How do Mobile Applications Enable eHealth and Telemedicine?

Wireless All Around Feature Editorial

February 13, 2011

How do Mobile Applications Enable eHealth and Telemedicine?

By Mae Kowalke, TMCnet Contributor

Mobile devices and services are transforming the way people all over the globe live, work, play, and provide or receive medical care. By some estimates, there are now more than 3.5 billion mobile phones in use worldwide, and it’s likely that figure will double in the next decade.

Because so many people can and do use mobile devices, this trend is having a major impact on the healthcare industry—giving spawn to two relatively new concepts: eHealth and telemedicine.

eHealth is probablybest described as healthcare supported by electronic processes and communication, encompassing all medicine/healthcare information technologies such as electronic health records, health knowledge management, and healthcare information systems.

Telemedicine is the modern form of in absentia health care that involves using audiovisual media for medical consulting and sometimes even performing remote procedures or exams.

The telemedicine and eHealth trends are putting pressure on mobile service providers to enhance and expand their offerings to support portable delivery of healthcare. There is a symbiotic relationship at work here: technology now available supports mobile applications for healthcare, and this in turn drives demand for developing new and better technologies and services.

For services providers, the bottom line is that a huge business opportunity exists to support and drive the growth of mobile healthcare. This fits into the broader trend that providers can only realize full value from their networks by moving into the application space. If they don’t do this, they’ll be unable to sustain their businesses and will also face imminent obsolescence.

“The industry is facing an inflection point where costs are greater than revenues even though the cost per MB continues to decrease,” Alcatel-Lucent (News  -Alert) noted in an analysis of current market trends.

Service providers unable to grow revenue as network traffic increases will soon be out of business. Mobile healthcare can be part of the strategy to address this challenge—but only through developing new business models built on partnerships. The assertion that partnership-supported services can help ensure business sustainability is backed up by research.

Here’s one example: Alcatel-Lucent reports that 71 percent of network providers launch less than five applications each month; providers that launch more than five apps are able to do so because they utilize a third-party hosted store or a developer platform.

Application developers are eager to form such partnerships; Alcatel-Lucent reports that 75 percent of them are willing to pay network providers for subscriber preferences and locations.

The writing is on the wall: meeting market demand for mobile healthcare services requires developing partnership-based business models.

Mae Kowalke is a TMCnet contributor. She is Manager of Stories at Neundorfer, Inc., a cleantech company in Northeast Ohio. She has more than 10 years experience in journalism, marketing and communications, and has a passion for new tech gadgets. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Patrick Barnard