Embracing 'mobile' healthcare

Doctors now can help diagnose illnesses using cellphones and iPads

Shanghai Re Medical Co is a startup business jointly established by Shanghai Jiaotong University's medical school and a group of professionals who specialize in the healthcare and telecommunication sectors.

A man checks his medical insurance information with a bank card at an ATM in Chongqing in Southwest China. A study conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers shows a mobile technology-based medical service is a promising prospect in China, given its efficiency and lower cost. Luo Guojia / For China Daily

It is engaged in providing remote and mobile cardiovascular disease diagnosis services for community clinics and rural healthcare centers.

"Our targeted group is China's 230 million patients with cardiovascular disease who seek help at community clinics and even rural medical institutes where cardiologists are in short supply," said the company. It now serves 170 residential community clinics in Shanghai, covering 20 million citizens. The cost of the service is around 30 percent of a professional cardiologist.

"China has 32,000 community clinics and more than 37,000 township and village medical institutes, which indicates the huge market potential of this service. Such a mobile technology-based medical service is promising in China, given its efficiency and lower cost," said James Xiao, senior manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers China Pharmaceutical & Life Science, who was in charge of PwC's global study on mobile technology in healthcare in China.

A mobile healthcare service refers to using mobile devices, such as cellphones and iPads, to collect community and clinical health data to deliver healthcare information to practitioners, researchers and patients and conduct interactive communication. When further developed, it can also monitor patients' vital signs and direct provision of care via mobile telemedicine.

PwC's study shows widespread adoption of mobile technology in healthcare is now viewed as inevitable by 80 percent of doctors and healthcare payers in China. PwC surveyed 103 ordinary people, 76 doctors, 31 hospital executives and 14 officials from medical and insurance departments around the nation.

The study found that Chinese people have high expectations of mobile healthcare. The number of cellphone subscribers in China has exceeded 900 million, making the nation the largest mobile user base in the world. China is also in the process of upgrading its healthcare system through policy reforms and massive government investment in access, quality and efficiency. "These two forces will create fertile ground for growing mobile technology businesses that hope to target the diverse needs of the Chinese people," said the report.

"People in China are very excited about the potential benefits mobile healthcare could bring about as its applications will empower Chinese people to take control of their health," said Ronald Ling, PwC's Asia healthcare leader.