Developing a full-cycle mHealth strategy

Healthcare executives today must balance an increasing number of operational dimensions, many of which were not factors as recently as ten or even five years ago. The advent of mobile healthcare, or mHealth--the emergence of handheld devices in the healthcare continuum--is one of those dimensions. All major stakeholders in care delivery are concerned and engaged with the topic of mHealth, as physicians, nurses, administrative staff, and patients increasingly depend on mobile devices to communicate at home as well as at work. The increased presence of mHealth in organizations is undeniable, although it tends to advance without the benefit of tactical or strategic design. In response, many organizations, in the course of updating their strategic plans, are now incorporating mHealth strategies or initiatives. In mHealth we are dealing with a phenomenon that has intrinsic organizational value, that can be a market differentiator, and that can lead to increased physician engagement and satisfaction. Security, device management, support, and interoperability all must be purposefully evaluated and planned for as an organization crafts an mHealth strategy. Yet, by all accounts, mHealth proliferation is proceeding, with purposeful design or without it.