mHealth, or ‘mobile health’, is a comprehensive term that encompasses the provisioning of healthcare using mobile networks and devices. In this toolkit, we break mHealth down into its component parts, and assess mHealth devices for use in telemedicine.
Mobile health, often shortened to “mHealth”, constitutes one of the most rapidly-growing fields in telehealth. Each month sees an upgrade in cell phone technology, software systems, and peripheral options in the market. Some product development is focused on patients’ needs, while other areas are focused on the clinical setting.
Regulatory issues have not been clearly resolved, deployment and usage scenarios are still being worked out in many organizations, and there are a host of concerns around the privacy, security, and reliability of mobile healthcare devices. Needless to say, this constant change means that there is a lot to track and learn about in this field. We at TTAC have compiled this toolkit to provide an overview of mHealth, including a broad mHealth definition, what devices are available, and how mHealth may benefit your organization.
About This Technology – this section of the toolkit provides fairly high-level information about mHealth (Technology Overview), defines common terms used in the field (Definitions), mHealth deployment considerations (Deployment & Support), and relevant industry standards, with links to sites discussing mHealth products and services (Standards & Resources).
Product Information – while the mHealth market is changing rapidly (making technology assessments almost immediately out-of-date), we will still cover several key concepts and products for those interested in mHealth. Included in this section are materials on the physical devices used (Hardware) as well as the various computer programs within the mHealth industry (Software).
Product Assessment – We purchased and reviewed nine mobile devices, including four cellular phones and five tablet computers. Device specifications pertinent to our videoconferencing testing are included (Tested Devices), as is summary information on both the TTAC testing procedure (VTC Testing Procedure) and results (VTC Testing Results).
Presentation – Our former director and colleague, Garret Spargo recorded a webinar that provides information on mHealth. You can find the webinar here.