Overview

Abstract

mHealth, defined simplistically as the use of mobile technologies to capture, store, and communicate health information, is touted as having the potential to transform health care. The industry segments expected to benefit most are primary and chronic care, which have significant potential for patients to be more engaged in their own care. But, is mHealth a hyper-innovation or a hyped innovation? Mobile technology generally, and the smartphone particularly, has spawned the development of an “app culture” among large segments of the world’s population, many of whom are eager to use this familiar tool to manage and improve their health. Unfortunately, however, there is insufficient actionable information to inform strategic development, deployment, and use of mHealth in a sustainable productive life cycle. This chapter explores the concept of mHealth, the drivers for expanding the use of mHealth as a viable mode of health-care delivery, and the barriers and limitations that exist in our fragmented, highly competitive health-care marketplace.