What is mHealth? Is it Mobile Health or Modern Health?
What is mHealth?, you may ask. And how’s that different from Mobile Health or Digital Health (also eHealth)? I write this to clear up confusion between syllogisms and position this website, Modern Health Talk, as covering them all.
Just as all Lions are Animals, not all Animals are Lions. The same goes with the health terms digital health, ehealth (electronic healthcare), telemedicine, and mhealth (mobile healthcare). Here at Modern Health Talk, I use an over-arching term that also is abbreviated mHealth, so hence the need for clarification.
Mobile Health implies mobility. To some, it requires the use of smart phones, cellular networks, and Wi-Fi. But to others, especially patients, it may simply be the ambulance that shows up to provide care and transportation.
Clearly, there are overlaps between the terms, but there’s also confusion. Wireless Health AND Telemedicine are not necessarily MOBILE Health. Their use may be confined to the same building.
Modern Health Talk
I use the term Modern Health to encompass innovations that collectively define the future of healthcare. They include: digital, electronic & mobile health, telemedicine & telehealth, electronic sensors & cloud-based monitoring services, video calls & telepresence, electronic medical & personal health records, big data & analytics, healthcare robotics & artificial intelligence, personalized medicine & genomics, and the wireless connections (ANT+, Bluetooth LE, ZigBee, Wi-Fi, 4G, LTE), big broadband networks (fiber-optics), and regulatory & payment reforms that bind them.
As a website, blog and social network, Modern Health Talk sits in the center of several overlapping trends that include an extended recession & rising healthcare costs, aging baby boomers with social media, wireless broadband connecting mobile devices, digital sensors & remote monitoring, and telemedicine & telepresence, to name a few.
