Survey finds 60% Indians ready to adopt mobile technology in healthcare

The mobile apps market is growing by the day, with an app for almost everything across popular platforms, like iOS and Android. The mobile market has a large number of health and medicinal apps, too. Mobile technology in healthcare or mHealth is being widely accepted by users across the globe. A new study that was conducted globally by PwC Global Healthcare by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) reveals that about one-half of consumers in all markets and 60 percent of consumers in India believe that widespread adoption of this technology is bound to happen or is nevitable.

Indians prefer mobile healthcare....

“mHealth is the future of healthcare, deeply integrated into delivery that will be better, faster, less expensive and far more customer-focused,” said David Levy, MD, Global Healthcare Leader, PwC. However he also points out that despite demand and benefits of mHealth, the adoption of mHealth would take some time and seemingly isn’t quick. The survey covered about 10 countries, like India, Brazil, China, Denmark, Germany, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, the UK and the U.S.

The study reveals that emerging markets lead the adoption of mHealth. It is so, as consumers in these nations find it a way to increase access to healthcare. On the other hand, patients in developed markets see it only as a means to improve convenience, cost and quality of healthcare. “In younger, developing economies, healthcare is less constrained by healthcare infrastructure and entrenched interests. Consumers are more likely to use mobile devices and mHealth applications, and more payers are willing to cover the cost of mHealth services,” points out PWC India Healthcare Leader Rana Mehta.

Some key findings of the study reveal that nearly half of consumers expect mHealth will change the way they manage chronic conditions, their medication and their overall health. Then, about six out of 10 consumers expect mHealth to change their way of getting information on health issues. 48 percent consumers feel that mHealth will change the way they communicate with physicians. Among those who are using mHealth, 59 percent have replaced some visits to doctors or nurses.

The study also reveals that 27 percent of physicians encourage patients to use mHealth and 13 percent of physicians discourage it. 42 percent of doctors fear that mHealth may make patients too independent.

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