According to mobile research firm research2guidance, in the next five years, simple, patient-centric smartphone apps will give the healthcare market the nudge it needs to move toward mass adoption.
“mHealth apps will be widely used and will demonstrate to a large audience the technological possibilities inherent in the smartphone, educate patients and doctors, provide prove of envisioned cost savings for health insurance providers, and will allow companies eventually to make money,” notes Ralf-Gordon Jahns, head of research.
Jahns says for years, service providers have struggled to find the killer solution in healthcare. The few solutions that made it out of the trial stage were either too basic – think of simple SMS pill reminders – or much too complicated to garner broad acceptance.
Complex solutions based on eHealth initiatives, for example, integrated the features of a mobile device with a database, such as electronic health records. And although these types of integrated solutions can certainly benefit all healthcare players – patients, doctors, as well as pharmaceutical and insurance companies -- Jahns says they failed mainly because of political barriers and low awareness amongst patients.
As a result, service providers are reconsidering their approach and are leveraging the growing smarthphone app market. “Service provides are rethinking their strategy, turning away from those complex and integrated solutions needing acceptance of all national healthcare stakeholders to more simple, patient-centric services,” Jahns says. “For most of them, it is clear that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”
And while Jahns says the amount of money that could be made in the app market for connected healthcare is just a fraction compared to the total potential size of the market when integrated solutions like electronic databases are in place, it is a good starting point.
“Companies can scale up their services and learn how to adapt to the changing market, and should do so as soon as possible,” Jahns advises. In its report, Global Mobile Health Market Report 2010-2015, research2guideance estimates smartphone apps will enable the connected healthcare industry to successfully reach out to 500 million of a total 1.4-billion smartphone users in 2015.
“It is not unlikely that the patients themselves become the main drivers of the market because they understand the benefits of, for example, a compliancy app, and are willing to provide some personal and health related data to make the service work,” Jahns adds. “Just think of the data they provide on Facebook.”
It’s not too surprising that consumers may be the gateway to making a large-scale industry reach its potential. In fact, Jahns says that regulators and healthcare stakeholders may end up being forced to take action because of the millions of patients using mHealth apps. “It wouldn’t have been the first time,” he says.
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Quelle/Source: Connected World Magazine, 22.04.2011
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