The increasing market penetration of picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) and electronic medical record (EMR) and the efficiency of point of care diagnostics to provide immediate results are the major factors driving the global point of care diagnostics market. In point of care (POC) diagnosis, the tests are conducted near the site of the patient care. The increasing geriatric population globally is also a factor propelling the point of care (POC) diagnostics market. Moreover, increasing usage of home based point of care devices, increasing government support, expansion of therapeutic horizon and rapidly increasing investments by various healthcare institutes to support new product developments are also the factors driving the point of care diagnostics market. There is a shortage of skilled staff, especially in the field of diagnostics. Various government initiatives to innovate out patient care models and to minimize hospital stays and rapidly increasing demand for home healthcare globally are the factors expected to further fuel the point of care diagnostics market over the forecast period.
The global point of care diagnostics market on the basis of product is segmented into urinalysis, fertility and feces, drug abuse testing, decentralized clinical chemistry, primary care systems (lipid and Hba1C), coagulation, hematology, cardiac markers, dedicated professional hospital glues testing, infectious diseases and blood gas/ electrolytes. The hospital glucose testing segment attributes the largest share in the market. The increasing incidences of diabetes and the necessity of constant detection of sugar levels in the blood are the key factors driving the point of care hospital glucose testing market. According to International Diabetes Federation (IDF), the prevalence of diabetes globally will be doubled till 2035. However, the rapid diagnostics market and OTC is expected to show lucrative growth over next six years owing to the growing demand for early disease diagnosis and self diagnosis to initiate instant and on-time treatment of chronic diseases. The end users of point of care diagnostic products include clinics, home, laboratories, assisted living healthcare facilities and hospitals. The clinics and hospitals together attributes the largest share in the market in terms of revenue. The diagnostic tests performed on a large scale in these healthcare institutes and increasing demand for further expansion of point of care diagnostic facilities are the key factors fueling the growth of point of care diagnostics market in hospitals and clinics. Furthermore, owing to the increasing geriatric patient base worldwide and the assisted and home healthcare, point of care diagnostic market is expected to show lucrative growth over the forecast period.
The point of care diagnostics market on the basis of regions is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and RoW. North America attributes the largest share of the overall market. The refusal of Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) for specific point of care diagnostic products and tests is the major factor driving the North American point of care diagnostics market. However, Asia Pacific is expected to show the fastest growth in the market owing to the rapidly enhancing healthcare infrastructure and new emerging countries such as China and India in this region.
The point of care diagnostics product manufacturers are making constant efforts and huge investments on research and development to invent new products which are enabled with advanced technologies. Various point of care diagnostics product manufacturers are creating competitive strategies such as collaborations, expansions and acquisitions to keep a strong foothold in the market. Roche Diagnostics, for instance, considers three major consumer segments to achieve dominance in the market. Some of the key market players include Roche diagnostics, Abott Laboratories, Beckman Coulter Inc., Alere Inc., Siemens AG and Johnson & Johnson.
