The mHI Executive Director Peter Waegemann unveiled more details today about the mHI's proposed mHealth project, which initially aimed to make Boston the first mHealth city. Waegemann explained that the project is not about mHealth specifically, but rather about increasing communications between patients and providers in general. The proposed project is to enable consumers in Boston or Seattle or Nashua, TN or others (or multiple cities) to:
Have their personal health record (PHR) on their mobile phone
Have a health record that includes all care givers, including the school nurse, the chiropractor and the clinician
Be able to manage chronic conditions with applications based on their mobile phone
Optionally, Waegemann said these cities or regions may want to include their emergency medical services and create and appointment management system for patients who need to see a doctor right away and create some transparency around which doctor is in your network and able to see you today. We need to get to the point where we can book a doctor appointment as easily as a seat on an airline's flight, Waegemann said. Along with that we would need a record locator service so that ambulance responders can get patients' information right away, too. Another optional angle for these cities is public health surveillance and notification, Waegemann said.
"It doesn't have to be Boston, though," Waegemann said. "It could be Boston or it may not--it might be Boston first and others later."
"There has to be some willingness for a region or city to be a part of this--it might be painful for some doctors to deal with the chiropractor. Need to have some willingness to be open to participatory care," Waegemann said. "The other thing is there has to be some funding. Some of it may come from federal funds, but it might have to come from the state or city funds, too. I would like to see $1 million for the first city to... put out a big PR and advertising campaign on TV, newspapers, radio in order to overcome people's reluctance over doing this."
