Three Barriers to Mobile Use in Health Care

The following is a guest article by Khalid Al-Maskari, CEO and Founder of Health Information Management Systems (HiMS).

While mobile technologies and smartphone use have become completely mainstream, adoption in health care falls dramatically short. According to Pew Research, 97% of Americans own a cell phone of some kind. But despite health care advancements, cutting-edge treatments, and digital transformation efforts that have helped significantly push the industry forward in mobile adoption in the last two years, issues still persist.

Multiple barriers continue to make the transition difficult, especially in the behavioral health care industry where adoption of technology tends to lag even more. In particular, three barriers are creating challenges that, if overcome, can ultimately lead to better patient care and communication.

1. Compatibility with EHR Systems

Software in the health care industry is notoriously clunky and outdated. Systems often don’t work together, creating undue administrative burden on staff. A mobile app extension of an Electronic Health Record (EHR) has only recently become important. Mobile offers a great deal of flexibility and functionality, but if it doesn’t seamlessly connect with your EHR, it’s essentially worthless.

When the idea of using mobile in health care was first introduced, it only added to this burden as it wasn’t actually connected to the EHR and just created another data entry portal that had to be translated. Early adopters of the technology typically used an API to connect a mobile device with the EHR, but this caused more potential IT and data privacy issues.

Health care in general is slow to adopt new technologies, and lack of connecting to an EHR became an easy out, and an understandable one at that. This was a very real burden to mobile adoption, but it need not be anymore. Today, several EHRs have an accompanying mobile app, and mobile app providers can link seamlessly to any EHR – allowing data to be accessed and updated on the go.

2. Lack of Incentives

Major change and adoption of new technologies happens because of incentives. Prior to the pandemic, while patients used mobile in their everyday lives, it didn’t matter that they didn’t have mobile offerings from their health care providers because the majority of interactions were in person. As the pandemic accelerated digital transformation in the industry, completely altering the mindset around telehealth, engagement and patient experience, mobile started to become part of the conversation. In order for providers to reach their patients during lockdowns, they needed mobile, and adoption started to take off.

The incentive also started coming from rural communities who needed the ability to connect with care providers without going to a physical location. The ability to interface with clinicians, sign forms electronically, and have physicians come to rural communities and interact with patients with just a tablet, showcased the power of mobile to serve these communities.

3. An Old School Mindset

While the technology issues that held mobile back have been largely removed and the patient response has been extremely positive, there is still an old school mindset that keeps mobile adoption from proliferating throughout the industry. Many physicians have never utilized mobile in their work and feel it is unnecessary, a burden and not compatible to their work. There is also hesitation to utilize what feels like a personal device for business use. Especially in behavioral health, clinicians are hesitant to offer patients seemingly 24/7 access to themselves.

While this type of thinking is understandable, well-designed mobile apps naturally give structure to availability and access. The only thing that will overcome the mindset burden is time and the continued, measurable success of mobile applications for health care.

Mobile use in health care is not going away, it will only grow and become more pervasive, more expected and more critical to patient care. Thoughtful adoption will reap benefits for everyone –physicians, patients and administrative staff.