Manufacturing Subcommittee on Commerce

The Disrupter Series Manufacturing Subcommittee on Commerce

The ubiquity of smartphones and advanced broadband Internet technology have enabled the deployment of health apps. The draw of mobile healthcare tools, services and health apps particularly lies in their potential to radically improve health care. The potential comes in part from enabling both sides of the equation: doctors and patients. For healthcare providers, health apps enable constant, instant, and real-time access to patient data, helping to make streamlining of work flows and decisionmaking processes, so the data is both more complete and more accessible. Doctors are also able to remotely monitor patient healthcare conditions, collaborate, and implement care. Patients are using apps to track symptoms, send vital sign information to doctors, and set up medication adherence reminders. Patients are also using the technology to gain faster access to more routine healthcare services that are often inconvenient or time-consuming. Apps available on the market today create virtual waiting rooms where users can receive their prescriptions, engage in face-to-face video consultations with physicians, compare prices for health care, and make payments to a healthcare provider. By enabling physicians to remotely monitor a patient's health condition or by empowering consumers with information to engage in healthier living, health apps are driving more robust healthcare management and oversight from both patients and doctors.