We are heading for a full and hectic week at HIMSS 12 starting from today where we will showcase our industry leading capabilities and proven mobile health solutions at booth 13939 of the Venetian Sands Expo Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

At the Conference, we hope to catch up with the latest trends and participate in discussions and knowledge forums to evolve sustainable and cost effective mobile health solutions to tackle challenges such as security, scalability and interoperability.

Some of the key trends we expect to dominate the conference are:

mHealth trends: The single most key topic that will dominate HIMSS 12 will  be the transformational developments in mobile health technology. Acknowledging the rapid development in mobile health, HIMSS had created mHIMSS as a platform for all stakeholders within the global mobile community to drive positive, transformational change in health and healthcare through the best use of IT a few months back.  Mobile Health without doubt will be the single most key topic that will dominate the conference sessions this year. We all expect to see an increasing number of global stakeholders from all facets of global mobile community who will be seeking an opportunity to demonstrate their innovative solutions for health care industry and practitioners.

Big data analytics: There will be a lot of focus on Big Data Analytics trends and their impact on health care industry. Mobile Health is adding to healthcare’s Big Data by capturing different types of data across departments and by multiplying ways it can be accessed and reused to improve health care delivery and efficiency. This will be of great significance as a growing majority is now depending on more than one service providers for their health care needs. There will be a lot of discussion on standardisation to ensure consistency in the collection, analysis and use of data which will require a lot of brainstorming on supportive infrastructure and technologies.

 Enterprise mobile applications: Until recently key focus of health care industry was on mobile health consumer applications like wearable devices and remote monitoring systems. At HIMSS this year, we anticipate a shift of interest from consumer apps to enterprise apps with thrust on security, scalability and integration. One of the key areas that would be discussed widely would be on how to effectively integrate and connect multitude of devices and applications to decision support tools and electronic medical records.

Standards and protocol in  mHealth: Standardisation will be a key area that will gain a lot of attention and pace at HIMSS this season. We are already hearing a lot of buzz around industry-led initiatives like ICD-10 and HiPAA 5010 codes which is poised to have a big impact on the efficiency of mobile health care applications.

Mobile solutions for remote health monitoring: According to a report from Berg Insight, 2.2 million patients worldwide were using remote medical monitoring services at the end of 2011 and this will reach a total of 4.9 million patient connections globally by the end of 2016. Remote Monitoring will be discussed widely as it will  be a topic of high interest for both physicians and patients.

Our featured Case Studies at the Conference will highlight how we have successfully partnered with various organizations in improving the operational efficiency and significantly reducing the costs.

Some of the Case Studies that we hope will be of interest to you include:

• RapidValue solutions which have helped EMR software vendors extend their current web / desktop based software on mobile devices like iPad / iPhone / Android etc.
• Practice management solutions deployed by RapidValue that have helped hospitals optimize physician scheduling and improve communication.
• Solutions from RapidValue which have helped organizations tablet-enable their legacy software in order for users to access them from their tablets.
• Mobile device management solutions which have helped organizations secure their data using mobile devices and help them remotely manage and control these devices from a central admin station.
• How RapidValue has partnered with leading hospitals and software companies in building point of care applications (mHMC) to cover a wide range of hospital administration and management processes

We will also be launching our latest White Paper on “Regulations and compliance for enterprise mHealth applications” at the Conference.

Please feel free to request for a meeting if you would like to collaborate with us in launching innovative solutions to tackle health care challenges by leveraging the power of mobility.

For further queries, contact us.

Over the last few weeks, we attended two important mobile heath events – mHealthcon and mHealth Summit. Each event highlighted the growing impact of smart phones, tablets and other mobile devices on the delivery and administration of healthcare and the collaboration between the patient and caregiver.

mHealthcon

mHealthcon which was held in New Brunswick, New Jersey on December 1st saw the confluence of key medical and pharmaceutical stakeholders, technology enthusiasts and mhealth start-ups. The event showcased key trends in next generation mHealth apps and the impact of mobile technology and wearable devices in the healthcare delivery and process efficiency.  RapidValue participated in the event as part of the Top Innovator Showcase.

 The inaugural keynote address was delivered by Tom Wheeler, Chairman of the mHealth Alliance Partnership who laid out the roadmap of adoption, proliferation and global opportunity. Tom highlighted the role of mHealth apps for collecting data, digitalizing, transmitting and analyzing the information to improve the quality and speed of health care delivery. According to Tom, “marrying the collection of health data with wireless connectivity can mean new health care options for people who aren’t able to get to a doctor.”

Various speakers highlighted the impact of mobile health technology in collecting, documenting, distributing and managing medical information, managing patient care and streamlining scheduling and payments. Some of the popular tools, according to many of the participants, are text messaging tools which make communication easier and faster between doctors and patients, mobile video which makes remote health care a reality, and wearable devices used for real-time monitoring of a range of health conditions and parameters and transmiting data to handsets using ultra – low power.

