Consultancy firm: senior care market to grow exponentially in Asia; new technologies to boost market
The Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, judging by its rapidly growing elderly population, could significantly boost silver market opportunities and elder-care productivity solutions, according to Spire Research & Consulting, which presented at Singapore’s ELDEX Asia 2019. The firm foresees product categories such as those related to assisted living facilities, medical tourism, telemedicine, and AI technology to supplement the growth of the market – the anti-aging sector, for example, reported gains of some US$7.7 billion in 2018 and has a CAGR of 5.7% to reach US$10.1 billion by 2023.
While there is demand for elder-care technologies and innovation in APAC, healthcare financing systems and affordability seems to hinder its progress, unlike in neighbouring Japan and South Korea. Most APAC countries currently seek to improve the standard and quality of healthcare for their aging population but have yet to accomplish this goal due to the high costs of innovative technology and its limited use in the general tertiary care sector.State financing schemes for nursing care are also less well developed in APAC, limiting the potential base of deployment for new technologies; weak pension systems and patchy health insurance otherwise limits access to quality care as well.
Commenting on the matter, the World Bank’s Regional Lead Economist for Human Development for the East Asia and Asia-Pacific Region (SARCE), Hans Timmer, said governments should “reorient the delivery system from the intensive use of hospital care to greater reliance on improved primary care and reform provider payment mechanisms from fee-for-services to case-based approaches.”
As an effort into elder-care and education, there are now wearables and trackers, senior safety systems and automated patient portals which employ personalised action plans and at-home care for the elderly. A Spire analysis further suggests that businesses should focus on digitising senior care while hospitals need to leverage data to forecast health trends and recommend services and actions for patients.
In addition, the use of telemedicine/consulting or Virtual Reality (VR) Experiences could provide much-needed medical assistance and promote wellness to the elderly at care homes with less cost and no need for travel. VR innovations could also alleviate isolation, a common problem in nursing homes/assisted living facilities.
Meanwhile, in place of hospitalisation, home healthcare services are more in demand in India –the sector is expected to hit US$6 billion in shares by 2020 from a US$2 billion market opportunity back in 2014. Home healthcare involves providing skilled and efficient medical consultancy, post-natal care, nursing and physiotherapy in the home. The number of India’s senior citizens is expected to vastly increase in the years to come, so they will benefit greatly from the home healthcare initiative.
