Create Connected mHealth Apps Faster, at Lower Cost

DALLAS, Feb. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Consumers and clinical professionals alike are increasingly turning to mobile devices to help track and manage healthcare outcomes. There are 17,000 mHealth applications in the major app stores today, and by 2015, it's projected there will be 500 million mHealth app users worldwide(1).

Unfortunately, most of today's mHealth applications are limited in their ability to both access and share information because the data is siloed — typically locked away in disparate, proprietary systems that are hard to integrate. Healthcare companies are limited in what information they can collect, while consumers only have access to the data they store independently.

To break down these data silos, today, AT&T* is launching a beta version of the AT&T Developer Center ForHealth under the AT&T ForHealth practice. Based on an open set of developer tools and infrastructure, the AT&T Developer Center ForHealth is expected to streamline, accelerate and lower costs in the development, deployment and management of enterprise-grade mHealth applications.

In addition to providing robust mobility infrastructure and tools that scale to support entrepreneurial developers, small independent software vendors and large healthcare enterprises, the Developer Center is expected to enable a vibrant ecosystem where disparate applications can link together, at the direction of the healthcare consumer, to create a more complete, accessible, and personalized healthcare experience.

The AT&T Developer Center ForHealth was cultivated through a collaboration of major AT&T innovation initiatives including the AT&T Foundry™ and the AT&T Developer Program. Together, these initiatives applied research and expertise in the healthcare space while speeding an idea to market in just months by dedicating resources to the project and enhancing collaboration between AT&T and third party developers. 

Significant capital costs and technological hurdles have prevented the development of interconnected mHealth apps, resulting in data siloed in apps that are standalone "electronic log books". When aggregated across applications and devices, mHealth data can become more useful to the users — apps can share data with other apps so that individuals don't have to manually key information into each app. mHealth data is more valuable when it can flow across applications, be kept highly secure, and link to the enterprise back-end systems of the clinical care team – whether they are part of a physician practice, hospital, health insurer or pharmacy benefit manager.

AT&T Developer Center ForHealth Key Facts:

• Available today
  • Open, cloud-based set of easy-to-use developer tools including one-stop-shop developer portal to enable developers to rapidly build connected and integrated solutions
  • Environment enables aggregation of health, wellness and clinical data from applications and devices, using a highly-secure infrastructure to host personal health information that protects patient privacy, while allowing access to powerful, cutting-edge technology
  • Data storage meets HIPAA Security Rule requirements
  • API gateway and mobile client – capable of  being embedded into any third party application that allows applications to link to each other, as well as to health and wellness peripherals and devices
• In development
  • Data integration engine capable of linking applications to the enterprise IT data systems of hospitals, physician practices, health insurers and other healthcare institutions 
  • Enhancement of API gateway to link to third party and AT&T services on a pay-per-use basis (e.g. texting, location-based services)
  • Enterprise billing and end-to-end customer care including self-help tools

"Developers are the true innovators that will drive mHealth forward. We're creating an ecosystem where they can easily utilize an open environment to build apps that transmit consumers' data from a variety of sources in a highly-secure manner," said Chris Hill, Vice President, Advanced Mobility Solutions, AT&T Business Solutions. "The AT&T Developer Center ForHealth is fundamental to our mHealth strategy, as we plan to use the same infrastructure and services that we make available to developers to create our own interconnected healthcare applications focused on mobile patient care and enterprise mobilization."

Developers can sign up now to use the beta version of the Developer Center and attend codeathons, hackathons and developer boot camps with several mHealth developer communities and accelerators, including HIMSS, Rock Health, StartUp Health and Health 2.0. AT&T plans to further enhance the environment through incorporating developer input and adding advanced tools and services including customer care.

"We are proud to have the AT&T Developer Center ForHealth as the mobile ecosystem of choice for our Health 2.0 Developer Challenges. We look forward to seeing a growing number of developers and companies take advantage of the environment to build successful new apps that can help improve health outcomes," said Marco Smit, President, Health 2.0 Advisors.

"We applaud AT&T's investment to support mHealth developers as the Developer Center, with its open infrastructure and scalable tools, can really make a difference," said Steven Krein, CEO and Co-Founder, StartUp Health.

"This effort supports the entrepreneurial spirit of developers, as they can quickly build interconnected healthcare applications through AT&T's collaborative environment," said Halle Tecco, Founder and CEO, Rock Health.

To learn more about the AT&T Developer Center ForHealth visit http://mhealth.att.com, attend an educational session at HIMSS12 or stop by booth #3829 at HIMSS12 in Las Vegas from Feb. 20 - Feb. 24, 2012.

(1) research2guideance: "Global Mobile Health Market Report 2010-2015"

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

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About AT&T

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is a premier communications holding company and one of the most honored companies in the world. Its subsidiaries and affiliates – AT&T operating companies – are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. With a powerful array of network resources that includes the nation's fastest mobile broadband network, AT&T is a leading provider of wireless, Wi-Fi, high speed Internet, voice and cloud-based services. A leader in mobile broadband and emerging 4G capabilities, AT&T also offers the best wireless coverage worldwide of any U.S. carrier, offering the most wireless phones that work in the most countries.  It also offers advanced TV services under the AT&T U-verse^® and AT&T | DIRECTV brands. The company's suite of IP-based business communications services is one of the most advanced in the world. In domestic markets, AT&T Advertising Solutions and AT&T Interactive are known for their leadership in local search and advertising. 

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