What Is the difference between a health app and an mhealth solution?

What Is the difference between a health app and an mhealth solution?

Jun 3, 2020

Over the past few years, mHealth solutions have begun to solve some of the problems that are ailing healthcare. MHealth is paving the way for better data management, doctor-patient communication, reduced hospital admissions, medication adherence, and remote patient monitoring. 

MHealth solutions are improving outcomes in measurable, repeatable ways by connecting patients with their doctors.

In 2017 mHealth captured $23 billion in revenues, with an estimated growth rate of 35% annually over the next several years.

What is the difference between a health app and an mHealth solution?

Health apps are application programmes that offer health-related services for smartphones, tablets, PCs, and other communication devices.

The most popular categories of health/wellness apps are: 

  • Sports and fitness activity tracking
  • Diet and nutrition
  • Weight loss coaching
  • Medication tracking
  • Sleep cycle
  • Stress and relaxation
  • Meditation
  • Menstrual period tracking
  • Pregnancy
  • Hospital selection and appointment tracking

Health apps can provide valuable information to users. However, it may be hard to determine the accuracy of the information provided and may not be easy to share this data with the user’s doctor.

MHealth or mobile health refers to the practice of medicine and public health supported by mobile devices such as mobile phones, tablets, personal digital assistants and wireless infrastructure. It encompasses all applications of telecommunications and multimedia technologies for the delivery of healthcare and health information.

Why is mHealth used?

  • Provides education and awareness
  • Assists with diagnostic and treatment support
  • Enables remote data collection
  • Facilitates remote monitoring
  • Enables telemedicine
  • Supports chronic disease management
  • Support medication compliance

Numerous mHealth initiatives across the world have demonstrated the efficacy of using mobile devices to deliver better care in a cost-effective manner.

Many mHealth solutions offer different types of information sharing, such as data collection through patient self-assessments, electronic questionnaires, and sensor data. They can also offer emergency action plans and an encrypted messaging system that allows direct communication with the clinic.

Besides, many mHealth solutions are considered certified medical devices that have a proven record of helping healthcare professionals in the monitoring and treatment of their patients.

Both, health apps and mHealth solutions can both be used on-the-go. However, the main difference is that health apps are for consumers-only and mHealth solutions improve the collaboration between patients and healthcare professionals.

References:

mHealth (Mobile Healthcare) Ecosystem Market: 2017-2030 – $23 Billion Opportunities, Challenges, Strategies & Forecasts.

Health apps definition.

What is mHealth?

 

BOOK A DEMO
Big Data in treating mental disorders

Big Data in treating mental disorders

May 27, 2020

Big data in treating mental disorders explains how data is transforming the treatment of mental disorders and the overall life science industry. Monsenso’s mHealth solution shows how technology provides new ways to inform treatment and achieve scalability. This is a blog post written by Mads Frost PhD, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Monsenso. 

The challenge with mental health today

According to numerous analyses and forecasts conducted by several international organizations and authorities, mental health today is one of the biggest challenges for society and health budgets. In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) has predicted that mental disorders will be the greatest health burden for society in the coming years. This emphasizes the need for solutions to remedy this. Presently, technology is the best bet.

An example of the utilisation of technology to help overcome the burden of mental health for society is Monsenso. Monsenso is an innovation leader in mHealth solutions for the treatment of mental disorders. Monsenso helps support the treatment of mental disorders by inspiring and strengthening cooperation between patients and therapists.

Based on continuous research with leading experts in psychiatry, pervasive healthcare and data science, Monsenso has designed an innovative solution that fits into each patient’s life and helps them to better manage their disease as well as increasing the quality and effectiveness of treatment. It has been developed in a user-centred design approach, with patients, clinicians and relatives, to ensure that the solution is easy to apply and fits into the patient’s life and treatment.

The mental x-ray

Through daily self-assessment, clinical questionnaires, and collection of behavioural data from both sensors in modern Smartphone, wearables, and even voice analyses of patients’ voices, Monsenso provides the patient and the therapist with a detailed insight into the user’s mental health state. Through the application of advanced data analysis, indicators such as behavioural patterns, contexts and even forecasting future conditions and risk levels can be demonstrated – all with the purpose of gaining better insight into the patient’s mental health and providing an improved basis for treatment.

