mHealth seen as solution to medical malpractice epidemic

One can add reduced medical malpractice cases to the list of potential benefits to society from widespread mHealth adoption, so says Zachary Landman, MD, chief medical officer for Doctorbase, a developer of mobile health solutions, patient portals and patient engagement software. Landman believes that mHealth can reduce the "suffocating" costs of malpractice that plague our healthcare and legal systems. He argues that "whereas email and 'EHR messaging' feels and acts impersonal, takes considerable time and forces physicians to be stationary (more difficult than it sounds), mobile messaging is in real-time and emulates a conversation." In addition, "mobile messages tend to be sent quicker and are less proofread, less polished and more personal," according to Landman. As a result, he makes the case that mHealth can create an environment in which "true dialogue can occur, allowing physicians and, potentially, patients to connect" and "with improved dialogue, physicians will be less critical to patients and those patients who do feel slighted will have an easier time expressing their concerns directly to the physician, allowing for heartfelt apologies and explanations, all leading to empowered patients, fewer claims and lower malpractice rates." Article