HIMSS14: Verizon exec talks mobile health trends

ORLANDO—“We spend a lot of money on care that is preventable and avoidable,” said Peter Preziosi, PhD, RN, healthcare innovation strategist at Verizon, speaking on mobile health trends at the Nursing Informatics Symposium at the Health Information and Management Systems Society annual conference.

Mobile health and telehealth could help save the global industry about $250 billion by improving access and helping consumers better manage their diseases and overall wellness, he said, citing a Kalorama report. In the meantime, the market is booming, with $10.6 billion in U.S. revenue for remote patient monitoring systems in 2012 calculated to grow to $21 billion in 2017. Likewise, U.S. telemedicine revenue is expected to grow at a continuous annual growth rate of 18.5 percent from 2012 to 2018.

“The success of telehealth and telemedicine will grow even more as tools grow,” said Preziosi.

Mobile health superusers are primarily women, who predominantly make choices around healthcare purchasing. “They’ll be the influencers,” he predicted.

And don’t assume that older generations will shy away from technology—but it has to be relevant or they won’t adopt it, he said. “I hear so many times that the elderly aren’t going to adopt mobile health, but I don’t know about that. Baby boomer populations grew up accustomed to technology, and ultimately they are willing to work with technology and use it and become pretty facile with it.”

With 326.4 million mobile subscribers sending more than 6 billion messages per day, technology is ubiquitous. Mobile technologies are not only for the tech-savvy and the gamers, he said. “It’s really looking at creating this opportunity that can speak to the lowest common denominator of technology adoption and uptake.”

Preziosi noted that Hispanics and African Americans, and households under $30,000 send significantly more texts than their Caucasian counterparts and householders earning more than $75,000. This could open up more avenues to improve access, he said.

However, the challenge remains in getting mobile health into the hands of those who could benefit the most: patients with chronic disease. He cited a November 2013 Pew Research Center survey that found that only 14 percent of trackers living with chronic conditions use a medical device like a glucometer and a handful use an app, a spreadsheet or website to keep track of symptoms and other health indicators. The biggest reasons for this low usage statistic are clinicians don't prescribe these trackers for personal devices yet and the data from the trackers and personal devices do not flow back into EMRs, he said.

The question remains how to better manage data from biometric devices, he said, adding that by 2018, most sensors could be implanted in the body.

Preziosi named important elements of mobile health ultimately required for these tools to succeed. These are:

• Reliable connectivity

• Security and privacy of sensitive health information, including the ability to prevent attacks on biometric devices

• Ability to integrate and interoperate biometric devices as needed

• User relevance to their lifestyle

• Social networking and feedback

• Gaming techniques to make it fun and enjoyable

• Predictive analytics to synthesize data into usable and actionable displays

“This is the holy grail of where we need to go," he said. "We’re not really there yet. It’s a great time to get involved with helping structure these systems."