Where Has Mobile Health Moved To? — Reflections from the 2015 U.S. Mobile Health Conference (Part I)

Intended to focus on reporting participation in2015 U.S. Mobile Health Annual ConferenceReflections: After seeing the WeChat repost of “Hospital Directors Speak from the Heart,” in which Dr. Duan Tao, Dr. Wang Shan, and Chunyu’s founder Zhang Rui each articulated their definitions of “mobile health,” I attempted to compare the concepts and practices of mobile health as viewed by Chinese and American experts. To sum up in one sentence: There is a world of difference between Chinese and American experts in their understanding and practice of mobile health; their focuses are diametrically opposed!

For several years, I have closely monitored the dynamics and cutting-edge developments in the mobile health sector by participating in professional events such as the “Mobile Health Annual Conference or Forum.” The aim is to seek answers to the following questions:

1 Where Is Mobile Health “Moving” To? What Does It Focus On?

2 What breakthroughs have been made in mobile health approaches or technologies? Beyond wearable devices and remote monitoring, what other novel innovations are emerging?

3 “Mobile health” is a highly serious matter. So, what are the attitudes of government regulatory agencies and the perspectives of health insurance institutions toward it?

4 What are the needs of patients or the expectations of healthy individuals? What benefits do mobile healthcare service models, technologies, and products bring to them? It is these needs and expectations that serve as the “anchor” driving the development of the mobile healthcare industry.

With these questions in mind, I have attended conferences and exchanges year after year, gaining new knowledge each time and encountering fresh ideas everywhere.

What are the core elements and key focus of "mobile health"?
This year’s opening keynote session of the Annual Conference on Mobile Health featured three speakers: the Chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the President of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), and the President of the American Nurses Association (ANA). They presented clear perspectives on mobile health and further elaborated on their respective core priorities and key focus areas within the field.

The FCC emphasizes that the development of wireless communication technology has always been a testament to the advancement of social productivity, and today it remains the technological foundation and essential support for realizing mobile healthcare services.

AARP believes that the elderly population represents the most practical application scenario for mobile health.The United States has now entered an aging society, with more than 10,000 people joining the population aged 50 and above each day. Over the next 5–10 years, more than 50% of this elderly population will either be patients with various chronic diseases or healthy individuals requiring health maintenance. Today’s older adults are no longer unfamiliar with or averse to mobile communication technologies and smart tools; they fully embrace effective mobile telemedicine services and health management models. To date, approximately 68% of elderly Americans have reduced their hospital stays through mobile and telemedicine services, a statistic that alone powerfully illustrates the core driving forces and key application areas for the development of mobile and telemedicine service models.

ANA's perspective is:There are currently 3.4 million nurse practitioners in the United States, who play an indispensable role in mobile and telehealth sectors, just as they do in traditional healthcare delivery systems. In particular, nurse practitioners and health managers proficient in telecommunications technologies and intelligent tools constitute one of the primary forces driving the expansion of mobile healthcare.ANA focuses its mobile healthcare services on the elderly, healthy individuals, and areas such as patient rehabilitation and home care. Based on their experience, mobile and telemedicine services have improved communication efficiency between doctors and patients, thereby enhancing disease diagnosis and treatment outcomes. Meanwhile, 88% of practicing nurses already own smartphones or portable remote communication devices, which provides an objective foundation for advancing the reform of existing healthcare service models by introducing mobile and telemedicine solutions.



The three keynote speakers above, drawing from their expertise in healthcare service models and holistic health management, all elucidated how mobile health will inevitably drive transformation in today’s medical insurance systems and service delivery models. With both macro-level perspectives and concrete evidence-based insights, they are pragmatically leading the advancement of mobile health in the United States.

