mHealth Named Top Trend in 2013

mHealth is no longer a fad.

The unprecedented spread of mobile technology and advancements in healthcare treatments is turning mHealth into an area poised for explosive growth over the next half-decade or so. Consulting firm Frost & Sullivan named mHealth the top trend of 2013 and predicted it would continue to shape the medtech sector this year, along with cloud computing and the world’s respective regulatory systems.

“mHealth expansion has been fuelled by the unprecedented spread of mobile technologies, as well as advancements in their innovative application to address health priorities,” the global company wrote in a news release. “It is largely supported by mobile devices, such as mobile phones, patient monitoring devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and other wireless devices. The penetration prospects of mHealth technologies are significant in the following areas: wireless vital signs monitoring, location-aware telemonitoring systems and Bluetooth wireless technology-enabled health trackers. It is an exciting area of opportunity for healthcare growth and will provide innovative solutions for stakeholders, both providers and patients alike, across the spectrum.”

In addition, as more healthcare IT and patient monitoring tools are integrated, hospitals eventually will have to acquire a fully-enterprise wireless solution, Frost & Sullivan contends. The most innovative mobile healthcare solutions that best meet pressing healthcare needs will be adopted as the gold standard, executives note.

Frost & Sullivan based its predictions on a global survey of 1,835 executives, about 260 of whom work in the healthcare industry. Fifty-one percent of the respondents cited mobility in healthcare (a.k.a., mHealth) as the top trend of 2013. The runners-up — cloud computing (45 percent) and regulatory environments (44 percent) — trumped such other trends as remote monitoring (38 percent), patient engagement (32 percent) and electronic health records (31 percent).

Frost & Sullivan lists wireless vitals monitoring, GPS telemonitoring systems and Bluetooth-enabled health trackers as key opportunities in mobile health and stresses the importance of mobile adoption, connectivity, and security in hospitals.

“Enterprise-wide healthcare informatics will also improve the quality of medical services and efficiency of operations while reducing expenditures,” the company’s release states. “Cloud computing is considered to be a key enabler for enterprise-wide solutions. Implementing cloud computing technologies appropriately will help healthcare providers improve the quality of medical services and the efficiency of operations, share information across geographic locations and manage expenditures. The concept can be applied in a variety of ways, including data storage and data loss prevention, maintaining patient information records and authorized sharing of information.”

Cloud computing can change the dynamics of the healthcare informatics industry over time, Frost & Sullivan executives claim. The need for efficient sharing of information across locations in a synchronised manner will be a key driver for cloud computing in healthcare, they note.

Survey respondents believe regulatory decisions like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s final guidance on mobile health apps will improve mHealth technology and force companies to focus more on clinical proof of their inventions. Reimbursements, however, could complicate those efforts.  

The company came up with three major predictions based on the survey’s results:

• As healthcare is geared towards a personalized medicine model, companion diagnostics will alter drug development and the commercialization process of drug candidates. Combining biomarkers and drugs will result in enhanced therapeutic efficacy and safety;
• The healthcare and life sciences industry will consolidate further in this decade, with many big pharmaceutical companies seeking alternatives to the blockbuster model; and
• The rise of new technologies capable of integrating medical devices into a connected platform will enhance the functionality of devices, reduce the man power burden and minimize errors.

Only time will tell whether Frost & Sullivan’s forecasting is accurate. Regardless of its fortune-telling prowess though, the company claims increased connectivity will lead to enhanced functionality of medical devices, a reduced burden on human capital and fewer medical errors.