The industry specialists also expressed their concerns over security and regulatory issues. Another challenge that was highlighted was the difficulty in demonstrating a measurable value proposition as very often the key benefit of most mobile products is prevention or healthcare cost reduction.

mHealth Summit

mHealth Summit, organized by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health in partnership with the mHealth Alliance, the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society and NIH – saw the participation of 3,600 delegates from across the globe. The conference discussed the dramatic changes happening today in the health sector due to adoption of mobile technology.

RapidValue marked its presence at the Event as an exhibitor.

 While the conference highlighted the potential of mobile health technology to improve health care quality, enhanced patient support and cost savings, speakers also acknowledged that health sector is far behind other industries when it comes to the adoption of mobile technology.

One key highlight of the Event was the release of the first-ever mHIMSS Mobile Technology Survey, which revealed that 38 percent of healthcare organizations had a formal strategy or policy regarding the use of mobile devices. And another 51 percent said they were developing a policy, according to the new mHIMSS, a subgroup of HIMSS that officially launched on the first of December, 2011.

The event reflected dramatic progress in the mHealth sector. While last year’s event discussed the potential of mobile healthcare to  improve access and quality, this year’s discussions were mostly on how to get doctors, patients and other health care associates to use hundreds of mobile health apps already reaching the market.

Various presenters demonstrated and talked about mHealth apps for care diagnosis, simplifying healthy eating improving public health and engaging consumers. mHealth is not just used for maintaining fitness, but also addressing chronic diseases. There were some very interesting presentations which demonstrated the impact of mHealth applications especially in under developed countries. For instance, one presenter showcased how mHealth project has been successfully implemented to address serious health threats like AIDS. According to the presenter, text messaging significantly improved adherence to antiretroviral drug regimens (62% compliance versus 50% in the control group) and suppress the viral load (57% versus 48% in the control group). The project is estimated to generate $10 million in net savings over 3 years and break-even in year 2.

Other transformational developments which seemed promising were in the area of biometric remote monitoring which will dramatically  transform remote monitoring and distant health care services. There was a lot of interest in wearable mobile devices which has generated significant interest amongst enterprises and consumers in sports and fitness segment. Another hot area is cloud based mobile technology that is poised to improve patient care, clinical services, pharmaceutical management and billing and administration. There was even the promise of a “$100 mobile-to-cloud DNA sequencer”. This was shown where a swab was taken from a subject, and then dabbed to a device connected to a mobile phone, and uploaded via an app, to a cloud based computing engine for complete sequencing.

The event also discussed various challenges limiting the growth of the mobile health sector. Though we see increasing interest from investors and entrepreneurs, there are challenges in pricing and business models. As one speaker pointed out, “the challenge is to make mobile health tools relevant, affordable and culturally sensitive to the patients who stand to benefit the most from the technology.” Continuous innovation and cost effectiveness will help win the trust and confidence of doctors and patients in adopting mHealth. Many speakers were of the opinion that governments and hospitals should introduce incentives and tax benefits to encourage the adoption of mobile technology by physicians. Usability and security will also be key drivers that will define the future market for mHealth apps.

Ron Guida
Director – Business Development
Email:  rguida@rapidvaluesolutions.com

“Cell phones are amazing tools. For some of us, they’re about staying in touch. For millions of people, it could be about staying alive,” this is how Bill Gates had summarized the impact of mobile technology on healthcare industry in one of his blog posts last year. Mobile computing is finding rapid traction among doctors, health workers, clinical specialists, pharmacists, hospital administrators, patients, sports persons and fitness enthusiasts.

The growing impact of mHealth technology is evident in the recent survey findings by ABI Research which predicts that the mHealth market will grow to over $400 million by 2016 – up from $120 million in 2010. According to ABI Research, the growth will be primarily driven by sports and fitness applications. The ability for mobile handsets to easily connect to wearable devices that in turn deliver new functionality and accuracy to sports and fitness apps will be a driving factor, observes the New York based analyst firm. The key to popularity of sports and fitness apps will be the presence of Bluetooth Smart on smartphones. These devices help to monitor a range of health conditions and parameters in real-time and transmit data to handsets using ultralow power. Heart rate monitors, watches, foot pods, GPS locators and pedometers are just a few of the sensor-type devices that can help sports personnel and fitness enthusiasts to improve their results.

According to Jonathan Collins, principal analyst, “Downloadable apps are moving the sports tracking device market from proprietary devices to mobile phones, but adoption has been limited by the data they can collect. However, with the connectivity that Bluetooth Smart will embed in mobile handsets, wearable devices will bring greater detail to mobile handsets.”

Embedded wireless technologies such as WiFi, Bluetooth, ZigBee and mobile body area network (MBAN) connectivity are also generating a lot of excitement in the health care industry. With the integration of these technologies, doctors and nurses will be able to remotely monitor patient’s vital signs like heart rate, blood pressure and blood glucose levels. MBAN uses short-length radio waves to send health data over short distances. For patients, this could mean having a portable hospital and any time doctor services at their home.

While ABI Research expects sports and fitness apps to dominate mobile health application market, the research firm says that other areas such as home monitoring systems for aging users, personal emergency response services, and remote healthcare monitoring applications will also have a significant impact on the health care sector.

