News Feature | March 14, 2013

mHealth App Service Market Set To Explode

Source: Health IT Outcomes
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By John Oncea, Editor

Follow John on Twitter: @buck25

Now in commercialization phase, researchers see market reaching $26 billion globally by 2017

Amid stories of mHealth mobile applications improving health care in Eastern Iowa and saving lives in Africa and Asia comes news that the market for mHealth app services is expected to reach $26 billion by 2017. The market reached only $718 million as recently as 2011.

The projection comes from the 3rd Global Mobile Health Market Report 2013-2017 published this month by the research and consulting firm research2guidance. The report concentrates on the mobile applications healthcare market and its objective is to give a comprehensive overview of the market and enable readers to gain a deep understanding of its current status, its driving factors and its future developments.

A release issued by PR Newswire last week quotes Ralf-Gordon Jahns, Head of Research at research2guidance, as saying "Our findings indicate that the long-expected mobile revolution in healthcare is set to happen. Both healthcare providers and consumers are embracing smartphones as a means to improving healthcare."

The report comes at a crucial time in the development of mHealth mobile apps as House lawmakers are conducting a series of hearings to look at how the Food and Drug Administration should regulate medical applications on smartphones and tablets. According to the Washington Post “Lawmakers from the House Energy and Commerce committee will look specifically at how regulation affects patients, physicians and developers looking to capi­tal­ize on the growing field of mobile health and medical apps.”

The Post went on to report that “The hearings follow a letter the committee sent to the FDA earlier this month, in which lawmakers questioned whether the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act could allow the FDA to define smartphones and tablets with health-related apps as “medical devices” — and levy new taxes on developers and smartphone makers under the health-care law.” The hearings are scheduled for March 19th and March 20th according to the Energy & Commerce Committee’s website.