The outcome of much of research done around the value of mHealth Apps to patient care has been consistent across the board. The results show that patients benefit tremendously from these tools because they provide caregivers with critical information about the patient’s health. Adoption of these tools has yet to been fully endorsed by many providers.
The reality is that some of the popular mHealth apps do not necessarily provide direct value to physicians. Some of the health and wellness programs or apps lack interoperability and don’t integrate with the EHRs used by many physicians. This forces physicians to manage another data set, which can be costly and time- consuming.
So, how can mHealth apps receive wider adoption, engage more patients and gain the support of physicians?
One approach would be for EHR vendors to help and participate in the development of these mobile apps by pushing for integration with their own suite of products. This would make it easier for the information to flow back into their EHR systems and into the hands of the care providers. This approach would receive the endorsement of physicians because it would centralize a patient’s mHealth app data with their EHR data.
Allowing patients to share their mHealth app data with their providers is another approach to gaining physician support. If patients could suggest that their physicians review information collected by an mHealth app, it would encourage more physician interaction and adoption of mHealth apps.
The use of tablets and mobile devices is helping more patients manage chronic conditions and maintain a healthy lifestyle. A recent FDA comment to a congressional committee that suggested that they are not actively seeking to regulate mobile devices and tablets means that innovators will continue to march forward.