also motivated the adoption of such technologies. In the Indian subcontinent, various e-Gov initiatives like the National Health Portal, e-Hospital, and Integrated Health Information Program (IHIP) have been introduced, and seeking implementation nationwide has further fueled the market growth. Furthermore, the government has also provided policy support in the form of reduced excise and customs duty and exemption in service tax. 

Moreover, considering the high patient volume in the regional developments in information technology (IT) and integration with medical electronics has attracted and is expected to successfully provide high-quality medical care at home at affordable prices. It enables customers to save up to 20-50% of the cost, making healthcare much more affordable.

Segmental Analysis

The Hardware Segment Is Expected to Be the Largest Segment

Based on the component, the hardware division shows segmental dominance, owing to the extensive installation and utilization of hardware in hospitals. There are diverse types of medical devices and smart tools installed and used in hospital setups that include wearable, implanted, and other stationary devices for patient health management. For instance, the most commonly used wearables for patients, remote monitoring devices, devices to monitor their vitals and track medications, smart TVs, and tablets to create an interactive environment within the staff and patients are a few such prominent examples. Further, EHRs services are another common tool to provide accumulated patient information to healthcare professionals, thus enabling accurate treatments. Thus, increased usage of such devices is expected to drive segmental growth.

Further, the systems and software segment is expected to show lucrative growth as modern infrastructures have begun to use process automation at different levels like asset tracking, patient flow, management, and others. For instance, in climate control automation, different systems like lighting, climate control, and shading are combined in one infrastructure (total room automation). 

By Artificial Intelligence, Technology Holds the Highest Share in the Market Owing to the Various Technological Advancements and Innovations

Based on AI, technology can be acclaimed for major contributions in the smart hospitals market owing to the incorporation of various technologies and tools to enhance operational accuracy. These technologies help in operations by boosting the capacity to process and store large amounts of data efficiently that can be later queried and used for diagnostic purposes. 

Various technologies for collecting and categorizing information, registering people, and allowing one-point access to past information have made many processes automated, error-free, and efficient. All these features not only bring down operational costs but also attract consumers, making them feel safer and protected. As more patients develop a bias towards these features, the segment is expected to garner further growth in the smart hospitals market in the forecast period. 

Recent Developments

• In August 2020, the Indian government under National Digital Health Blueprint aimed at using technology to improve healthcare delivery across the country launched an initiative to introduce health ID cards for citizens all across the nation.
• In September 2020, Science 37, the U.S.-based clinical research Company, launched Integrated Electronic Health Records so that patients using Science 37's technology platform can now connect their health records directly, thus eliminating paper documentation and streamlining information sharing across platforms.