With more smartphones in use, it’s hardly surprising that people are turning to mobile applications for actionable health-related information. Seventy eight percent of Americans expressed an interest in mobile health solutions, including interaction with physicians via mobile and wireless monitoring for a variety of medical conditions. And the WebMD mobile app for the iPhone had 1.6 million downloads in its first three months.
This begins to demonstrate that health industry resource providers – along with health IT companies and healthcare providers – have a unique and urgent opportunity to capture the attention of their customers. This opportunity, and the best practices for fully leveraging that opportunity, is detailed in a new report, Mobile Health 2010. Developed by Mary Cronin, PhD and provided as a resource by Renu Mobile, the report is a must-have for those interested in implementing effective mobile health strategies that meet consumer needs and improve patient outcomes.
Highlights of the resource include:
Best Practices: Smartphone Health Apps
* Clarify the intended use and target user of the application to provide integration with relevant mobile heath resources and options to extend the value of the app.
* Design apps with a keen eye toward user safety and health care data security.
* Example: Healthagen’s iTriage App allows access to prescription information and a history of previous care for keeping track of multiple prescriptions and care providers for their family members.
Best Practices: Mobile Web Design
* Make it easy for mobile web users with smaller screens to navigate for site information and services by limiting large graphics and animations.
* Provide a prominent search box and provide search results in a quick review with clear descriptions of each link.
* Example: The Mayo Clinic is targeting all mobile consumers by developing mobile browser compatible web sites that highlight most-used resources.
