Rarely does a class of technologies excite physicians, patients, financeers, gadgeteers, and policymakers alike. But mobile health — the use of mobile devices like smartphones and tablets for health or medical purposes — has captured our collective imagination. Observers predict that mobile health, also referred to as “mHealth” or “medical apps,” can save millions of lives, billions in spending, and democratize access to health care. Proponents argue that mobile health technologies will transform the ways in which we deliver, consume, measure, and pay for care; disrupting our sclerotic health care system.
This Article evaluates mobile health and its many ambitions. Given the significant hype surrounding mobile health, I try to provide a relatively sober, dispassionate review of the many claims here. I begin by surveying the universe of mobile health technologies, offering a typology of products based on their functions, many of which have regulatory significance.