It may take some doing but FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski called on government, academia, and industry to expand its collaboration and adopt policies aimed at enabling and expanding mobile health (mHealth) technologies, and the conclusions are all there in a new report put together by mHealth Task Force co-Chairs and Partners Healthcare Systems.
mHealth is rapidly growing in use and importance in the healthcare world. In January experts said that the number of people using their mobile phones to get access to health information had soared 125 percent in 2011. Healthcare workers also receive diagnostic support, consult with colleagues, communicate with clients, improve their skills and gather and analyze data using mobile devices.
As John Moore of Chilmark Research put it, mHealth is the “execution of healthcare and medicine performed on mobile, though not necessarily internet-equipped, devices like iPhones and iPads.”
In June 2012, FCC Chairman Genachowski brought together a group of the nation's leading wireless health care technology industry, government, and academic experts for a summit on mHealth, according to sources. At the meeting, the mHealth Task Force was created to develop concrete recommendations to accelerate the adoption of mHealth technology.
FCC Chairman Genachowski announced on Monday that the mHealth Task Force has now identified several opportunities “to foster the broad adoption of mobile health technology.” The recommendations included examining “how Federal agencies should increase collaboration to promote innovation, avoid regulatory duplication and build upon existing programs to expand broadband access for health care.”
Although there is a lot of focus on mHealth, acceptance has been limited across the globe. Some of the reasons cited are the lack of measurement in evaluating success, unclear regulations, payment mechanisms and market failures. The goal of the recommendations in the report is to remedy some of these challenges, and to achieve the situation where, "by 2017, mHealth, wireless health and e-Care solutions will be routinely available as part of best practices for medical care with appropriate reimbursement incentives."
"Health care delivery is at a critical juncture in the United States both in terms of quality and cost," said Julian Goldman, medical director of Biomedical Engineering at Partners Healthcare System, in a statement. "The mHealth Task Force has presented clear recommendations to help accelerate the safe implementation of communication technologies to enhance care and decrease costs."
Edited by
Amanda Ciccatelli
