Social Innovation in Public Health: Can Mobile Technology Make a Difference?

Abstract

An important social innovation is the intersection between healthcare and mobile technology. Building on prior research, statistical multivariate methods are used to provide cross-country analysis. Our findings suggest that if the European Union’s aim of increasing citizens activity in healthcare is to be achieved, then mobile technology needs to become part of a wider pan-European social innovation. Only through developing a health infrastructure supported by these applications will the culture of public health change.

Keywords:

• health care
• mobile technology
• benchmarking

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The TEMPEST Health methodology (see Appendix 1) is developed by Professor Wendy Currie, Editor-in-Chief of Health Policy and Technology, and is a research-based decision-making tool to help health stakeholders identify the opportunities and barriers to transforming healthcare with enabling technologies. TEMPEST Health is sponsored by the “Enabling Technology Coalition,” a collaborative grouping of business, non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders, initiated by Microsoft and facilitated by Johns Hopkins University. The Enabling Technology Coalition promotes research on the potential for enabling technologies in facilitating European economic growth in four areas: health; low-carbon economy; education; and governance.

FUNDING

The research is supported by a coalition of partners, including Accenture, COCIR, The European Academy of Business in Society and GE Healthcare. Microsoft leads the coalition on the IT to ET Enabling Technology program, which supports other scientific studies coordinated by The Johns Hopkins University. The TEMPEST concept was initially developed as a prototype with quantitative and qualitative indicators (see http://www.enablingtechnology.eu/ehealth/academic_study). Since this initial study, TEMPEST has been extensively revised and now contains over 150 quantitative indicators to provide a more robust and reliable means for comparative country analysis on health technology assessment. Professor Currie, together with Dr. Jonathan J.J.M Seddon are now working to publish the findings from the TEMPEST study on the 28 EU Member States. TEMPEST data is further being collected in other geo-political regions.

Notes

1. 1. eHealth is a broader term than mHealth. The World Health Organization defines eHealth as, E-health is the transfer of health resources and health care by electronic means. It encompasses three main areas: The delivery of health information, for health professionals and health consumers, through the internet and telecommunications. Using the power of IT and e-commerce to improve public health services, e.g., through the education and training of health workers. http://www.who.int/trade/glossary/story021/en/ The use of e-commerce and e-business practices in health systems management.

2. 2. The OECD is an excellent source for cross-country data, but not all the EU28 are members of this organization. We are therefore unable to use indicators from OECD datasets.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Wendy L. Currie

Wendy L. Currie is professor of information systems at Audencia, School of Management, France. She is founding editor-in-chief of Health Policy and Technology. Her current research interests include health policy, emerging technologies (cloud computing and mobile), and cross-country comparisons of health systems. She has published her research in management and technology academic journals. She holds a PhD in Management and BSc in Sociology.

Jonathan J. M. Seddon

Jonathan J. M. Seddon combines senior management consultancy with academia. Having gained a PhD in Computer Science and BEng in Manufacturing Engineering, he has worked for over two decades in the financial services industry, specializing in client-facing roles. His research interests include compliance, financial and healthcare cross-country data analysis and benchmarking, cloud computing, and mobile technologies.