mHealth is growing in popularity – but it shouldn't replace the doctor

A new survey from Royal Philips Electronics points to the growing popularity of mHealth tools and programs among patients. That's good news for companies like Philips, which is investing a lot of time in money in mobile apps and other technology that push healthcare out of the hospital and closer to the home.

But the survey of 1,0003 adults (500 men and 503 women), conducted by the Opinion Research Corporation, could produce a few interesting conclusions.

According to that survey, a little more than one out of every 10 Americans polled actually credits mHealth with saving his or her life. That little nugget isn't going to sit well with physicians who already feel they're competing with mHealth technology for their hearts and minds (and all the other organs) of their patients. It speaks of a newly engaged and energized patient who may feel he or she can get all the information necessary online to approximate a complete medical checkup.

In other words, why consult a doctor when you have the Internet and mobile devices that can do the doctor's job?

The Philips survey actually paints a more complete picture of the promise of mHealth. According to the survey, about half of respondents are comfortable with using mHealth technologies at home that automatically share health data with their doctors, and more than a third believe that technology will enable them to live a longer life.

"We are in the early stages of the web-enabled, mHealth, mobile app world of healthcare delivery. Near-future apps will focus on tying together health information technologies, connecting with doctors, nurses, healthcare professionals and patients, all within a social context that facilitates shared medical decision-making," said Eric Silfen, chief medical officer of Philips Healthcare, in a press release. "This evolution will harken the new vital signs of the clinical times with technologies that help prevent medical errors, lower the financial and social cost of care, sustain a higher quality of medical practice and support an evidence-based standard for medicine in general."

"Ultimately, the technological undercurrents of the post-PC world  -  the power of many, designer gadgets, cloud ecosystems and mobile app computing  -  will hasten the personalization and partnerships that will transform sustainable medical care to the highest quality," he said.

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The survey also indicates that 41 percent are comfortable using online resources to check health symptoms. A quarter of those surveyed say they use online resources or home-based diagnosis technology as much as they visit a doctor, while 27 percent said they use these resources instead of going to a doctor.

Twenty-seven percent.

Does this mean people are going online to diagnose themselves? Are they relying solely on websites to determine their healthcare? And is that 11 percent of survey respondents saying mHealth saved their lives  -  lives that would have been lost if they'd followed the normal course of action of seeing a doctor?

Again, Silfen says technology such as that offered by Philips should be used to connect with doctors to improve the healthcare conversation  -  not replace the doctor. And while mHealth technology can and should be used to supplant non-emergency visits to the doctor's office or hospital, it shouldn't be the only diagnostic tool. In this era of consumer-directed healthcare and patient-facing technology, it's important to make that distinction.

So while survey after survey touts the benefits of mHealth and patient-centered healthcare continues to push against the older, legacy models of healthcare, it would be good to remember that the physician is still a vital part of the equation, even  -  especially  -  in the home setting.

Eric Wicklund

Editor of mHIMSS.org

Follow Eric on Twitter @eriwick