| | November 20198 IN MY OPINIONe are living in interesting times; dis-ruption is finally making its place in healthcare. Though healthcare is not as easily disrupted as the re-tail industry, the change in con-sumer and technology dynamics has put the traditional healthcare in a reactive mode. The shift towards value based care, containing rising costs of curative care, regulatory pressures, emphasis on person-alised and preventive care and entry of major technology players in healthcare is driving rise of business models which are more customer centric and aptly enabled with modern technologies. There is more stress than ever before on models which can speed up time to market, increase patient access, im-prove efficiencies and productivity, decrease burden on the provider and innovate methods for care delivery which is more preventive and can be delivered at home minimizing the need to visit a hospital. This requires tools that can pro-vide access to care anywhere, anytime with wider coverage. As per HIMSS report on healthcare trends forecast 2019, healthcare provid-ers are seeking ways to best integrate emerging technol-ogies, such as arti-ficial intelligence, virtual reality and digital therapeutics, as a way to extend quality care to their patients where they are, when they need it. And, consumers are placing higher demands on their providers to deliver always-on access to care.The increasing need to connect with the consumer combined with rapid advances in mobile technologies and applications is leading to new opportunities for an integrat-ed platform of existing eHealth services delivered through mobile and wireless technologies. The mobile phone networks have penetrated deep in all classes surpassing other infrastructure such as paved roads and electricity, including fixed Internet deployment. The growing sophistication of these networks with higher speed of data transmission alongside affordable and pow-erful handsets are transforming the way health services and information are accessed, delivered, and managed. With increased accessibility comes the opportunity of personal-ization and citizen-focused public health and medical care which was unheard before.The potential of mobile technologies­ mHealth ­ in transforming the face of service deliveries worldwide has been recognized by the WHO (Global Observatory for eHealth series - Volume 3)Mobile health apps are majorly being used for:1. Tracking personal health data - allergies, and medi-cations, fitness tracking, sleep patterns, heart rate, or other vital signs.2. Connect with healthcare provider in real-time ­ rang-ing from phone call to telehealth apps that allow doctors to connect remotely. The data can be shared via EMR or patient/clinician portal, helping second opinions, specialist consults and im-proved care continuity.3. Improving quality of life for doctors and their patients ­ Doctors can connect re-motely without the need to visit, same for the patients especially in rural areas. They WmHEALTH ­ TRANSFORMING THE FACE OF SERVICE DELIVERIESBy Sumit Puri, Chief Information Officer & Director IT, Max Healthcare Institute Ltd
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