UC Davis

Mobile health (mHealth) solutions are expanding rapidly and have become a part of the health care landscape. Over a 100,000 mobile apps exist today, and create value in very diverse ways. This chapter proposes a framework for classifying mHealth solutions on three dimensions, type of technology (form factor), level of institutional integration, and function. It examines the underlying process by which different types of mHealth applications create value, and maps the classification dimensions to potential ways in which these solutions can impact patient health, costs, and other metrics. The optimal choice and design of mHealth technology will depend on patient population characteristics or the settings in which these technologies are deployed. We apply this classification by reviewing a small number of mHealth applications which have been described in the literature. In many cases, the potential impact of such technologies may not be easy to identify, to measure, or to attribute it to the technology. Moreover, while many solutions aim to make patients better informed, this may not necessarily lead to better patient health, because there is evidence in other domains that, when given more information and control, non-experts develop over-confidence, make poorer decisions, and achieve worse outcomes.