AppwoRx is a company that realizes opportunities for developing new mHealth apps, content, products, and services are emerging daily. We believe mHealth will play a ubiquitous role in transforming the U.S. and global health systems, expanding access to decision support that permit consumers to engage effectively with their systems of care.
The evolu

tion of mobile technology in the past twenty years has revolutionized every aspect of industries across the board in the way they conduct business and communicate with their customers, and healthcare is no exception. The rapid growth and advancements in the technical field have compelled investors to reevaluate their current methods of commerce to determine how they can employ these advancements to better service their clients in the digital age.

Industry professionals have acknowledged the significant role that the field of healthcare plays in the mobile market. In a 2012 survey of senior executives in the US mobile sector, 78% of respondents said that the healthcare/life sciences market had the greatest potential for benefiting from emerging technologies and subsequently generating revenue. Further, data from this study indicated that the healthcare/life sciences market was the industry most likely to see high rates of growth in its business model over the next five years.
The demand for mobile apps will largely be driven by challenges encountered throughout the lifecycle of the population using them. Current and continuing healthcare reforms and rising costs of coverage as well as the natural aging processes and developing illnesses encountered by mobile users, along with the population’s increased awareness and desire to take a proactive stance on their health, will all propel growth in the mHealth field substantially.

As integral as mobile devices have become to the average user’s daily routine, the market is rife with opportunity for healthcare to emerge as a leader in mobile app revenue. Technologies currently available allow the user to view their own medical records on-demand instantly as well as to connect with providers in order to take active part in their own healthcare. There also exists the potential in the expanding global market to allow providers to connect with patients and caregivers in remote areas to assist in diagnostics and recommendations for treatment, which will in turn facilitate the provision of accessible and affordable healthcare worldwide.
As a company dedicated to reinventing the way patients and physicians engage, AppwoRx realizes opportunities for developing new mHealth apps, content, products, and services are emerging daily. We believe mHealth will play a ubiquitous role in transforming the U.S. and global health systems, expanding access to decision support that permit consumers to engage effectively with their systems of care.

It’s easy to see that G. Daniel Martich, M.D., chief medical information officer at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), like many of his cohorts at the large integrated healthcare system and elsewhere in the industry, can see the big picture.

Dr. Martich, who is also a member of the Healthcare Informatics editorial advisory board, is focused squarely on accountable care, and better yet, he has an idea on how to get there. At HIMSS13, on the same day that was officially themed after “patient engagement,” Martich spoke with HCI Associate Editor Gabriel Perna on why this year at the annual conference he has really zeroed in on patient engagement and mobile health (mHealth).

“How we engage the patient in their own care ties into accountable care because we can’t continue to deliver the same care at hospitals, critical care units, and in emergency departments as we used to, because we can’t afford to,” Martich says. “So how do we care for those patients in a better, if not equal setting, moving them first to the outpatient center then the home? We need patients to engage. How do they do that? They can engage with a laptop or a desktop, but the reality is patients are engaging more and more with mHealth.”

At UPMC, Martich says the organization is attempting to extend this concept in a mobile fashion to their patient base in the ambulatory setting. The organization, he says, is working on a marketing effort that attempts to get patients to sign up for their shared personal health record. This means the patient sees what the doctor sees in terms of medications, upcoming appointments, and prescriptions.

Already, Martich says, the organization has gotten 150,000 patients on board. Furthermore, UPMC will be extending this mobile app to those who use the organization’s insurance product. Half of those patients don’t have a UPMC physician. But that doesn’t matter, as the organization is essentially an accountable care organization (ACO), he notes.

G. Daniel Martich, M.D.

“We have an insurance arm, we have a hospital division, and we have a physician division. Tying all of those together and going out beyond that is obviously a big step. And [it’s about] developing the tools and strategies around that, so you can do virtual care collaboration using the camera on a laptop and the camera on an iPhone. If you want to see the [practitioner], you can see the [practitioner],” Martich says.

ACOs, Martich says, are about access, quality care, and reasonable cost. Both UPMC and the UPMC Health Plan in this regard are incentivized to reduce costs, and one of the best ways to do that is to keep the patient out of the hospital. The mHealth is one way to do that, as is UPMC’s electronic visits (eVisits), a growing online platform at which has actually integrated with the mobile app. There are also non-technology answers, he says, such as extended hours clinics, which can keep a patient out of the emergency department.

“We still want to admit people to the ER, if they need to go. But we don’t want a system where people say, ‘My doctor is not available, so I’m defaulting to the most convenient option.’ That option happens to be the most expensive option. In reality, the most convenient option should be the least expensive option,” Martich says.