The year 2013 saw the launch of thousands of new mobile healthh apps. This year there will be more advances in the evolution of mobile health as personalization and smartphone penetration increase, curation of Apps and security issues improve and both doctors and patients become more comfortable with – and reliant on – mHealth tools.
Co-Director, Connected Health (Clinical Director)
Dr. Neil Evans is the Associate Chief of Staff, Informatics & Co-Chief, Primary Care at the Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center, the busiest VA medical center in the country. In addition to his role as a medical provider, he is a Co-Director of the Department of the Veterans Affairs Connected Health office and heads up VA’s mobile health programs, pilots and research.
Dr. Evans has been a thought-leader within the VA when it comes to the adoption and development of new mHealth technologies, we recently asked Dr. Evans what role mobile health technologies are playing within the VA – the largest health system in the country – and to the wider trends we will see shape mHealth in 2014.
1. Increased patient engagement
Patients want easy and convenient access to their health information, as well as open communication with their providers. They want health education and interventions that are personalized, and the tools necessary to manage and monitor their own care.
VA is at the beginning of significant mHealth development that will help us continue our mission of putting Veterans at the center of care by empowering them to better self-manage their own health. A key piece of self-management for our patients is the ability to access their data from their electronic health record, where and when they want it. It is not just about seeing the data…it is also about patients having the ability to generate their own data to help inform their care team. This area is where we will continue to see growth in 2014 – in the development of mHealth tools that allow patients to generate and share their own data with their care teams.
We also want to make it easier for patients to do things like refill prescriptions and make or cancel appointments. If these transactions are not easy for patients, they can quickly get in the way of actually improving health, which is our real goal. We want to streamline the process. If we utilize mHealth tools in the most effective way, and we make those transactions easier, then we allow the platform to serve as a way to help patients better self-manage their health and open more lines of communication with their health care teams.
