Mobile applications related to health care are becoming increasingly commonplace. In November alone, we've seen smartphone apps that promise to translate baby cries, help perform remote diagnostics and, of course, help track H1N1 outbreaks. But with a recent Manhattan Research report indicating that 81 percent of physicians will be toting smartphones by 2012, the race is on to develop mobile applications and customized content aimed at physicians and allied health professionals.
Beyond the mobile apps themselves, service providers are looking to bundle the most appropriate content suitable to healthcare professionals, a move that's triggering joint development partnerships. Most recently, two companies with a track record for providing and distributing medical content--HealthDay and Complemedia--have teamed up to produce new health-based apps. The idea is leverage HealthDay's content and Complemedia's MedicinePhone platform to provide clients across a variety of health fields the opportunity to develop their own branded smartphone applications, which can target specific information and news to medical and health professionals.
HealthDay is a division of ScoutNews, LLC, a Norwalk, Conn.-based news and information company. Complemedia is a Chicago-based developer of targeted media channels, including professional and consumer healthcare. The MedicinePhone platform allows healthcare marketers to leverage their current technology infrastructure to utilize new mobile channels, such as the iPhone and Google Android. The company's clients include CME/CE providers, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, hospitals, managed care and others.
The content can be customized to a client's specific needs, from the latest medical journal updates to the latest news about specific diseases and conditions of interest, according to HealthDay CEO Dan McKillen. The MedicinePhone platform makes it easier for HealthDay to expand its health and medical news distribution to wireless platforms, while helping the company's customers reach new audiences.
HealthDay and Complemedia settled on smartphones as the delivery device of choice because a survey cited in the online edition of Money found that six-out-of-ten physicians preferred iPhones, while almost all health administrators preferred the Blackberry. HealthDay's news services already are distributed in wireless platforms like Epocrates and Skyscape, and integrated with popular applications like J&J's Black Bag, as well as an upcoming MedicinePhone iPhone app called Swine Flu Pro.
One of the two companies' newest clients is Pri-Med, a Boston-based provider of educational solutions that has a Web-based platform offering interactive services for medical institutions and healthcare professionals. The Pri-Med iPhone App is available in the App Store and, in addition to news for primary care professionals, provides users with access to CME programs and the ability to register for live meetings.
Although it's hard to say what demand will be like for branded smartphone apps in healthcare, the concept is interesting and there's certainly a large enough client base to support the notion.
HealthcareGoesMobile.com wants to hear from healthcare organizations that are leveraging branded smartphone apps and customized content at the mobile point of care. How are you using it? What plans has your organization made to maximize its value going forward?
Comments
Mobile state-of-the-state
Thanks John for this state-of-the-state for how clinicians are using mboile phones today, as well as the emerging providers of apps. This space moves quickly, so it will be interesting to see how it develops in the first couple of quarters of 2010.