2012 mHealth Summit Delivered Leaders from 56 Countries

ARLINGTON, Va., Dec. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- A record breaking 4,050 participants from 56 countries and all 50 of the United States convened at the 4^th annual mHealth Summit just outside of Washington, D.C. last week.  Leaders from around the globe assembled at this year's summit for four days of networking, knowledge sharing, deal-making and demonstrating the latest mHealth technological offerings.

The summit delivered 300 exhibiting companies, themed pavilions and 90 high-level panel sessions all focused on advancing mobile health and discussing the challenges surrounding wireless integration into the greater healthcare system -- for the delivery of quality, affordable healthcare in the U.S. and around the world.

As the largest international conference and expo situated at the intersection of business, policy, technology and research, the summit is the global convener of the expanding mobile health ecosystem.  Participants included those from research, government, advocacy, NGOs, providers, payers, technology innovators, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and others.

Keynote speakers included Mark Bertolini, CEO and President of Aetna; Gary Shapiro, CEO/President of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA); Peter Tippett, Chief Medical Officer and Vice President Verizon Enterprise Solutions; Harry Totonis, CEO of Surescripts; Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health and UN Foundation board member Dr. Nafis Sadik.   The summit also offered a series of executive spotlights from AT&T, Deloitte, Intel, Philips Healthcare, American Liver Foundation, McCann Health as well as the Director General of Ghana Health Services.

"This gathering of stakeholders from around the world, who represent each aspect of the mobile health ecosystem is unprecedented," said Richard Scarfo, Director of the mHealth Summit and Vice President of Events at HIMSS Media.   "As we close the 2012 mHealth Summit, we are confident that the conversations around challenges such as scalability, interoperability, security, privacy, and data analytics will help drive momentum for finding solutions on how to deliver 21^st century mobile healthcare globally."

"Quality health services and public health is a global imperative and its efficient, effective, and safe delivery through mobile technologies is going to take a united effort," said Patricia Mechael, Executive Director of the mHealth Alliance, a founding partner of the mHealth Summit. "The  global health track and partnerships forged and networking facilitated at the summit were some of the important ways we are continuously learning, fostering innovation, sharing information and moving the field forward."

Key Themes Emerging At The 2012 mHealth Summit:

• Common global interests.  The domestic and international communities are looking to mHealth to provide solutions for scalability to increase access and quality of healthcare delivery while reducing costs.
• Mobile connectivity is driving personalization and consumerization of health, enabling greater patient empowerment and bridging the gap for improved provider and patient communications, interventions and consumer engagement.
• Trending in the conference sessions, and on the exhibit floor were companies and discussions focused on:
  • A global health spotlight on maternal, women's and child health;
  • Policy barriers to overcome to advance the integration of mHealth for better health;
  • Neutral approaches to privacy and security – and who owns your personal health data;
  • The data shift:  from collecting data to analytics
  • What does the physician of tomorrow look like?; 
  • Opportunities and challenges around other areas, such as: HIPAA secure messaging systems, patient monitoring, point solutions for physicians and patients, and chronic care management particularly with the aging boomers; and
  • Innovation in wellness and fitness apps, as well as mobile app design and development.

Announcement Highlights:

• Sharecare and the Wireless-Life Sciences Alliance joined forces to advance connected health innovations.
• Diversinet introduced mobiHealth Wallet with new patient-centered health information.
• iHealth partnership with Evernote and Practice Fusion to bring doctors and patients better data for healthier living.
• Qualcomm Life announced new companies and customers that joined its ecosystem, including Ingram Micro, MD Revolution, HealthyCircles, Valued Relationships, ActiveCare and Tri-City Medical Center.
• Verizon Foundation, while more than 20 years old, it is relatively new to large-scale health care philanthropy.  At the Summit, it announced plans to invest almost $13 million in a new program aimed to measurably improve accessibility to care and clinical quality for children, women and seniors. The goal: to reduce health care disparities and improve patient self-management of chronic disease. Initial partners, selected on the basis of geographic reach, capacity to manage the technology solution, and ability to deliver metrics related to patient care, patient engagement, and cost savings, are:
  • The Children's Health Fund;
  • The Society for Women's Health Research;
  • The National Association of Community Health Centers; and
  • University of California, San Diego.

Event Highlights Include:

• 30 sponsors:  Verizon returned as the partnering sponsor and was joined by AT&T, Surescripts, Aetna, Allora, Cigna, Deloitte, HP, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, Kaiser Permanente, McCann Health, McKesson, Oracle, Pfizer, Philips Healthcare, Qualcomm Life, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, SAP, T-Mobile/Samsung, UnitedHealth Group and several other pavilion and product sponsors.
• 35 strategic affiliates: Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI), Anson Group (mHealth Regulatory Coalition), Ashoka, B2 Group, Center for Connected Health, Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), Continua Health Alliance, CTIA – The Wireless Association, GBCHealth, Medical Device Innovation, Safety and Security Consortium (MDISS), Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Rock Health, StartUp Health, United Nations Foundation and The Wireless Life Sciences Alliance (WLSA).
• 300 exhibitors in open space and themed pavilions including the EngAGE pavilion, sponsored by AARP with support from Aging 2.0, where more than 20 companies focused on aging in place. Another first was the Games for Health Pavilion, where 14 companies demonstrated projects for enhancing physical activity, cognitive health, disease management, and sensorimotor recovery (e.g. traumatic brain injury).  Other pavilions focused on: better health, start-ups and interoperability
• Global Conversation: More than 1,600 people participated in a global conversation on Twitter sending nearly 10,000 tweets during the three-day event. Additionally, TechChange and bnetTV carried much via social media and live streaming to audiences around the world.

"As a result of the 2012 mHealth Summit, we expect that after three days of intense conversations, networking and learning, there will be major momentum for collaborative developments in mHealth affecting individuals as well as regional and country-wide healthcare systems," concluded Scarfo.

To access video of all sessions at the 2012 mHealth Summit, please visit  the website at  www.mhealthsummit.org and to access mHIMSS live coverage and executive interviews, please visit http://www.mhimss.org/mhealth2012.

Follow the continuing conversation on Twitter: @mhealthsummit | @mHealthAlliance | @mHIMSS | @HIMSS | @HITNewsTweet l  #mHS12

The 2013 mHealth Summit will take place once again at the Gaylord National on Dec. 9 – 11, 2013.

About the mHealth Summit:  The mHealth Summit is presented by the HIMSS Media, in partnership with the National Institutes of Health, the mHealth Alliance and the Foundation for the NIH.  It is the leading conference, expo and networking event advancing cross-sector collaboration in the best use of wireless technology to improve health outcomes. The 2012 mHealth Summit was held December 3-5 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center.  It  connected leaders in government, private sector/industry, academia, foundations and not-for-profit organizations to advance discussion and decision-making related to the intersection of mobile technology, health research, and policy in the United States and globally. For more information, visit www.mhealthsummit.org.

For additional information on the 2012 mHealth Summit's organizing partners, please visit:
About HIMSS: www.himss.org 
About the Foundation for the NIH: www.fnih.org 
About the mHealth Alliance: www.mhealthalliance.org 
About the National Institutes of Health: www.nih.gov

SOURCE mHealth Summit