The following is a list of meHealth issues, and an overview of some of the steps necessary to solve them: meHealth
- Convince stake holders of the efficacy of Personal Healthcare Pages and/or (PHP) National Electronic Health Records (EHR)
- Enable all healthcare stakeholders (consumers, healthcare givers, healthcare managers) to use the Web as a platform to share information, deliver care and build communities
- Enable patients to make better lifestyle choices
Collaborative Health
- Convince stake holders that Collaborative Health Care (CHC) is a cheaper, safer, and better system
- Enable single points of contact, self service and self help
- Enable Doctors to make better diagnoses and prescribe better treatments through access to more useful and integrated data
- Enable data aggregation to produce useful data of clinical significance for researchers evaluation, teaching doctors and development of health services
Non Vendor Locked Tools
- Ensure systems are easy and economical for use by all stakeholders
- Enable tools that help patients feel more informed, included and valued
- Enable medical help via Web sites/browsers and smart phone apps
- Enable easily understandable bundles of products and services that can be compared on quality and price, and used by stake holders with a wide range of capability levels
- Enable access to and co-ordination of home based medical equipment / tools and assessments along with data-generating Web-enabled devices
- Enable tools for doctor patient dialogue
- Enable healthcare givers to electronically interact with patients regardless of where they are located
- Enable disparate IT systems and processes to connect and co-ordinate with each other
- Enable secure flexibility within mobile services, using such tools as PDAs and VOIP processes
- Enable healthcare managers to better respond to emergencies and rapidly assess the national impact of particular treatments
Governmental Issues
- Enable and enhance uptake by governmental agencies
- Support government responsibility for public infrastructure and systems
- Enable support for vast consumer and care provider populations in urban, suburban, rural and remote locations
- Enable effective co-ordination and oversight of national E-Health activities
- Enable tools and systems which support informed policy, investment and research decisions
Security and Privacy
- Ensure security of all data transfers
- Ensure privacy for patients
- Enable confidential electronic information to be securely and seamlessly accessed and shared, by the right person at the right place and time, regardless of their location
Standards
- Either create and enable record system standards and benchmarks, or make standards unnecessary by enabling different systems to talk/work with to one another without vendor lock, using a Web 3.0 / Semantic Solution
Data Management
- Incentivise enhancement of IT and information management
- Incentivise investment in infra- and info-structures
- Ensure easy and economical training and support
- Ensure implementation is cost effective
Infrastructure
- Maximize existing information management and technology to improve functionality
- Upgrade old computers and dial-up Internet access or ensure they can work within the new system
- Ensure new systems are designed with potential user consultation
- Support Funding to improve rural ICT infrastructure
- Ensure broadband / ‘chatty’ high-speed connections are not necessary for most clinical consultation (Systems can be broadband based, but must not be broadband bound)
Costs
- Reduce/Eliminate errors, inefficiencies and the wastage of time and effort
- Lower healthcare provisioning costs
- Ensures cost and service level transparency
- Lowers costs on families and communities supporting the elderly
- Cut time needed to review and implement systems and training
- Modernise the management and transmission of data
- Consolidate medical records/services and clinically relevant information
- Remove duplication of healthcare efforts, expenditure and solutions
- Reduce administration time and costs
- Combine insurance systems reducing duplications and high overhead costs
Systems and Processes
- Enable an integrated health care delivery system
- Link emergency and acute hospitals with tertiary care in the community sector
- Enable integrated healthcare delivery systems and the consolidation of medical records/services
- Ensure B2B applications (i.e. reporting, billing and claiming processes) are integrated into general practice software systems
- Enable the secure viewing and following of healthcare processes
Well, there is.
Bottom line: meHealth makes money, and it makes sense.
If you want to talk about the tech, get in touch!
kimmicblog 
This issue is something that intrigues me. As a hospital document management system provider, we’re in the works of building new interoperability functionalities into our web-based document management system. Another new development is integration with mobile, as we jump into the mHealth arena. We understand the needs of our clients and we follow sources that lead the discussion on mHealth and related topics, and all that information is great and all, but we still lack a holistic view of what best practices should be in developing mobile applications and syncing with other applications. Are there any more thorough resources or even events you could point us to?
Thanks,
Daisy
Consumer empowerment through mHealth Technology innovation is the key to reduce cost, greater efficiency and avoidance of adverse events when the PHR is displayed at point of service.