The economy may be stubbornly sluggish, but those who work in mobile and wireless healthcare are bullish about the industry.
According to an informal survey by UK-based event planner Informa Telecoms & Media, with the help of Ireland's 3G Doctor, 75 percent of the more than 1,800 respondents say mobile technologies would be widely accepted and used in healthcare by 2015. In the same time frame, 72 percent believe most health insurers will be paying for m-health and 61 percent say patients will have widely accepted mobile healthcare.
Much of the growth will stem from physicians and nurses, according to the survey, as 62 percent say clinician adoption will be the No. 1 driver. Almost as many--58 percent--are confident that the market in 2015 will include many low-cost devices (under $50), offering many opportunities to bring mobile health technologies to developing countries.
A problem today, as highlighted in a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers study, is that the majority of mobile devices used in healthcare don't really connect to anything other than the Internet. But a slight majority of respondents to this new survey believe connectivity won't be an issue in m-health five years from now.
For additional detail:
- check out this Open Mobile and Wireless blog post