Report: Convenience, cost major factors in driving patients toward mHealth solutions

NEW YORK — More patients are actively looking for and expecting to find mobile health solutions, according to the global Economist Intelligence Unit report, which was commissioned by PricewaterhouseCoopers and released Thursday.



Roughly one-half of patients surveyed for this report predict that mHealth will improve the convenience, cost and quality of their health care in the next three years. Meanwhile, 6-in-10 doctors and payers believe that its widespread adoption in their countries is inevitable in the near future.



The top three factors that would drive patients toward greater utilization of mHealth in managing their own healthcare — more convenient access (46%), lower healthcare costs (43%) and greater ability to manage individual health care (32%).



However, most experts who contributed to the study suggest that the transformation to a robust care-system utilizing mHealth tools will be slow-going. "Widespread adoption of mHealth will require changes in behavior of actors who are trying to protect their interests," the executive summary reads. "The challenge will be even greater for innovators because the improvements that mHealth can bring — such as patient-centered care and a greater focus on prevention — will involve disruption of how healthcare is provided. To succeed, innovators must maneuver through culturally conservative, highly regulated and fragmented yet often monopolistic systems that often provide contradictory incentives."



For the full 44-page report, click here.

Interested in this topic? Sign up for our weekly Collaborative Care e-newsletter.