Report: PHR for mobile devices could be healthcares 'killer app'
A personal health record (PHR) embedded in mobile communication devices—or mPHR—is the “killer app” that may change the game for providers, consumers and payors, according to an issue brief from consulting firm Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, based in Washington, D.C.
Consumers, particularly those with chronic conditions, can use mobile communication devices (MCDs) to monitor and manage their care to improve outcomes and decrease costs, according to the brief. Devices such as cell phones, smartphones and mobile tablet PCs are relatively inexpensive, portable technologies that can collect environmental and patient-entered information and transmit it via the internet to a PHR.
Combined with actionable decision support tools, “the MCD-PHR combination, or ‘mPHR,’ can analyze aggregate data to activate mobile, patient-specific output such as medication reminders, healthy habit tips and medical bill reminders,” the brief stated.
According to the brief, which cited data from other sources:
Although patients are apparently willing to use mPHRs, there are four major barriers to their use, which are:
• The lack of a widely accepted, single technical standard among both PHRs and EHRs, limiting mPHRs’ ability to integrate data and movement among care providers;
The brief also cited five accelerators that can position mPHRs as the self-care management platform of the future:
"With growing recognition among policy makers, health plans and providers that the key to reduced healthcare costs and improved population-based outcomes is more effective consumer self-care, the mPHR is positioned as a natural progression of technological capabilities to help achieve this desired future state," the brief concluded.
Consumers, particularly those with chronic conditions, can use mobile communication devices (MCDs) to monitor and manage their care to improve outcomes and decrease costs, according to the brief. Devices such as cell phones, smartphones and mobile tablet PCs are relatively inexpensive, portable technologies that can collect environmental and patient-entered information and transmit it via the internet to a PHR.
Combined with actionable decision support tools, “the MCD-PHR combination, or ‘mPHR,’ can analyze aggregate data to activate mobile, patient-specific output such as medication reminders, healthy habit tips and medical bill reminders,” the brief stated.
According to the brief, which cited data from other sources:
- Twice as many Gen X and Y consumers want to access and maintain PHRs using a mobile device than do baby boomers and seniors;
- Fifty percent of consumers want a personal monitoring device to alert and guide them to make improvements in their health or treat a condition; and
- Approximately 57 percent of consumers want to access an online PHR connected to their doctor’s office.
Although patients are apparently willing to use mPHRs, there are four major barriers to their use, which are:
• The lack of a widely accepted, single technical standard among both PHRs and EHRs, limiting mPHRs’ ability to integrate data and movement among care providers;
- Consumer demand for PHR-accessible data is not yet strong--only 10 percent of American adults currently use a PHR;
- Privacy is still a concern, although consumer sentiment is slowly changing; and
- Providers have historically voiced concern over liability and data integrity of PHRs.
The brief also cited five accelerators that can position mPHRs as the self-care management platform of the future:
- Greater EHR adoption by hospitals, physicians and allied health providers;
- Increasing regulatory clarity around standardization of health records;
- Privacy protections and provider liability;
- Increasing MCD capacity and functionality; and
- Decreasing cost of MCDs (scalability) in tandem with payor incentives for their use.
"With growing recognition among policy makers, health plans and providers that the key to reduced healthcare costs and improved population-based outcomes is more effective consumer self-care, the mPHR is positioned as a natural progression of technological capabilities to help achieve this desired future state," the brief concluded.