Convergent Development: Integrating mHealth

Mobile healthcare technology, or mHealth, is transforming the way  doctors and patients interact and provides the means for patients to enjoy greater engagement with their treatment and improve health outcomes. As technology continues to evolve, organizations will explore new ways of developing innovative digital resources.

Harnessing the power and flexibility of mobile devices, mHealth extends clinical trials and patient care beyond clinic walls into patients’ daily lives. The potential advantages are nearly endless – among them being new real-world outcome measures, such as free-living patient activity levels and continuous real-time patient monitoring. In turn, these new possibilities will revolutionize clinical trials and patient care.

Moving forward, smartphones will continue to play an increasingly important role with a range of apps available for iPhone, Android and Windows, in addition to the growing number of sensors and wearable devices that can collect rich and informative data.

Still in its infancy, the mHealth revolution presents many opportunities and challenges, as well as some questions. Below we examine how mHealth will drive clinical development, support more effective models of integrated care delivery and the technical issues that can arise. For manufacturers willing to embrace the challenges, the rewards may be well worth the effort.