The latest findings on mHealth Apps published in CompTIA’s 3rd Annual Healthcare IT Insights and Opportunities Study also reflect the growing prevalence and importance of mobile applications in the health sector. The findings are based on a recent survey which covered 350 doctors, dentists and other healthcare practitioners and 400 It firms with healthcare IT practices. As per their findings, 38% of the healthcare providers use a mobile device to run a medical related app on a daily basis and this is expected to grow over to 50% in the immediate future. Three key areas where we will see significant benefits of mobile health technology, according to the CompTIA are continuing medical education (cited by 61%), specialist referral services (44%), and patient consultations (37%).

While the overall trend looks very promising, there are several issues that need to be addressed. For example, health care is an industry where even a minor mistake could result in a life or death situation, so, it’s important to have accurate data collection and real-time feedback at the point of data entry. Also, mobile health is a relatively new technology, and therefore integrating it with legacy systems and processes pose a challenge. Security and usability are some of top priorities that the developer must keep in mind while creating mobile health apps, as the applications need to be used across many departments and hierarchy of professionals.

We at RapidValue strongly believe that mHealth will unveil new dimension in the health care industry. On one side, it will transform the experience of patients by enhancing the quality and speed of health care delivery. It will also help hospitals and health care enterprises reap benefits by optimizing processes, reducing manual errors and helping to better monitor and administer different departments.
There is a huge potential if enterprises and medical practitioners in the health care industry can connect with patients, vendors and other stakeholders via diverse mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, push-to-talk devices and machine to machine remote monitoring.

Explore all of the new mobile initiatives with RapidValue at mHealthcon on December 1st and at the mHealthSummit from December 4th through the 7th.

Ron Guida
Director – Business Development
Email:  rguida@rapidvaluesolutions.com

The latest Whitepaper from RapidValue guides you through various steps involved in building your mobile roadmap and key points to be considered before you build your mobile strategy.

We are in the decade of mobility. Smart phones are driving mobile internet and app usage. Since the introduction of iPhone in 2007, smart phone penetration has been exponentially growing and has reached over 40% by June 2011 according to Nielson. Not only are smart phones getting more prevalent, consumers are spending more time on them. According to Flurry Analytics , about 81 minutes per day are spent on smart phones compared to 74 minutes on desktop internet. Businesses need to adapt to this changing consumer behavior and consider mobile as one of the key strategic channels for the future.
Despite increasing prevalence of mobile teams and initiatives, the field is relatively young and best practices are hard to come by. Having worked on over 100 engagements and countless interactions with our customers over the past 3 years, we have put together a set of key considerations for navigating your mobile roadmap. These considerations will help you identify opportunities and also avoid major pitfalls while trying to implement mobility projects. We have categorized these considerations into 3 phases – Assess, Build and Deploy, based on the activity timeline and a series of steps within each phase.
To get an insight into building mobile roadmap, access our latest White Paper, “Navigating your Mobile Roadmap”
Rajesh P
CEO

Conference Kick Off

Our take-away from Mobile Shopping Fall 2011
“The future is M-commerce” is the single biggest take-away from the recently concluded Mobile Shopping Fall sponsored by RapidValue along with other leading names in the industry such as PayPal, Velti, Compuware, NetBiscuits to mention a few. Mobile payment was a hot topic and the security, usability and speed were some of the key concerns on several speakers’ mind.

The two and half days event saw presentations from industry thought leaders on a range of topics revolving around opportunities in M-commerce, current trends, challenges and various technological solutions that will help make it mainstream.

Panel Discussion at MMF 2011

Speakers at the event emphasised on the imminent potential of m-commerce which is now riding on the popularity of smart phones and i-Pads.

A PayPal executive at the Mobile Shopping Fall conference said that it is no longer good enough to just build a mobile site. There needs to be a simple and safe checkout that will help drive conversion and adoption.

 

There was a lot of buzz around NFC enabled payment technologies. A Forrester executive at the Mobile Shopping Fall conference said NFC-enabled devices will be decisive for consumers to familiarize with the idea of having a whole new way of paying for products – even though they did not ask for it.

Rue La La wins best app of 2011

Many speakers felt that although NFC technology and the Google Wallet are leap forward in mobile commerce, there is a longer way to go before consumers replace their wallet with handset.

The speakers also emphasised other critical factors such as usability, device compatibility and speed which will accelerate the adoption and popularity of m-commerce.

Companies such as Dell and Coke added that traditional SMS based campaigns still still be popular due to the ease of use and prevalence.
All presentations are  here: http://www.wbresearch.com/mobileshopping/Presentations.aspx

Ron Guida
Director – Business Development
Email:  rguida@rapidvaluesolutions.com

 

 

RapidValue would be participating for Mobile Marketing Summit New York Sept. 8 in New York. The second Mobile Marketing Summit will be held Thursday, Sept. 8 in New York at the National Museum of the American Indian, a Beaux Arts Smithsonian museum in downtown Manhattan. Targeting senior executives and decision-makers at brands, ad agencies, publishers, retailers and service providers, the summit is the leading holiday mobile marketing conference.

http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/advertising/10380.html