Mobile World—Part Deux

How can we participate in the creation of the mobile health industry?  We must capture the opportunity of mobility and meet the overwhelming demand for better health care? Like Apple did with the iPod and iPhone, we face the challenge of creating a new category from scratch. The infrastructure for mobile health is only beginning to emerge. Fortunately, these structural barriers are starting to come down.

First, as mobile health has moved from a consumer “app” market to one that is truly clinical in nature, it has bumped up against the reality of a highly regulated health care marketplace.  When mobile health solutions take ownership of health outcomes in the same way that medical device companies do, we cross the line that puts us in the domain of Food and Drug Administration and Consumer Electronics regulation. Fortunately, early pioneers forged this path within the past two years and government regulators are now moving to approve mobile devices in a more straightforward fashion.

Second, someone ultimately has to pay for the technology. Again, the news here is largely positive. Increasingly, mobile devices and treatments qualify for traditional reimbursement codes that drive transactions between the payers and health care providers. While payers are cautious about new technology, they increasingly recognize that the cost of emerging mobile health solutions are magnitudes cheaper than the products they replace.

But the big picture is even more positive for the payment of mobile solutions. Because of the significant benefits to patients, a wide range of companies are stepping up to pay for these applications. Life science companies see an opportunity to sell more products and improve outcomes by supplementing their core (and reimbursable) products with mobile offerings. Similarly, health care providers are finding they can invest in mobile health if it allows them to reduce their expense by more than the cost of other technology for a specific procedure.

Preventice understands the realities of how health care is delivered and how mobile health – when it’s more than just an app – has the potential to drive significant changes and improvements. We serve the traditional health care industry with exciting new solutions that help patients engage and take ownership of their care and that will reach individuals who have not had access to affordable care in the past.