The evolution of mobile medicine in the United States: the softening and hardening of apps

Editor's note: This article from the Pharmaceutical Network Community Clove Garden (dxy.cn) founder Li Tiantian (Sina micro-bo @ Lilac Garden Li Tiantian), according to his foreign participation in a series of pharmaceutical industry meetings, on the mobile medical industry, the status quo and future talk about their own views.

2013 is a noteworthy industry watershed, in the cradle of mobile medicine-the United States, in the health reform policy and the dual drive of modern science and technology, mobile medicine has a significant evolutionary trend, the application of the smartphone app shows "softening" and "hardening" two obvious trends.

"Softening"--alone with an independent App application to conquer the era has passed, Epocrates (the world's first listed mobile medical company, for doctors to provide clinical information on mobile phones, the main product is the drug and clinical treatment database) of the successful listing only for posterity to leave a recall of fragments. Since Epocrates is the medical information Service company that is the main EHR athenahealth acquisition, the income declines, the headquarters to cut a person, in a few short years, a dazzling star has become a past. This is not a epocrates, but the change in the situation is far from a company can grasp.

At the end of 2013, Washington's Health Summit Congress, a full four-day schedule, did not have an independent app introduction or discussion, and the previous conference, all kinds of apps is undoubtedly one of the most dazzling theme. Where are the apps? The answer is--app married his. "Softening" refers to the deep integration of the App and the traditional medical information system.

The American Medical Insurance system is known as the world's most generous and most expensive payment system, the system is based on a high level of medical information. To get a subsidy from the system, it has to prove the effect, either by lowering the cost of health care or by improving the quality of care, or both. In order to get generous financial support from the government, apps are no longer fighting alone, but are committed to marrying various HIS,EHR,EMR systems, trying to get a slice of the parity-care bill (Obamacare).

and the traditional medical information service providers are either the acquisition of app companies (such as athenahealth acquisition epocrates), or their own research and development of the app, as the extension of system services, information collection and data Analysis Services more embedded in the "mobile" elements to enhance their competitive advantage, With a view to getting more government subsidies. So apps are soft and they're completely integrated into the American medical information system, like smoke and fog, to all his systems.

"Hardening"--driven by the US health reform policy, the APP is soft, becoming an accessory to his system. But the latest technology has revitalized the App and hardened it. At the beginning of this year, the 2014 CES conference was held in Las Vegas, the world's largest and most widely affected consumer electronics exhibition, and the world's largest consumer technology industry event. At the conference, it was surprising that nearly half of CES's exhibits were electronic products related to mobile healthcare and mobile health.

All kinds of hand ring, foot ring, arm ring, head ring, watch ... There are even devices implanted in the human body. Then the internet giant, Google, said it was moving into the area of diabetes, preparing to develop contact lenses that could detect blood sugar, and telecoms giant Apple was not outdone by rapidly recruiting senior researchers with a background in the development of health sensors to include modules to detect blood pressure and heart rate in iwatch.

In fact, the hardware itself is not uncommon, nothing more than sensors, but in the absence of App, people on the sensor is no good, nothing more than some boring readings. But with the help of mobile apps, people can easily access, store, manage their own health or disease data, and even join the social elements, and the small partners of each other PK.

Apps are deeply integrated with hardware, as if genius, helping hardware turn from primitive, clumsy sensors into stylish high-end wearable devices for a second. Fitbit is the most-shipped wearable product in the U.S. last year, and young Korean ceo--james Park is more ambitious, and it is a carrot and stick to gather more data to persuade the government to incorporate Fitbit into the health care system.

The core reason behind App change is "data." The app becomes soft, making full use of the app's convenient data display capabilities and his system's deep data analysis capabilities, and the app hardens to take full advantage of the app's convenient data management capabilities and real-time sensors ' capabilities. No matter how hard it is, the data gentleman is the big guy who hides behind all kinds of changes.

Master the data, Medicare only dare to pay, the doctor dares to make a decision, the patient dares to treat, dumpty to dare to eat chocolate.

(Responsible editor: The good of the Legacy)