The mHealth Digital Divide
At the mHealth Summit, Steve Case offered an interesting insight about mHealth doing amazing things with mobile, but hospitals still being worried about updating Windows XP.”
This is one of my key takeaways at the mHealth Summit. There’s a large digital divide between what’s happening in the mobile health world and the reality of most healthcare organizations (Doctors and Hospitals). It would be great if those organizations would partner with these companies trying to innovate in the mobile health space, but unfortunately most are too busy focusing on all the government regulations (ie. ICD-10, meaningful use and ACOs).
What I don’t see is a bridge being built to bridge this divide. Maybe the fact that HIMSS now owns the mHealth Summit event will help. Hopefully the HIMSS audience will finally embrace what’s happening and join in on the conversation. Although, I’m betting that will happen a lot slower than we’d all like.
Anyone who’s tried to sell into healthcare (particularly hospitals) knows what a challenge that can be. Many of the companies developing these mobile health apps don’t come from healthcare. I love the outside influence and knowledge coming into healthcare, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be able to sell into healthcare. Like most enterprises, the sales process can be brutal.
