Future healthcare delivery will need to incorporate mHealth solutions due to changing demographic and economic factors. As populations age and healthcare costs rise, a shift towards preventative care and individual responsibility over one's health is needed. Mobile technologies can help enable this shift by providing remote patient monitoring, data collection for advanced diagnosis, and on-demand access to health information and services. Widespread adoption of mHealth still faces challenges around regulatory approval and data security that will require cooperation across the healthcare industry.

1. Future Healthcare Delivery Will Need
mHealth Solutions
Delivery of Healthcare in the medium term will be characterised by substantial changes, ranging from
the essential to real paradigm shifts. Driven by financial needs and supported by technological
innovations and accompanied by socio-demographic factors the landscape of Healthcare will never
be the same again. One of the most prominent masterminds in this area, the pioneering geneticist
and cardiologist Eric Topol is calling it “The Creative Destruction of Medicine”.
WHY?
Shifts in the demographic structure and material prosperity in the Western World changed the life
from cradle to grave and with it the need to change the philosophy in the delivery of Healthcare. We
will witness a reorganisation of social systems and the self-understanding of governments and
nations. Driven by financial needs nations be forced to change definitions and values and Healthcare
is one central area where no stone will remain unturned in finding more efficient and up-to –date
solutions to provide a better allocation of scarce resources and develop cost saving potentials. The
development of innovative mHealth solutions is crucial and many organisations are turning their
attention to this sector.
WHAT?
Health and healthcare will cease to be a concern for the State. The risk of getting a disease is
determined to some extent by an individual’s life style. It will cease to be a Public responsibility to
take care of an individual’s health. It will remain to be responsibility of Government to provide
resources in hospitals and other such institutions but taking care of our own health could and should
be rewarded and the opposite will lead to healthcare being provided on the basis of a basic service.
Choosing a healthy lifestyle requires support and instant access to information and services by
technology can be provided by our companion – our mobiles hence the development of mHealth.
Mobiles are more and more important in our daily life and are now accepted, for example, when
making payments, access control and electronic ticketing. The use of mobile phones to deliver
elements of Healthcare is not only logical but also inevitable. Data collection will create substantial
volumes of information, available for analysis, generating insights into human health previously not
available. With the revolutionary findings of the Nobel Prize winning Luc Montagnier diseases can be
detected by the information - captured through the ambient electromagnetic background of very low
frequency waves, characterizing pathogenic cells and bacteria.
HOW?
Mobile devices and internet based solutions will provide access to functions such as:
 Individual data capture
 Remote monitoring by a health specialist
 Storage and bundling of data to enable comprehensive analysis and profound diagnosis
 Reminder services
 Video tutorials
 Training support
 Behaviour change

2.  Medication support and automatic ordering services
 Emergency services
 Nutrition diary and shopping guidance
 Electronic package inserts
 Full and instant access to individual medical records on a secure basis
WHERE?
The Western World sees the need to change its approach on the delivery of Healthcare and they will
be followed quickly by the BRICS states. The Third World will need to develop an approach to catch
up with and fully utilise innovative technology driven applications to provide real and sustainable
improvements in healthcare. The good news is that mobile communication is available on a global
basis and becoming more sophisticated and less expensive. This provides another reason why
mHealth is inevitable.
This paradigm shift in medical care will shift main focus in new directions:
 From costly treatments like surgery and therapies to prevention and pre-screening
 From social duty to individual responsibility
 From a passive concern to an active obligation
 From hospitals and doctors practices to anywhere individuals need advice and help
 From stationary to mobile
 From drugs to information
 From treatments based on generalised information to individualised treatments
ACCEPTANCE?
In order for the mHealth opportunity to develop and be useful in the Healthcare environment the
Regulatory Bodies will need to ensure that approval is given for medical purposes quickly and with
the minimum of fuss. As mHealth products are generally non-invasive the critical issue will be the
accuracy of the data captured for analysis and the security of such data when stored and
transmitted. If mHealth is to have the impact being suggested then all bodies in the Healthcare arena
will need to work together. This may be the biggest challenge to success!
Dr. Dr. Gerhard Lingg MSc