Life science companies seeking new ways to bring greater value and services to customers are likely to embrace mobile healthcare applications, reveals a new IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics study. The report notes the companies view mobile apps as a way to bring "new types of value to health systems not only through the quality of scientific innovation but also by understanding current patient treatment pathways to help clarify and support helpful clinical approaches." Mobile applications will play a greater role for life sciences in engaging patients in their own healthcare scenarios, while boosting communication between patients and healthcare providers and allowing life science companies provide helpful data to doctors and payers. Such mobile app gains are already happening, including a new app developed by American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association for determining risk for developing atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. "Currently, apps for physicians and other healthcare providers can offer drug-agnostic disease education and training to help guide decision making, as well as dosing calculators and web-based access to information about specific drugs," states the study. Report