A number of readers have left insightful and provocative comments on MobiHealthNews' stories over the past few weeks, so we thought it would be helpful to point you to some of the discussions taking place right now.
Those who need it most, aren't interested: The expert cited in this past week's newsletter column, Insignia Health CEO Chris Delaney offered readers a longer explanation of his take on the activation levels of various groups of patients, the opportunity for wireless health moving forward and what it might take to get there. Here's a snippet from his comment from earlier this week:
"I do believe that smart people and ever-improving user-centric technology will lead to applications that support individuals across their self-management abilities. And there are indeed limitations to research that was largely observational. But bringing focus to patient variation will be key and is supported by research that goes well beyond this Harris study.
Two key considerations come to mind — 1. Some of the biggest opportunities to address, at least in economic terms, include adherence and unwarranted ER and hospitalization..." Have your say...
Apple, Epic team for mobile EHR pilot: No surprise here that a story about Apple and Epic's iPhone-powered EHR pilot drew a lot of commentary. While the discussion has devolved into a discussion about how up to date Epic's EHR offering is -- it began with a poignant question from a reader named Steve who wonders why Epic is working on expanding to the iPhone platform now:
"Shouldn’t Epic be working on updating their 10-year old (obsolete) client server software rather than building iPhone apps? We have several thousand clinical staff stuggling each day with their legacy client software. The iPhone apps are great, but Epic is not doing their part or taking responsibility for improving overall clinical efficiency and helping to lower the cost of healthcare. The iPhone apps will help some, but there continue to be serious prioritization challenges with the advancement of the overall Epic application suite." Have your say...
A Canadian reader named Merrilee wrote in today to comment on an article that the Institute For The Future's Health Horizons Research Manager Vivian Distler wrote for us earlier this year, and it sounds like the discussion in the wireless health industry about government spending on EHRs instead of mHealth is similar in the U.S. and Canada:
"I believe that [wireless health] is the future of a large component of primary care. Here in Canada, there has been a scandal around the development of government programs for EMR/EHR and eHealth. Lots of money and little to show for it. mHealth provides a way of giving the power to the people so to speak. Fascinating." Have your say...
