News Feature | October 7, 2014

Is mHealth The Key To Helping Homeless Vets?

Katie Wike

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

Telehealth And Mobile For Homeless Veterans

Homeless veterans can benefit from mobile health tools, according to a recent study in Telemedicine and e-Health.

Homeless veterans often suffer from chronic and mental illnesses, and according to a recent study from Telemedicine and e-Health, are more than twice as likely to be hospitalized as non-veteran homeless citizens. Amazingly, the report reveals there were more than an estimated 62,000 homeless veterans in the U.S. in a single night in 2012.

Taking care of those who have served in our country’s military is a priority, especially when this group of veterans is considered high risk for health problems. According to the study, mobile health tools had the potential to improve the care and treatment of the 106 homeless veterans they surveyed in Massachusetts.

iHealth Beat reports many already had access to the technology they needed to participate in mHealth:

  • 89 percent of respondents had a mobile phone, one-third of which were smartphones
  • 81 percent had an email address
  • 76 percent said they use the Internet
  • 71 percent said they use text messaging

In addition to having the technology, most were interested in using it for their health:

  • 93 percent expressed an interest in receiving reminders by text or phone call for upcoming medical appointments
  • 88 percent said they would like to receive texts or phone calls about scheduling needed appointments if they had not been to a provider in more than a year

"The VA and community-based homeless veteran service providers should consider using mobile technologies for reinitiating contact with hard-to-reach veterans, scheduling new appointments, reminding patients of upcoming appointments, communicating laboratory test results, and discussing progress toward achieving health-related goals," said the study's authors, according to Fierce Mobile Healthcare.

The study concluded, “Our findings suggest that at least among some populations of homeless veterans there is relatively broad access to, and widespread use of, ITs and willingness to use them for health information and communication with health providers.”