In this presentation we discuss how mobile apps can help in reducing the costs associated with health care. Original post was made by Mr. Manoj Verma, CTO, TechAhead

1. MOBILE APPS AS TOOLS OF COST
REDUCTION IN HEALTH CARE

2. OVERVIEW
The increasing health care cost in the United States has become an area of
concern. The total health care cost in the United States in the year 2014
was $3.8 trillion which is more than the total GDP of Germany! These
statistics are indeed alarming. For combating this issue the Affordable Care
Act was enacted but it has failed to improve the targeted areas namely:-
•Cost of managing chronic diseases constitutes about 70% of total health
care cost vs only 30% for preventive healthcare.
•Readmission penalty was recorded in 2,225 hospitals whereas only 18
hospitals recorded 2% penalty.
•Overcrowding of Emergency Rooms in hospitals due to shortage of
facilities and physicians.
•Electronic health records impose a huge cost on productivity of small
providers.
©2016 TechAhead

3. OVERVIEW
Moreover fastly-aging population, inclusion of about 30 million
newly-insured people into the system, poor fitness and lifestyle
also contribute to above statistics.
Recently there is a increase in demand for healthcare apps market.
According to Manhattan Research Cybercitizen Health study, 38%
of Americans feel their mobile apps are “essential” for searching
health and medical information and about 100 million Americans
use mHealth technologies. Owing to this the mHealth revenue is
expected to reach $21.5 billion by 2018.
©2016 TechAhead

4. According to the eClinicalWorks survey in 2013 about 93% of
physicians believe that mHealth apps can improve treatment and
about 89% of them are likely to recommend some healthcare app
to their patients. However they are reluctant to do so without
sufficient evidence of success of these mobile apps. Rarely do the
app developing companies have the best interest of the hospitals
or patients at heart while developing their apps. Consequently
most of the health care apps available in the market have very
limited scope, functionality and efficiency.
Above statistics are disheartening to say the least. But there is a
bright side to it. Let us see.
©2016 TechAhead
HOW DO MOBILE APPS IMPACT HEALTHCARE COSTS?

5. •Managing life-threatening diseases-According to Accenture’s
analysis of mobile monitoring solutions using mobile healthcare
apps can lead to 15-20% reduction in hospital stays and 30%
reduction in ER visits. This means using mHealth care apps can
save the United States about $23 billion by targeting chronic
diseases like diabetes and heart-related problems and save about
$2000-$3000 per patient.
•Avoiding non-urgent visits to the ER- iTriage is one of the most
popular healthcare apps for Android, ipad and iphone. It offers
patients a symptom checker, nearest urgent care clinic and
comparative cost of visit to those facilities. It can even give
directions to the nearest clinic and give reminders for filling the
prescription after each visit. It can instantly save the patient about
$300-$3000.
©2016 TechAhead
HOW DO MOBILE APPS IMPACT HEALTHCARE COSTS?

6. •Empowering patients to manage their condition-Health care apps
can empower patients to manage their conditions in a more
proactive way. They allow patients to understand symptoms,
track their progress and ultimately result in fewer visits to the
hospital.
•Reducing readmission – According to Mayo Clinic’s study
involving mobile monitoring application for cardiac patients only
about 20% of the patients who regularly monitored their weight
and blood pressure using apps were readmitted against 60% of
those patients who did not monitor these parameters daily.
©2016 TechAhead
HOW DO MOBILE APPS IMPACT HEALTHCARE COSTS?

7. •Improved adherence to prescription- There is a direct correlation
between increased healthcare cost with non-adherence of
patients to their prescriptions. There are many apps available
which give timely reminders to take medication and timely
messages to the patients from their healthcare providers. This
helps in reducing healthcare costs drastically to the tune of about
50% according to many trusted surveys.
•Better healthcare to senior patients- With increasing age
healthcare costs increase exponentially. Thankfully more and
more senior patients now own smart phones and tablets and are
receptive to using healthcare apps.
©2016 TechAhead
HOW DO MOBILE APPS IMPACT HEALTHCARE COSTS?

8. •Cheaper mobile tests and remote assessment- Mobile ultrasound
scans and cheap smart phone add-ons that serve as EKG
monitors can save a patient upto $600 per visit as compared to
tests done on a full-scale ultrasound machine.
•Children’s apps for better reporting of symptoms- Many apps for
children use a gamified version to engage the patient and educate
and empower them to report and check their symptoms. A
popular app is Pain Squad app for pain management launched by
The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. This app has led to an
astounding increase in the self-reporting of pain symptoms by
children having cancer from 11% to 90%.
©2016 TechAhead
HOW DO MOBILE APPS IMPACT HEALTHCARE COSTS?

9. EASY MOBILE USE CASES FOR COST REDUCTION
Some types of patient apps that a healthcare provider can launch
without much investment are outlined below. These have been
launched by MobileSmith for its users but can be customized and
rebranded to our needs :-
1.General Hospital/Urgent care App- A user-friendly urgent care app
as a must for all organizations. You can include general
instructions, directions, wait time and search times.
2.Outpatient Care App- A good healthcare app for recently-
discharged patients can keep them informed and engaged
throughout their recovery period. These apps can track the
treatment, medication and lab results of the patients; build and
manage their care team; track their daily progress; connect patients
to others in similar condition.
©2016 TechAhead

10. EASY MOBILE USE CASES FOR COST REDUCTION
3.Wellness App- the most populate healthcare apps are the
wellness apps which educate people about healthy lifestyle and
habits; connect with a dietician and give healthy food recipes;
track symptoms and exercise effects; connect with wellness
community members.
©2016 TechAhead

11. 5 STEPS TO LAUNCH A COST-EFFECTIVE MOBILE APP
A good healthcare app will optimize both the users’ need and the
providers’ cost. Steps that should be followed to develop an
inexpensive healthcare app are outlined below:
1.Involve Line- of- Business in mobile use case development -
Your medical and marketing team best understand the needs of
patients. They should be given the required tools to develop a
cost-effective as well as user-friendly keeping in mind the
targeted patients.
2.Review your prototype live and make alterations Your prototype
should be easily navigated and user friendly. It should allow the
developer to make changes to its design without any additional
cost of development.
©2016 TechAhead

12. 5 STEPS TO LAUNCH A COST-EFFECTIVE MOBILE APP
3.Use readymade bullet-proof app libraries to build your own app-
You can use MobileSmith’s mobile app libraries to build your
own app for more speedy development.
4.Manage your app portfolio- use MobileSmith’s content
management system to manage your entire app portfolio without
much effort.
5.Quickly establish a secure data exchange- MobileSmith uses
authentic user identification and direct data streaming between
the backend support and the application, bypassing the
MobileSmith server.
©2016 TechAhead
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