Transforming Healthcare Provider and Patient Power Dynamics - Exploring the Impact of Mobile Healthcare

摘要

In the healthcare environment of today, individuals are increasingly connecting using mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones. Providers and patients demand current information at their fingertips during all phases of healthcare delivery to save time, reduce errors, and improve quality outcomes. By 2017 half a billion mobile healthcare app users are projected (Zapata et al, 2015), and the mobile healthcare market is projected to experience an annual growth rate of 61% and reach $26 billion (Terry, 2013). Mobile Healthcare can be defined as a component of electronic health services and information delivered through mobile technologies. This is often expanded to include mobile healthcare aimed at improving healthcare outcomes (HIMSS, 2012). The healthcare industry also now generates 30 percent of the world's data, with up to a 50 percent annual growth rate projected. Fueling this Big Data growth is the use of mobile healthcare (mHealth) through mobile computing devices, imaging files, electronic health records, personal health records, and scanned documents. Big Data in healthcare reflects the volume, growth, and types of data, as well as the tremendous opportunities available to unlock the potential value. As mobile computing and Big Data continue to evolve, these will become major components to improving long-term healthcare outcomes and healthcare quality (Hamilton, 2013), and are expected to be valued at $300 billion in the next decade (Woodside, 2013-2014).