Mobile Health (mHealth) - Establishing An OSEHRA mHealth Working Group

Peter Groen | OSEHRA | October 24, 2012

I would like to propose that an OSEHRA  mHealth Working Group be established as soon as possible. It may already be in the works, for all I know.

There are already well over 4 billion mobile devices in use around the world and the numbers are only growing. In the coming decade, mobile health (mHealth) will dramatically change the daily clinical practices of many health care providers and the lives of their patients. The mHealth app market currently is worth about $718 million and is expected to double to $1.3 billion by the end of 2012, according to Research2Guidance. Innovative mHealth projects utilizing mobile phones and other wireless and hand held devices are powering the collection and use of health information to diagnose, treat, and educate people in even the most remote corners of the world. This also holds true for the providers, patients and their family members treated by the VA, DoD, IHS, and the rest of the VistA & OSEHRA community.

There are already sources of mHealth Apps out there for almost any type of device you can think of, including mHealth apps being distributed by NIH, NLM, and USA.Gov  But I could only find a small handfull of mHealth apps specific to VA and DoD.