Generally, many organizations are fighting to realize mHealth’s full potential. According to a study where clinicians have been asked: “What is your most pressing information technology problem”, the answer that received the highest percentage of responses was, “turning data into action.” [1]

Psychiatry has previously used paper schemes to collect information from patients. However, but current technology provides access to a wide range of information that has not previously been available. This technology can be called the mental x-ray, in that using this technology can be used to see and monitor mental functioning with x-ray like precision and detail. This allows for early interventions and to help patients when they are in need. An example of this at work is the Monsenso based research into using voice analysis as an objective state marker for bipolar disorder . [2]

Paradigm shift in treatment: How do we achieve scalability?

To achieve the benefits of technology, it is necessary to adapt the clinical workflows. Psychiatry has a very traditional form of treatment where the patient meets the therapist and receives face-to-face treatment. The future brings more patients and fewer therapists – how do we scale this?

One possible solution is to optimising treatment is to use monitoring systems. These systems can rapidly identify which patients are in need of help, and which ones are well. In this way, clinicians’ time can be focused on patients who are in need.  Likewise, the systems can be more treatment-supporting, taking over the trivial and automatable tasks of the clinician, allowing them to spend their time on those with the greatest needs – the complex cases that technology cannot help. The last perspective – a paradigm shift in treatment – is to go from a reactive to a proactive approach. The proactive approach comes from gathering more detailed information, to lead to more informed decisions and earlier interventions. More information can help immediately notify both patients and clinicians when things start to go in the wrong direction, and need help to prevent potential hospitalisations. And the patients, who are well, can focus on life and not illness. However, it is important to keep in mind that it is not a trivial task to realise this.

How should we realise the potential of ‘Big Data’

On an overall level, there are a number of points that companies that are active in data-driven health technology should think about to thrive in complex health environments:

  • Find applications and services that bring tangible value to identifiable stakeholders – it must provide meaning and value to end users
  • Think on a global scale
  • Focus on solutions, not technology
  • Identify potential partners to create greater impact and find new value

Most of all, those who come from the outside into the healthcare domain must avoid the trap of seeing technology as something different from healthcare. Its greatest value will be how it integrates with healthcare systems and allows clinicians to provide better care for patients.

In some cases, technology will appear illusory: Personal contact between patient and therapist will always have a place in treatment, but data driven approaches can revolutionise the basis on which treatment is given.

Where are we going?

There are many possibilities that presents itself when exploring data driven approaches. I have  particularly emphasised ‘Context Aware Computing’ as one of the perspectives that are important to pursue. The goal is to use the context of the patients to provide the right intervention, to the right patient, at the right time, at the right place. This is not a trivial task, but extremely important for solutions like Monsenso to really help patients. The present systems are still relatively unintelligent in terms of achieving this, based on the amount of data available. It is difficult to know the context of what the collected data in the system is based on – what experiences and thoughts the patients have.

[1]  Top 5 industry challenges of 2016 By Aubrey Westgate, November 30, 2015  http://managedhealthcareexecutive.modernmedicine.com/managed-healthcare-executive/news/top-5-industry-challenges-2016?page=0,0

[2]  VOICE ANALYSIS AS AN OBJECTIVE STATE MARKER IN BIPOLAR DISORDER. M Faurholt-Jepsen, J Busk, M Frost, M Vinberg, EM Christensen, O Winther, JE Bardram, and LV Kessing. Translational Psychiatry, 2016. (ISSN: 2158-3188) (DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ tp.2016.123), vol: 6, issue: 7, 2016

BOOK A DEMO
The advantages of online therapy

The advantages of online therapy

May 20, 2020

Online therapy provides users access to a variety of therapy services offered by qualified and skilled practitioners from the comfort of their own home. There is no denying technology has impacted nearly every aspect of life and therapy is no exception. Secure platforms have been developed to allow the general public to connect with a licensed therapist through a variety of mediums including chat rooms, phone calls, and video sessions. Nowadays, there are different tools that support online therapy, from telehealth applications to smartphone applications. 

The advantages of online therapy are several, from closing the gap between a shortage of qualified mental health professionals in an area to reaching out people who live in rural areas, far away from a clinic. Additionally, online therapy can also reach people who have very busy schedules and can’t spare the commute, or those are not too comfortable with face to face appointments. 

The main advantages of online therapy are the following:

More personalised treatment

Telehealth and mHealth solutions are tools that can be used to personalise the treatment of individuals with a mental illness. Based on the individual, you can select the tools and features a person could find useful, such as pushing clinical questionnaires on their smartphones, answering electronic self-assessments, accessing psychoeducation, scheduling video sessions or teaching them self-care.

Furthermore, since the use of eHealth itself can help individuals to access psycho-education online, this means more time spent on face-to-face or online sessions.

Patient empowerment

Mental health professionals offer their patients therapy and counselling, however, without the person’s motivation to get better and hard work therapy may not be enough. Digital tools are designed to keep individuals motivated and have a more active role in their treatment, which tends to produce better results.

