Current trends in mHealth

With the introduction of HealthKit for Apple’s iPhone6, there is going to be a major impact for the overall growth of the healthcare industry. HealthKit allows the user to monitor and track personal health metrics and creates Electronic Health records/Personal Health records and also has features to send this record to a physician/doctor. Apple is already partnering with vendors like Epic to share EHR data through the tool.

Samsung now has first ‘mover advantage’ in android with the launch of galaxy S5 which has heart rate sensor and SHealth along with Samsung gear SAMI range, through which the data is communicated to remote healthcare platforms. In addition, brands like Adidas and Nike have also entered this market with their offerings such as miCoach and FuelBand respectively. The market is getting flooded by new apps every day from startups as well as major companies.

With the healthcare industry getting all the hoopla, let’s take a look at what are the current trends and where it might lead in the near future:

1. With Apple’s iPhone6 launch, sales predicted to be around 80 million this year. Apple is going to intensify the competition in Healthcare industry.
2. The launch of HealthKit tools for developers, many small players and freelancers are entering the healthcare industry.
3. Many companies outside the healthcare domain are also entering the healthcare industry, thus increasing the competition.
4. Increasing adoption of mHealth apps among smartphone users.
5. New regulatory laws need to be created for entities which are not covered under HIPAA.
6. Buyers will continue to drive the market.
7. Many Healthcare organizations rapidly adopting BYOD (bring your own device) policy.
8. Analytics will play a major role in the Healthcare IT industry because of increasing number of devices and new technology.

After looking at the current trends, stress of physicians of maintaining EHR/EMR will reduced significantly as BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) will be rapidly adopted by many organizations. The main concern here is the integration of personal devices with EHR/EMR software. Small organizations have to come up with new ideas to sustain in the market. e-Zest’s Remote health management framework (RHMF), has mHealth components which captures data from remote patients and helps in analyzing ailments of patients.