Mobile Aids in Lowering Healthcare Costs and Convenience

September 17, 2010 by Jessica Zorawski

The PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Health Research Institute released a study demonstrating the benefits that mobile technology offers in terms of healthcare. The healthcare industry is now packed with mobile devices designed to improve the standard of care and convenience for patients. Forty percent of the respondents surveyed indicated they would pay for mobile health care services.

Mobile technology is not only an aid to consumers, it’s also a new business category for those interested in improving and offering more options for preventative, acute and chronic care. There are already 10,000 medical and healthcare/fitness-related applications available for download to internet-enabled mobile devices, and consumers are catching on to the idea of being able to send data to doctors automatically.

Being able to monitor a patient at all times versus only when they are at one location is a very powerful tool. Mobile, like all other technologies, strives to improve current technological applications to improve healthcare itself, and the convenience of administering it. Imagine the costs averted by reminders, alerts of information sent via text in lieu of a phone call.

In additional, mobile technology keeps patients better informed in many ways. Whether a reminder to take medication, or informational text regarding normal levels of a certain test, such as blood pressure, mobile applications in the healthcare world are making health management easier for both patients and their physicians.

Before distributing mobile technology to everyone, it is important to identify who is truly interested in this type of technology. The study shows that 80 percent of Medicaid patients’ text regularly, an indication of the behavior of the entire population. Within the boundaries of the study itself, only half of the respondents indicated they would purchase mobile technologies. Of this half, 20 percent would like the technology in the form of monitoring fitness such as workout reminders and 18 percent would like their doctor to monitor a condition.

As new solutions become available, the demand for mobile healthcare solutions will grow exponentially. This opens up new avenues for both consumers and mobile technology creators. Now is definitely the time to create a unique healthcare solution as up and coming generations will surely continue to demand more effective mobile solutions.

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Tags: healthcare industry, mobile

Posted in: Educational, Industry specific, Info, Mobile statistics