2014: The Year of the Mobile Medical Revolution

This week’s consumer electronics show (CES) will showcase the mobile medical marketplace that is poised to revolutionize health care. The emergence of the App Economy over the past five years has led to innovation in medical devices and apps that are improving health care outcomes. Not surprisingly, the footprint of digital health products at CES has grown 40% in the past year alone.

The app association, ACT, has been at the forefront of the mobile medical revolution.  Its leaders hold top policy positions in global health IT organizations while its member companies develop innovations that are dramatically transforming patient care.  Ideomed is one company whose Abriiz app has lowered emergency room visits for young asthma patients by more than eighty percent.  Another ACT member, Interknowlogy, has created the Touchless Operating Room with which physicians can use gestures to review scans in a clinical environment.

In the highly regulated world of healthcare, policy decisions can often determine the fate of innovation.  As the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) spent the past two years weighing options for regulating medical apps, ACT provided agency guidance on market factors and the  health benefits that had been stalled amid regulatory uncertainty.  ACT advocated for FDA to provide the clearest possible framework to give VCs and developers the necessary confidence to invest. The agency met this need with a high degree of clarity, clearing the final hurdle for a new wave of mobile health innovation.

To educate the health IT community about marketplace opportunities, ACT has joined with CEA, CTIA, mHIMSS, the National Venture Capital Association, and others to sponsor the Mobile Medical App Roadshow.  The roadshow will host events across the country offering guidance to attendees about the favorable regulatory landscape and opportunities for investment.

Scheduled events include: