The health and wellness app market
The health and wellness industry is flourishing. There are more than 350 000 mobile applications for health, available worldwide to users as discovered in a recent report by the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science. These apps range from telemedicine platforms and medication tracking to applications that monitor and record steps, sleep and nutrition.
Such health and wellness applications widen the access to services and promise powerful outcomes to consumers. Without doubt, with the help of technology they have empowered patients to have more understanding and control over their own care.
The unmet needs of the consumer
The truth is that some of the health and wellbeing applications risk failing the consumer. The available apps mainly focus either on self-reported or wearable data. Even though this data is used to offer insight or guidance, it does not close the care loop. A lot of the healthcare data and communication is fragmented as it does not link professionals together to provide the right information so that the patient gets the right treatment at the right time.
What consumers need is a more connected health experience. Having access to insights based on their data is often not enough for them to take action or importantly access the most appropriate treatment and care. People want to be able to communicate with health professionals, discuss their progress and gain access to experts through choice and/or medical need. This requires a secure communication system that allows them to ask questions about their condition and receive answers from qualified professionals.
This leads us to the conclusion that currently, some health and wellness providers do not support the consumer in taking the next step where they follow the insight up with advice or treatment from an expert.
The solution: more connected health through integration
Health and wellness businesses could offer a more connected care pathway by leveraging digital technology to expand their services. One way to achieve this is through vendor integration; the same way you can integrate with vendors to offer billing or calendar integrations, you could also partner with other healthcare suppliers to close the care loop and the onward signposting.
Moreover, as the healthcare market is becoming more competitive, it is advantageous to provide other services to expand your offer. For example, Headspace launched counselling alongside their mindfulness services in the UK. This provides new revenue streams and broadens the scope of their offering.
With this in mind, if you are a healthcare content provider, you could expand your offer by incorporating onward care pathways for your patients or partner with another healthcare business to transfer patients to other forms of support to ensure care continuity.
Another example is offering physio alongside GP services or vice versa. Through referrals you can encourage your patients to seek onward care and empower them to choose referral to the right person should they experience something outside of the normal. Or maybe even looking into offering self-care options for your patients in the form of digital content.
Coordination and integration of care is just another way to better engage with your patients. As it happens, 99.5% of consumer apps fail. Therefore, the choice is whether to only focus on being a standalone app or become part of an integrated healthcare solution. Working with digital enables like MyPulse, you could expand your capacity and service offering.
Unlock your potential with MyPulse! Contact our specialist team now to find out how digital technology can expand your offer.
