The Explosive Growth of Mobile Healthcare

Mobile healthcare is well poised to effectively flourish procedure for patient care and bring long term growth for the companies in the healthcare industry. Branch of e-health market which makes use of the mobile technology is primarily effective in medical evaluation from a distant location. As internet reach extends throughout the globe with the arrival of smart phones, growth outlook for mobile health care becomes more encouraging. It ensures sound treatment through early diagnosis and helps to regulate the compliance procedure during post treatment phase. Cost effectiveness is the main reason for its success. With emergence of smart phone, it became possible for everyone to access the service regardless of the location. Instead of being stuck in long queue at hospital for patient admission, you are just one click away from getting the care you need at affordable rates.

With the rise equal to approximately seven Billion mobile network users across the globe, the mobile communications industry is increasingly attracting people from a varied demographic group. Healthcare is no different to this pattern. As medical care service provider is looking to widen their patient access with limiting costs, experts deem mobile healthcare as the mean to achieve service cost-effectiveness. Mobil medical care highlights the usage of mobile communications technology & devices like smartphones in making it easier for people far and wide to reach out to healthcare information and strengthen availability of daily emergency care services by performing medical evaluation. Companies in network communication business also consider mobile care as a profitable venture which could lead them to growth path in the long run.

Broadly speaking, aspects like software, services, sales and advertising could be improved to make it more viable in the current global economy. Health insurers also have not been able to offer affordable detailed coverage plan which could help boost the industry. Medical treatments being sensitive issue for many people, clarity would help to ascertain that the people rights are protected. More and more young people are getting interested to avail the mobile benefit being the primary user of the internet. Adjustments to general healthcare plans and flexible legal procedures would allow the companies to expand the reach even wider. Skills needed to implement are also not yet up to the mark and additional training is required to equip the people involved in the industry. Extensive marketing would also help to create the awareness. Lack of knowledge about the steps involved has also diminished the progress. No one company have been able to provide all the solutions triggering the need to do rigorous research and development. Because if the provider himself would be at odds regarding effectiveness of the service, how could they convince their target audience to make it part of their life.

Progress made in mobile technology has impacted nearly every functional department with in the industry. The puzzling calculations once required to calculate and evaluate complicated procedures, is just one click away. There is more to Mobile healthcare application development than just the access and availability of the smartphone. It could be a way to delegate healthcare and could alter the way we currently assume the process. In today’s world, companies have acknowledged the new wave of smartphone users and their part in generating revenues. Devices like tablets, smart phones can monitor your current state of health using data extracted in real time. However, this is just a small step towards ever changing mobile industry. Patients are concerned about whether the technology would help them monitor their healthcare in a more effective way or help medical professionals involved in making critical decisions.

Mindfire has deep experience developing Healthcare / Medical IT Software applications. Our solutions  are used in various hospitals and medical setups. We invite you to know more about the healthcare solutions that were developed at Mindfire Solutions to enable care delivery to become more integrated, outcome-based and patient-centric.

Engaging patients using technology

Every patient draws satisfaction and comfort on being extended good personalized care. With technology permeating the healthcare space, there is a strong feeling amongst many people that the degree of personalized care is only going to improve in the future. Infact, technological innovations are also expected to find progressive solutions to the hurdles currently faced in managing and curing fatal diseases. This is the consequence of the paradigm shift in the manner in which people have started viewing the impact of technology on healthcare. There is a high degree of willingness from their end to become part of the solution to the world’s healthcare problems with the aid of all sorts of technologies – to the extent that they are now open to virtual doctor visits and to the extensive use of remote medical devices and health sensors. Basically, there seems to be no hesitation whatsoever in embracing a form of healthcare which makes it possible for them to access care outside the hospital premises, share their information anonymously for better outcomes, receive care which is highly personalized i.e. even take into account the patient’s genetic details.

Given the expectations which patients have, it has become imperative on the part of providers and physicians to acknowledge them and subsequently device ways to address them. Though the inhibitions on the part of patients towards using personal health records and mobile apps for managing their care is on the wane, physicians in turn can be reluctant to accept electronic data from patients due to liability concerns. A research was done in order understand the reasons for the apprehension on the part of the physicians and the subsequent steps taken to address them. The major concerns included timeliness of data availability, adequacy of response, volume of data, accuracy and decision on who should respond. Based on the findings, some steps have been suggested to make it possible for physicians to better engage with patients using technology.

