Why India needs mHealth revolution for better healthcare ?
Next 3–5 years are really exciting time, specially in India to solve important problems for masses. 1.3 billion is definitely not a small number, and Healthcare remains one of the major problem which still need to be resolved and hence we need some innovative but simple solutions so that everyone can get benefited with the advancement of technology.
So, What’sup with the new keyword of the tech town : “mHealth” (Mobile Health)
Is Mobile healthcare a tech-driven Hype ?
– Well answer is yes & no, Yes as its a buzzword like any-other tech-driven things.
But, slowly It is becoming a global reality nowadays where in mHealth is/will be playing crucial role in defining the future of healthcare, majorly the consumption & delivery of care.
– mHealth makes care — More Accessible, Faster, better and Cheaper!
– More Accessibility & Cost reduction is going to be major component to drive the adoption of mHealth in INDIA as 70–80% of healthcare expenses are out-of-pocket!
– Already increased Mobile subscriber base in INDIA:
– Widespread availability of mobile technology / penetration pan India which will help care delivery anywhere, anytime on any device.
– Competition will continue, heard about Reliance coming again with $30 smartphone with 4G …hence customers will have cheaper mobile / connectivity and increased functionality.
– DIY (Do-It-Yourself) healthcare
– Mobile Health Apps are growing day by day and will become a regular part of care leading to “care anywhere”!
– Patient’s at the center of how care is delivered
– mHealth will change how people receive care!
– Personalisation & better Engagement is the KEY
– Like Any other industry, specially the industry I worked for almost a decade — e/m-commerce (retail/travel/tourism), Healthcare has to be very very personal.
and mHealth has to enable that fully with
– increased preventive care
– help in predictive outcomes
– Participatory Care
– Better Engaged Patient with its care provider
– More regional / local languages support with content from alternative medicines like AYUSH : Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy !
– Categories where mobile Health Apps will penetrate more are:-
– Healthy Eating
– Dieting/Weight Loss + Yoga
– Exercise
– Health Information/ Education
– Some innovative things using mobile apps:-
– Digital Health: Data Collection from rural areas is easy with help of mobile apps
– Better Patients — Doctor “Connect”
– Few Barriers to Adoption / Resistance
– Some doctors’ perceive mHealth as a disruption to their traditional models
– Change in Behavior of receiver / care-giver will take time.
– Patient in-charge with more convenience & control, but Doctor’s are resistant to loss of this control.
– Question to my mind?
– What are sustainable & proven business models around mHealth ? .. I’m still searching .. please comment, if you know any ?
– Last but not least, the importance and the Need to balance Privacy & Convenience
Data Security throughout Data Life cycle starting from collection/storage/sharing etc of various health data:
– Diet and Exercise results
– Medical Tests & imaging results
– Doctor’s Notes & Diagnosis
– Drug prescription information
In my previous article, i wrote about BigData in healthcare and data collection challenges in India, now combining mHealth to it will increase more of Volume, Variety, Velocity & value of information, hence a challenging problem to be solved.
And the next thing is the marriage of ABCMS to H (Healthcare), ABCMS is Analytics, BigData, Cloud, Mobile & Social… ABCMS the term humbly coined by me 😛
Stay Healthy! Keep Smiling !
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Originally published at blog.advisor.healthcare on May 22, 2015.
