The economics of eHealth and mHealth

While mHealth has the potential to overcome traditional obstacles to the delivery of health services to the poor in lower and middle-income countries-issues related to access, quality, time, and resources-there is little evidence as to whether the expected benefits and savings can be actualized on a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of health communication Vol. 17; no. Supp.1; pp. 73 - 81
Main Authors Schweitzer, Julian, Synowiec, Christina
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published 01.05.2012
Subjects
Cost-benefit analysis
Health economics
Health services
Information and communication technologies
Investment
Mobile phones
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Summary:While mHealth has the potential to overcome traditional obstacles to the delivery of health services to the poor in lower and middle-income countries-issues related to access, quality, time, and resources-there is little evidence as to whether the expected benefits and savings can be actualized on a large scale. As a first step to developing the investment case for mHealth, this article outlines some of the key economic and financial questions that need to be answered in developing in-country eHealth investments. The proposed questions focus on the costs of eHealth infrastructure; regulatory structures that provide incentives at different levels of the health delivery system to encourage investment in, and use of, eHealth; and measuring the outcomes of successful eHealth utilization, including anticipated return on investment. Reprinted by permission of Taylor & Francis Ltd.
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ISSN:1081-0730