According to a recent report from Pike & Fischer, the market for telemedicine devices and services will climb to $3.6 billion in annual revenue over the next five years largely thanks for a push from wireless technologies, data compression and smartphones. Telemedicine will be dominated by wireless technologies during that time period: More than 70 percent of telemedicine will be wireless healthcare, according to the report.

The research firm predicts that wireless carriers, including AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel will become key players in the increasingly wireless-enabled telemedicine market, while smaller companies like software developers and device makers will be key acquisition targets. AT&T is likely to dominate, however, the report predicted. The firm also points to the need to control health care costs as another driver of the growing telemedicine market, while stimulus funding from ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) will lead to more remote patient monitoring services and mobile access to EHRs, according to Pike & Fischer.

P&F forecasts that at least 25 percent of the $20 billion in stimulus funds from ARRA earmarked for health information technology will be applied toward broadband-enabled telemedicine services such as remote patient monitoring and mobile access to medical records, and consumer applications such as interactive fitness guides and mobile health-related videos, according to the company's release.

For more, read the press release here