Providers 'Grappling' With Mobile Plans

'They're trying to get a handle on chronic disease management'

Everybody uses mobile devices, but no one is still quite sure how to make the most of them. That, to varying degrees of more-or-lessness, is the upshot of the most recent HIMSS Analytics Mobile Technology Survey, which for the past three years has taken the pulse of an industry still coming to terms with the benefits and risks of mobile technology.

As providers try to get a handle on how best to put wireless technologies to work, HIMSS polled them in 2013 on six areas of focus: new care models; technology; ROI and payment; legal and policy implications; standards and interoperability; and privacy and security.

Broadly speaking, they represent "the six areas to consider as you roll out an mHealth implementation strategy," says David A. Collins, senior director, mHIMSS. The results of the survey show just what a multifaceted thing the still-new phenomenon of mobile technology in healthcare represents. Some organizations clearly have a handle on what they want from it and how they plan to get there. Others are still finding their way...