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How Mobile Channels Improve Patient Engagement and Outcomes | M-HEALTH By PHARMAGEEK | Scoop.it

From hitconsultant.net - April 30, 2021 3:18 AM

It’s time for healthcare organizations to make bigger investments in mobile patient engagement.

The past year’s pandemic struck a painful blow to health organizations’ pre-COVID patient engagement efforts. There are now fewer patient visits amidst coronavirus fears and stay-at-home orders.

People are simply not going into clinics to address non-COVID medical needs. The result is more serious health issues developing, such as cancers being found at later stages and chronic conditions advancing beyond easy treatment options.

As patient engagement strategies ramp up, mobile communication channels are becoming more attractive for reaching those living in geographically isolated areas, far from their medical providers.

While video visits have replaced many non-urgent in-person visits, those in rural areas struggle to use even telemedicine options due to lack of access or unreliable broadband connectivity. The travel is too far and the technology is not part of their daily lives making healthcare completely out of reach.

Because most people own a cell phone, mobile is an ideal way to communicate and elicit collaboration for health.

Healthcare systems that leverage mobile channels are finding this platform a powerful way to serve patients.

Text (SMS) is an ideal channel for reaching underserved communities, as one does not need a smartphone or broadband to send or receive SMS messages.

SMS also provides a quick and easy way for patients to send information back to their doctors about side effects related to the vaccines. Moving beyond one-way communication with SMS gives patients a way to ask questions or relay information on their current health status.

To take things beyond basic SMS, healthcare providers can consider fleshing out a full mobile communications strategy to deliver tailored analytics. With real-time data and services, staff work-flow can be improved and resources can be allocated more efficiently, also lowering costs. It’s the next step up from SMS but patients with chronic conditions who have mobile access to medical portals showed improved self-management and an increase in regular contact with their care team.

read the entire piece at https://hitconsultant.net/2021/04/29/mobile-channels-improve-patient-engagement-outcomes/#.YIt7UOvhUf0

Via nrip

First Prescription-Only App for #Diabetes Management #mHealth | M-HEALTH By PHARMAGEEK | Scoop.it

From spectrum.ieee.org - January 5, 2014 4:16 AM

This article is part of the “2014 Top Tech to Watch” series, IEEE Spectrum’s annual prediction of technologies that will make headlines in the coming year.

This year, when patients throughout the United States begin downloading the world’s first doctor-prescribed smartphone app, mobile health care will finally get what big-time medicine most requires: a way to get insurance companies to pay for it.

The app, called BlueStar, helps people with Type 2 diabetes (the most common kind) by suggesting, in real time, when to test their blood sugar and how to control it by varying medication, food, and exercise. That it requires a physician’s prescription is actually an advantage, because it means insurance companies will reimburse BlueStar’s fee.

“This is a piece of software getting the same treatment as a medical device,” says Sonny Vu, cofounder of Misfit Wearables in San Francisco, a maker of wearable computing devices. “It’s pretty world-changing.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared BlueStar for market in 2010, in line with its recent determination to regulate devices that provide a diagnosis or recommend a treatment, not those that simply track activity, like calories consumed or steps taken. The success that WellDoc, the app’s manufacturer, has had with the FDA may inspire other mobile health companies to go the regulatory route. “It gives us hope that you can pull something like this off,” says Vu. The European Commission has also issued guidance on regulations for mobile health apps, but countries such as China and India have not.

WellDoc, based in Baltimore, began a regional launch last fall and plans to do a national push in 2014. The success of the app hinges on how many physicians prescribe it. “[WellDoc] will have to convince providers that it’s valuable,” says Athena Philis-Tsimikas, corporate vice president at the Scripps Whittier Diabetes Institute in San Diego.

Via Parag Vora

nrip's curator insight, April 29, 2021 11:51 PM

Its high time every physician, clinic and hospital, looks at incorporating mobile apps in their way of practicing medicine. Most have already started using it as a means of communication owing to the pandemic. Use that as a stepping stone into exploring the world of mobile touch points between patients and care providers, enhance your websites to be mobile friendly, or personalized mobile apps.

How Mobile Channels Improve Patient Engagement and Outcomes

First Prescription-Only App for #Diabetes Management #mHealth