mHealth Congress: As smartphone adoption grows, patient engagement must adjust
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A wealth of statistical data showed the rapid growth of mobile health. Clement Chan, director of digital marketing for Jannsen Canada, said there are 91 million U.S. consumers with smartphones, 61 million of whom have used their mobile phone for some kind of health related task. Shawna Gvazdauskas, VP, head of devices for Sanofi US, cited statistics from Manhattan Research showing that three quarters of U.S. physicians own an Apple device such as an iPhone, iPad or iPod.
In addition to sharing how many people are using mobile devices for health, Chan also talked about the importance of noting where these devices are being used. “Mobile is not ‘on the go’; it’s more ‘on the couch,’” he said, pointing to the fact that 73 percent of consumers who used their smartphone to look for health information did so from home.
In addition, nearly one-third of consumers who have used a smartphone to look for health information did so from the doctor’s office, and 40 percent of these users were the caregivers themselves, according to Chan.
Adrienne White, MBA, innovation strategist healthcare analytics for IBM Research, said mobile health has implications for patient analytics and measuring the patient experience, as well as creating patient accountability for their health.
“We’re going from systems of record to systems of engagement,” she said. This means the focus is on interactions and collaboration. Rather than a single source of truth with an emphasis on accuracy and completeness, the social engagement model is an open forum for discovery with an emphasis on immediacy and accessibility.
White said that with the growth of patient centered medical homes, the stars have aligned to create an opportunity to develop new patient centered mobile care delivery models that engage consumers "beyond the four walls of traditional care delivery."
Evan Godt, Writer
Evan joined TriMed in 2011, writing primarily for Health Imaging. Prior to diving into medical journalism, Evan worked for the Nine Network of Public Media in St. Louis. He also has worked in public relations and education. Evan studied journalism at the University of Missouri, with an emphasis on broadcast media.