Changes in approach needed for mHealth implementation

In order to truly become a disruptor in the healthcare industry, mHealth needs to break out of the shackles restricting its widespread use. Although the area shows a lot of promise to bring about major changes in healthcare delivery, the slow pace of its adoption has resulted in many industry leaders quoting the benefits to be speculative. They are generally the elderly lots who have throughout their careers seen various such disruptions start, show a lot of promise and then frizzle away. They are waiting for this one to stand the test of time and meet the changing requirements of the industry. There are enough indications already to suggest that mHealth has the elements to change the healthcare delivery on its head and transform it completely. Infact mHealth is the result of unsustainability of current healthcare spending, rapid growth of wireless connectivity, and the need for more precise and individualized medicine.

So the pertinent question which comes to mind is that if certain obstacles have resulted in the emergence of a solution, what has stopped its widespread use? In order to achieve the purpose, some roadblocks have been identified. They are as follows:

• Complexities which exist in the healthcare system related to current drivers of reimbursement
• Apprehensions of the part of clinicians as they expect the patient-physician relationship to weaken further; with a likelihood of an increase in their workload
• Challenges to the appropriate use and validation of mHealth technologies
• Possibility of downloading apps which are not very useful and can possibly even have a detrimental effect if used

mHealth intends to transform healthcare by addressing inefficient practices and various challenges faced by clinicians and consumers. The real beginning of the mHealth surge will start the day Physicians stop being wary of recommending apps. And for that to happen, there needs to be more availability of evidence. It is only by doing a systematic research on the impact of mobile technologies on health outcomes and showing positive results, on a continuous basis, that reliable evidence can be gathered. Also, for its widespread usage and subsequent acceptance, partnerships with governments become a critical factor. The key here is to identify and engage very early, by identifying the right people within the setups to provide support and handing them over to scale up after reaching a certain level of success. Achieving scale without such an approach i.e. involvement on the part of the government, is next to impossible.

Before beginning any mHealth project, it is very important to take into account 4 dimensions - People, places, payment and purpose. Importance of considering these factors is highly critical in determining the outcome. The following needs to be taken into account while addressing the dimensions

• People: Technological platforms to be used have to be chosen keeping in mind the demographics and preferences of the consumers and health professionals who are likely to use them. A platform with exceptional features and lacking on usability is of no use.
• Places: There is a need to have a strong backbone of network with good accessibility and reliability. This has a major bearing on how and when mHealth is used. If the functionalities available are complex, then in order to leverage those, the required download speed and bandwidth capacity needs has to be available as well.
• Payment: Evidence-based standards should be used to link payment with quality outcomes. Additionally, organizations dealing with patient data should adhere to the required policies to address privacy and security.
• Purpose: In order to be effective the strategy should be such as to align with complexities involved in case management and various clinical objectives.

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