mHealth is improving productivity & care for the medical & wellness industries. Jeremy Lowell, DDS & owner of multiple Gold’s Gym franchises, talks about how these new products & services are revolutionizing the way hospitals, doctors & patients interact. Take a listen.

With policymakers focusing on healthcare, wireless devices and services are an important part of the solution for improving medical care while reducing costs. Kent Dicks, CEO of MedApps, a remote health monitoring solution, discusses the potential for mHealth. Take a listen.

Using wireless to remotely monitor patients helps physicians increase diagnostic efficiency & accuracy. We sat down with  Dr. Cameron Powell the President, CMO, & Co-Founder of AirStrip Technologies to discuss wireless remote monitoring & how it’s helping to reshape the healthcare landscape. Take a listen.

In conjunction with Harris Interactive®, we conducted online and phone surveys of U.S. adults and an online survey of physicians to gauge their interest in mHealth (or mobile health) service options. The results of the study clearly indicate that Americans are seeing great potential in the future of mHealth. 

Here are a few highlights from the study:

• Almost 8 in 10 Americans (78%) expressed interest in mHealth solutions and over 1 in 10 (15%) said they were extremely/very interested in learning more about it. 
• Nearly 1 in 5 (19%) people surveyed said they would upgrade their existing wireless plan to participate and 11% said they would even consider switching wireless providers to receive mobile healthcare services.
• 40% believe mHealth services would supplement medical care they receive from their doctor now and almost one-quarter (23%) believe mobile health services might replace doctor visits altogether.
• Adults surveyed believe that those in rural areas had the most to gain from mobile heath services (51%), closely followed by those with chronic diseases that needed monitoring (48%), retired/Medicare patients (41%) and caregivers (38%).
• Physicians said over one quarter of all their patients would benefit from such services and 80% of doctors and 89% of specialists voted to continue investment in mHealth.

You can read more details about the mHealth study in the press release  we issued today. To learn more about mHealth solutions, click here.  And, to hear what the experts have to say on mHealth, listen to some of the podcasts featured on our show site. 

mHealth is a main theme here at International CTIA WIRELESS I.T. & Entertainment 2009® and we wanted to highlight some of the interesting and innovative ways wireless is playing an increasingly important role in the pursuit of wellness through the constant connectivity mobile technologies provide. Aaron Goldmuntz, CarioNet, Inc.’s Dir. of Business Development, shares innovative real-world uses of mHealth products & services.

We've talked a lot about mHealth recently -- from our Spring Show in Las Vegas to our June policy forum at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center. With our  Wireless IT & Entertainment Show coming up in San Diego, mHealth is going to continue to be a focus.
 
While the healthcare industry, elected officials and other influentials are trying to solve America' healthcare challenge, medical and policy experts agree that the wireless industry is a key component to the healthcare "fix." 
 
We've developed a simple overview  outlining the current U.S. healthcare situation, how wireless can help, real-life examples of wireless solutions and what policymakers can do to help increase growth, innovation and deployment.
 
Considering 60% of bankruptcies were caused by medical costs, now is the time to solve the healthcare crisis. mHealth will allow the millions of Americans living in remote, rural areas to "visit" the best doctors’ offices in the country, eliminating healthcare disparities based on geographic location and economic differences.
 
By making healthcare more personal and individualized, mHealth solutions are expected to significantly improve the medical community’s ability to identify and resolve epidemics, reduce medical errors and expand preventive healthcare.

I don’t think you can turn on a TV or read the news without seeing something on healthcare reform. 

But regardless of your opinion on the issue, I think we can all agree that reducing medical costs and errors, removing geographical and economic disparities, and reinforcing consumer-focused & personalized healthcare is a must. 

This is why CTIA, along with a growing number of medical and health policy experts, are talking about mobile wireless technologies and applications that are reshaping the healthcare landscape. Mobile wireless services are in the hands of more than 270 million subscribers – and mHealth solutions are improving healthcare services for millions regardless of location, race, age, gender, or disability. 

A recent article on Fortune.com by TMNG Global’s Richard Nespola paints an interesting picture of how mHealth solutions are cutting costs and changing the way we provide medical care in America.  

CTIA’s “mHealth Solutions and Policy Forum 2009” was mentioned in the story as a recent example of the wireless industry bringing together officials from the White House, Congress, and CDC, along with policy and medical experts to discuss the important role mHealth solutions play in healthcare reform. 

To see video highlights of the event, please click here. And, to learn more about mHealth Solutions, click here. 

Avid blog readers already know that we held the “mHealth Solutions and Policy Forum” on Wednesday with some of the leading medical and policy experts on how wireless technology can play a major role in improving healthcare. While we’re compiling some video clips for you to see and hear these speakers, we thought we’d share some photo highlights of the event.   

Steve Largent, President & CEO of CTIA-The Wireless Association®, welcomes medical and policy experts to the “mHealth Solutions and Policy Forum” at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center.

Representative Adam Smith (D-WA-9th) gives a keynote address discussing the importance in deploying cost-effective wireless technology solutions which will reduce healthcare costs and expand affordable healthcare options for millions of people. 
 

Dr. Eric J. Topol demonstrates Corventis’ “smart bandaid” which provides real-time electrocardiogram monitoring.  

 

The first panel of speakers is focusing on “Innovating Through Healthcare Reform: The Mobile Solution.”  Several speakers are medical innovators who are applying existing, commonly used mobile applications to address a variety of chronic care and other health conditions.

Sprint representatives are on-site to showcase live demonstrations of innovative mobility solutions for the healthcare industry.

In the second panel, policy experts are discussing how to keep pace with technology innovation.