Trends in HIT, Why it Matters to Doctors

This article published with permission from iMedicalApps.com.

Health 2.0′s 7th Annual Convention in Silicon Valley highlighted big trends occurring in the field of health care technology. Sessions covered sensors, mobile apps and infrequently-discussed topics such as sexual health, alcoholism and happiness.

Panels covered innovative apps in diagnosis of diseases, details on approaching venture capital firms, and mental health applications.

We had the opportunity to talk with leaders in mobile health including Pete Hudson, MD, chief executive officer of iTriage, and Mantosh Dewan, MD, advisor to CyberDoctor.

We will also share interviews with the senior vice president of HealthOne’s Sermo and Amy Cueva, founder of the Mad*Pow health technology design firm, as well as other leading figures in Health 2.0. Below, we’ll highlight where nearly $2 billion in funding goes to which types of apps and devices, opportunities for health care physicians and patients with app ideas, and the most important trends occurring in health care information technology.

HIT trends

Matthew Holt (@boltyboy), co-founder of Health 2.0, believes three trends are occurring in health IT:

• Data mobility

Data can be shared among apps, devices and networks to reduce the need for old-fashioned, time-consuming faxes, paper medical records and redundancy in processes.

Holt asserts that this is important because data is often unavailable at the point of care, with coordination gaps such as results/records not available at appointments, gaps in hospital discharge planning, and lack of review of prescriptions.

• Trackers and sensors

Connected scales, blood pressure monitors, sleep trackers and fitness watches are making it easier for patients and physicians to collect data

• Usability and design

Especially for electronic medical records, where the usability is in an extremely poor state.

Furthermore, sensors, in particular, have contributed to the trend of “too much data,” according to Christine Robins, general manager of BodyMedia & Jawbone:

“People want this health care data, but people want it to move with them,” Robins says during the Health 2.0 panel on wearable sensors. “Users often say, ‘I don’t know where this data is going to go.’”

She finds it interesting that with sensors, “a lot of people overestimate how active they are and underestimate what they eat.”

Who is in the market?

The Health 2.0 team noted that, in the current state of the market, as many as 60% of the companies in the health care technology space are consumer-facing. The remainder of the companies target apps & software for professionals, patient-provider communication, and data analytics.

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