Blog Title: The Collective

40% of Americans stated they would be willing to pay for a remote monitoring device that transmits information about their health directly to their doctor. 3 out of 10 Americans are willing to use a smart phone to monitor their personal health which shows that there is a new market for mobile hardware and app developers in the healthcare space.

Additional findings from the Healthcare Unwired report which was presented by PricewaterhouseCoopers at the mHealth Initiative 2nd International mHealth Conference in San Diego shows that mobile devices are changing the way consumers look at healthcare and now is the time to develop applications that help reduce healthcare costs for doctors and give criticial medical information to the consumers in digital format.

The survey included 2,000 consumers and 1,00 physicians and queried them about their preferences for remote and mobile health services and devices.  Here are the findings from the consumer perspective:

31% of consumers said they would be willing to incorporate an application into their existing cell phone or smart phone to be able track and monitor their personal health information.
 
40% of consumers said they would be willing to pay for a device and a monthly subscription fee for a mobile phone application that would send text and e-mail reminders to take their medications, refill prescriptions or to access their medical records and track their health.  Twenty-seven percent of consumers said they would find medication reminders sent via text to be helpful, and men are twice as likely as women to say they would use a mobile device for health-related reminders.

40% of consumers would also be willing to pay for a remote monitoring device and a monthly subscription that would send data
automatically to their doctor health information such as heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar and weight.
 
PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Health Research Institute estimates the annual consumer market for remote/mobile monitoring devices and services to be $7.7 billion to $43 billion, based on the range consumers said they would be willing to pay.

56% of consumers say they like the idea of remote healthcare, and 41 percent would prefer to have more of their care delivered via a mobile device.

Physicians agree that patient compliance with doctor recommendations is a major obstacle to managing health outcomes, and 88 percent of physicians said they would like their patients to be able to track and/or monitor their health at home, particularly their weight, blood sugar levels and vital signs.

57% of physicians said they would like to use remote devices to monitor the patients outside of the hospital.  Physicians, however, want to see filtered information or exceptions in their patient’s health, not all the data all the time. Too much information could actually slow down care.
“Remote and mobile technology is making it possible to move healthcare delivery outside the traditional settings of physician offices and hospitals to wherever patients are. It’s bringing back the concept of doctors making house calls,” said Daniel Garrett, leader of the health information technology practice, PricewaterhouseCoopers. “New consumer-oriented business models and technologies are emerging. Companies that will be well positioned competitively are those than can integrate mobile health into healthcare delivery and create value in the health system by helping doctors and their patients better manage health and wellness through mass personalization.”

Possible business models in this space include: development of consumer products and services; operational and clinical support, and infrastructure that focuses on security, speed and integration of information. Developers who want to focus on medical mobile apps should work with hospitals or a health system to ensure the most effective ROI for their investment.

“There are significant opportunities for physicians, hospitals, health insurers, pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers to market and differentiate themselves using mobile health,” added Garrett. “Yet many healthcare organizations are largely ignoring the opportunity to integrate mobile health into other IT efforts such as the implementation of electronic health records.” PricewaterhouseCoopers research found:

Here are the survey findings from the physicians perspective on mobile devices and remote services for providing health care to patients:

Nearly two-thirds (63%) of physicians surveyed said they are using personal devices for mobile health solutions that aren’t connected to their practice or hospital IT systems, and 30 percent said their hospital or practice leaders will not support the use of mobile health devices.

Of those physicians who are using mobile devices in their practice, 56 percent said the devices expedite decision making and nearly 40% said the use of mobile devices decreases time spent on administration.

The top challenge physicians said they face in their practice is accessing information where and when it is needed.  One-third of
physicians surveyed said they currently make decisions based on incomplete information for seven out of ten patients they see.  Only half of physicians surveyed currently access electronic medical records while visiting and treating their patients, a situation that will improve with meaningful use requirements for physicians to use interoperable electronic medical records.  Physicians agreed that the  greatest benefit of mobile health would be to help them make decisions faster by accessing more accurate data in real time.
 
The second biggest challenge for physicians is they don’t have time to interact with patients as much as they would like. 45% of physicians said that Internet visits would expand access to patients.
 
40% of physicians said they could reduce the number of office visits by 11 to 30 percent by using mobile health technologies like remote monitoring, email or text messaging with patients.  Such shifts could address the shortage of physicians, reduce hospital readmission costs and increase access for patients who delay care because they don’t want to wait for an appointment.
According to the report, IT infrastructure in the health care system needs to be addressed as networks are under constant pressure for more bandwidth to support increasing data transactions and exchanges. The medical industry will undergo a sea change in the next years as legislation and industry standards are introduced to establish digital medical records. Developers can take significant market share by developing applications that can help patients in reducing their costs while allowing doctors to deliver accurate, timely and efficient medical help to them in real time over a mobile device.

Methodology:

PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Health Research Institute commissioned an online survey in the summer of 2010 of 2,000 consumers and 1,000 physicians regarding their use and preference of mobile technologies in the United States. In addition, HRI conducted 35 in-depth interviews with thought leaders and executives representing healthcare providers, payers, private sector technology organizations, academic medical centers, telecommunication companies, pharmaceutical and device companies, retail companies, communication firms and employers.