The Journal of mHealth Vol 1 Issue 6 (Dec 2014) | Page 31

Conference News

and matching services to existing reimbursement mechanisms.
Data presented during the session also highlighted a number of
niche markets within the clinical solution segment that are likely
to offer significant potential for future growth, these included:
vital sign monitoring technologies, in vitro diagnostic devices/
solutions, and imaging.
Speaking in the same session Jody Holtzman of AARP reinforced this need to consider which areas of the market are most
likely to be able to pay for digital services. Holtzman presented
AARP research that identifies how solutions that target certain
aspects of the consumer digital health market have a much
greater potential for success. For example, an emergency detection system may primarily target the elderly, but it will have a
significant secondary market for younger family members or
care providers who are looking for peace of mind. This obviously increases the market potential for adoption and ultimately
revenue generation. Some of these growth sectors identified

by Holtzman include: medication management, social engagement, physical fitness, ageing with vitality, care navigation, diet
and nutrition, behavioural and emotional health, and emergency
detection.

Reimbursement
Reimbursement will ultimately be a factor that ‘makes or
breaks’ many patient facing mobile and digital health initiatives,
particularly in the US market. In general there seemed to be
optimism amongst delegates at the conference, following the
recent announcements that CMS may look to begin reimbursing
physicians who deliver home based chronic care management,
remote patient monitoring of chronic conditions and other
services provided via telehealth. It seems that the prospect of
receiving significant financial compensation for deploying telehealth and remote monitoring solutions could encourage many
physicians to rethink the use of these technologies.
In his keynote speech Dr. Harry Leider the Chief Medical Officer and Group VP for Walgreens’ proposed that, in his opinion, solution developers need to look to payers as a key part of
their market strategy, rather than simply targeting the consumer
sector. In fact he went so far as to suggest that some of the
predictions for growth in the consumer digital health market,
particularly relating to wearable technologies were vastly overambitious, and unlikely to yield the expected returns.
This sentiment of caution towards the so-called ‘consumer
boom’ in digital health solutions, was echoed at other sessions
during the event.
Leider reinforced his remarks by suggesting that developers need
to consider adopting strategic business models that can provide
both conveniences in the market place as well as demonstrating
genuine cost reductions for payers. He continued by saying that
any tangible cost reductions need to be delivered within a 12 to
18 month window as people in the US tend to change care plans
each year, resulting in a 20-25 per cent turnover rate. Therefore,
health plans are unlikely to invest in solutions, like a health and
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The Journal of mHealth

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