The Emerging Role of Cell Phone Technology in Ambulatory Care

Three factors are coinciding to reshape the ambulatory care market: chronic disease prevalence, workforce shortages, and the availability of cell phone technology with very high consumer penetration. These factors will disproportionately drive the business strategies and practices of ambulatory care providers, payers, and delivery systems this decade. Market dynamics are driving the healthcare industry to adopt new strategies to deal with the swelling prevalence of chronic disease. Healthcare organizations are constrained by money and inadequate tools to systematically manage chronic care patients. As a result, traditional notions of ambulatory care are changing from being provider-centered to becoming more patient-centric. A host of new remote monitoring and communication technologies are available so that providers can now interact with patients "anywhere, anytime." The traditional care setting is shifting to where the patient is rather than where the physician is located. Patients are the most underutilized resource in healthcare, and patient engagement is the key to managing chronic illness. Cell phones are particularly suited for leveraging the time and expertise of providers while engaging patients in their own self-care. To demonstrate this concept, data are presented that illustrate how cell phone applications significantly reduced the cost of treating severely asthmatic children and teens in 2 ways: through more frequent communication between patients and their medical teams, and by motivating patients to become more engaged and knowledgeable about their care. The healthcare industry can support consumer choice by making available as many options as possible for engaging patients in their care. Consumers like having choices and patients are no different: they are not all one type. This suggests an emerging role for cell phone applications and platforms that enable both Internet and medical device connectivity where appropriate for managing chronic conditions. As a management tool, cell phones have the potential to become a standard of care in the field. If so, cell phones may materially offset the cost of chronicity by helping patients avoid preventable events of care in licensed health facilities, something much more economically powerful than attempting to reduce the costs of producing care in those settings.