Nevertheless, digital tools are not only about motivating, but they also help with patient empowerment since they track a person’s behaviour over time, so they can take credit for their progress over time.

Teaches self-care

Therapists offer the best therapy and guidance they can, unfortunately, they cannot always be there to help; therefore, individuals need to learn to face their problems alone. By providing these individuals with an mHealth solution, they have access to valuable information that can be useful if their symptoms appear, and write down any comments on how they felt, so clinicians and individuals can review the situation together.

Helps people who otherwise wouldn’t receive any treatment

Many people who need mental health treatment have to wait endlessly to get an appointment if they manage to get any treatment at all, however, the demand for mental health services is on the rise. This problem can be easily solved with online therapy, which has proven to be, over the last few years, as efficient in-person therapy.

Scalable and cost-effective treatment

One of the greatest challenges the healthcare systems face is the long-term care of individuals with severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, since the impact this has on individuals, families and societies is huge. Fortunately, some of these issues can be partially solved with the use of mHealth technology since it helps healthcare professionals to have under their care more individuals with fewer resources.

As Dr Margaret Chan, former Director-General of the World Health Organization,  said: “We must find ways to make sure that access to mental health services becomes a reality for all men, women and children, wherever they live.”

A smartphone app that supports patient empowerment

A smartphone app that supports patient empowerment

May 1, 2020

“A smartphone app that supports patient empowerment” – Mads Trier-Blom, a Monsenso user, talks about his experience using the Monsenso app, and how it has helped him to become more aware of his mood and other parameters, such as sleep, levels of stress and anxiety and the influence these parameters have on his illness, Bipolar Disorder.

Mads Trier-Blom, who is using the Monsenso app as part of a clinical trial, says the app helps him to be more connected with his clinician, Bente who intervenes when she can see that Mads’s is not feeling well, to help him avoid having an episode.

To Mads, having bipolar disorder feels like walking on a tightrope, since he constantly needs to keep his balance, and avoid losing control to a depressive or a manic episode. He thinks the app helps him keep his balance since he needs to registers his mood every day, which makes him more aware of the way he is feeling. The app also helps him identify any mood fluctuations he has during the week.

During the clinical trial, Mads felt more connected to his clinician, Bente. He recalls an instance when he had missed completing his self-assessments for a couple of days, and Bente called him to see how he was doing. At the beginning, since he was not expecting the call, he was a bit confused. However, when she identified herself and the purpose of her call, he relaxed and told her that he had been a bit tense lately, but that he was overall feeling well. This made him feel more aware of his mood and his behaviour as well as more alert.

“mHealth for better mental health treatment” Kristoffer Södersten’s Customer Story

“mHealth for better mental health treatment” Kristoffer Södersten’s Customer Story

Aug 30, 2018

To turn on English subtitles, click on the ‘CC’ at the bottom of the video. 

Psychiatrist Kristoffer Södersten from PsykiatriResurs in Sweden shares his experience using the Monsenso mHealth solution.

How does the Monsenso mHealth solution encourage and empower better mental health treatment? 

Kristoffer explains how the Monsenso mHealth solution helps him to enhance and inform treatment. Specifically, the solution helps him to gain more relevant information about his patients, such as information that couldn’t have been obtained through the traditional method of verbal sessions. “It’s difficult to retrieve reliable and consistent data from each patient during a verbal consultation with them,” says Kristoffer.

Obtaining the right information is key for psychiatrists and psychologists to provide an accurate diagnosis 

“[The accuracy from a diagnosis obtained] from face-to-face consultation depends so much on factors like personal relations, how comfortable the patient is in the conversation, cultural background, etc. Therefore, [due to these factors] it can be very arbitrary about which diagnosis a patient receives. This diagnosis can depend on which clinician he meets, and these other factors.” says Kristoffer. The information gathered from the Monsenso Clinic can help to provide a consistent and clearer view of the patient’s mental health, to better inform a diagnosis.

Kristoffer finds the Monsenso mHealth solution to be particularly helpful in capturing relevant objective data. The solution provides a comprehensive and easily accessible overview of relevant patient data, such as day score, mood score, sleep and medication adherence. Moreover, overview of collected sensor data, such as physical activity, social activity, phone usage and voice features can also be provided. This objective data can help to supplement the subjective data provided during verbal therapy.

“The technology of Monsenso can help us to gather more objective data that – together with the subjective experience – provide a more holistic picture of the patient’s problems, to help provide a more accurate diagnosis and follow-up treatment in a totally different way,” says Kristoffer.

