Science Journal: mHealth brings hope to chronic disease patients

The usage of mobile devices equipped with Internet and social media capabilities presents real opportunity to enhance chronic disease prevention and management, according to a report published by Science Journal.

The authors, Deborah Estrin and Ida Sim note that chronic diseases including diabetes, asthma, and obesity account for 46% of global disease burden.

They call for a public-private partnership to define and instantiate open mHealth architecture in order to support medical discovery and evidence based practice.

The main argument is that the development and treatment of chronic diseases usually takes place outside of traditional clinical settings. mHealth allows patients to collect and share relevant data with their medical staff at any given time allowing more rapid convergence to optimal treatment.

The report concludes that standardized interfaces and shared components are critical for realizing the full potential of mobile health care delivery and research.

"Government, commercial, and nongovernmental entities involved in health IT and innovation should cooperate to define and instantiate architecture, governance, and business models and to steer initial mHealth investments into open architecture," Estrin and Sim wrote.

"open mHealth architecture may encourage innovation by easing application development. Shared standards and reusable components may enable rapid authoring, integration, and evaluation of personal data capture for clinical care and research. Hospitals, accountable care organizations and public health practitioners could mix and match from a rich, flexible set of data acquisition and analysis components".

Report: Third of all smartphone users to use mHealth applications in 2015

Over half a billion smartphone users will use healthcare mobile application by 2015, according to a new report published by research2guidance.

The report titled “Global Mobile Health Market Report 2010-2015” predicts that over one third of all smartphone holders (1.4 billion people) will be using mHealth solutions in five years time.

The report notes that (43%) of mHealth applications are primarily designed for healthcare professionals. These include CME (Continued Medical Education), remote monitoring and health care management applications.

 The authors said that consumers are taking advantage of mHealth solutions to manage and improve their own health. “Our findings indicate that the long-expected mobile revolution in healthcare is set to happen," said Ralf-Gordon Jahns, Head of Research at research2guidance. "Both healthcare providers and consumers are embracing smartphones as a means to improving healthcare.”

Today, some 17,000 mHealth applications are offered in major app stores, 74% of them adhering to the paid business model. The report predicts that future business models will include healthcare services, sensor, advertising and drug sales revenues.


“With the growing sophistication level of mHealth applications, only 14% of the total market revenue in the next 5 years will come from application download revenue,” said Egle Mikalajunaite, senior research analyst. “76% of total mHealth application market revenue will come from related services and products such as sensors.”

Aerotel to present new wireless data hub device at Medica 2010

Aerotel Medical Systems will present a variety of remote monitoring and homecare solutions at Medica 2010, which will take place in Dusseldorf, Germany on November 17-20, 2009 (Hall 9/C01).

Aerotel intends to showcase its new data hub device, Connect-Cell, at Medica, which is the leading international trade fair for the medical industry.  

Connect-Cell can collect various environmental, industrial or personal data for remote monitoring applications. The innovative device has recently won the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Certification.

One of the most advanced applications of the Connect-Cell is as a homecare data hub that enables users to easily transmit vital signs data via the cellular network to a central monitoring center.

The new solution is already deployed in North America by AMC Health (New York), a leading homecare monitoring company that provides remote monitoring services for chronically ill patients belonging to more than 65 diverse health care organizations.

“The ageing population worldwide, along with rise in chronic diseases, creates an acute need to reduce health spending and improve medical services by using new innovative technology products,” said David Rubin, Aerotel Medical Systems President and CEO. “Aerotel homecare and personal health solutions addresses these needs by utilizing existing communications networks for the benefit of both patients and healthcare providers.”