When you are at the crossroads of newer technology adoption and vendor enthusiasm in healthcare, it’s hard to find...by Jim Bloedau of Information Advantage Group

A recent blog by Eric Dishman, of Intel, called for a sobering from highly animated claims of breakthrough innovations around mobile applications in healthcare (mHealth) that so many are promising. Eric impassionedly stated:

“Our cultural obsession with the mHealth "gadget" of the moment (perpetuated in press clipping after press clipping which tries to out-shock the audience by showing what is technically possible) leaves us with a cheap, one-night stand with these technologies whereas we need a more sustained, meaningful relationship with (and through) them.”

Agreed, we are in a mHealth hype cycle. All too rapidly this will subside leaving behind some great thoughts and lessons including:for healthcare, long-term sustainability of value will define the tech instead of short-term impulses like “fun and cool for the always-on (age 18-34).”

According to Deloitte’s 2010 Survey of Health Care Consumers, a proportionally weighted sampling of 1000 consumers per six countries practicing western medicine, reported the US leads with:

• 57 percent of respondents wanting to access their doctors and health records online,
• 50 percent saying they want a personal monitoring device that helps them improve their health and most importantly,
• twice as many Gen-X (born ’60s-’80s) and Gen–Y (born ‘80s-‘90s) consumers want to access and maintain their records using a mobile device than do Baby Boomers and Seniors.

Combine this with a long-term upswing in multigenerational households and the common profile of a family member caring for an older member being a woman in her late forties through fifties with one child still at home, and we begin to see the long-term value that needs to be created. 

Some will always see great gadgets and gizmos as being needed because, simply put, they’re fun. However, most will seek the astonishingly exciting new mobile devices and associated systems that reach out to those suffering from chronic illness and family caregivers helping them to have a better life. 

When you are at the crossroads of newer technology adoption and vendor enthusiasm in healthcare, it’s hard to find unanimity.

Photo credit: Jim Mazzola