They include the following:

• Achieve an understanding of the nature of information patients would be expected to share , how they would do it and who would be the person responsible from the clinical team to review the information and at what frequency

• Identify and train a member of the clinical care team to monitor incoming data and decide urgency

• Have a protocol in place to handle medical emergency

• Use the correct judgment to arrive at a decision on whether or not a patient-generated electronic health information needs to be included in a physician’s medical record

The above points can act as valuable guidelines for providers as well in their endeavor to engage patients using technology. Besides, they will also enable them to offer highly effective, efficient and most importantly patient-centered care. With better data and technology at their disposal, it will be possible to see what is happening to patients more easily and, if need be, make the required adjustments in real time. In the new emerging payment models like Accountable Care Organizations, technology can actually play a very crucial role in engaging patients – by prompting more preventive behavior and spurring patient-physician discussions. The new models aim to negate fee-for-service by offering incentives and savings to patients for doing things the right way. This is where they expect technology to play a major role. Mobile health app development teams can help you build clinical and EHR/EMR software projects within allocated budgets and time schedules.

We provide healthcare software integration and Healthcare testing services. If you want to hire certified healthcare software testers for testing your medical application, please contact us at Mindfire Solutions.

How is mHealth metamorphosing Healthcare delivery?

Various researches have indicated the various benefits which implementation of mHealth is to bring forth in the healthcare industry. Although there is an inclination to quantify the benefits in monetary terms, the real focus should be on identifying the major changes in healthcare delivery which mHealth is going to bring about. The accuracy of monetary benefits is always going to be debatable but not the tangible benefits drawn from mHealth adoption. Of the many benefits predicted two areas which are going to see some real changes are remote patient monitoring and chronic disease management. In the event of the first, it will result in patients spending less time in hospitals and in outpatient visits. What has been really exciting is to have mHealth hardware getting directly linked to companion apps.

However, mHealth is expected to grow more so as Smartphone-based rather than being delivered through bespoke devices. As far as chronic disease management is concerned, from addressing high healthcare costs, inequality of care and medicinal waste, mHealth can actually bring about some serious positive change in lifestyle. Plus, it allows patients in some capacity to manage their health independently. For a chronic disease like diabetes, triggered mainly by incorrect lifestyle, mHealth can prove a really meaningful contribution in managing it well. For e.g. patients can use the proven apps to adhere to treatment regimes. Physicians can use make use of Patient portals to communicate directly with patients and provide information on disease management. All these and many more channels can be used to get patients to manage their blood glucose levels and reduce instances of emergency room visits and readmissions. Studies done have also indicated that with the younger lot, who unfortunately suffer from the disease, there are apps specially designed which use pictures and text messages which engage them to improve their compliance to care process at home. Also, it helps to get responses to queries from physicians in quick time. The texting program has seems to be gaining in popularity with text reminders ensuring better adherence.

Overall, these are early stages for adoption of mHealth apps. Most of the ones available currently do not have a high degree of sophistication, and are underutilized. However, it is laying the foundation for the next level of innovation to follow where the apps developed will be more suited to the changing healthcare landscape. Since a lot of changes related to healthcare IT are scheduled in the next few years, with some mandated by the federal government, the mobiles apps in the future will have to take into account the regulatory compliances to pervade into the lives of all stakeholders in the industry. The mHealth market is entirely in sync with the smartphone application market. Hence, the adoption is sure to pick from developed countries before it moves to others. In absolute terms, mHealth will see a exponential adoption since the number of people using smartphones and tablets is expected to be in billions in the next 5 years. That is also the time when it is expected to have entered the commercialization phase. But between then and now some major changes will also have to be done. For instance the regulations will have to be modified and defined in clear terms and the solutions have to handle more complex situations. The changes currently taking place in the operational models in the industry will create a an environment conducive to mHealth adoption. One of the studies done to identify the trends which will shape the market for mHealth had the following points to share

• The main driver for the mHealth usage will be the penetration of Smartphones
• There will customized mHealth applications available for smartphones or tablets
• Most of the applications will be native
• There are likely to be niche stores for mHealth apps
• The commercialization phase will require better regulations to be in place
• The market will be driven by the buyers
• The traditional health distribution channels will start adopting mHealth apps
• Countries with high smartphone penetration and healthcare budgets will be the main benefactors
• The chronic diseases will draw special focus
• New business models will come into play

With the adoption rate for mHealth apps on the rise, healthcare software testing also starts assuming increasing importance. It becomes vital and hence imperative to use app testers to test the robustness and security of the apps before they are rolled out to the patients and users.

We provide Healthcare software development services. To know more about the expertise of our healthcare application developers, please visit Mindfire Solutions.