Smartphone growth heralding mHealth growth?

Donna Cusano

Smartphone acquisition by consumers has leapt from 15% in October 2006 to 42% in December 2009, according to ChangeWave Research–and 66% of doctors owned a smartphone, despite only 6% having functioning EMR systems.  A report from the California Health Care Foundation lauds smartphone mobility, intuitive operation and handheld computing power as opening doors to a ‘small is beautiful’ phase of healthcare information technology and delivery’. FierceMobileHealthcare article. CHCF report: How Smartphones Are Changing Health Care for Consumers and Providers. Also linked on Neil Versel’s weekly eletter is an article from Technology for Doctors Online about smartphone adoption in Canada and physician preference between touchscreen and keypad, plus phones like the Blackberry, the (rapidly expiring) Palm, iPhone and the up-and-coming multiplicity of Android models.