eHealth: The Importance of Integrating Apps into Health Care
Written By: London Allen | December 1, 2022
Healthcare and digital technology have been converging since the 1970s. There are now many apps available for healthcare since digital technologies are integral to everyday life. Unfortunately, many of these apps do not communicate with one another or doctors, creating a significant need for healthcare apps to be more efficiently integrated into healthcare systems to become better tools for patients.
Furthering the globalization of eHealth is one technique that would allow apps to be better absorbed into healthcare systems. The World Health Organization (WHO) lists one of its strategic objectives as to “promote global collaboration and advance the transfer of knowledge on digital health.” For digital technologies, the rate of adoption often impacts their development. A more comprehensive view from varying perspectives is essential to future innovations and research. The implementation of health apps into healthcare systems is possible when the “realization is made that eHealth resources and prospective research are benefitted by considering a worldwide view” (Baldinelli 225). WHO reports that while the U.S. participates in a national eHealth policy or strategy, there is only a 58% global participation (Baldinelli 225).
Furthermore, there is only a 40% global participation of public funding and private or commercial funding (Baldinelli 225). This limited adoption of eHealth resources prevents individuals from successfully creating technology that better integrates apps into the healthcare system as any data collected by those apps would only be useful in places where eHealth systems have been adopted. It is evident that research and integration can be further developed through globalization as it encourages greater adoption of eHealth and the broader view needed to develop the innovative technologies.
Additionally, increased accessibility to eHealth programs is significant for incorporating apps into healthcare. According to doctoral candidate Baldinelli, “for many individuals, eHealth is not considered as a major factor in their lives” (222). This could be for several reasons, but one may include inaccessibility to the tools needed for such services.
For tech companies like Apple, many of their communication technologies—including phones, tablets, and computers—may be used to provide and aid eHealth programs through applications. For example, “iPads may be loaded with apps to peruse your running times based on your preference of brand...while iPhones...can be used for tracking individual fitness habits, maps, or reminders of scheduled health appointments or fitness classes” (Baldinelli 222). Still, not everyone has access to these technologies. If more people had access, health professionals would be more likely to be open to working alongside these apps in healthcare. If every patient had access to an apple watch, for example, it would be more enticing for doctors to adopt technology that receives updated patient health data daily based on tracking applications installed on the patients’ phones or smartwatch technology.
Overall, though there are many healthcare apps, much still needs to be done to successfully integrate them into the larger healthcare system. Developing greater globalization and increasing accessibility is only the beginning when considering how these apps should be programmed to be able to communicate both with doctors and each other to make adoption necessary and seamless. Moreover, while this digital advancement may seem desirable, privacy remains a large concern that must be addressed in the further development of this technology.
