With each passing year, consumers are conducting more and more of their lives online and with mobile apps. We network, professionally and socially, online. We communicate via email and text and post innumerable personal photographs online. We shop, research, bank and can even earn a master’s degree online. But according to “Risk & Rewards of Online & Mobile Health Services: Consumer Attitudes Explored,” a new Ponemon Institute study sponsored by Experian Data Breach Resolution, consumers may be drawing the line when it comes to using online services and apps to share their personal health information.
Today, doctors and patients can monitor patient health remotely through new technologies. Pillboxes can monitor whether patients are on track with medications. Web-based platforms for electronic health records, such as Microsoft HealthVault, allow doctors to access data from fitness trackers, i.e., FitBit and Nike+ Fuel Band, and monitor glucose and heart health from information uploaded by patients. Patients can access health records on web-based portals. More and more resources create a one-stop shop for health information accessibility for consumers and health care providers. Health care systems are shifting focus to outcomes and looking toward Web-based solutions to expand and save money. And a key component of the Affordable Care Act is to leverage new technologies, aim to identify problems early, and cut costs and inefficiencies in the health care system.