Monsenso mHealth solution is providing a visualization of a historical data, which in some cases can identify why the symptoms appear and help to prevent them.

“You can also use this tool to predict future psychological outcomes, which can help us intervene early and prevent relapse.”

Using mobile technology to reduce hospital re-admissions

Using mobile technology to reduce hospital re-admissions

Jun 21, 2018

The U.S Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HiMSS) released a report titled “Leveraging mobile technology to reduce hospital readmissions.”

According to the Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Medicare has been overwhelmed with excessive hospital re-admissions – with total costs up to $17.5 billion a year. [1]

From 2007 to 2010, the national re-admissions rate remained at 19.2%, with an average Medicare cost for a hospital readmission stay at $9,600.

Therefore, the Hospital Re-admissions Reduction Program (HRRP), under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), aims to reduce re-admissions for all acute-care hospitals receiving payment under the Medicare Inpatient Prospective Payment System. [1]

In 2012, more than 2,000 hospitals were penalized for having excessive re-admission rates. The Medicare Payment Advisory Committee (MedPAC) estimates that these hospitals paid an average penalty of $125,000. [1]


Mobile technology ripe for greater adoption

Hospitals and health care systems are looking into developing new strategies, redesigning discharge procedures, and hiring more staff to follow up with patients at home.

They also need to rely on health information technology to scale their programs since they are also required to meet meaningful use criteria.

Hospitals and health systems are being urged to include mobile technology such as remote monitoring devices to connect patients and clinicians and impact care outside of their organizations.

According to the Pew Mobile technology fact sheet, as of October 2014, 64% of American adults have a smartphone. [2]

According to the 2015 HIMSS Mobile Technology Survey, 90% of respondents uses at least one type of mobile device to engage patients. [3]

Mobile health technology has created a demand for the concept of care from any location, which includes being able to communicate, share patient information, and receive services remotely.

The acceptance of mobile technology in the care setting continues to grow. 52% of survey respondents believe that the use of mobile technology will “substantially impact the delivery of healthcare in the future.” An additional 16% noted that the use of mobile technology will “dramatically change the way healthcare is delivered in the future.” [1]

Respondents also ranked that medication reminders, remote patient monitoring and preventative support care are benefits that mobile technology can deliver on patient care.


Overcoming the barriers

While remote monitoring technology (RMT) and mobile technology improve the quality of care and outcomes overall, barriers still exist.

In the case of mental health, mobile technology solutions like the one offered by Monsenso can help reduce the number of hospital re-admissions as well as the health care spending.

For example, a patient is brought into the emergency room as a consequence of displaying severe symptoms of mental illness.

After a couple of weeks of hospitalisation, the patient is released into the care of a close relative. Even though things seem to be going well, the patient is readmitted to the hospital again after six months.

This scenario can be quite common for people suffering from severe mental illness. Patients receive the treatment they need while being hospitalised, however once they are released into the care of their relatives, they receive no support, which gradually deteriorates their mental health.

It is very seldom that patients suffering from mental illness are called in for follow-up appointments, and as a consequence patients remain “stable” for a short period and then hospitalised after relapses.

Monsenso mobile health solution

The Monsenso mHealth solution can help reduce the number of hospital re-admissions in psychiatric treatment. Once a patient is released from the hospital, clinicians can establish a remote care plan that includes monitoring and self-treatment.

Every day, patients will complete a self-assessment in their smartphone. The information on the self-assessment is synchronized in real-time with the clinical web portal.

With the information obtained from the self-assessments, the system can identify the triggers and early warning signs of all active patients. A clinician can access the system every morning and be informed on which patients may need urgent care.

After accessing the patient’s records and reviewing the patient’s behavioural patterns, the clinician can make an informed decision. He can determine if the patient needs to be called in for an emergency appointment or just monitored more closely.

The clinician can also send an encrypted message to the patient asking if everything is fine and encouraging the patient to reach out if he feels ill.

In addition, the Monsenso mHealth solution provides patients with personalised action plans that suggest certain activities in case the patient displays certain symptoms.

Sources:

[1] Leveraging mobile technology to reduce hospital readmissions. Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HiMSS). 2013 http://www.mhealthnews.com/resource/leveraging-mobile-technology-reduce-hospital-readmissions

[2] Mobile technology fact sheet. Pew Research Center. 2014 http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/mobile-technology-fact-sheet/

[3] Mobile technology survey. Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HiMSS). 2015 http://www.himss.org/ResourceLibrary/genResourceDetailPDF.aspx?ItemNumber=42595