Where are the Mobile Medical Apps?
August 1, 2013
By Christopher Burrow, MD, EVP Medical Affairs, Humetrix

With the rapidly approaching deadline for implementing Meaningful Use 2 (MU2) standards, the HIT – Healthcare IT – market and the health care system are now coming into alignment and focusing on leveraging connectivity to improve clinical outcomes by making data more accessible. Then why isn’t healthcare IT policy focused on mobile devices given that mobile devices are the on-ramp to the Internet for a majority of the population (56% Americans own a smartphone according to the Pew Research Center June 2013 Report). So why is our industry so focused on desktops? Yes, PCs are important, but if we’re thinking about the problem from the patient’s point of view, doesn’t a mobile-first strategy make sense?

With an emphasis on mobile, the healthcare IT industry could empower patients like never before. The average Medicare beneficiary sees seven different physicians per year – and with less than 1/3 of these physicians capable of exchanging records with each other chances are very low that any of those doctors will have access to the patient’s full medical history.

With a mobile app that literally puts the patient’s medical history in the palm of their hand, there is no doubt that clinical outcomes can be improved. So why isn’t mobile getting the attention it deserves in the EHR discussion?

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