Issue link: http://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/751011
FROM REDUCING PATIENT READMISSIONS to improving overall well-being, the potential of healthcare apps is just beginning to be understood. What is far clearer is that patients want easy, mobile access to hea lth information. The Pew Internet Project reports, for example, that 72 percent of people who use the internet have searched online for health information, and over half of smartphone users have used their phones to do so. Moreover, apps appear to be altering care among patients who use them. "Mobile apps for smartphones are changing the way doctors and their patients approach medicine and hea lth issues," Vincent DeRobertis, Senior Vice President of Global Healthcare at data collection company Research Now, said in a news release about a sur vey the compa ny conducted suggest- ing providers and patients value health apps. "Patients are gathering data about their condition or treatment, ultimately improving their health or perhaps reducing visits to a physician. Apps are improving healthcare professionals' knowledge of their patients, while patients feel a lift in their quality of life. Obviously, there is a huge opportunity for the use of these apps." Yet, the Accenture survey of mobile app use suggests that, on the whole, the healthcare industry has failed to leverage this technology e› ectively. Why Patients Rarely Use Hospital Apps MISSED CONNECTION: BY VALERIE LAUER JUST 66 PERCENT OF THE NATION'S L ARGEST HOSPITAL S HAVE MOBILE APPS FOR PATIENTS TO USE, AND OF THOSE THAT FURNISH APP S, ONLY 2 PERCENT OF THEIR PATIENT POPUL ATIONS UTILIZE THEM, ACCORDING TO RECENT RESE ARCH BY CONSULTING FIRM ACCENTURE. THAT'S A COSTLY GAP THAT E XPERTS SAY HOSPITAL S CAN CLOSE. 2 2❱❱❱❱❱ D I G I TA L P E R S P E C T I V E 2 2