Wireless health services aim to improve care, but they also seek to reduce overall healthcare spending, which a recent study by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) reports is increasing. The study shows that healthcare spending increased by 5.7 percent in 2009 and projects that this decade may bring about an average annual growth rate of 6.1 percent in healthcare spending. By 2019, spending is expected to reach $4.5 trillion, double the amount in 2009. However, as costs increase, so too do the opportunities for cutting costs.

Wireless health services aim to tackle overall healthcare costs from multiple angles: prevention, earlier diagnosis, and intervention. Connected health preventative practice could cut healthcare expenses by 40 percent according to seventy-five percent of healthcare providers, patients, payers and technology enablers surveyed by Cambridge Consultants. West Wireless Health Institute reports that remote monitoring of congestive heart failure, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease would save $21.2 billion annually. As noted in a previous article, the GSM Association’s Chief Marketing Officer O'Hara writes that "GSMA and McKinsey predict that, through remote monitoring, we could see $175 billion to $200 billion in annual savings for managing chronic diseases in OECD countries and Brazil, Russia, India and China alone.”

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