Structured telemedicine: Economic aspects

Abstract

In the field of telemedicine, one of the biggest challenge is to find the right solution corresponding to customers' needs in terms of usability and business model. Though 259,000 mobile health apps are available worldwide, only a small portion accounts for the majority of the market. Half of the downloads come from less than 100 applications, 62% of mHealth app publishers earn less than USD 10,000 or have no revenue, while the top 3% makes over USD 5 million. According to our experience, the discoverability of telemedicine applications is rather poor and users' demand could not meet the vast supply. It is difficult to find proper solutions mostly because of the lack of adequate categorization. Hence it is important to recommend and systematically apply a comprehensive categorization, accepted by major stakeholders. Though there have been various attempts, so far the disciplines involved (medicine, IT and economics) could not provide a relevant classification. We would recommend the following categorization aspects: Target audience — operating environment — medical discipline — type of application — sensor could determine the possible application more clearly. Finally, legal & business aspects are also included, in response to different audits and pricing mechanisms of telemedicine applications.