ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the hardware and software capabilities of mHealth. It illustrates, with examples, the wealth of mHealth deployments that are constantly expanding throughout the universe of healthcare operations. Several applications of mHealth—telemedicine, voice recognition and home monitoring have been around for years, but the coming wave of mHealth adoption owes its popularity to a convergence of form and function. Healthcare is one of the largest adopters of the Apple iPad, and major vendors are making mHealth services available via the smartphone. The potential universe of mHealth applications spans the payer, provider and healthcare consumer markets. There are literally thousands of mHealth apps and software programs available on the market today—with hundreds more hitting the marketplace every month. The demand for mHealth products has enticed scores of small companies and dozens of major vendors into the marketplace. These vendors have flooded all corners of the industry.
