The California Healthcare Foundation (CHCF) has released a report titled ‘How Smartphones are changing healthcare for consumers and providers.’ The report, by Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, focuses on the recent adoption and use of smartphones by both consumers and healthcare providers. According to the report, the uptake of this technology is rapid - two-thirds of physicians and 42 percent of the public used smartphones as of late 2009, despite the recession that began a year earlier.
The creation of applications related to health and healthcare is also moving quickly. As of February 2010, there were nearly 6,000 such applications within the Apple AppStore. Of these, 73 percent were intended for use by consumer or patient end-users, while 27 percent were targeted at healthcare professionals, says the CHCF report.
Apps geared to physicians include alerts, medical reference tools, diagnostic tools, continuing medical education and patient records programmes. Consumer-oriented apps include those for medication compliance, mobile and home monitoring, homecare, managing conditions and wellness/fitness.
The CHCF report also examines the challenges to continued rapid smartphone growth – these include business model and privacy issues.
The complete report is available at http://www.chcf.org/~/media/Files/PDF/H/HowSmartphonesChangingHealthCare.pdf.
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