GSMA: mHealth Becoming Central to Healthcare IT

Mobile health is moving from the periphery of healthcare IT to dead center, according to a new report from the global mHealth research group GSMA. First, the group's latest report, "Integrating Healthcare: The Role and Value of Mobile Operators in eHealth," reinforces its prediction from February that the market will grow to $27 billion by 2017.

But perhaps more importantly, the report says, mobile health platforms will become core deliverers of information exchange and care integration, the researchers say. "These mobile operators, and others, have clearly expanded their remit from direct-to-consumer health solutions, to solutions that support core clinical and operational processes within the hospital," the report's authors write. "From this traditional base, mobile operators are moving to solutions that connect the various stakeholders in the healthcare system to the patients to provide fully integrated care."

That integrated care issue will be central to improving quality outcomes for the most frequent, and costly patients--chronic care...