What equals success in mHealth?
As the movement kicks into gear in health systems across the country, C-suite executives are finding different meanings. Some measure their return on investment in clinical outcomes, while others take a financial tack. Both may be right – or they might be wrong, if you're looking for one thing when you should be looking for something else.
Members of the HIMSS mHealth Committee and senior executives of Amerinet, a group purchasing organization representing more than 50,000 healthcare clients, will take a hard look at this topic in a special '"Live Open Mic" session Tuesday afternoon at the mHealth Summit.
Roz Ben-Chitrit, managing director of the connected health practice of the Sanford Rose Associates executive recruiting network and the session's moderator, says health system executives are facing unique pressures as the nation's healthcare landscape undergoes an extreme make-over. They known they have to change the way they're doing business, and they know mHealth could help them affect these changes. But no two systems are the same, and each needs a different strategy.
"Every single hospital, really, is different," she told mHealth News. "No one is going to measure success the same way, and so there's a lot of confusion in how you measure ROI. Is there a monetary ROI at first, or should there be a clinical one first or (one that focuses) on morale."
Ben-Chitrit said the HIMSS mHealth Committee and Amerinet Executives will set the stage with examples of mHealth strategies that have worked, and the Open Mic will then serve as a discussion on how these plans can be modified (there could also be some talk of projects that have failed, she adds, with discussion on why and how to avoid the same pitfalls). The plan is to bring C-suite executives together and get them talking.
Ben Chitrit said the hour-long session will focus on four key questions:
- What key criteria should senior executives consider when investing in mobile and wireless technologies, and what is seen as a successful outcome?
- Are there best practices for a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) program or providing devices to providers?
- With more than 1 million mHealth applications available, what are the decision points for integrating them into care or undergoing in-house development?
- How can mHealth facilitate a shared care plan for patients or provide population health outreach and management?
'My goal is to give (hospital executives) some sense of where mHealth should fit into their organizations," said Ben-Chitrit.
The Open Mic takes place from 1:30-2:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 9, in Maryland 3 at the Gaylord National resort and Convention Center.
