TechnicalJones.com

For the past few years I've been updating you guys on different technologies, especially in the area of healthcare, and after screening through all the items I covered or wrote about, it finally hit me:  "What does all this stuff mean to real people?"

It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that innovation is part of our society - whether it comes from a garage in Silicon Valley or halfway around the world.  Technology cruises on.

But technology for technology's sake isn't good enough.  Technology has to solve an inherent problem, make our lives more fun, or allow us to work more productively.  For health care, it needs to enhance the quality of service, reduce the cost of that service, and make those services available to more people.

We are at a point in time where tens-of-thousands of mobile applications are available to us on hundreds of devices.  And they're not limited to smartphones.

Analysts now say that tablets are outselling laptop and desktop computers.  We live in a mobile world that has gone crazy with the ability for people to do what they did at home, or in the office, anywhere, anytime, on a device of their choosing.

Some applications are fun and others help us work more productively.  Then there are those that have significant impact on our lives, and health.

Monitoring devices, services that offer home care for seniors or home bound patients, and others that allow anyone connected to the healthcare ecosystem to communicate and share information at the click of a button - X-Rays, prescriptions, patient data, etc.

And this is surely the tip of the iceberg.  New applications are developed and available daily, and it seems like each new or updated application delivers a more "feature rich" service. 

For example, the heart monitoring service that was available two years ago that displayed your heart rate in digits might now have a chart that displays your heart rate in real time on a smartphone.

So technology isn't an issue, except that it stands alone.  What's missing is how this all fits into our lives - how does this technology enhance our experience.

Sure, you can go to a conference where all these companies show off their new, innovative solutions, but if no one knows where to get it, how it works, what's the cost, will my insurance cover it, etc., then technology is only good for a show - not real life.

Again, I'm not talking about the fun applications or the business applications - I'm talking about the ones that can add real meaning to our lives and those that can help ourselves and loved ones. 

Think about this:  there are a number of applications and services that can help people avoid being placed in assisted living facilities, but each comes with a caveat - there is usually a need to have a computer and knowledge of how to use one to gain the major benefit. 

Not sure about you, but I don't know many seniors in that stage of their lives that can even understand, "point and click."  I know my Mama didn't.

The reality is that our healthcare system is in shambles and there are a number of areas that need to fall into place if we want to see change.

mHealth can be a godsend to everyone in our country - especially those who can't afford normal healthcare or those living in rural areas who currently have no access to healthcare facilities or services -- and can have the greatest impact on reforming the health care system.

Reform needs to be based on a combination of reality and technology.  The health care ecosystem now spans a broad group of companies and industries, including health care, insurance and communications.  These and others play significant roles in delivering the future of health care.

Over the coming weeks and months, I intend to walk through these different areas and show the links among them, and why things like services, investment, government, technology, regulations and reality need to come together to avoid all this mess.

It's going to be fun!!! :-)

Leroy Jones Jr.

UN: Chronic, Noncommunicable Disease is Leading Killer