Last week was the most significant one of the year for the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. In the midst of its health IT mega-conference, HIMSS 2015, the group made time to publish the results of the 2015 HIMSS Mobile Technology Survey.
Of the 238 respondents to the HIMSS mobile survey, nearly 90% said they use mobile devices to engage patients in their own care. Tailoring patient’s mHealth experiences to fit their needs and those of the healthcare organization appears to be occurring with greater frequency. Nearly one-third of respondents said their facility offers organizational-specific apps to their patient populations, with an additional 30% indicating such an app is in the process of being created for their organization.
Though a fair amount of those surveyed believe mHealth deployments should be part of the future of their organization, not all of them are satisfied with their current mobile infrastructures. Slightly fewer than half responded that mobile implementations to permit access to information should be a top consideration for their organization. However, only 18% classified their mobile environments as “highly mature.”
Many providers want to expand mHealth operations but are concerned about the return on investment. Those organizations can stew over the following tidbits gathered in the HIMSS mobile survey:
- More than half (51%) of respondents cited budgetary concerns as a reason to hesitate in supporting more mobile processes and interactions within their facility
- Nearly the same amount of people (54%) reported they saved money by deploying more mobile technology
Also, app-enabled patient portals (73%), telehealth services (62%) and text messaging (57%) were three mHealth tools most frequently used by survey participants. “The widespread availability of mobile technology has had a positive impact on the coordination of patient care,” David Collins, senior director of HIMSS mHealth Community, said in the HIMSS mobile survey brief.
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