DALLAS--The digital home health market, estimated at $461 million in 2005, could hit $2.1 billion by 2010, according to a recently released white paper.

The jump would be fueled mainly by wellness monitoring services, Web messaging and online consultations, according to the Parks Associates report.

The total market for digital home health services, excluding e-visits, could reach 64 million people in 2010, the paper says, and geriatric care monitoring could achieve annual growth of 22 percent--provided reimbursement policies for home technology services become more liberal.

Looking ahead, digital home health will include enhanced telemedicine applications, more e-health services and innovative geriatric care tools, all integrated with care providers' systems. For example, as a supplement to medical condition monitoring for the elderly, motion sensors throughout the home would send continuous information to a data center managed by a service provider. Any unusual movement, such as a fall in the bathtub, would trigger a response.

While monitoring equipment is expensive, the report predicts it will become more common as a nursing shortage restricts home care visits. Consumers will take the initiative to "self-monitor their chronic conditions, self-diagnose symptoms, obtain disease information and wellness knowledge, and actively seek caregivers' assistance in care management and clinical intervention," according to Harry Wang, the report's author.

"The home will be as important a health care facility as physician offices, clinics and hospitals," Wang concluded.

The report predicts that CMS' reimbursement policy for home technology services services will ease by 2008, and private insurers may act faster.

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© 2007 Penton Media, Inc.