According to a recent report from Parks Associates, the U.S. market for wireless home-based healthcare applications and services will grow at a five-year cumulative annual growth rate of over 180% and become a $4.4 billion industry in 2013. The report points to healthcare reform from the Obama Administration as one driver of adoption in wireless home-care technologies.

Parks stated that the biggest opportunities for wireless-enabled home care products include chronic care management, medical diagnostic device monitoring, wellness & fitness applications, medication management, and senior independent living solutions.

"Wireless is an important crossover point for the healthcare sector and high-tech industry," Harry Wang, Director, Health & Mobile Product Research, Parks Associates stated in a company release. "Device and service connectivity is the model for future home care applications, and mobile networks will link a growing number of monitoring products to healthcare providers."

"Deals such as recent agreements from Verizon Wireless with LifeWatch and Qualcomm will become more commonplace as this market moves into wider availability," Parks' press release concludes.

Parks' report follows other market growth predictions related to wireless healthcare: ABI Research recently predicted that the number of wireless sensors in the market would grow to more than 400 million units by 2014, largely because of health applications. Another recent ABI Research study predicted that 15 million wireless devices will be in use by early 2012 to remotely monitor the well-being of elderly or at-risk people.

For more on Parks' latest study, read the company's press release here.