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. 2019 Nov 1;26(11):1385-1388.
doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocz131.

The role of a clinician amid the rise of mobile health technology

William E Yang  1 , Lochan M Shah  1 , Erin M Spaulding  2 , Jane Wang  1 , Helen Xun  1 , Daniel Weng  1 , Rongzi Shan  3   4 , Shannon Wongvibulsin  1 , Francoise A Marvel  3 , Seth S Martin  1   3
Affiliations

The role of a clinician amid the rise of mobile health technology

William E Yang et al. J Am Med Inform Assoc. .

Abstract

Mobile health (mHealth) interventions have demonstrated promise in improving outcomes by motivating patients to adopt and maintain healthy lifestyle changes as well as improve adherence to guideline-directed medical therapy. Early results combining behavioral economic strategies with mHealth delivery have demonstrated mixed results. In reviewing these studies, we propose that the success of a mHealth intervention links more strongly with how well it connects patients back to routine clinical care, rather than its behavior modification technique in isolation. This underscores the critical role of clinician-patient partnerships in the design and delivery of such interventions, while also raising important questions regarding long-term sustainability and scalability. Further exploration of our hypothesis may increase opportunities for multidisciplinary clinical teams to connect with and engage patients using mHealth technologies in unprecedented ways.

Keywords: behavioral economics; clinician-patient relationship; doctor-patient relationship; mHealth.

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