Mobile healthcare initiatives for improving outpatient adherence: opportunities and barriers

摘要

This work is an investigation of the human and system opportunities and barriers in mobile healthcare, followed by a cost/benefit analysis for outpatient mobile healthcare solutions that could improve adherence to medication and a healthy lifestyle. The work begins by defining the outpatient adherence problem and how mobile solutions could help. It then discusses the driving and resistant forces among the main stakeholders: patients, healthcare professionals, healthcare institutions and government. Next, it compares the savings generated by increased adherence and the costs to implement mobile initiatives to combat non-adherence. The possible use of mobile healthcare solutions to address outpatient non-adherence, although beneficial, also creates concerns of varying degrees for all the major stakeholders. These issues must be addressed before implementation in order to maximise the chances of success.