"We took a run at this five years ago and it fizzled out pretty quickly," explained Rob Mesirow, Vice President of CTIA, the international association for the wireless industry. "Quite frankly, it just wasn't the time, the stars weren't aligned, wireless data networks weren't robust enough and medical data wasn't there."

"Now, the next generation of doctors, who are more comfortable with health IT technology, along with stronger mandates from the federal level and robust carrier networks are coming together," Mesirow explained during an interview at the Wireless Life-Sciences Alliance meeting in La Jolla, California. "Everyone agrees that the healthcare industry is inefficient -- and that's putting it lightly."

CTIA's wireless health initiative really kicked off at its most recent event in Las Vegas last month, but the association plans on hosting events in Washington D.C. and bringing Gary West and Dr. Eric Topol from the West Wireless Health Institute to discuss wireless healthcare with policy makers on the Hill.

Mesirow said that wireless health services are of great interest to wireless carriers: "When I specifically asked the carriers which verticals should [CTIA] be focusing on, carriers have unanimously said that healthcare is one we should go for." This is exactly the kind of deployment carriers are looking for, Mesirow said,  since it includes heavy data usage and subsequent data revenues.

So, is there still a need for a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) to step in and manage wireless healthcare services for the carriers?

"MVNOs seem to pop up for anything these days," Mesirow said. "So a healthcare MVNO? Sure, why not? But I think all of the carriers are interested in offering wireless health services over their networks."

Amazon's wireless book reader device -- the Kindle -- is a great example for the wireless healthcare industry to examine, Mesirow said. "Maybe it's a little overused at this point, but the Kindle represents a different model. It's not carrier-based. It's not subscription-based. It's one example of the kind of creative business models that are coming out of the wireless industry."

This may be the worst economic environment in a lifetime, Mesirow pointed out, but a lot of innovation comes out of a downturn because there is less incentive to innovate when the market is good.

"This [economic downturn] is helping to propel the wireless health industry in a lot of ways," Mesirow said.