By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    HIPPA compliance
    How Medical Office Staff Can Make Your Practice HIPAA Compliant
    October 29, 2021
    Everything you need to know about hyaluronic acid treatment
    Everything you need to know about hyaluronic acid treatment
    February 10, 2022
    Which Mushroom Capsules Are Good for Your Health?
    May 5, 2022
    Latest News
    Managing Your Health After a Worksite Accident
    December 8, 2023
    Biohazard Cleanup: The Importance of Proper Disposal and Containment
    December 2, 2023
    Medicare Helps Seniors, and People with Disabilities & ESRD
    November 27, 2023
    The Link Between Allergies and Sinusitis & Strategies for Relief
    November 27, 2023
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    How Online Learning Is Essential In The Health Care Industry
    August 1, 2020
    Nancy Stone Chicago Tribune
    4 Things to Understand About Youth, Mental Health and Juvenile Justice in the US
    January 6, 2015
    Big Data Analytics: Finding Healthcare in a New Frontier
    February 5, 2021
    Latest News
    Automation in Pharmacovigilance: A Double-Edged Sword
    November 15, 2023
    What Does Science Say About Modern Health Practices?
    November 12, 2023
    Harnessing the Power of Email Marketing in Healthcare
    October 26, 2023
    10 Proven Strategies to Level Up Your Health Business
    October 25, 2023
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Recommendations for Mobile Health IT Advancement
Share
Sign In
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Have an existing account? Sign In
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > eHealth > Mobile Health > Recommendations for Mobile Health IT Advancement
Mobile Health

Recommendations for Mobile Health IT Advancement

onlinetech
Last updated: 2012/10/11 at 8:26 AM
onlinetech
Share
6 Min Read
mHealth Task Force Report
SHARE
mHealth Task Force Report

mHealth Task Force Report

mHealth Task Force Report

mHealth Task Force Report

In June, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) created a mHealth Task Force from a group of the nation’s leading mobile healthcare IT industry, including government and academic experts, according to a recent press release. This group generated a report with recommendations on mHealth technology use, released on Sept. 24.

The document is written for a federal and regulatory audience more so than the consumer or business-based mobile health IT organization. However, each recommendation will eventually affect the producers and consumers alike of mobile health IT by virtue of federal reform, so it’s important to stay educated and informed in mHealth policy as it evolves.

The first goal that the task force decided on was that the FCC should play a leadership role in advancing mobile health adoption. A few of the main supporting recommendations included:

  • Filling the FCC Healthcare Director open position that would serve as the liaison with other federal agencies, including the HHS (Department of Health and Human Services).
  • Improve outreach activities to connect with healthcare organizations, including ‘non-traditional constituents’ such as nonprofits, research institutions and small companies that may not be familiar with industry regulations. There is emphasis on providing easy-to-find educational materials via the FCC’s website for the average consumer.
  • Which brings us to the recommendation that the FCC should publish a healthcare website – complete with links to other federal healthcare websites, mHealth policies, new projects and more. It should also serve as a clearinghouse for the public and industry. (Check out our health IT and HIPAA resources for articles and tips).

Other recommendations included a push for more collaborative efforts between federal agencies to uniformly regulate and guide the mHealth industry, as well as strive to improve health IT in areas that require it:

  • The Secretary of HHS should post a report of health IT strategy and recommendations, including mobile medical applications, on the websites of the FDA, ONC and FCC agencies.
  • The FCC and FDA should continue ongoing collaboration to address overlapping issues, such as the efficiency of wireless medical device regulation, and seek public engagement in their efforts related to converged medical devices.
  • The FCC and CMS (Center for Medical Services) should exchange and study data on rural healthcare providers that lack broadband connectivity in order to increase outreach to areas that could benefit from programs that could fund mHealth solutions.
  • The FCC should use big data to improve health IT by analyzing existing wireless coverage, census, and health data statistics to help rural, suburban and urban populations.
  • Even the issue of ‘common nomenclature’ is targeted – the task force claims there is no defined and standard glossary of mHealth terms that are used across the many agencies that oversee health IT. Once developed in collaboration with the FCC, a glossary should be published online for public and agency use.
  • Collaboration between the FCC and the ONC should work to provide secure health messaging and communication standards, such as standardizing the adoption of sending authenticated messages and encrypted health information over the Internet.

The task force also calls on the FCC to improve their Rural Health Care Program by providing functionality at the lowest cost. They recommend modernizing the Lifeline program that ensures the availability of broadband service for low-income consumers, a program that helps with healthcare provider-patient care.

Community input is highlighted by the task force as valuable – they recommend the FCC should solicit input from the medical community to figure out how to support the transmission of medical images and video communication. Apparently, healthcare facilities are currently using image disks to import data from thousands of patient-provided image disks on a yearly basis. The call for a national IT infrastructure to support these needs is emphasized.

Hybrid CloudOne solution that may help with the need for storage-intensive applications and medical imaging data is a high-capacity, HIPAA compliant cloud. With a fully managed SAN (Storage Area Network), a high-capacity cloud is scalable to grow to fit data storage needs. To ensure compliance can be maintained in the cloud, data centers and hosting providers should also undergo an audit to meet HIPAA compliance and sign a business associate agreement. Find out which questions to ask your HIPAA hosting provider in our HIPAA Hosting white paper.

In step with integrating third-party devices and software solutions, the task force also calls for secure and trusted application interfaces (API’s) for health information exchange and data services in order to solve cost, risk and ongoing maintenance issues that serve as barriers to health IT investments.

The report is a good first pass at documenting what needs to be done just to start managing the industry, but I expect a more polished and detailed mHealth plan to emerge in the near future.


 

 


 


References:

mHealth Task Force: Findings and Recommendations – Pre-Publication Public Draft (PDF)
mHealth Task Force to Release Findings and Recommendations to Accelerate Accessibility and Adoption of Mobile Healthcare in the United States

TAGGED: mHealth

Sign Up For Daily Newsletter

Be keep up! Get the latest breaking news delivered straight to your inbox.
By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.
onlinetech October 11, 2012 October 11, 2012
Share This Article
Facebook Twitter Copy Link Print
Share
Previous Article Costs of Care Essay Contest 2012: Stories from Patients and their Caregivers Uncover Opportunities to Improve Healthcare Value
Next Article Recommended Vaccines for Seniors

Stay Connected

1.5k Followers Like
4.5k Followers Follow
2.8k Followers Pin
136k Subscribers Subscribe

Latest News

Managing Your Health After a Worksite Accident
Managing Your Health After a Worksite Accident
Health December 8, 2023
How to Plan for a Dental Implant Procedure
How to Plan for a Dental Implant Procedure
Dental health December 8, 2023
weight loss
The Key Steps For Affective Weight Loss And Improving Health
Weight Loss Wellness December 6, 2023
Empowering Wellness: HBOT for Home Use Demystified
Empowering Wellness: HBOT for Home Use Demystified
Wellness December 5, 2023

You Might also Like

healthcare apps and technology
eHealthMobile HealthTechnology

Technologies That Can Help You Keep Track of Your Health

June 18, 2021
healthcare app development
eHealthMobile Health

Why Should a Healthcare Company Create Their Own App?

May 6, 2021
can AI protect healthcare workers
Artificial IntelligenceCovid-19eHealthHealth careMobile HealthTechnology

How Can AI Protect Healthcare Workers From COVID-19 Transmission?

October 27, 2020
advances in telehealth
eHealthMobile Health

Advances In Telehealth In 2020 You’ll Want To Know About

September 28, 2020
Subscribe

Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!

Follow US
© 2008-2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?