Success vs Failure of Mobile Health Apps

MHealth Apps That Have Been Widely Adopted vs. Ones That Have Failed

Much goes into developing a mobile health application, and the success of a mobile health application is fragile. Cost, market environment, perceived usefulness, user preferences, etc., play a significant role in the success or failure of a mobile health application. Kanchufang, an app that took root in China, allowed patients to publicly share their health experiences with other individuals that were also users of the application. Kanchufang failed for many reasons. Part of the failure of Kanchufang can be attributed to the functionality of the app and its place in the medical health industry that exists within China. Firstly, public hospitals in China are reluctant to share medical records, so as to protect themselves from medical disputes (Kanchufang 2105). These hospitals take the easy route when it comes to liability by simply avoiding patient-provider transactions of information. There is population of Chinese patients that do not understand the entirety of the information that is presented on medical records, this phenomenon is an issue in and of itself (Kachufang 2015). Nevertheless, because some patients do not understand all the information, they are only interested in fragmented data that gives simple descriptions of their care. Another issue that contributed to the failure of Kanchufang was the data collected by Kanchufang. Medical collected by Kanchufang were not properly structured and categorized, thus they lacked utility and the proper information could not easily be extracted from that data (Kanchufang 2015).

The majority of frequent mhealth app users are young and much of China’s healthcare usage and spending goes through hospitals. Unfortunately for Chinese stakeholders of mhealth apps, the people that frequent such hospitals are the elderly, not young Chinese consumers (Towson 2016). Another example of some of the factors that affect the success and failure can be seen in China’s healthcare system. The Chinese healthcare system is overwhelmingly financed by government insurance, and government hospitals are the primary source of care (Towson 2016). Due to this, many companies remain shut out of most of China’s healthcare economy, information, and operations. I am trying to illustrate that adapting a mobile health app to the culture of the industry can either help an app succeed or lead to crash and burn. Similar to the U.S., regulation restrictions also effect the development and adoption of apps in China. Public Chinese hospitals only receive 10% of their revenue directly from government funding (Towson 2016). Much of the rest comes from government insurance, patients, and pharmacy sales. In terms of pharmacy sales, online sales of pharmaceuticals significantly contribute to the revenue of public hospitals. Online sales have the ability to increase user interest in mobile health apps, but the online sales of pharmaceuticals remain highly regulated by the Chinese government. Chinese policy and regulation “prevents companies from charging for booking hospital appointments, and limit apps to health advice rather than full consultations. To make money, WeDoctor, founded by Tencent, has relied on advertising and referring patients to doctors, a service for which it can charge” (Hancock and Weinland 2017). It focuses on helping patients avoid queues by making appointments online. It claims more than 100 million such bookings over the past two years and $175 million in revenue last year (Hancock and Weinland 2017). Restrictions and regulations are not negatives, but they do play a part in mhealth adoption and advancement, for better or worse. Convenience and public perceptions are also factors that impact adoption of mobile apps. The Chinese public has a perception of distrust toward clinics, and because of this distrust the people prefer to seek care from the most recognizable institution of health provision, hospitals (Hancock and Weinland, 2017). Chinese consumers’ demands for mobile and online health services is also known to be connected to the public’s misgivings of the lower public health system and lack of access that is allocated to rural areas (Hancock and Weinland, 2017). Public perception, variables of convenience, and access allow the opportunity for mobile apps to fit into a niche from which the end-users can be served as they utilize mobile health technologies. Another characteristic of successful Chinese medical applications is the ability to offer and connect users to over-the-counter and paid services (Hancock and Weinland, 2017).

Medical apps are more likely to be successful if the people that are involved in the development process are knowledgeable of the medical field. Having medical professionals involved in decision making, creation, and other processes is an advantage. Medical professionals contribute their understanding of patients, providers, consumers, and other parties to the creation process. Experienced medical professionals may also have a greater understanding of different parties’ desires for the functions that apps provide. The ability to identify the needs and wants of end users and parties involved is an insight that can form patient/physician experience, asking the right questions during the planning stages, and approaching potential solutions with thoughtfulness and depth. In order to create a successful app, interdisciplinary teams that have individuals whom understand the multiple parties that will be involved in the use of the app, as well as the construct of the health system and industry would be the most advantageous. It would also be advantageous for a medical app to employ analytic tools, social networking, testing and performing tools, and secure storage (Baum 2014). Medical mobile applications should be engaging, meaningful, cater to the ‘consumer’ within patients, be value based, and easy to use and ‘communicate’ with (Digitas Health 2015). The information should be easy to input/collect, and easy for the user to receive information and gain knowledge (Digitas Health 2015). Medical applications should seek to assist people as they seek to manage their self-care. OneDrop, for example, is a data-driven app that helps more than 500 million users with diabetes log and share their information. All their stats are in one place, and they can share and learn from everyone else on the platform (Digitas Health 2015). It is also important that any medical app that is being used by health professionals fits into the workflow and enhances the delivery of health care.

More directly, a successful health application will have certain characteristics that will separate them from those that are not successful. These characteristics include, IOS and Android compatibility, high performance speed, no layovers in operation, no periods of dysfunctionality, dependable security, offline functionality, regular updates, personalization options, and analytics (Mobidev 2016).

References

Tu, H. (2015, March 20). Failed cases of mobile healthcare apps: why Kanchufang has failed[Scholarly project]. In AME Group. Retrieved November 15, 2017, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5344160/

Towson, Jeffrey. (2016, August 3). Why Mobile Healthcare Apps Keep Failing in China. In LinkedIn.com. Retrieved November 15, 2017, from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-chinese-healthcare-apps-failing-jeffrey-towson/

Hancock, T., & Weinland, D. (2017, March 8). Subscribe to the FT to read: Financial Times Investors begin to sour on Chinese health apps. Retrieved November 16, 2017, from https://www.ft.com/content/dcfe43d4-fc95-11e6-96f8-3700c5664d30

Baum, S. (2017, March 28). What separates the mobile health app "millionaires" from the rest? Retrieved November 16, 2017, from https://medcitynews.com/2015/11/successful-mobile-health-app-developers/?rf=1

Health, D. (2015, October 26). Lessons from m.15: Why Health Apps Fail. Retrieved November 16, 2017, from https://www.digitashealth.com/lessons-from-m-15-why-health-apps-fail/

M. (2016, July 11). 11 Key Features Of A Successful Mobile App. Retrieved November 16, 2017, from https://mobidev.biz/blog/11_key_features_of_a_successful_mobile_app