The Symptoms of Texting: the growing reach of mHealth | An infrographic by Gold Mobile
The partnership between healthcare and mobile technology has the ability to reshape the health industry, particularly in terms of outpatient care. In fact 40% of doctors believe that mHealth can reduce the number of visits to the physicians’ office, which reached 1 billion in 2011.[i] Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) health systems and providers have financial incentives to reduce readmission costs. Having the adaptability to connect with patients that is both simple and compelling drives results, addresses outpatient concerns, and can increase patient adherence to regimens. The data highlighted in the following infographic examines the pervasiveness of text messaging and its ability to reach a vast majority of patients. With 97% of cell phone users opening and reading a text message and then 84% responding within 15 minutes[ii] it should come as no surprise that some healthcare organizations have shown incredible results using texting as an engagement medium. When communicating patient health information (PHI) there are of course HIPAA-compliance concerns. The statistics in this infographic also stress the importance of avoiding the unnecessary costs unsecured messaging could incur for an organization. When PHI is involved secure messaging, specifically HIPAA-compliant text messaging, is recommended to drive patient outreach and adherence.
