5 ways mobile apps will transform healthcare

I was reading an article recently in Forbes on how mobile apps are set to transform healthcare. The top 5 changes they believe will occur within the next few years are:

1) Improved access to care: the patient will increasingly receive virtual access to doctors/physicians from their home. I predict this will start with those for whom it is necessary e.g. those unable to get easy access to the doctors (the eldery/rural patients).

2) Improved patient engagement: It’s the simple things here that will make the healthcare process run a lot more smoothly. For example getting a text to know your doctor is running late, having an app that reminds you when to take your tablets or when you are running low.

3) New provider business models: The new models need to be able to cope with the influx of data. Data management will be a key issue

4) Reduced Medicare fraud: Apps can instantly trace your transactions and show when are where you are making purchases. This kind of information will help locate fraud and allow investigators to become aware of hot spots of activity instantly

5) Improved patient safety: Patients will be given tools to manage their own health and will feel more in control of monitoring side effects etc

If you are interested in this subject Jason Lovatt, Brand Lead, Blood Glucose Monitoring (BGM), Sanofi is speaking on “Developing a mobile integrated device empowering diabetic patients” at Digipharm Europe 2012