Health IT: Unwired, Unadopted

Providers and consumers of health care are eager to use mobile devices that deliver improved efficiencies and outcomes, yet a number of factors -- from hospitals' inadequate bandwidth to misaligned payment incentives -- are slowing adoption.

A new report by PricewaterhouseCoopers, "Healthcare Unwired," finds significant support for the new technologies among health care providers. Two-thirds of physicians surveyed said they use personal devices for mobile health solutions that are not connected to the IT systems of their practice of hospitals. (Thirty percent said their hospitals or practice leaders will not support the use of mobile health devices.) Eighty-eight percent indicated they would like their patients to have the means of tracking their health at home.

Consumers expressed enthusiasm for mobile health IT, as well, but willingness to embrace the technologies varied among subgroups. About half of consumers said they would buy mobile technology for their health, and 40 percent indicated a willingness to pay for a monthly mobile phone service or device that would send information to their doctors. The report noted that almost 80 percent of Medicaid patents regularly use text messaging to communicate, the highest rate among insured and uninsured groups. Men are twice as likely as women to use a cell phone as a means of receiving health-related reminders.

The report also found that:

• Mobile health can improve the use and the value of physicians' time. One-third of physicians surveyed said they make decisions based on incomplete information. They believe the greatest benefit of mobile devices will be to help them make decisions faster as they access more accurate data in real-time.
• Forty percent of physicians surveyed said they could eliminate 11 percent to 30 percent of office visits through the use of mobile health technologies like remote monitoring, email, or text messaging with patients. Such shifts could rewrite physician supply and shortage forecasts for the next decade and beyond.
• Physicians are interested in different types of applications. Primary care physicians (PCPs) are most interested in prescribing medication wirelessly, and specialists, in accessing electronic medical records (EMRs) wirelessly.
• In-person consultations are still the main method of reimbursement, but physicians are getting limited reimbursement for phone consultations, email consults, telehealth and text. Payment models that address how mobile health reduces costs are more effective, but require changes in delivery-care processes.

"The technology of telehealth is well ahead of the socialization of the telehealth idea and we are at a tipping point for utilization to begin taking off," said David Jacobson, staff vice president of Business Development, State Sponsored Business at WellPoint.