Like a boulder — or perhaps an avalanche — splashing into a
pond, mHealth has sent powerful waves spreading across the continuum of care.
You can feel the impact when your cardiologist uses his smartphone to take an
ECG reading in his office, or you use yours to check tests results via a secure
patient portal. You feel it when the orthopedic surgeon pulls up your son’s CT
scan on an iPad to show him where he fractured his bone, or your friend with
diabetes wears a glucose monitor to wirelessly transmit data to his physician —
and especially when the nurse in the hospital uses a barcode scanner to confirm
your mother receives the right dose of the right medication.
These are just a fraction of the countless ways mobile
technology is making its mark everywhere, from hospitals to long-term care
facilities to patients’ homes. Increasingly, healthcare organizations and
clinicians are relying on mHealth to improve patient safety, outcomes and
satisfaction within hospitals.
At the same time, they’re using mHealth to monitor and
connect with patients in order to keep them out of the hospital. Over the next
few years, the number of patients with chronic conditions — including heart
disease, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and sleep apnea — who
will wear wireless electronic devices is expected to climb as high as seven
million. During home visits, home health nurses and therapists find mobile
devices convenient and efficient for documenting and accessing patient
information. And tablets are becoming popular tools for interactive “e-visits”
with rural residents, seniors and people living with chronic conditions.
Meanwhile, physicians continue their love affair with
tablets and smartphones, taking advantage of them to access EHRs, collaborate
with peers or view test results anywhere, anytime. Nearly 70% of doctors use
smartphones and 66% use tablets, according to InformationWeek’s Healthcare IT
2012 Priorities Survey. Some physicians have even started prescribing apps to
their patients to encourage engagement, track medications, collect health data
and help modify behavior.
This makes sense, given that consumers — already accustomed
to using their mobile devices to shop, bank, book travel and more — also appear
eager to access healthcare information on the go. In fact, preliminary research
shows patients who are more connected are healthier and make smarter, more
cost-effective choices for the services they need. Although a 2011 report from
Pew Internet & American Life Project found that only 10% of smartphone
users have downloaded health-related apps, Juniper Research predicts mHealth
and medical app downloads will more than triple to 142 million by 2016.
A study by PwC found consumers in the U.S. and abroad highly
enthusiastic about mHealth, with 59% reporting mobile health has given them
solutions that have replaced some doctor visits, and nearly half saying they
think it will change the way they manage their overall health, medication and
chronic conditions. The catch is, many consumers still lack any electronic —
let alone mobile — access to their medical records and healthcare providers.
And many physicians remain reluctant to deliver care via mobile devices because
payers don’t compensate them.
However, this is likely to change as value-based
reimbursement models become the norm, and mHealth applications and technologies
continue to demonstrate their ability to improve quality of care and reduce
costs. It’s becoming increasingly clear that in addition to enabling caregivers
to provide timely, cost-effective care, mHealth has the potential to
fundamentally alter the way patients interact with their doctors and engage in
— and take greater responsibility for — their own healthcare. And that could
lead to some very positive outcomes.
Source: industryview
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