News Feature | March 6, 2015

‘You Need To Worry About Smartphones'

Katie Wike

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

Apple And Samsung Leading Smartphone Health Integration

Manhattan Research’s Monique Levy told providers at the ePharma Summit in New York City not to worry about wearables - smartphones are what your patients want.

Not too long ago, Manhattan Research reported 1 in 3 doctors recommended mHealth apps. Forty percent of those doctors agreed that “using digital technology to communicate with patients will improve patient outcomes” and said they themselves had increased use of digital tools to communicate with patients.

Now, according to MobiHealth News, Manhattan Research’s VP of Research, Monique Levy told providers at the recent ePharma Summit in New York City that smartphones are the best way to communicate digitally with patients - despite the fad of wearables.

“Everyone wants to know what’s happening with wearables,” she said. “I wouldn’t worry about it. Unless you’re working in the innovation team and you’re thinking five years ahead, I wouldn’t stay up all night worrying about wearables. You need to worry about smartphones and what you’re doing to be mobile optimized.

“We’ve shown again and again that patients are not only digitally engaged for health, but they are so throughout the patient journey and mobile is really driving that. We used to have the sense that people would go online when they had symptoms, and then go to the doctor and then through the traditional medical funnel. With mobile they’re online at multiple decision points in the journey.”

According to Levy, most patients use their phones to look up information, rather than communicate directly with their doctors. “They’re not tracking their blood pressure or video conferencing their doctor; we’re not at that point yet. They’re using it to look up lots of different things: Where is my doctor, what do I need to talk about, how do I prepare for the conversation? What is this drug, what are my choices? Why should I take an oral versus an injectable?”

Three in four patients want digital health, according to a survey by McKinsey Health. Of those who didn’t want to use digital health tools, it was often the poor quality of the existing services that didn’t meet their needs which made them slow to adopt.