Sotera Wireless's ViSi Mobile monitor.

The global market for EHR-compatible wireless patient monitoring devices, mobile EHR software, and EHR mobile technologies will hit $23.5 billion by 2018, according to a new report from BCC Research. For comparison, that market was valued at $9.6 billion in 2012 and an estimated $11.2 billion in 2013, which adds up to a five-year compound annual growth rate of 16.1 percent from 2013 to 2018.

BCC defines wireless EHR as a space that's evolving as mobile technology improves in parallel with meaningful adoption of electronic health records.

"Wireless EHR-compatible devices not only streamline data and data storage options but also provide critical analytical data inside and outside the traditional hospital setting," the firm writes in a statement. "Such information is extremely useful in understanding a patient’s state of health, providing alerts, encouraging adherence to medication/consulting (routine), etc. Wireless EHR devices provide freedom from a laboratory setting for monitoring purposes and also keep physicians well connected."

The research firm is tracking both mobile-connected EHRs and EHRs that connect with wireless health devices, including blood glucose meters, BP monitors, pulse oximetry, capnography, stress monitoring, pediatric growth trackers, coagulation monitors, and peak flow meters. The report looks at wireless protocols including 3G, RFID, and Zigbee.

BCC attributes the growth in the space to "increasing R&D spending and technological advances, particularly in the area of mobile technologies, as well as intense interest from governmental and global public health institutions and hospital systems."

Over the years, MobiHealthNews has written about a lot of enthusiasm for feeding device connectivity into EHRs. But doctors and technologists have also been skeptical of how all that data will be managed once it's in the EHR.