In contrast to the representative views of Chinese experts on mobile health (setting aside, for now, the perspectives of government decision-making bodies—important as they are, yet often fraught with helplessness), hospital presidents believe that mobile health should be closely linked to hospitals’ core interests, namely, medical quality. The center of medical practice is quality and safety. Therefore, the fundamental principle of mobile health is medical quality (this essentially reflects a lack of clarity regarding the basic concepts of “medical care” and “mobile health.” Ensuring medical quality is the foundation of all medical activities, but what constitutes mobile medical services?).

Furthermore,Hospitals have varying focuses on mobile healthcare service models and lack a core driving force.It is currently believed that the mobile healthcare service model fails to increase revenue (with no clear government fee standards for reference) and cannot address practical issues such as hospital scale expansion and scientific research (these viewpoints appear to be entirely irrelevant to “mobile healthcare”).

In terms of healthcare service models, the differences in professional medical concepts between China and the United States are becoming increasingly apparent:Chinese hospital decision-makers and physicians still believe that healthcare services are hospital- and physician-centric, with physicians serving as the core arbiters of medical care.. Therefore, both online and offline mobile healthcare models should remain doctor- and hospital-centric.This appears to place the primary recipients of healthcare services—patients—in a passive role, contrary to the well-established consensus within the U.S. and international medical communities, which embraces new paradigms and concepts centered on patient engagement in their own disease diagnosis, treatment, and health management.。

Returning to the keynote address at the opening ceremony of this year’s mHealth conference, four corporate representatives were also invited to speak. They included the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Qualcomm Life, a project under Qualcomm Incorporated; the Medical Director of Mayo Clinic; the Vice President (VP) of Pfizer’s Global Health initiative; and the Chief Nursing Officer of IBM’s Global Healthcare and Life Sciences division.

They further elucidated the significant implications of mobile and telemedicine, as well as population health management, drawing from their respective successful business models and comprehensive health service concepts. While generating profits, they are transforming the healthcare delivery system.

Qualcomm’s Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) initiative is making healthcare services more intelligent. By integrating healthcare workflows into chips and smart hardware, the company has developed intelligent wearable devices and medical monitoring instruments. This approach extends IoMT applications to personalized disease diagnosis, precision treatment, and the integration of health information. Within the IoMT project alone, big data on health information already covers data from 1,930 hospitals across 38 countries worldwide.

IBM’s Global Healthcare and Health Management Initiative has further elevated the mobile model to address the substantive issue of fragmented healthcare services. Their perspective is that healthcare delivery and health management should ensure that everyone, anywhere, can access optimal services.Mobile healthcare is the most cost-effective service model. Therefore, IBM is committed to equipping healthcare professionals with mobile and intelligent tools, with the ultimate goal of making technology invisible while emphasizing the convenience and comfort of its application.



The Renowned Mayo Clinic Business Model: As we strive to transform the existing healthcare delivery system, we are rethinking how to care for the currently healthy population. To this end, the Mayo Clinic has invested in and funded 270 innovative projects and conducted more than 600 trials, exploring new models of patient engagement—accumulating over 10,000 hours of mobile telemedicine and health management testing.Our conclusion is: "Focus on everyone, not just patients; focus on health, not disease diagnosis and treatment."As William Mayo, founder of the Mayo Clinic, once said, “The best medical care is that which makes doctors as unnecessary as possible.”



In contrast,Hospital administrators, internet experts, and corporate elites in China are focused on pure “business models” and operations.Hospital presidents believe that “apart from burning cash, everything else about mobile health is incomprehensible.” The business models of “Internet + healthcare” services often revolve around online platforms with hundreds of thousands of registered physicians, leveraging these networks to cultivate so-called “light online consultations” or to develop wearable devices and tools required for chronic disease management.Most puzzling is the generalized concept and application of healthcare informatization, which assumes that with patient data and registered physician resources in place, “Internet + Mobile Healthcare” will naturally fall into place.This “seeing the trees but missing the forest” level of understanding of Mobile Internet + Healthcare will inevitably hinder the true takeoff and development of China’s mobile and telemedicine industry.

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