Philip Thomas Mesman has high hopes for future healthcare apps

Little more than a decade ago, smartphone apps were virtually non-existent. Today, there are more than 250 million mobile apps on the digital market.  Apps have taken the world by storm. There are endless entertainment apps, hundreds of self-help and motivational apps, and even mobile apps for advocacy and crowdsourcing. Mobile app technology have allowed unprecedented access to the net and each other, and it all literally fits inside the palm of your hand. http://www.mcgilldaily.com/2015/09/using-apps-to-combat-inaccessibility/

In Canada, 55 percent of the population report owning a smartphone (http://www.mcgilldaily.com/2015/09/using-apps-to-combat-inaccessibility/).  68.9 percent of the population is of working age (that is, people ages 15 through 64)  http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/91-215-x/2012000/part-partie2-eng.htm.  That means almost all working age people in Canada have and use a smartphone, and with that, at least a handful of apps. With so much smartphone saturation, it is no surprise that Canada is a fertile ground for app innovation.

Healthcare mobile technology and healthcare app innovation is one of the hottest sectors in the app world. These apps are merging convenience with medical tools and are helping to revolutionize the current healthcare system.  Medical app developers are gaining ground in the marketplace by designing healthcare products tailored to the needs of doctors and patients. By relying on complex algorithms rather than costly machinery, developers are able to test and tweak apps that improve healthcare efficiency and effectiveness like never before.

Recently, the Canadian mobile marketplace became home to another healthcare innovation, Seamless MD. This application is aimed at reducing the more than 450 million dollars a year that are spent on unexpected hospital stays related to surgical complications. Last year, one patient out of every 10 that had surgery was re-hospitalized later with a surgical complication.  Seamless MD is a tool for patients that allows them to update doctors about their condition, read about side effects of medications, and know when they should seek medical attention. http://business.financialpost.com/executive/smart-shift/two-canadian-health-care-apps-that-could-save-lives-and-tax-dollars?__lsa=5c36-9b26

In 2014, the journal of Pharmacy and Therapeutics released a report citing the benefits of apps for the healthcare industry. “Mobile devices and apps provide many benefits for HCPs, perhaps most significantly increased access to point-of-care tools, which has been shown to support better clinical decision-making and improved patient outcomes,” the study’s authors wrote. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4029126/

The app AirStrip has partnered with Apple (specifically the Apple Watch) to offer an enhanced healthcare experience.  AirStrip displays a patient’s information, including their diagnoses and lab results, on the watch screen and allows doctors to send them secure messages. The app also lets doctors communicate with other healthcare providers about patients, creating in many ways a virtual examination room. http://www.cnet.com/news/health-care-app-uses-apple-watch-to-id-doctors-follow-privacy-law/

Philip Thomas Mesman (https://twitter.com/tommymesman), an app and game developer (http://philipthomasmesmanoakville.brandyourself.com/) in Oakville, Ontario and founder of PT Techconsulting (http://www.pttechconsulting.com/), has high hopes for the innovation of healthcare apps. “These apps can offer medical access to people in remote areas or people who can’t leave their homes,” Philip Thomas Mesman said.

Mesman says there are some really great apps on the horizon. “In Montreal, they are developing some really great accessibility apps,” he added. “Apps that will help parents find activities for disabled children and apps that allow seniors to interface with the web easier.”

You can now have a doctor’s appointment via video call, get a prescription filled through a mobile app, and even see a therapist virtually things that were impossible 20 years ago. “Healthcare apps have the potential of saving countries millions of dollars in healthcare spending,” Mesman pointed out. “If we can get people with minor ailments seen at home, emergency rooms and hospitals won’t be so overcrowded.”

Creating greater access while simultaneously reducing healthcare costs makes health care apps very attractive to government officials tasked with balancing budgets.  “We are going to see widespread proliferation of healthcare apps in the next five years,” Philip Thomas Mesman said. “I wonder what will be next?”