GeckoSystems Intl. Corp. (PINKSHEETS: GCKO) announced today that the new Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes recently approved, for physicians only, will further enhance the cost/benefit ratios of personal companion robots for family care. These new CPT codes will increase physician productivity and revenue by billing for activities that have previously been considered unpaid administrative time for non-physical consultations such as telephonic or on-line consumer care using home monitoring medical devices. GeckoSystems is a dynamic leader in the emerging Mobile Service Robot (MSR) industry revolutionizing their development and usage with "Mobile Robot Solutions for Safety, Security and Service™."
"While a home monitoring medical device may be stationary, as in GE/Intel, Philips et al offerings, or on a mobile personal companion robot such as our CareBot™, we believe the ability to monitor throughout the home with only one set of robust sensors to be more cost effective than incurring the cost and deficiencies of various fixed sensors with multiple installations per room. Due to the ability of our CareBots to automatically follow the designated care receiver using GeckoNav™ and GeckoTrak™, GeckoChat™ can verbally remind the care receiver of medication events, and enable vital sign taking of the care receiver. This new home medical appliance provides all the benefits of fixed, stationary monitoring systems, but with significant additional benefits such as surrogate companionship and easier video monitoring and conferencing. This, and other desirable benefits such as easy expansion to incorporate more vital sign monitoring subsystems (such as blood sugar and/or blood oxygenation levels), further reduces the total cost of ownership and increases personal robot demand for new home monitoring medical appliances, such as the CareBot," observed Martin Spencer, President/CEO, GeckoSystems.
When it comes to developing devices to help doctors monitor patients' health remotely, we're talking multibillion dollar potential. This professional telehealth market is predicted to grow from $3 billion in 2009 to $7.7 billion by 2012. And with the 65-and-older demographic estimated to be more than 71 million people by 2030, telehealth, especially cost effectiveness in the home, promises to be huge.
The substance of this tremendous scope in home telehealth marketplace has been illustrated by significant investments by major international companies such as GE, Intel, Philips, and others. So when GE, the world's 12th-largest company by revenue ($176.6 billion in 2008) according to Fortune magazine, announced it is joining with the world's largest chip maker, Intel, to develop home-based health technologies, it signaled the continued transformation of an American icon to emerging 21st century marketplaces. The financial commitment by both companies is big -- $250 million over the next five years -- and so is the market potential.