In an era where nearly every consumer good and service — from books and groceries to babysitting and shared rides — can be purchased through an electronic transaction on a mobile device, it seems reasonable to think that more and more of our health care can also be managed using apps on mobile devices. Proponents of these apps see the potential of digital technologies to shift care provision from physicians’ offices and hospitals to the patient’s home or anywhere with reasonable Wi-Fi connectivity.
Why Apps for Managing Chronic Disease Haven’t Been Widely Used, and How to Fix It
While chronic disease management (CDM) apps have had some initial success, they have not yet lived up to their potential. This shortcoming is not due to the capability of the technologies, which are quite impressive; the problem is the incentives and institutions of the delivery system into which the technologies are being introduced. To succeed under these circumstances, developers of CDM apps must first consider who the primary (that is, paying) customers will be for their technologies. They must then develop an approach for ensuring that a customer’s willingness to adopt the app translates into the sustained use of that app. Only with sustained use will CDM apps have a chance of improving patient outcomes and reducing costs for the treatment of the conditions they target.