Introducing iPhone, M.D.

Your smart phone can do amazing things: video chat with friends, check the latest scores for your favorite Indian cricket team, or play Scrabble with your co-worker. But your smart phone more than fun and games. The latest additions to the smartphone app market may just end up saving your life.

Your smartphone can become  a head-to-toe health care tool. From monitoring your ears with CellScope, your sleep habits with Zeo Sleep Manger or Sleep Cycle, your eating habits with My Fitness Pal or The Eatery or your fertility with DuoFertility Monitor, the mHealth (the use of mobile technology in healthcare) is growing.

According Fast Co., mobile health technology is currently a $2 billion of the $273 billion medical-device industry. And that number is skyrocketing. Experts believe the number will continue to grow as smart phones get smarter and patients take their health into their own hands.

Up next? The FDA plans to release a rigorous set of guidelines for mobile health applications later this year. A more formalized process will make entering the market easier and energize the mHealth market.

What does this mean for your healthcare organization? It’s time to pay attention to mHealth.

• Keep an eye out for great new apps and products that may help cut costs–a new app and accessory for eye exams is literally .3% the cost of its predecessor.
• Think ahead – mobile health portals may soon allow patients who track their health via apps to plug into your EMR. Imagine that data shared seamlessly with your medical staff.
• Try them out yourself. After all, you deserve to be happy and healthy, too. Check out our favorite apps for staying fit and healthy.
• Get your own app–from ER wait times to tips and calendars for pregnant moms. The possibilities are endless.
• If it isn’t already, make your site mobile friendly. While this isn’t an app, it is mHealth. If your website isn’t compatible with prevalent mobile technology, you are missing a golden opportunity. 1 in 7 searches are now mobile and that number is even higher for local searches.

Have more ideas for mHealth? Know an mHealth guru? Need more inspiration? We love sharing our thoughts and  talking with other experts in health and wellness. Give us a shout. 

Spreading Cheer Overseas

It’s that time of year: holiday cheer, family around the dinner table and heart-warming tales. Here’s one for this season– mixing social media with medicine to take tidings of good cheer across the ocean:

With the holiday season officially here and plans with your loved ones marked in your calendar, it is only natural to shed a tear (or two) watching this. It seems almost impossible to image not being able to witness the birth of your own child, right? For many active duty soldiers overseas, missing major family milestones is just part of the job. Now with the use a CheetahNet mesh network , soldiers have access to high speed internet in Afghanistan. Those that protect our freedom and country are now able to watch the special moment their child enters this world via Skype. Although nothing can beat the real thing, this growing program gives our soldiers a feeling of being home, even if just for the 24 hours their loved one is in labor.

Want to learn more? Check out how Google is helping our troops!

Is your hospital ready to become part of this growing trend? Is your labor and delivery room high-speed and WiFi enabled? Has your hospital used Skype to share special moments? What other ways can you show your military families you care? If so, share your stories with us. We’d love to hear from you! Think big and give thanks this winter season. 

4 Billion Reasons You Need a Mobile Marketing Strategy

Using QR Codes in Healthcare Marketing

Thanks to mainstream use by big retailers such as Target, Best Buy, Macy’s, Post Cereals and even JetBlue, quick response (QR) codes are gaining momentum among healthcare providers as well.

Marketers debate the pros and cons – mainly whether or not the square pixilated codes will really catch on with consumers in any industry. But there’s no denying the smart-phone savvy set is exploring the possibilities. Since January 2010, QR code usage has grown 700 percent.

Access and education are key hurdles to mass adoption. Many consumers don’t know what they are or how to use them, much less the benefit of doing so. You need a smart phone and a special app to scan QR codes. Data embedded in the code can provide more information or connect to mobile websites, e-coupons, videos and more. (Macy’s is leading a major QR-education effort.)

Other challenges include bad internet connections, slow load times and poor execution. If there’s no strong payoff, consumers who took the extra steps to connect with your brand may never do so again.

When everything comes together, campaigns including QR codes can work extremely well. They can be used almost anywhere – printed materials, business cards, billboards, TV, t-shirts and even tacos at SxSW last month – to encourage interactivity with your hospital.

Children’s Hospital Boston tried QR codes for the first time in its Winter 2011 newsletter, Dream, and reported more than 125 scans within the first few days of its drop.

Patient stories are the hero of our cardiac campaign for Memorial Health Care System in Tennessee. Every part of the multi-media effort (including QR codes) leads to a custom microsite where the community can further engage in each story, conduct an online risk assessment and find out how to choose a cardiologist.

Use your favorite QR app on this code to go to the mobile site.

Other QR uses/payoffs include:

• Digital signage within the hospital.
• Flu shot coupons or free giveaway like a hospital-branded water bottle.
• Directions to hospital facilities or physician offices (if the smart-phone allows GPS interaction with the QR code.)
• Communication with physicians – 81% own smart-phones (EPG Media, 2010).

It’s all about experimenting, learning and trying again. And mobile interaction is just one element in a digital marketing effort and overall brand strategy. If not QR codes, perhaps Near Field Communication(NFC) as that technology develops.

What would’ve happened if we gave up on the internet when we all had 14.4 modems? And why shouldn’t marketing innovation begin in healthcare?

What’s your QR hesitation, success or challenge? We’d love to post your examples as a resource for other hospital marketers.

Is Your Hospital Website Mobile?

Pew Research Center’s new report reveals that just over a quarter of American adults now read news on their cell phones. Coupled with the fact that 73% of all patients search for medical information before or after a doctor’s visit, it makes sense to make sure your hospital’s online presence is compatible with today’s mobile devices.

People spend 2.7 hours a day on the mobile Internet, which is why news media outlets like CNN and retail brands like EBay and Amazon now offer mobile-friendly versions of their websites.

According to Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, immediacy is the currency of the mobile web. In other words, how easy is it to access information on your hospital’s website from an iPhone?

Offering your consumers an all mobile version of your hospital’s website doesn’t have to be your first step into the mobile realm. Consider these ideas as you examine the next phase of your online conversation with consumers.

• Create mobile versions of popular sections of your hospital’s site, such as the physician directory or the directory of department phone numbers and location addresses
• Create mobile phone “apps” for your Emergency Department locations, offering consumers instant access to maps of locations and approximate wait times for each ER
• With the increase of hospitals offering social media content, consider creating a phone app for your hospital’s YouTube channel, blogs, and podcasts
• Use text messaging for fundraising campaigns. The American Red Cross has raised $1,000,000 for Haiti relief through its text fundraising campaign
• Use text campaigns for community education, like the White House recently did with its text4baby program

As other hospitals play the “wait and see game,” take advantage of the trend of mobile Internet usage. After all, more people used their phones today to access news than the day before… and that will be true tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, and the day after that.