Last week, the HIMSS and mHIMSS Social Media Teams were offered the opportunity to moderate and guide the discussion during HL7 Standards’ weekly #HITsm chat. As usual, the chat as a whole was filled with great insights from a number of health IT leaders and influencers. The chat’s productivity was catalyzed early on with the first of five questions:
#HITsm T1: Who is the most powerful driver in the implementation of mobile health technologies? Clinicians? Patients? Providers?
— HL7 Standards (@HealthStandards) May 18, 2012
While the question was originally purposed around clinicians, patients, and providers, a number of #HITsm participants relished in several nuances of the question, including the aforementioned three in conjunction with Technology, Vendors, and a few all-encompassing responses.
The chat lasted for an hour, but the first question lasted a bit longer. The following is a collection of responses from the first topic of a five question #HITsm Twitter chat; May 18, 2012; 11am to 12pm CST.
Who is the most powerful driver in the implementation of mobile health technologies?
Patients.
No surprise here. For most, patients appear to be the ultimate stakeholder in mobile health technology implementation as they are the recipients of the advancements in care that we are all working rigorously to progress. So, who’s voting on patients?
@HealthStandards #HITsm Patients are the key! — Brian Ahier (@ahier) May 18, 2012
T1: I have to go with patients. They have the phones, the iPads, the laptops and they want to use them!#HITsm — Chad Johnson (@OchoTex) May 18, 2012
Agree w/ @OchoTex. All play a role but if patients don’t see the value or like the process, they wont’ use it. Hard to single out #HITsm — jeffrey zinger (@jdzinger) May 18, 2012
A1: I would say consumers, rather than patients #HITsm — Elin Silveous (@ElinSilveous) May 18, 2012
HIMSS’ Senior Director, Healthcare Information Systems and staff liaison to the HIMSS Personal Health IT Work Group, Mary Griskewicz commented:
“Consumers, which are patients, are the most powerful drivers in the implementation of mobile health technologies. Consumers are rapidly becoming more technology savvy; hence their expectations of their care givers to adopt and use technologies has, and will continue, to grow.”
Clinicians.
While patients appear to be one of the most pervasive end-users of mobile health technologies, we do have to acknowledge the fact that clinicians are driving patient engagement decisions and practices everyday:
@ahier T1: Ultimately I agree, but currently I feel clinicians are driving a lot of the trends, particularly #BYOD. #HITsm
— Ken Congdon (@KenOnHIT) May 18, 2012
#BYOD = Bring Your Own Device
[Additional Reading: Top 3 considerations when designing apps for the mobile clinician]
Providers.
If you’re a believer in a top-down approach to healthcare outcomes, providers could quite possibly be one of the most powerful, albeit difficult, drivers of emerging mHealth practices. Some health systems are undoubtedly more suited to adopt mobile health technologies than others. However, the question is, how will the provider setting be integrating mobile health in to its workflow, patient engagement, and clinical practice processes to advance healthcare outcomes?
Hi everyone! A1: Most important in mobile are consumers, but won’t get real traction until providers (and their data) are connected #HITsm
— Phil Chuang (@PhilipChuang) May 18, 2012
T1 I would say the desire to have access to data in the right format at the right time is biggest driver in mhealth #HITsm
— Forerun, Inc. (@ForerunSystems) May 18, 2012
Which raises the question: [Are providers ready to be influencers in the mobile health adoption process?]
Technology.
A driver that rarely “gets a say” in healthcare, technology, is the one common denominator in the whole mHealth discussion.
A1: Apple
RT @HealthStandards #HITsm T1: Who is the most powerful driver in the implementation of mobile health technologies?… #mHealth
— Elin Silveous (@ElinSilveous) May 18, 2012
Off the top of my head I’d go w/Apple … then patients. Apple provides consumer tech that patients can learn to use for healthcare #HITsm
— Jennifer Dennard (@SmyrnaGirl) May 18, 2012
Apple is driving consumer adoption. Won’t be patient adoption until providers are integrated. @CLOUDHealth #HITsm
— Elin Silveous (@ElinSilveous) May 18, 2012
Inasmuch as technology is undoubtedly an influencer in the adoption of mHealth, one might ask, how and from whom are we collecting intelligence on the creation of newer technologies?
Vendors.
This seemed to be one of the more debated drivers in the mobile adoption and implementation process discussion. I think many are slow to give an ANY vendor the title of “driver” or anything other than the scarlet label of “Vendor,” but Don Rosenthal (below) does surface an interesting question: If they are not already, how can mobile health vendors begin to earn that “driver” market share in the minds of consumers? Is it possible? Anything’s possible. However, one might suggest that if healthcare and mobile vendors are keeping a pulse on the market with smart business intelligence tools (social media included) that they (or at least the savvy ones) could very well establish themselves as a driver in the mobile healthcare market.
T1: I wanna say vendors but they are not an option. Vendors competing for the Providers $$$ #HITsm — Stephen Jones MRIs (@StephenMRIs) May 18, 2012
There are lots of demands in lots of markets but not all are served. We can want lots but will only get what vendors build @KenOnHIT#hitsm — Don Rosenthal (@DonRosenthal) May 18, 2012
@DonRosenthal But also key is that #mhealth filling a need or solving problem that is a challenge for the in-person/old fashioned way #hitsm — Robert Green (@HealthcareNovel) May 18, 2012
@DonRosenthal Sounds like the chicken or the egg debate #HITsm — Chad Johnson (@OchoTex) May 18, 2012
Although the semantics of who is the most influential driver in mHealth technologies may seem trivial, could the ability to identify these stakeholders be a step toward a better way to serve them?
Can’t we all just get along?
T1: Thinking perhaps the most powerful drivers of IT/mobile health is filling the space between patients, providers, facilities #HITsm
— Melissa Cole (@MelissaColeHTR) May 18, 2012
T1: All of them. #HITsm
— Peter Gilbert (@PeterNGilbert) May 18, 2012
T1 Does it matter who is the most powerful driver? The drive is here, and we should plan accordingly! #HITsm
— Forerun, Inc. (@ForerunSystems) May 18, 2012
While there may be a current divide in the understanding of the mobile health consumer, we might surmise that someday these drivers will converge in some shape as all of the stakeholders in healthcare learn to listen, grow, collaborate, rinse, and repeat. So, what will the future of mHealth look like?
“The ubiquity & flexibility of mobile & wireless platforms enable convenient patient and provider engagement anywhere, anytime, anyplace. These low-cost solutions connect patients and care providers in demand for health and healthcare monitoring, easing the pressure of provider shortages, and broadening chronic disease and preventative care options.”
- Edna Boone, Senior Director of mHIMSS
Your call to action: Share some of your hard questions, and even better, help us solve a few while you’re at it.
Some numbers for the road.
Today’s #HITsm chat digital footprint, via @2healthguru: bit.ly/I5G6v5| 631 tweets, 1,910,674 impressions, reaching 281,357
— HL7 Standards (@HealthStandards) May 18, 2012
