Mobile App to Speed Diagnoses Finds Slow Going

Mobile App to Speed Diagnoses Finds Slow Going

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CodeHeart, a mobile application to speed diagnosis of heart attacks, has been under development in the Washington DC area for two years, but it’s still struggling to enlist emergency medical crews’ participation for a pilot project. The slow going reflects the complicated nature of mobile solutions for the health-care-provider market, which has generally taken a cautious approach to new technology for storing and sharing patient information, experts say.

While mobile health technology has exploded in the consumer market, with 17 percent of cellphone owners, or 15 percent of adults, having used their cellphones to look up health or medical information, mobile health technology that aims to link providers to one another has developed more slowly for a variety of reasons, including compatibility issues, even though most doctors use smartphones, personal tablets and other devices within their own practices, analysts said.