I love the headline of a commentary posted today on the mHimss website by Robert McCray, president and CEO of the Wireless-Life Sciences Alliance: "Are we about to make the same mistake again?"
As the third annual mHealth Summit kicks off in Washington, D.C., it's a good question to ask. The mHealth industry has, no doubt, grown up a lot since the first summit was held three years ago. And provider and payer organizations are doing some amazing things in the mHealth space.
But there is so much more to do.
In his commentary, McCray talks about rising rates of obesity and chronic disease--but adds that mobile technology alone won't solve those problems.
"Too many of us have a mindset that technology will save us from the consequences of our own behavior. This assumption threatens our lives, our pocketbooks and our social contract," he adds.
"mHealth offers the promise of saving this situation, but we cannot leave it to the medical establishment to lead this change. We, as citizens and consumers, not as patients, must step up individually and via the institutions that we control to take charge of our own health and to set the expectations for the institutions that deliver healthcare and health supportive services."
Be sure to watch our websites, FierceHealthIT.com and FierceMobilehealthcare.com, for ongoing coverage of the mHealth Summit--including interviews from the show and coverage of breaking news and announcements.
By the way, there's still time to register for our mHealth breakfast event, "Using Remote Patient Monitoring to Reduce Readmissions." - Gienna (@Gienna)