When we think of healthcare revenues, the conversation often turns to curative care and Big Pharma. But there is a powerful and growing alternative: the health monitoring economy. Unlike the reactive model focused on treating illness, this new paradigm is about preventing disease, tracking health metrics, and engaging patients in continuous care.

And here’s the key insight: this model doesn’t just improve health—it produces more sustainable and predictable revenue for the entire healthcare ecosystem.

Monitoring vs. Treatment: Two Economic Models ⚖️📊💉

The traditional healthcare economy is event-driven: care is delivered when someone is sick, and money flows through hospital stays, surgeries, or long-term medication. But this model has flaws:

• Costs are unpredictable and high

• Health systems are overwhelmed

• Outcomes are often reactive

The monitoring economy, by contrast, creates a steady, scalable flow of revenue through:

• Regular diagnostics and screenings

• Wearable health tech subscriptions

• Wellness platforms and telemonitoring

• Personalized coaching and data-driven care

According to Deloitte, the remote patient monitoring market is projected to reach $175 billion by 2027, while the digital health market is expected to grow to $660 billion【1】. The Global Wellness Institute further estimates the global wellness economy at $5.6 trillion, highlighting prevention’s expanding role across sectors【6】.

Big players: Apple, Philips, Medtronic, Withings, Abbott, Dexcom

Challenger approaches: Startups like Biofourmis (RPM), Oura (wearables), and Qardio (remote BP monitoring)

DM Industry: The Quiet Giant Behind Preventive Health 🔬📡🧪

The Diagnostics and Medical Devices (DM) industry is at the core of this shift. While Big Pharma focuses on treatment, the DM sector enables prevention, early detection, and continuous monitoring.

Without diagnostics, there is no detection. Without monitoring, there is no prevention. And without measurement, there can be no personalization.

From wearables like Apple Watch and Withings scales, to lab tech like Biofourmis and 54gene, these companies are shaping a health model that brings in:

• Recurring income from devices and software

• Data monetization opportunities

• Deeper patient engagement

More importantly, this model reduces acute care costs, while keeping people healthier, longer.

As Dr. Bertalan Meskó, The Medical Futurist, said: “When digital solutions are in the spotlight, prevention gets there too.”【10】

The global medical devices (DM) market was valued at $570 billion in 2023, projected to reach over $850 billion by 2030【11】. We can imagine that it will pass the trillion easily with a preventive health strategy. In comparison, the global pharmaceutical market stood at $1.48 trillion in 2022, expected to reach $2.1 trillion by 2030, showing a faster relative growth for the DM sector over the next decade【13】.

Big players: Siemens Healthineers, GE Healthcare, Roche Diagnostics

Challenger approaches: Cue Health, Butterfly Network (portable imaging), TytoCare

The Business Case for Prevention: Everyone Wins 🧘‍♂️💵🤝

For Healthcare Professionals:

Preventive care doesn’t mean fewer patients—it means better care. With AI, diagnostics, and automation assisting in routine tasks, professionals can:

• Spend more quality time with patients

• Serve more patients efficiently

• Build long-term relationships and follow-up revenue streams

For Insurers and Public Health Authorities:

Lower risk means lower claims and higher margins. According to the WHO, every $1 invested in proven preventive measures for non-communicable diseases in low- and middle-income countries could generate up to $7 in economic returns【2】.

If widely adopted, a shift toward prevention is expected to increase the global health insurance market size from $2.1 trillion in 2022 to over $3.3 trillion by 2030, particularly as insurers move toward wellness-based models that reduce risk exposure and improve member retention【14】.

For Tech Startups and Investors:

Digital health and monitoring create repeatable revenue models, through SaaS platforms, device sales, and wellness subscriptions. The predictability and scale are attractive to VC and corporate investors looking for long-term growth over one-time treatments.

As Bill Gates puts it: “Treatment without prevention is simply unsustainable.”【3】

The global preventive healthcare technologies and services market is expected to exceed $500 billion by 2028【12】.

Big players: UnitedHealth Group (Optum), Anthem, Discovery Health (Vitality program)

Challenger approaches: Alan (France), Sana (US), M-TIBA (Kenya)

The Proactive Patient: The Final Puzzle Piece 🧍🏾‍♀️📱💡

A successful health monitoring economy requires engaged and informed patients. They must:

• Understand the value of regular monitoring

• Be able to afford and access devices and services

• Be integrated into ecosystems where data leads to action

To enhance the public and patients engagement, they must be surrounded by good health information and both public and private payers must investments in their health education to promote good health practices.

With a more preventive care systems, the out of pocket will regularly be low and affordable to the mass while high costs required in late treatment and critical interventions will be needed less often.

At this stage, this remains a challenge in Africa as many households lack basic tools like weight scales or glucometers. Preventive care must be affordable, localized, and inclusive. Otherwise, it risks becoming a privilege for urban elites rather than a universal model.

Why the Monitoring Economy Pays Off and more in Africa💡📆📈

Instead of treating unpredictable illness, the monitoring model:

• Generates more stable, recurring revenue for health providers

• Prevents costly complications for patients and payers

• Empowers a wider range of health stakeholders: tech companies, insurers, clinicians, and public agencies

It is less dependent on high-cost pharma products, and more focused on everyday engagement which will give space and opportunity for governments to reverse the curve of uncontrolled health expenditures.

In Africa, we have the perfect environment to promote a model based on health monitoring economy where the key players identified can grow their business and profit while being part of a sustainable health system. As the health system is to build, it easier to decide the direction to give to health policies, program or industry. While in western country all have to be dismantle or modified before introduce such a big change of paradigm.

This is why our country is open to be the laboratory of what we picture as the future of the world health. As Professor John Deanfield, UK government champion for prevention, states: “A reorientation towards prevention is the only way to avert the growing health and wealth crisis.”【4】and Africa is for many reasons the best place to do it first at a large scale.

Sources 📚🔍📝

1. Deloitte – Remote Patient Monitoring and Digital Health Outlook (2023)

2. World Health Organization – NCD Best Buys Economic Report (2021)

3. Gates Foundation – Global Health Investment Returns Report (2020)

4. The Guardian – Interview with Prof. John Deanfield (2024)

5. McKinsey – Value Creation in the Diagnostics Industry (2023)

6. Global Wellness Institute – Global Wellness Economy Report (2024)

7. Statista – Global Wearable Device Market Forecast (2023)

8. Grand View Research – Digital Health & RPM Market Trends (2024)

9. OECD Health Policy Report – Economic Impacts of Preventive Spending (2023)

10. Dr. Bertalan Meskó – Medical Futurist Blog & Digital Health Insights (2023)

11. Fortune Business Insights – Medical Devices Market Forecast (2024)

12. The Business Research Company – Preventive Healthcare Market Forecast (2024)

13. Statista – Global Pharmaceutical Market Outlook (2023)

14. Allied Market Research – Global Health Insurance Market Report (2024)

Missing Data ❓📉🔬

• Comparative data between pharma and diagnostics investment in Africa

• Share of African households owning basic health tools (scales, glucometers)

• List of insurers in Africa covering wellness or prevention-related services

• National policies supporting medical device access for preventive care

• Investment trends in MedTech vs. Pharma in francophone vs. anglophone Africa