Apple Inc. (AAPL), QUALCOMM, Inc. (QCOM): Disruptions Needed

3. Telemedicine
Where are the most expensive places to obtain health care? Hospitals and post-acute care facilities. Telemedicine offers the opportunity for patients to receive some types of clinical care at home, thereby lowering costs. Deloitte estimates that as much as $400 billion annually could be saved through effective application of in-home technologies.

Telemedicine has been around in various forms for decades, but the technology finally appears to be poised to take off. Nineteen states have passed laws requiring insurers to cover health services provided through remote technology. Efforts are also underway to advance federal legislation.

The niche has attracted interest from several big players, which is a good thing. For example, mobile communications giant QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) developed a platform for connecting medical devices at patients’ homes to the cloud for external applications to use the data. This makes it easier for new applications to be developed that advance telemedicine functionality.

Research firm InMedica thinks that telemedicine could expand nearly 500% by 2017. If both Deloitte and InMedica are correct in their predictions, significant health-care savings should be possible.

Disruptions needed
Maybe the day will soon come when you can take a genetic test in your own house with the results sent electronically to your doctor, who then pulls up her iPad to confer with Watson about the best treatment — to be provided to you remotely at home, of course. With more Americans aging and likely requiring more health care, disruptions like these are definitely needed.

The article 3 Disruptive Technologies That Could Slash Health-Care Costs originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Keith Speights.

Fool contributor Keith Speights owns shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). The Motley Fool recommends Apple and Genomic Health (NASDAQ:GHDX). The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple, Genomic Health, International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM), and QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM).

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